I inadvertently came across this page last night while doing some research. If you look on the left side of the page, you will see Cults and Alternative Religions. Under this, I found Share International. Which led me to read more about Bejamin Creme and Maitreya. I found his homepage which, after reading some of that, left me rather...to be blunt...pissed. From the orthodoxstudies site:

"Jesus and the Christ: The identity and activity of the Christ is fundamental to Creme’s concept of Maitreya. He writes, “Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ are not one and the same person. This is one of the most difficult claims for many Christians to accept in connection with Maitreya, the World Teacher.”16

The Christ, instead of being a single messianic figure, is simply the head of the spiritual hierarchy known as the Masters of Wisdom [known in some New Age groups, such as the Church Universal and Triumphant, as the Ascended Masters]. During his term of office, the Christ is also known as the World Teacher and the Bodhisattva.17

The current head of the hierarchy is Maitreya. Two thousand years ago he manifested himself as the Christ in order to initiate the Age of Pisces.18 He now manifests himself in order to initiate the Age of Aquarius.19

Jesus the man was a fourth-degree initiate and disciple of the Masters of Wisdom. His previous incarnations included the biblical figures of Joshua, son of Nun, Isaiah, and Joshua from the book of Zechariah.20 In Palestine Jesus allowed himself to be used by Maitreya, being overshadowed by the consciousness of the Christ, which then used him to fulfill Maitreya’s mission for the earth. Jesus’ birth, baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension were thus six stages of initiation for the implementation of Maitreya’s plan for world peace.21

Following Jesus’ ascension he was reincarnated as Apollonius of Tyra, whose journeys in India are allegedly the source for the belief that Jesus did not die on the cross.22 Jesus, now known as Master Jesus, currently resides with Peter and John in Rome, and is attempting to reunite the Christian churches through a focus on Maitreya.23 "

Now, John, I know you and a few others may say stick with traditional Catholic material and forget the rest but here's how I see it. I like to know who my enemies are.

And you know something else, after reading about this guy's touchy feely crap, I was oddly reminded of Joan Storey.

And in case you're wondering.....what led me in that direction was Kathleen Keating. Yes, yes, yes I know. Some of what she has to say seems rather.....out there. The Bible Codes, for example. That reminds me of what Chris B. had to say. If you reach far enough, sure, you can put two and two together and get four but it all seems a bit fishy to me. But she also makes some good points. Anyways, just wondering if anyone else had heard about these two jokers (Creme and Maitreya).

-- Jackiea (sorry@dontlikespam.com), April 22, 2002

Answers

I've been keeping an eye on Creme and Maitreya for probably ten years now and have known of Creme since I was a kid.

As far as Keating, I pretty would pretty much set aside anyone who took that condemned Bayside apparition seriously, and I believe she is one of those.

I've probably spent an hour or two a day for the last 6 or 7 years looking into this kind of stuff, and to tell you what I thought... well I wouldn't know where to start. =) I've always wanted to start a website about such things from a Catholic perspective, but since I'm such a lazy procrastinator who knows if it will ever get done or done well.

I'm also not sure if there is a market for it, because a lot of Catholics don't seem to be interested in whats afoot right now. Maybe they are right in that thinking and I'm wrong; who knows.

-- Emerald (emerald1@home.com), April 22, 2002.

Emerald~thanks so much for your honesty. I, for one, would love to know what you've learned and I think others would, too. And I totally agree with your last statement. There are a few people that I've tried talking to about this and they instantly freak out and don't want to hear about it. Like I said above~I like to know who my enemies are.

Let me know if you ever get that website up, Emerald. :) Until then, please feel free to post here about what you've learned.

-- Jackiea (sorry@dontlikespam.com), April 22, 2002.

I've been stairing at this response screen for about 20 minutes trying to figure out what to say. I really wish I could lay out what I think I know but can't figure out how to put it in a nutshell.

I wish I could.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), April 22, 2002.

LOL Well, darned if you aren't honest, Emerald. You don't have to go the nutshell route. Perhaps just a few of your thoughts.......hmmmm?

:)

-- Jackiea (sorry@dontlikespam.com), April 22, 2002.

Hi, Jackiea.

You wrote: "Now, John, I know you and a few others may say stick with traditional Catholic material and forget the rest but here's how I see it. I like to know who my enemies are."

I don't mind if anyone brings up subjects like this, as long as there is a clear tie-in to Catholicism. For example: "Such-and-such looney-tunes religion/philosophy teaches x, y, and z. And it is having negative effects a, b, and c on the so-and-so people in the Catholic Church. What can we do about it?"

What I think would not be good (and not in keeping with the purposes of the forum) would be just to give a sort of "New Age catechism lesson," laying out a bunch of outlandish, satan-inspired beliefs, with no accompanying point-by-point refutation, etc.. That kind of thing just titillates and can disturb, confuse, or attract lurkers who are weak in faith.

Another thing that would be bad would be to spend even a nickel on pagan materials, because our hard-earned money should not be placed in the hands of those whose work is pleasing to satan. Finally, I would advise spending as little time as possible to get "to know who [your] enemies are." Time is precious and is well spent on family, prayer, and dependable, orthodox Catholic reading. As little time as possible -- or none at all -- should be spent on looking at dissent-filled quasi-Catholic crud, seeking out sensationalism (such as unapproved apparitions), and reading doubt-engendering books and Internet sites (run by "end-times-addicted Fundamentalists," New Agers, etc.).

