Does the CIA Gateway Process interfere with Christianity?
Question:
Does the CIA Gateway process interfere with Christianity?
Answer:
I had no idea what this was, so I glanced through a few sources. In 1983, Wayne M. McDonnell, a Lieutenant Cornel in the U.S. Army, gave the CIA a paper claiming to have a procedure "to help people access the intuitive knowledge of the universe, as well as travel in time and commune with other-dimensional beings." It was dressed up in scientific terminology and was called the Gateway Process. "The Gateway Process was originally the brainchild of radio producer Robert Monroe, who in the 1970s studied the effects of certain sound patterns on human consciousness."
Notice that this document lacks credibility. The sources are not scientists, but they use scientific-sounding statements to make outlandish claims that are straight out of new-age religions. "McDonnell packaged the document in physical science lingo to avoid any unwanted connections to the occult." However, the lingo doesn't change what it claims. It just makes the gullible more likely to accept it. "McDonnell blithely layers accepted physics theories on top of statements so unsubstantiated that they sound made-up." That is because they were made up. Toward the end of the document, McDonnell "makes a sharp turn from spiritual ideas dressed in scientific language to explicit religious doctrine." It promotes the new-age religious idea that the universe is a consciousness that people can tap into. It is nothing more than pantheism dressed up with scientific language.
These foolish ideas don't interfere with Christianity. Christianity exists on a foundation of truth presented in the Bible. Those who accept Christ's doctrine will quickly recognize this "Gateway Process" is a false belief. See "Pantheism and Deism." Such false ideas will draw the gullible, as Paul warned.
"And with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness" (II Thessalonians 2:10-12).
Footnote:
All quotes about the Gateway Process paper are from Susan Lahey, "The CIA’s Secret Plan to Build a Laser Beam Powered by the Human Mind," Popular Mechanics, 30 May 2023.