THE END-TIME HANDMAIDENS & SERVANTS
PROFILE OF GWEN SHAW
In the Charismatic world, one relatively unknown organization called the End-Time Handmaidens and Servants has, in large measure, managed to escape critical evaluation. The founder and president of the End-Time Handmaidens and Servants, Gwen Shaw, is today a major player in the global Signs and Wonders, Spiritual Warfare and Global Transformation movements. Each year ETH&S sponsors a World Convention, among its other conventions, whose featured speakers have included: C. Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs, Benny Hinn, Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda, Randy Clark, John and Carol Arnott, Chuck Pierce, Stacey Campbell, George Otis, Jr., Tommy Tenney, Derek Prince and, most recently, Dutch Sheets. Another speaker was Roberts Liardon, a homosexual who claims he went to heaven, and alchemical gold-dust eaters, Ruth Heflin and Robert Shattles, who died of cancer in 2000 and 2001 respectively.
The membership of End-Time Handmaidens and Servants includes Suzanne Hinn, the wife of Benny Hinn, who spoke at the 2001 World Convention; and Gwen Shaw occasionally appears on Benny Hinn’s TV show, “This is Your Day.” Shaw also collaborates with C. Peter Wagner, President of the United Prayer Track of AD 2000 and Beyond, as a leader in the Spiritual Warfare movement. She is a member of Wagner's Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders, which includes Mike Bickle, Paul Cain (honorary member), Stacey Campbell, Wesley Campbell, Chuck Pierce, Rick Ridings, John and Paula Sandford, Dutch Sheets, Tommy Tenney, Doris and Peter Wagner and Cindy Jacobs, the President of Generals of Intercession, who quotes Gwen Shaw as an authority on “spiritual warfare.”
Gwen Shaw claims to have traveled to most of the nations of the world. According to her own testimony, from 1963 to 1970, she left her children and missionary husband, Dave Schmidt, in Hong Kong, whence she traveled alone to Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, India (12 times), Argentina, Africa, Europe, Turkey, and eventually the United States. Although Gwen Schmidt missed her children, before going to India in 1966, God had warned her that “if I ever put my children ahead of him there would be a price to pay—a price that would be greater than the one I was paying. So again I said yes, and turned my face to India.”
After nearly a decade of separation from her husband and children, Gwen Schmidt returned to the United States surprised to find that her marriage was over. While in Argentina, however, she had asked God to “‘raise up ten thousand women—women just like myself, who will pay any price, make any sacrifice, be totally obedient to Your will.’ The year was 1966.” And so, the End-Time Handmaidens was founded in 1970 around the time Gwen Shaw married Lt. Col. James v. D. Shaw. Now renamed the “End-Time Handmaidens and Servants,” the organization today includes men and its global membership numbers several thousand men and women.
It is most interesting that Gwen Shaw spent so much time in India—she claims as a missionary—which became her “great love.” She shared in her autobiography, Unconditional Surrender, that on one occasion when she was speaking in India, “the eye of God” appeared behind her that was seen by the entire audience.
THE EYE OF GOD ON THE TENT WALL
“The next city in which the tent went up was Moradabad. God poured out His Spirit in even a mightier way. The tent was packed on the closing night. I knew that the Holy Spirit was greatly convicting the people of their sins. I was walking among the people, preaching, taking authority over demonic spirits that had been manifesting themselves through a demon-possessed man in the audience. People began to run to the altar. One young woman screamed out for mercy as she threw herself down on the altar. When I gave the altar call, many, many came. They had seen the eye of God on the tent wall behind me when I gave the altar call.” (Gwen Shaw, Unconditional Surrender, p. 184)
Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Freemasonry will recognize this apparition as the “Eye of Horus” or “Third Eye”—a symbol of occult illumination or enlightenment. The Indians would have recognized it as the “Third Eye of Shiva,” who, in the Hindu trinity, is known as the Destroyer. Shiva has a “third eye” on his forehead that emits fire if opened.
