Unity School Of Christianity
UnitySchool of Christianity
The founders of this cult were a husband and wife team Charles (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931.)
Before his “enlightenment” Charles was a railroad freight clerk.
No information that he was a Christian let alone an ordained elder has ever come to light. Yet he felt compelled to write Metaphysical Bible Dictionary. The entire Bible was, in his “opinion,” to be interpreted as spiritual, never literal!
He believed he was the reincarnation of the Apostle Paul.
He was also involved in spiritualism.
He used an Egyptian winged disc to be their religions symbol. Frank Yurco, an Egyptologist at the University of Chicago, says:
“The winged disc symbol represents a fear of demons and evil gods…It represents the sun-god, Ra, as he flees across the sky.”
Myrtle was a school teacher, and before she married Charles, was a Methodist.
They had two sons, Lowell and Rickert, who after the death of their 93-year-old father, took over control of this movement.
Myrtle believed she was the feminine side to God, (Myrtle Fillmore’s, Healing Letters.)
Today Connie Fillmore Bazzy, who is the great-granddaughter of Charles Fillmore, runs the business. Also Charles R. Fillmore, the grandson of Charles Fillmore, is the Chairman of the Board for Unity. $30,000,000 is received annually from their 24-hour SilentUnity Prayerministry.
Both the Fillmore’s suffered from poor heath. Charles was a cripple from his youth due to a skating accident. He would later say:
“My chronic pains ceased. My hip healed and grew stronger, and my leg lengthened until in a few years I dispensed with the steel extension that I had worn since a child.”
Myrtle suffered from tuberculosis and malaria. She would say:
“I am a child of God and therefore I do not inherit sickness” (Fillmore, How I Found Heath.)
Please note that on both occasions when these healings took place, they were NEVER instant. The reason I point this out is quite simple: in the Scriptures whenever God healed anybody, especially in the New Testament, He ALWAYS healed people INSTANTLY. Therefore, the healings that the Fillmore’s enjoyed were not of biblical origin!
Because Charles was the sicker of the two, the Fillmore’s criss-crossed America in search of a desperate cure for his poor health. And so it was in 1884 that the Fillmore’s arrived in Kansas City to seek help and advice from Dr. Eugene B. Weeks. The reader may be interested to learn that one of Mary Baker Eddy’s (Christian Science) lieutenants; Emma Curtis Hopkins was paramount to the creation of this cult (James D. Freeman, The Household of Faith, pg. 42.)However, Eugene B. Weeks is ultimately to be credited with the birth of this movement.
Weeks’ principles were very similar to that of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby: great emphasise on healing and feeling good about life (placebo.) Today we call this the Prosperity Gospel.
Once the Fillmore’s had mastered Weeks’ ideologies, they set off to try and make a living from this new cult. Previous ventures like real estate had lost them all they had, so this new religion had to be successful if they were going to succeed and support their family.
The term “Unity” would seem quite natural for today’s apostate ecumenical movement. Like previous cults leaders I have written on, the Fillmore’s were certainly ahead of their time; and may too have joined the World Council of Churches, had they been invited to (Marcus Bach, They Have Found a Faith, pg. 223.)
Coincidentally, they would also go on to say:
“We see the good in all religions and we want everyone to feel free to find the Truth for himself wherever he may be led to find it.”
In F.E. Mayer’s book, The Religious Body of America, 4th ed., pg. 545 he states the following:
“Unity has elements of Quakerism (inner light), of Christian Science (healing), of Theosophy (reincarnation), of Rosicrucianism (cosmic unity), of Spiritism (the astral or physical self), of Hinduism (idealism).”
In Edmond Gruss’ book, Cults and the Occult, pg. 36, he lists a statement of faith from Charles Fillmore which was some thirty years overdue:
“We are hereby giving warning that we shall not be bound by this tentative statement of what Unity believes. We may change our mind tomorrow on some of the points, and if we do, we shall feel free to make a new statement.”
