Bolivia is perhaps the first example of a Marxist state that is religiously, occultically pagan. Is Bolivia a picture of our global future–a spiritual, nature-worshiping collectivist state, where Caesar is Lord?

Two years ago, President Evo Morales, of Incan/Aymaran descent, claimed the rights to all three branches of government, and his goons were eliminating opponents in the dead of night. At the time, I was teaching pastors in Cochabamba, Bolivia and so witnessed the rise of indigenous paganism as a political force. In January 2011, Morales introduced legislation that grants legal rights to the Earth and provides an ombudsman to hear nature’s complaints as voiced by the all-knowing high priests of deep ecology, who claim to be spiritually in touch with Nature!

The worship of Pachamama, the fertility Goddess of Nature, is now a fundamental element in the law code of Bolivia, and Morales (in his commitment to Pachamama and to the ancient Incan religion of Bolivia) is supported by a shadow cabinet of shamans, who sacrifice llamas as part of this spirituality.

Bolivia is perhaps the first example of a Marxist state that is religiously, occultically pagan. Is Bolivia a picture of our global future–a spiritual, nature-worshiping collectivist state, where Caesar is Lord? Will ecology be the “power shift” (Van Jones’s words to 10,000 young climate activists—to thunderous applause!) that joins pagan spirituality to coercive politics? An earth-worshiping “green agenda” will open the minds and souls of our youth to the iron grip of Pachamama. As Mary Poppins knew, “Just a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down!” Our urgent task is to teach our young people to worship the Creator, not Mother Earth.

You may think me overly sensational. Consider the fact that Bolivia just tabled a treaty at the United Nations, giving “Mother Earth” the same global rights as humans–complete with enforceable laws, by 2014. On April 22, 2011 the UN declared the second International Mother Earth Day, which the White House heralded on Easter weekend in an eight-paragraph statement—while making not one mention of Easter!

The international Pachamama Alliance’s mission is to “empower indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest to preserve their lands and culture… [and] to bring forth a sustainable world.” Notice the move from the Amazon “rainforests” to “the world.” Van Jones, President Obama’s 2010 “green jobs czar” is a board member of the Pachamama Alliance, which claims a close relationship with the UN Development Program. Clearly, these ideas are circulating in the highest circles of political power. Jones is also a member of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, which merges ecology, politics and “progressive” spirituality. Other members include the UN’s Maurice Strong, Deepak Chopra, Michael Lerner, Matthew Fox, Stanislav Grof, Jean Houston, Starhawk, Brian Swimme, Richard Tarnas, Neale Donald Walsch, Marianne Williamson and Barbara Marx Hubbard, names known to those who read my books on spiritual One-ism.

This agenda is more advanced than we might imagine, thanks to the very spiritual Maurice Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev. Their 2002 Earth Charter, a document determining environmental and ethical life on the planet for all nations, was received at the UN as the “new law” for the global age. Housed in “the Ark of Hope,” it was clearly meant to replace the Law of Moses. In a public lecture I attended, one of the drafters of this document showed how placing phrases in the Preamble of The Earth Charter introduced an animistic spiritual interpretation of reality (e.g. “Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe…Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life”). The “native peoples” on the committee exulted because, “for the first time an international document expressed their [religiously pagan] worldview.” For now, the Earth Charter is “soft law,” but proponents are working to make it “hard law” for the entire planet.

Back in Bolivia, God, the Father and Creator of nature, who calls us to care for His creation, is now identified with the “alien” religion of the gringo/Spanish who exploited Bolivian land (some of which is true, alas). Christianity must be marginalized to make way for the now legal and obligatory ancient animistic worship of Mother Earth. This is the same conflict Elijah faced, between the Lord the Creator and the worship of the forces of Nature represented by Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 18).

I remember a tiny, deeply tanned Aymaran Christian lady, dressed in the typical billowing skirt and bowler hat perched on the top of her head, who was seated on the front row of the church where I was preaching. After the service, with tears in her eyes, she gave me a hug of Christian affection, having heard once more of the Gospel of the Savior she loves. Pray for our Bolivian Christian brothers and sisters, to speak God’s truth courageously to all. And let’s pray for our youth as we teach them the crucial difference between care for the earth and worship of it.
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Dr. Peter Jones is Director of truthXchange, and Adjunct Professor of New Testament, as well as Scholar in Residence, at Westminster Seminary California. He has written The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back (1992), Spirit Wars (1997), Gospel Truth/Pagan Lies (1999), Capturing the Pagan Mind (2003), Cracking DaVinci’s Code (2004, co-author, James Garlow), Stolen Identity (2006) and The God of Sex (2006). Peter Jones is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, and is married to Rebecca Clowney Jones. They have seven children and twelve grandchildren. For recreation, Dr. Jones enjoys playing jazz piano and golf.