“Shiva is one of the principal gods of the Hindu pantheon, and in the textbook view of Hinduism, he is one of the 'trinity' of Hindu gods, of which the other two are Brahma and Vishnu. Shiva is represented as the Destroyer....he was earlier known as Rudra, or the Fearful and Destructive One. Though the power of destruction, which in the most intensified form makes him a Bhairava (‘The Terrible Destroyer’), remains Shiva’s principal attribute, the corollary of that attribute, namely creation or fertility, is also central to the identity of Shiva... Sometimes...he appears as the yogi, in whom are concentrated all the powers acquired by meditation, penance, and a life of austerity.... He is known, according to some ancient authorities, by 1,008 epithets: among these are...Trilochana, ‘the three-eyed’. The ‘third eye of Shiva’ has become the stuff of much legend, not only in India: it is with this eye that Shiva destroyed Kama, the Lord of Love, who had the impunity to tempt Shiva with amorous thoughts of his consort Parvati as he sat in penance. Shiva is often shown with Parvati; he is also shown as ardhnarishwara, half-man and half-woman.” (Manas: Indian Religions, Shiva)
No wonder the Indian woman in Gwen Shaw’s tent meeting screamed out for mercy and the Indians ran to the altar when Shaw gave the altar call. These Indians were repenting for their sins to the Hindu god, not Jesus Christ—for Gwen Shaw preaches the false gospel of Gnostic occultism, the same gospel she claims Jesus taught in India during his world travels!
Yves Brault has also compared Gwen Shaw’s practices to those of Hindu gurus:
“Mark Scheiderer used to be part of the End Time Handmaidens and Servants cult. In five years, he did 3-4 21 day fasts; a 24 day fast and a 3 day fast from everything followed by a 3 day water fast. He writes: ‘I feel that the spirits that control Shaw can begin to control others after Shaw lays hands on them. I do feel that the fasting ‘for the anointing’ (which is unscriptural) and the learning of false doctrine through Shaw’s writings keep people in error, which in turn leads into bondage, control and influence of demonic spirits.’
“In her autobiography she says that once when she was ministering to a crowd, that a giant eye appeared on the wall behind her and that the whole crowd saw it. This is absolutely demonic and ties in with Hindu concepts of the third eye.“Gwen Shaw operates in much the same manner as these gurus. When an initiate of a guru has completed their training, the guru lays hands on the space on their forehead above and between their eyes. Many times the initiate goes into an ecstatic state as soon as the guru makes contact. This is called the ‘shakti pat’. The same phenomena happens in Christian churches and the Charismatics call it ‘Slain in the spirit.’ The same demonic spirits are at work.
“When one has completed their 21 days fast and takes their vows,—the 30th vow is ‘I want to be your end-time Handmaiden servant’—They do so only when Shaw is present, she lays hands on them and usually they are ‘slain in the spirit’.
“Sai Baba, a guru in India with 10-50 million followers has been known to appear to his followers in their dreams.. At the eth-s.org site there is a testimony of those who e-mailed in testimonies have said that Sister Gwen has appeared to them in dreams. When Mark Scheiderer was at the headquarters, one of the women said that many times when Shaw was gone, she would need guidance on certain issues. She would dream of Shaw and Shaw would give her guidance.
“Shaw is nothing more than a thoroughfare for demonic spirits.
“I am like many others convinced that Sister Gwen is a link between the East and its occult practices and apostate Christians.”
Today there are many New Age cults disguised as “Christian ministries.” These cults exert as much control over their members as do the more blatant New Age cults, only they use more subtle methods which are cloaked in Biblical terminology. Such methods of control include requiring the taking of “vows”, which Jesus forbade (Matt. 5:34), and prolonged “fasts” which leave the cult member in a physically weakened and mentally passive state and, as a result, susceptible to cult manipulation and paranormal experiences. Like New Age cults, these pseudo-Christian cults are usually led by charismatic leaders, such as Gwen Shaw, who function as conduits for Satan to transfer evil spirits to large masses of unquestioning followers. One mode of demonic transfer in pseudo-Christian cults is the indiscriminate “laying on of hands,” also called being “slain in the spirit,” which is known in Hinduism as “Shaktipat.” This occult technique is named after Shakti, another name for Parvati, wife of the god, Shiva:
“The most feared and revered deity in Hinduism is the goddess Kali (Durga), the wife of Shiva the destroyer. She is also known as Skakti, which means force and represents the impersonal force that occultism teaches runs the universe. The divine power-touch of the guru is called Shaktipat. This is a term used for the touch (or near touch) of a guru’s hand to the worshipper's forehead that produces supernatural effects. Shakti literally means power (so they believe) underlying the universe. The supernatural effect of shakti through the guru’s touch may knock the worshipper to the floor or he may see a bright light and receive an experience of enlightenment or inner illumination, or have some other mystical or psychic experience.” (Ellis Stewart, Bill Rudge Ministries)
The apostle Paul admonished Timothy, “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.” (I Tim. 5:22) It stands to reason that this principle works both ways. Like the “divine touch” of the Hindi guru, if the cult leader is secretly involved in occult activity, his/her followers are at serious risk of receiving evil spirits that are transferred by the laying on of hands. Which is the reason God warned His people to “test the spirits”: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1) This verse implies that the spiritual state of those in leadership positions cannot be determined by outward appearances. This hidden but crucial factor must be ascertained through prayer and careful evaluation according to the Word of God: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” (John 7:24)
Gwen Shaw left her family in Hong Kong in 1963 and traveled alone for seven years to Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Argentina, Africa, Europe, Turkey and the United States. However, India was her “great love.”
