Richard Foster, the Quaker Connection and Neo-Gnosticism George Fox claimed more authority than the Bible Blasphemy, heresy, fanaticism, and cultic lifestyle in the history of Quakerism Richard Foster, the celebrated mentor of spiritual disciplines by many Evangelicals, is a Quaker, a member of the Friends Church. What is Quakerism? Who is the founder of the Quaker movement? What were the Quaker teachings and practices in the past, and what are they in the present? These are questions that will be answered, unveiling the true R. Foster. It is good to start by first quoting George Fox the founder of Quakerism. This sect is also known as Friends or the Society of Friends. His testimony is loaded with heresies and blasphemy. …then I heard a voice which said, "There is one, even Jesus Christ, that can speak to thy condition"… Then the Lord did let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition…My desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of any man, book, or writing. For though I read the Scriptures that spake of Christ and of God, yet I knew Him not, but by revelation15… (emphasis mine) And they asked if I were the son of God. I said "Yes.” They asked me if I had seen God's face. I said "Yes.” They asked me whether I had the spirit of discernment. I said "Yes, I discerned him that From Mysticism to the Gospel 14 spoke to me.” They asked me whether the scripture was the word of God. I said, "God was the word, and the scriptures were writings, and the word was before writings were, which word did fulfill them.” And so they sent me to prison”.16 Quakers, Mormons, and Seventh Day Adventists share the same story. The birth of their movements is marked by deep heresies and occultic encounters. George Fox claimed he heard a voice telling him how Christ will talk to him personally, but that “Christ” is not the same as the one of the Bible. His savior is the one of his own experience and revelation as he specifically stated in the quotation above. As a result Fox asserts for himself more authority than the written Word of God. The Mormon founder Joseph Smith Jr. declared that between the age of 14 and 23 was visited by God the Father, His Son, angel Moroni, John the Baptist, Peter, James and John17, and the list does not end here. The angel Moroni furnished him with the “sacred” Mormon text from certain golden plates. Ellen G. White the false prophetess of the Seventh Day Adventism ruled her sect by frequents “visions from the Lord18”. She also was “visited” constantly by “angels”; was “raptured to heaven” like the apostle Paul, and saw the Adventist “Jesus” who reinforced her desire to keep the sabbath day. They all claim absolute apostasy of Christendom and the need for the restoration of Christianity in their terms. In the course of time they underwent dramatic changes, putting a human/Christian face to their organizations but their ideology remained the same. All have “a unique message and illumination” and their converts are instructed in the special gnosis of the sect. They all witnessed the work of God in their era but they all rejected the sound doctrine. Contemporary with Quakers were the Puritans. During the life of the Mormon founder, the Second Great Awakening was fully at work. Ellen G. White was contemporary with D.L. Moody. All these cults were in fact a work of deception trying to counteract God’s true ministry. All three cults after decades or centuries of struggles became financial empires. For instance the three leading British manufacturers, Cadbury, Fry and Rowntree, were all Quaker family firms – which produced pharmaceuticals and biscuits (cookies, crackers, wafers). Most striking of all were the Quaker bankers -- of the modern ''big four'' British banks, two of which (Barclays and Lloyds) are Quaker foundations19. They all use the best apologets trying unsuccessfully to rescue their past. Either the cults founders or subsequent ideologists of those sects employ a specific cultic language of self exaltation. They betray an unhealthy fanatic enthusiasm which is a form of religious neurosis. The history of Quakerism goes like this: George Fox was born in 1624, and was the son of a devout Puritan in Leicestershire England. His mother was an upright woman. They were fairly prosperous as a family. George Fox grew up as a prideful, self-righteous person, and became a seeker of “truth” in spite of the fact that he did not lack material and spiritual care. Essentially, he was a combination of arrogance and religious madness. He quietly rebelled against Puritanism, and looked for spiritual guidance elsewhere. He became a religious vagabond for the next four years, wandering throughout England, at times seeking isolation. He was an From Mysticism to the Gospel 15 apostate who fits Jude’s description for such cases. “They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit…. wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” (Jude 1:12b-13b). In his presumptuousness, Fox badgered priests and divines. His first imprisonment was in 1649, after rising up in a crowded church in Nottingham, disputing the Biblical views of the local priest. This insurrectionist attitude was the badge of honor for the first Quaker generation. They took advantage of the social unrest caused by the Civil English War under Cromwell, and the fall of the monarchy, and practically started a religious revolution in England. Throughout the country, there were many rebels, low-lifers called Ranters20 who joined the Quaker religious revolution. They, as the Quakers, believed in the leading of the “spirit” and disregarded the Bible. George Fox was deeply fanatical, restless, and resilient- overcoming many beatings and prison terms. Many Quakers today still carry on the spirit of peaceful anarchy and individualism. The Green Peace movement is their creation. The fundamental Quaker trait is rebelling against authority of any sort- Biblical, state, or church. Quakers don’t take vows and don’t participate in wars; but they take an unwritten vow of submission to their sect and they wage political-correct wars like those of human rights and environmental issues. For instance Amnesty International, a Quaker originated human-rights agency, many times takes sides with the wrong detainees just for the sake of challenging governmental authority. George Fox was able to convert to his new religion of exaltation, Margaret Fell, the wife of the powerful Judge Thomas Fell, Lord of the Manor of Ulverston and master of Swarthmore Hall, along with three of her children. Judge Fell and his son never converted to the Quaker faith, and Thomas Fell Jr. openly opposed his mother on Quakerism. But Swarthmore Hall became the headquarters of the Quaker movement, and Margaret Fell used her husband’s influence to defend a lot of litigations in behalf of the fanatic Quakers. The Quaker movement gained influence and some political upper-hand through the Fells. Their house was constantly flocked by Quakers coming and going, eating and staying. Although being a married woman, Margaret Fell had unbridled admiration for her “spiritual guide”. Her daughters were mesmerized too. I quote from one of the letters from her daughters and herself to George Fox; they commit blasphemy calling Fox the “fountain of life and bread of life”. They worshiped him. Eternal praises be to our father, we your babes with one consent being gathered together in the power of the spirit, you being present with us, our souls do thirst and languish after you, and do challenge that right that we have in you; oh you bread of life, without which bread our souls will starve… Oh our life, our desires are to see you again that we may be refreshed and established…Oh my dear Father when will you come - Susan Fell, Dear Father pray for us - Sarah Fell, Oh my dear heart shall we not see you once more again - Isabel Fell, You are the fountain of life ( Ps. 36:9) - Mary Fell, Margaret Fell… And so my dear heart, let not the power of darkness separate your bodily presence from us… My soul thirsts to have you to come over, if it be but for two or three days21… Margaret Fell is nicknamed The Mother of Quakerism. She is equally responsible for the growth of the sect. Historians look at her as one of the first religious feminist; she was a preacher too. Margaret was an obsessive apostate. She traveled all over the British Isles propagating “the truth” and was imprisoned twice, having her property confiscated; wrote sixteen books (five From Mysticism to the Gospel 16 addressed to Jews), about twenty-seven epistles, mostly to Friends, and numerous epistles to authorities, including Charles II, the duke of York, the princess of Orange, and magistrates, mayors and justices22. In the 19th century another apostate woman, Ellen G. White of the Adventists equals and exceeds Margaret Fell in religious activism. Eleven years after her husband’s death, Margaret Fell married George Fox. She was fifty-five and he was forty-five. Fox said that it was more of a “spiritual union”, not a carnal one. As a matter of fact, they lived most of their married life separately- him in London, and her in Swarthmore, both fervently laboring for the expansion of their sect. Fox died when he was 67; she died much later, reaching the age of 87.