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), April 23, 2002.

John

Your Quote:

"What I think would not be good (and not in keeping with the purposes of the forum) would be just to give a sort of "New Age catechism lesson," laying out a bunch of outlandish, satan-inspired beliefs, with no accompanying point-by-point refutation, etc.. That kind of thing just titillates and can disturb, confuse, or attract lurkers who are weak in faith"

This is exactly the biggest problem I see in this forum. Though I have tried to be certain of what I read is authentic Catholic writing, have seen much distorted writings by some individuals that make it very difficult forme to be sure who I am reading from is honest in his views. I just the other day had such an experience that embarrassed me only because I did not realize it was a legitimate statement.

The bashers who pop in are just more pain for me to endure as I DO want to learn more of our faith without he distorted views of the new age rubbish and other cultist theologies that creep in here by those attempting to keep us of balance.

The only persons I have learned to trust are You, Chris, Gene and Mateo to help me to recognize the ones who are trying to decieve us. I do want at this point to thank all of you for your help. Blessings.

-- Fred Bishop (fcbishop@globaleyes.net), April 23, 2002.

That's pretty well what I thought.

-- Jackiea (sorry@dontlikespam.com), April 23, 2002.

Being that I'm new to this forum, I hope nobody thinks I'm trying to deceive anyone.

I have always been curious about the end times; I've always kept an eye on what I call a developing global tyranny.

In a way I agree with what has been said here about time being better spent on reading solid material that strengthens one's Catholicism, but I don't at all think that this would equate to ridiculing one for pondering questions related to latter days; after all, we were promised a Second Coming.

And the one thing that continually puzzles me is how some good Catholics I know just outrightly deny the obvious trend towards global governance, although less and less so now because many of the same people who laughed at what I thought years ago are coming to me and asking me about it.

I might add, though, that in all honesty the protestant endtimers are doing a lousy job of piecing things together; in fact, most of them place the Catholic Church as the heart of the new world order. How wrong can one be. I saw that link that Mateo had in one of his posts about the IRS being controlled by the Pope; I about busted my gut; funniest read in weeks.

I think all this type of searching for the truth about what makes our world work should be done with care and with firm roots in the Catholic Faith, and not at the expense of formation in the Faith, but on the other hand I believe it should not be dismissed out of hand, called frivolous or mocked (I'm not saying I've seen you do that).

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), April 23, 2002.

Emerald

Your Quote: "I have always been curious about the end times; I've always kept an eye on what I call a developing global tyranny"

This I have learned to avoid like the plague. I actually hate if it is proper to say anything that refers to so called END TIME theories. Many, I mean MANY have failed in the past and have been ruses for the greedy few to steal from the many unknowing. Many have died as a result of this garbage. Remember Jonesboro or Jonestown in 1978? Jim Jones did a job on many through brainwash tactics and more.

-- Fred Bishop (fcbishop@globaleyes.net), April 23, 2002.

I understand what you are getting at, Fred, and I agree with you... but I do think that you are kind of mixing in the lunatic fringe with people who simply observe and have good questions to ask. There is no shame in talking of the 'end times'; the disciples asked these same questions in scripture, and Christ provided a few indicators for them. There is a term to our existence on earth, and Christ will come again; it is in our Creed. It is intregal to our Faith. Prophecy is central to our Faith, and the last book of the Bible is a piece of genius that I will never have the gift to understand.

So my first response is sort of defensive; it goes like this: 'Fred thinks I'm a nutcake who has taken who has taken the wrong offramp and found himself on the Jim Jones Memorial Highway'... but I know what you are saying, and I think it goes something like this, correct me if I'm wrong: 'considering such things could pull one away from the true understanding and living of their Catholic Faith, and is a danger to those who are not strong in their faith'. I would agree with that 100%.

That being said, when I do all this 'looking into things' as I do, I should mention that the majority of it has little to do with peeking into new age ufo religions, but is more of a study of the history of power and control... and finance too. Much more mundane human action stuff than preternatural. I'm a history buff. I like to observe groups of people and try to figure what they are up to, in light of fallen human nature.

Also, I want to know what kind of world my little kiddies are going to be growing up in 20, 30 years from now. I want to arm them against new obstacles and threats to their faith and help them defend keep it in the Brave New World they are entering.

Don't worry, Fred, I aint 'of O'them'. I know what types you are talking about. I don't dilute my Faith one iota with new age anything, and I aint about to change my lifestyle based on some view of the future. There was one saint, I forget who, who was playing a game (I think pool?) and someone asked him 'what would you do if you knew the world would end in an hour' and he said something to effect of 'I would keep playing pool'. I wish I knew that saint's name; maybe someone who knows can help me with that... but anyway, that's pretty much the stance I take. But I'm still a watcher.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), April 23, 2002.

So as not to take up too much bandwidth, I will post a LINK to a Marian page. Makes for very interesting reading.

For those with any sort of question you may have on Mary, I suggest this site to you.

-- Jackiea (sorry@dontlikespam.com), April 24, 2002.