Such an ambiguous statement of faith, as this, would hardly encourage anyone to be a fervent ambassador to this cult.
Once again Charles Fillmore:
“Unity says that other spiritually illumined persons – ministers, priests, or religious teachers of any kind – can help one get started on the right path for finding God, but ultimately each person must find God individually.”
Facts
Beliefs
Red = Unity
Black = Traditional Christianity
That the Trinity is not a real concept.
As with all cuts and false religions, the belief in the biblical teaching of the Holy Trinity is not only essential to ones salvation, but also to ones understanding of the nature and character of God.
“And JESUS, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the SPIRIT OF GOD descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo A VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:16,17.)
God the Father is not a being or person having life, intelligence, love, power(H. Emilie Cady, Lessons In Truth)
That God is a real person with real feelings (Gen. 6:6); Who is beyond human comprehension (Job 38:4); that holds the earth together (Col. 1:17), and Who loves the whole world (John 3:16); is abundantly obvious for any dedicated Bible student to see.
Jesus Christ has two natures: Jesus represents God’s idea of man in expression; Christ is that idea in the absolute (Metaphysical Bible Dictionary)
To present the Lord Jesus Christ to the world, as someone with two natures, is partially correct. Jesus Christ is one Person. However, for Christians He is the God-Man.
The Son of Man (human nature) and Son of God (divine nature.)
The Holy Spirit was not a personal being, but rather only an impersonal force (Atom-Smashing Power of Mind)
The Jehovah Witnesses make exactly the same mistake as the Unity Cult. The Holy Spirit is a real Person with real characteristics (Ehp. 4:30; 1 Thes. 5:19) and is Deity, (Acts 5:3,4.)
The Bible is just another book (The Twelve Powers of Man)
With so many passages in the Holy Bible where the word of God is held up as being superior to anything else ever penned, such statements as the above cause grave concern. The child of God is called to guard the word of God (1 Tim. 6:20), fight for it (Jude 3), preach it (2 Tim. 4:2) and study it (Ezra 7:10.)
The Lord Jesus Christ twice affirmed the Bible as perfect and God breathed (Matt. 5:17.)
In John 10:35, the Lord said: “SCRIPTURE CANNOT BE BROKEN.” This is an affirmation of the absolute accuracy and authority of Scripture (Jude 1:3.)
That reincarnation is for all (Unity’s Statement of Faith, Article 22)
God promised man one of two destinations upon death. The only two things these destinations have in common, is the fact that they will last forever and both begin in H: Heaven or Hell.
The most awesome verse in the New Testament that affirms this is found in Hebrews 9:27: “And as it is appointed UNTO MENONCE TO DIE, but after this the JUDGMENT.”
Evil, pain, sickness, poverty, old age and death are not real.
On 5 July 1948, Charles Fillmore died. I would say that this his death is real, is it not? With proof of his death certificate for all to see, only a fool would claim that he wasn’t deceased.
Regrettably, some people refuse to acknowledge that this world we live in is a fallen world. People get sick, feel pain, commit acts of wickedness, get old, and then die. This has been going on since the day when Cain killed Abel in Gen. 4:8.
One in one persons will die.
Finally to reject all of the above as real factors of life, Fillmore put himself in direct collision with the Lord: “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24.)
Conclusion
I would like to give J. Oswald Sanders from his book, Heresies: Ancient and Modern, pg. 61 the last word of a religion that is as far from biblical Christianity, as the east is to the west:
“We would say that the greatest danger in this movement lies in the many beautiful and true sentiments contained in its literature which would appeal to the uninstructed, leading them to believe that they are imbibing true Scripture teaching. Satan does his most dangerous work when he is masquerading as an angel of life. With an impersonal God, a Christ degraded to the level of man, and man elevated to deity, with a denial of sin and consequent emasculation of the atonement, with self-regeneration and the Hindu doctrine of reincarnation, we are amazed at the temerity of its promoters in designating it a school of Christianity”.
Sources
Edmund C. Gruss, Cults and Occults
Plus numerous press reports and articles.