I've been researching Kabbalah the last few weeks, and it hasn't been much fun (it holds the same fascination as a particularly nasty car wreck--I'm horrified but I can't look away). My first impression was one of surprise; I didn't expect there to be so many types of Kabbalah, and I certainly didn't expect to find so many people under its influence. I wish I could give away some of the details of my research, but for now I can only say that it is worse than I ever suspected. Hollywood Kabbalah is by far the most disturbing of all, since it currently has a bankroll of millions that enables it to spread its new age dogma worldwide--and especially in the vulnerable country of Malawi.

Dr. David Livingstone first reached Malawi's Lake Nyasa in 1859, and he spent his life trying to help its people. He fought hard against the slave trade, even chasing off some traders and setting the slaves free. As a result of his work, Malawi eventually became a nation whose primary religion is Christianity.

Today, almost half the population of Malawi are children under the age of 14, and millions are now orphans due to the AIDS epidemic. Famine, Malaria and death haunt this small country (the size of Pennsylvania) and now another battle has begun, thanks to an aging American Rock Star and her quest for inner peace. Madonna became involved in Hollywood Kabbalah in 1996, while pregnant with her daughter, Lourdes, and she has since become its most infamous convert. Today, Madonna's sites are set on Africa, and she is determined to save the lives of as many of Malawi's children as possible (which is good) and stake Kabbalah's claim on their souls (which is very bad indeed).

One of the things Madonna's teacher, Rabbi Berg, and his sons teach at Kabbalah Centres around the world is the Law of Cause and Effect: Every human action produces a cause, which in turn, produces an effect. If you do good things, good will come to you. If you do bad things, bad things will come to you.

Sounds a lot like Karma to me . . . but it wears the label Kabbalah.

So, if we chase the rabbit down the cause and effect rabbit hole, all of Malawi's people must be guilty of horrific things and their misery is basically their own fault. This law is a major tenet of Hollywood Kabbalah--one that thousands of Malawi's children are now being taught--and the burden of guilt it places upon the shoulders of the innocent is despicable.

Jesus Christ anticipated this terrible error and explained the entire problem of cause and effect when his disciples asked him one simple question:

"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:1-4

God decided to allow this man's blindness--to suit His purpose. The blind man was not responsible for his blindness; his parents and grandparents were not responsible for it, and there was no reason to blame him for anything. God will be God--He will decide who is sick and who is not. That is the bottom line.

But God and the kabbalists do not agree on many, many things.

And so, it is another sad day for Malawi . . . but there is still hope: Christian ministries are working very hard there to make a difference. They are feeding the children, caring for them and telling them about the love of Jesus--and it is their presence that provides the true ray of light.