Review 2: The Disappearance of The Universe

Painfully Ridiculous and Theologically Absurd

Reviewed by: Joel S Peters
Book "The Disappearance of The Universe"
Author: Gary R Renard
Publisher: Hays Publishing

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I found this book at a used book sale. After browsing its contents, I bought it out of curiosity and to remove it from circulation. I am an avid reader, and I can't think of anything I've read that even comes close to being as utterly outlandish and theologically warped as this work.

The book is written mostly in a dialogue format, and it recounts how the author was visited by two "ascended masters"--two other-worldly beings that appeared as a human couple (named Pursah and Arten)--who over time instructed him in a religious world view based on teachings contained in a work called "Course in Miracles." (This book contains numerous citations from ACIM and its related textbooks.) Either work could be entitled "The Christian Faith is a Cruel Hoax," since both claim the Bible's contents--particularly the details of Jesus' life and ministry--are unreliable, distorted, fabricated and/or misunderstood. Disappearance's theological errors are extensive, so for space considerations these lists are actually pared down (page numbers in parentheses):

Biblical References That Are Contradicted:
the Bible is mostly false (9, 10, 88, 111)
John the Baptist rather than Jesus said "Love your enemies" (26)
everyone will end up in Heaven (46, 117, 387)
resurrection has nothing to do with a physical body (48, 246, 264)
reincarnation is real (57, 403)
the Virgin Birth didn't happen (65)
humans are "equally God's only begotten Son or Christ" (98, 105, 214, 240, 246, 303)
the central teaching of the New Testament, Jesus' passion and death, was a distortion of Jesus' message (111, 246)
all spiritual paths are the same and ultimately lead to God (117)
Jesus' cross is not a call to sacrifice (246)
sin is not real (260, 303, 336)
Heaven is "not a reward that is bestowed on you by an outside force for good behavior" (264, 277)
Christ's second coming is not a literal, physical return (270)
in Heaven humans will be "exactly like" God (364)

Erroneous Teachings About Jesus:
He was not resurrected in the same body that was crucified (22)
He rejected most of the Old Testament (26)
He did not teach about the existence of hell (26)
His miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes never happened (27)
He did not atone for humanity's sins (28, 246)
He was not sinless (37)
He did not claim a unique relationship with the Father (41)
He didn't say more than 80% of what the NT records Him as saying (54)
the prophecy about His virgin birth was made up (54)
resurrection and physical immortality are "fantasies" (109)
His crucifixion was "nothing" to Him (111)
He is not God the Son in the flesh, He is a creature (123)
the nails that pierced His hands on the cross didn't hurt Him (246)
He didn't really die on the cross (246)
He was married to Mary Magdalene (361)

Disappearance and ACIM both overlook the fact that Jesus promised His guidance to His followers (John 15:26; 16:1), that the Holy Spirit would guide them into truth (John 14:26; 16:13), and that He would always be with them (Matthew 28:20). To say otherwise is to assert that Jesus was a liar or a fool for promising what He couldn't deliver and that centuries of biblical scholarship by thousands of researchers studying tens of thousands of manuscripts were all for naught and ended up being entirely misguided. That's preposterous.

But Disappearance's absurdity doesn't end with theology; it is equally appalling when it comes to reality:

Common Sense or Reality That is Contradicted:
humans have no objective existence (34, 111, 246, 385, 388)
existence is entirely non-dualistic (60-61, 266, 390)
the world, physical sickness, and time are illusions (9, 34, 71, 123, 131, 212, 214, 301, 311, 387)
"intelligent humanoid life migrated from Mars to Earth" (342, 376)
death is not real (385, 388)

There is a term for people who deny reality: mental illness. I assume Renard does not suffer from it, so the only other explanation for his book is that he *chooses* to deny what his senses clearly detect. This possibility also requires an explanation.

I have no reason to doubt Renard was visited by someone--but who? Renard did have one moment of clarity, but he dismissed it because Pursah poo-poo'ed the idea: "I have a cousin who's a minister and he'd say you two [Pursah and Arten] are witnesses for Satan, not God" (p. 14). It's not coincidental that the Bible states, "for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light...his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Herein, I submit, lies the identity of these "masters" based on three main reasons: (1) they wholly contradict the Bible; (2) they say sin is unreal and humans can save themselves; and (3) Renard frequently engaged in spiritually questionable practices that likely exposed him to demonic influence: he participated in a New Age Harmonic Convergence (p. xv); he had psychic episodes of "little flashes of light out of the corner of [his] eye, or occurring around certain objects" (p. 4) and "mystical images" of previous lives (p. 57); he practiced meditation (presumably Eastern) (p. 4); he practiced est (p. 15); he read the New Age _Out on a Limb_ (p. 180); and he experienced astral projection (p. 299). It seems he made himself ripe for spiritual deception.

I have many more critical observations about this book, but space is limited. At least the author can claim being deceived by demons disguised as angels. What explanation do other people have for choosing to deny reality and the Christian faith merely by reading this book?! Mostly 5-star reviews? That's deeply troubling. Let the sane reader beware! This book is proof positive of the toxic effects of irrational thought and the profoundly disturbing choice to be uncritical of the paranormal.