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The distortions of God continue unchecked in the culture of the Enneagram celebrities. A recent example is Rev. Michael John Cusick, M.A., L.P.C., founder and CEO of Restoring the Soul, an organization in Colorado. IAN CRON recently promoted Michael John Cusick on his Typology podcast. In doing a bit of research on Cusick and his organization, I came across his podcast, “Episode 100 – Kelley Gray, ‘5 Ways the Enneagram Can Strengthen Your Marriage, Part II: Understanding How Your Partner Handles Conflict’” on Luminary.

We see this quote in the description by “Intensive Clinical Soul Care Specialist” Kelley Gray, M.A., L.P.C. at Restoring the Soul.

“The Enneagram is the Face of God and the Body of Christ”

According to the podcast description, Kelley Gray is their “resident expert on the Enneagram.” As the resident expert, she would know how the god promoted by their organization should be depicted. Apparently, it is the Enneagram.

Ian Cron is the co-author of the Enneagram book The Road Back to You and has had a parade of Christians on his Enneagram program advocating the Enneagram. The statement above is not an anomaly but one of many invading the church. It reveals the Enneagram’s effect of altering the biblical view of God and Jesus Christ with the churches that have embraced its use:

• The Enneagram is “the face of God” (Richard Rohr, Suzanne Stabile, Ian Cron)
• In “Seven Benefits of the Enneagram that Most People Miss” under point one, “Appreciating God’s Presence,” minister Bill Gaultiere of Soul Shepherding mentions one of the talks they give is “The Nine Faces of Christ in the Enneagram.”
• In “Seven Benefits of the Enneagram that Most People Miss,” Bill Gaultiere explains that Jesus is the “center” of the Enneagram and the “perfection” of all the Types.
• Are you feeling disconnected from God? No problem; in “Seven Benefits of the Enneagram that Most People Miss” Bill Gaultiere offers hope. The “Spirit of Jesus” can be found via the Enneagram: “By relying on the Spirit of Jesus through the ancient wisdom of the Enneagram, we can grow in God’s grace.”
• We allegedly see the “face of Christ” in other Types: “The Enneagram also recommends a path of growth for you by identifying another type’s ‘face of Christ’ that you especially need to learn from” (Bill Gaultiere “Seven Benefits of the Enneagram that Most People Miss”)
• Cartoonish and irreverent depictions of Jesus, showing him acting out each type on the webpage of Belton Church of Christ, Belton, TX. Scroll down the page to “Bonus: here’s a picture of Jesus as each Enneagram type!”
• In “Introducing the Enneagram with Chris Heuertz,” one of Heueretz’s oft-repeated refrains is that the Enneagram is “nine paths to God.”
• According to Enneagram teacher and author Beth McCord (Your Enneagram Coach),  being baptized into the Enneagram puts your “Core Weaknesses” “to death” and brings your “heart’s Core Longing” “to Life. Two examples are Type 7 & Type 8 on Your Enneagram Coach Facebook page. (Screenshots on file)
• In The Zeitcast with Jonathan Martin, “Neuroscience & the Enneagram, Part Two: The Enneagram of God,” Chiropractor Jerome Lubbe speculates:
  • that Jesus was an eight since he “stirred things up.”
  • that the Triad in the Enneagram might refer to the Trinity (in actuality, the Triads come from George Gurdjieff’s way of the monk, the fakir, and the yogi)
  • and the possible answer to the ever-important question, what number God might be

• The idea of God having a “personality” is discussed in the CANA post, “Does God have a Personality?: God and Self in the Enneagram.”

Calling the Enneagram the “body of Christ” is an attack on the church, which biblically is the true body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:4, 15-16, 5:29-30).

Knowing God or The True Self?

Rather than studying the nature of God and who Jesus is through God’s revelation in Scripture, many are using the Enneagram as an attempt to go from self to God and, in the process, remaking God in man’s image. Due to the mishandling of an Augustinian prayer, the false idea that we know God by first knowing ourselves has become a way to promote and defend the Enneagram. In context, Augustine was talking about seeing himself as a sinner when exposed to the majestic light of the Holy God.

One cannot know God by knowing self. Rather, one knows God through God’s word and through knowing Jesus Christ

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. Hebrews 1:3a (also John 14:9-11; Colossians 1:3)

The sad irony is that the Enneagram was not designed as a tool to discover personality traits. It was designed to unmask a True Self or essence by dismantling the false self, the outward persona (as given by the nine Types). The “personality” is a false covering resulting from conditioning, experiences, and beliefs, and the True Self is hidden and allegedly can be discovered via the Enneagram.

In the New Age, where the Enneagram flourished before it reached the Evangelical church, the True Self is a divine self or Higher Self. In Richard Rohr’s teachings, the True Self is the self that was never separated from God.

The Christian version of the Enneagram about finding a sin pattern and/or a healthy expression of one’s Type departs from the Enneagram of Personality’s history and purpose. Moreover, the Enneagram, in its brief history (until recently), was not used to know the biblical God.

The Truth

Since the Enneagram is a spiritual tool from the occult and men who received their understanding of it through spirit contact and from the New Age, it should not be surprising that the true nature of God and Jesus is being distorted by it. Like the spiritual virus that is it, the mutations and distortions grow.

The Enneagram is promoted with untruths such as it has Christian origins, its history is murky, or no one knows the true origins; it is ancient. Crucial negative information about the men involved in its history is ignored or whitewashed. God hates falsehood because it goes against his nature (Psalm 25:5, 119:60; Proverbs 12:22; Numbers 23:19; John 17:17; Titus 1:2).

How ⁽blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, And ⁽has not turned to the proud, nor to those who become involved in falsehood. (Psalm 40:4)

Jesus said he is the truth and the only way to the Father (John 14:6). His nature is truth (John 1:14, 17; Ephesians 4:21; 1 Peter 2:22). The Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth” (John 16:13). The Trinity is truth. A tool built on falsehood and promoted with untruths cannot bear good fruit.

Christians are to love the truth as God does, and, on this basis alone, the Enneagram should be rejected since it is not based on biblical teaching, objective data, credible research, or valid studies.

One cannot expect good fruit from a pagan tool in spite of being baptized into the church with a spiritual purpose contra Christ. The quote at the beginning of this article is simply more evidence of the damage done by the Enneagram and publishers, Christian celebrities, pastors, and leaders who believe in and promote it. Eventually, the teeth behind the mask begin to show, and it will not be a pretty sight. (1 Peter 5:8)Ω

Before trusting Christ, Marcia Montenegro was a professional astrologer and was involved in Eastern and New Age practices for many years. Through her ministry, Christian Answers for the New Age, Marcia speaks around the country and on radio, and writes on New Age and occult topics. She has a Masters in Religion from Southern Evangelical Seminary, Charlotte, NC, and serves as a missionary with Fellowship International Mission, Allentown, PA. Based in Arlington, VA, she is the mother of an adult son and author of SpellBound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today’s Kids, (Cook, 2006). She is also co-author of Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret (MCOI Publishing, 2020) with Don and Joy Veinot You can find her online at: CANA or on Facebook at Christian Answers for the New Age

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