L. Ron Hubbard's Religion

D I A N E T I C S AND THE CASH VALUE OF S C I E N T O L O G Y 

by Dale Brown

"The best is waiting for you..." reads the glossy cover of "SOURCE", the #70 issue of the "Flag Land Base" Scientologist magazine. A woman with a happy face is shown holding a shiny chrome cylinder in each hand. The cylinders are part of a galvanometer which is called an E-Meter. It is a contraption similar to a lie detector (polygraph) which a Scientologist "minister", or auditor as they are called, gives the client a personality analysis. Through this "processing", a form of psychological manipulation which may cost several thousand dollars, one's goal is to become "clear," and thus experience unlimited happiness and power and even gain a higher degree of intelligence. One can even become an auditor himself and buy the top of the line Mark Super VII E-Meter which lists for as much as $4,625 in Source Magazine. As one reads through the magazine he quickly finds that the "Church of Scientology" has its own vocabulary with its own definitions. If it appears to be almost science fiction, it might have to do with the roots of the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. In the late 1940's, Hubbard had become quite a successful science fiction writer. His writing took a bit of a twist when he wrote "Dianetics" and labeled it as a non-fiction "Modern Science of Mental Health". In 1949 he reportedly said that if a man really wants to make $1 million, the best way would be to start his own religion. Despite the 1971 U.S. court ruling that Hubbard's "scientific" claims were bogus, Scientology continues to prey on uninformed individuals who are willing to part with their cash. Scientology is a prime example of the cash value of false religion in spite of the fact that they have lost their tax-exempt status.

The love of money is the root of all evil.

If one is willing to disclose what becomes the most personal details of their lives through evaluation by the E-Meter, former members claim these details might well become useful for future blackmail by the organization. Scientology has a colorful history of legal battles against former members and numerous publications who dared to speak publicly about their high pressure and rather questionable business practices. They are not small potatoes. They have fought Forbes Magazine, Reader's Digest, the American Medical Association, the Better Business Bureau, and the American Psychiatric Association. The church has had its problems. It has lost its tax-exempt status. In 1977 Hubbard's third wife Mary Sue was sentenced to four years in prison by a federal judge in Washington for bugging and burglarizing the Washington offices of the IRS, the Federal Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice Treasury, and the Labor departments. With her went eleven top church officials. "Don't ever defend, always attack," has been the Hubbard slogan, yet he and his church have run for cover more than once aboard his 300 foot ship Apollo and to other countries because of pressure from legal investigators. Since Hubbard's official death 1986, or in 1980 when he quit appearing publicly, or sometime in between (depending on who you listen to), he is no longer with us in the land of the living. Yet, the spirit that empowered him and his organization still continues on as does those of many other false prophets such as Mormonism's Joseph Smith and Mary Baker Eddy of Christian Science. Through the sale of their many books and publications, and the business machine of many employees that have been set into motion these cults continue to grow. As in the prophetic fulfillment of the words of Apostle Paul, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived". (2 Tim. 3:13) The following words from the Bible paint a pretty fair picture of many modern cults. "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ( 2 Tim. 3:1-7) In such cult systems there are basically two types of people, the deceivers, and the deceived. The deceivers are in it for their own gain, whether it be social, financial or whatever. The deceived, who most often started out simply trying to fill a need, a void in his life, often becomes a deceiver. When he becomes programmed by the system he can become more dangerous than his teacher. Jesus addressed the same problem in His day, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." (Matt. 23:15) The needs are legitimate. We all have a vacuum within ourselves which longs to be filled. Some fill it with toys, entertainment, sex, drugs, etc. Others find in some cult system or counterfeit religion a placebo which appears to fill that void. That void is longing for the things of God, but for a variety of reasons the seeker of truth often gives up in his search and settles for what in reality is only a counterfeit. Others in their total rebellion of truth fall prey to the cult system which becomes a form of God's judgment for their rebellion. In Scientology the goal through proper "processing" is to reach what is called "clear". It is a counterfeit salvation. To be "clear" is to be free from something that Scientology calls "engrams". These are negative traits that, of course for a price, the E-Meter has the solution. "Clears," can eventually regress through more stages to become a fully operational god or "thetan." The Bible says, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." (Col. 2:8) Jesus is the true answer to fill one's needs, but one must be willing to throw all of his cares, needs, "engrams" and all, on Him. Put aside your pride. He shed His blood on Calvary for YOU! Let Him take your sins and let Him work out your life. "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." (Rom. 10:11) If you have need of a miracle in your life, forget Dianetics and Scientology. Jesus is free. Besides, He said, "Whatever you ask in My name that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (Jn. 14:13) How can you argue with that?