Occult means hidden, and religiously is generally about secret or semisecret religions. Sometimes they had a public presence, but the details were secret. In New Testament times these were called “mystery” religions. Secrets were at the very center of their existence.

The Core Religious Secrets

Sometimes mathematical or scientific or political secrets were involved, but at the center of their teachings were religious secrets. Secrets revealed from “the gods,” but which were too high and holy for the average man. These were things needed for salvation, but only specially selected “better people” were good enough to learn these things.

When they encountered Christianity, they would say that Jesus was good, but that there were other higher truths which were necessary for salvation. These tended to be religions of the well-to-do, the rich and the famous.

Methods of Indoctrination

The teaching was mainly by powerful religious dramas in which the initiate participated. The initiate knew only his own lines, but until the initiation he did not know where the drama was leading, or rather, where it was leading him.

The secrets of whatever religion was involved, were revealed in stages or levels. In the beginning levels the dramas were intended to be emotionally impressive, but generally did not teach any serious secrets. The initiate was then covertly observed to see how he reacted, and whether he was capable of keep a secret! (Some people just cannot keep their mouths shut, and tell everything they know. If the initiate was like that, then he never advanced to higher levels of initiation.)

If the initiate proved receptive, and could keep secrets, then he was advanced to higher and higher levels of initiation. When he was fully instructed, then in Greek he was called a “perfect,” teleios.

The Political Realities of Such Groups

Such groups were ready made for political intrigue and duplicity, and almost always became involved in politics. With the different levels of indoctrination, the lower level men really never knew what the order was truly about. If they stayed, they were trusting that they were involved in some good higher calling, OR that regardless of the objectives of the order, that they would be on the inside of some lucrative enterprise that would bring them high level friends and advancement.

Such groups have often been the covert movers and shakers in whatever society they were involved. Some of these groups were what we now call “gnostics,” which roughly means, “those who know,” or at least think they know!

The Spiritual Realities

Especially the books of Ephesians and Colossians were intended to refute the claims of such groups. Paul says that their claims to higher knowledge are false. He says of the Christ he teaches,

“whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect [the Greek word here is teleios] in Christ Jesus;”
Col 1:29 WEB emphasis added

In other words, true salvation in Jesus Christ is for ALL. It is not just for men, or white men, or certain “better” men, but for ALL MEN, and it is all publicly revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901