It is impossible to comprehend God's Providence with the human mind: "... there are many ways of God's Providence and... they can neither be interpreted by words nor comprehended by the mind."37 A Christian should "... to know that all sorrowful events on those who accept them with gratitude are brought about for salvation and are certainly beneficial."38 Earthly life is only a brief moment before eternal life. The Lord calls people to become children of His Kingdom, which is not of this world (John 18:36).

Many sects and occult teachings that exist today speak of their spiritual development, proposing to replace Christianity, which, according to them, is outdated and does not correspond to modern realities. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of these teachings are pantheistic. In pantheism, the nature of man and God (most often impersonal) are identical, in contrast to Christian monotheism. According to pantheism, God is the world. Does it follow from this that the world is God? If not, then we are forced to admit a certain reality that exists along with the world, but at the same time is not identical with God. But the very meaning of the word "pantheism"39 (pan – everything and theos – god) implies that God exhausts all things. But if the nature of God and man are identical, it means that man's will is determined by his nature and he cannot rise above it. In pantheism, man is, in fact, a slave of nature, its puppet. By the way, that is why in paganism there was virtually no such thing as "personality". If everything is God, as pantheism teaches, and each individual is only a part of the Absolute, destined to dissolve in Him, then such an individual does not represent any intrinsic value. There is nothing unique about it. This teaching puts a sign of ontological equality not only between God and man, but also between man and a mosquito, and consequently between the Almighty and any bug. Christianity, on the other hand, insists on the uniqueness of human nature, for each person is created in the image of God: "The perfection of man does not consist in what likens him to the totality of created things, but in what distinguishes him from the cosmos and likens him to the Creator."40 In pantheism such a perfection is impossible, since in pantheism the will is determined by nature. Monotheism destroys the dictates of nature. In Christianity, the nature of God and man is different, and above the nature of man there is something higher that is capable of transforming it. But if a Christian is able to subdue his nature, then a pantheist can only act as nature dictates. A Christian has a choice: to follow the will of nature or to overcome it by comprehending the Creator. In fact, Christianity is the path to freedom: "You are called to freedom, brethren..." (Gal. 5:13), which stems from the Christian teaching about the image of God in man. If man is not created in the image and likeness of God, if man is destined to be dissolved in the Godhead, then he is only a puppet of nature. It is quite possible that there are those who want to renounce the "image" of God and reduce him to the level of a slave, which moves them to spread the ideas of pantheism. But if a person renounces the image of God, will not the image of the beast replace him? The Holy Scriptures say: "And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet, who performed miracles before him, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image: both alive were cast into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone" (Rev. 19:20).

1 Rak I.V. Myths of Ancient Egypt. St. Petersburg, Petro-RIF. 1993. P.154.

2 Ibidem. P.181.

3 Ibidem. P.178.

4 Deacon Andrei Kuraev. Early Christianity and the Transmigration of Souls. Where the soul goes. Moscow, Troitskoe slovo Publ., 2001. P.23.

5 Ibidem. P.22.

6 Ibidem. P.41.

7 Ibidem. P.42.

8 Modern Dictionary of Foreign Words. Moscow, Citadel-Trade Publ., 2002. P.309.

9 Hinduism. Jainism. Sikhism. Dictionary. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 1996. P.230.

10 Geisler Norman L. Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. St. Petersburg, The Bible for All. 2004. P.816.

11 Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhagavad-Gita as it is. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. P.514.

12 Ibidem. P.520.