SHARE MY BURDENIndia, My Great Love“Beloved India became my great love. I always say, ‘China was my first love and India was my great love.’ Twelve times I have served God in that nation. There are no words to describe what it means to feel God’s heartbeat of love for a nation. I would have gladly laid down my life for the Lord in India—in fact, that was my desire; but it was not His will. One of the greatest joys of my life of service to God was when He called me to raise a tent and preach in many parts of North India.”
Why India? Madame H.P. Blavatsky, founder of Theosophical Society, also preferred India to all other countries, even to the extent that she relocated the headquarters of the Theosophical Society to India. What could possibly be the attraction of India, which is a sinkhole of poverty and paganism (and these are probably not unrelated)? Blavatsky informed her devotees that the mystery religions of the world had their origins in ancient India, which conveyed to ancient cultures the teachings of the fallen angels of the pre-Flood civilization of Atlantis.
“WHEN broke the dawn of that civilization in Egypt whose wondrous perfection is suggested by the fragments supplied to us by the archaeologists?…How came Egypt by her knowledge? From whom did she learn her wondrous arts, the secrets of which died with her? She sent no agents throughout the world to learn what others knew; but to her the wise men of neighboring nations resorted for knowledge. We have to seek in the religion of Egypt the key to all her mysteries; also have we to seek in the kinship of Egypt and India, the source and inspiration of her wisdom…
“Since we have found similar Divine Instructors—Dragons of Wisdom—in Persia and China, all teaching the same doctrines, there must have been a common source of Wisdom. That was India—though not the India of today. Great India once included Persia (Iran), Tibet, Mongolia, and Great Tartary. There was an upper and a lower India, and Hindustan was once called Æthiopia. So these various peoples must have come originally from one center and were of one root, though various in the color of their skin -- white, yellow, red and dark. It was from India that the eastern Æthiopians came into Egypt, bringing their civilization with them—all the knowledge of the Atlanteans, though they had no Atlantean blood in their veins -- under their first great human king, Menes [founder of Memphis].” (Theosophy, Vol. 15, No. 7, May, 1927)
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky integrated Hinduism and Buddhism with Western occultism to form Theosophy and founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. Her 3-volume tome, The Secret Doctrine, which was found on the night stand of Adolph Hitler, laid the foundation for the New Age Movement. Blavatsky is known as the “Mother of the New Age Movement.” The following profile of HPB, which describes her period of residence in India, was found on the website of the Church Universal and Triumphant:
The Jesus of the Church Universal and Triumphant:
Is He the Jesus of History and the Bible?
“Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), a Russian emigre, was the dominant personality and intellectual force in the transformation of Spiritualism into Theosophy…. Blavatsky, or H.P.B. as she preferred to be known, also replaced the idea of contact with the disembodied spirits of deceased humans with communion with a mysterious ancient Brotherhood of Adepts — individuals who had evolved supernatural powers through initiation into gnostic secrets traced back to ancient civilizations, especially Egypt. In her influential work Isis Unveiled, she developed an impressive, if eclectic case for a universal occult gnosis known to a brotherhood of initiates across all ages and civilizations. Isis conceived man as a downward emanation from the Universal Divine Spirit into matter; its soteriology was based on man's evolution back up to a higher spiritual level through gnosis, aided by contact with this secret brotherhood of adepts, who came to be designated as Ascended Masters or Mahatmas.
“Blavatsky moved to India in 1879 and her thinking soon reflected the integration of Hindu and Buddhist ideas with Western occultism that is the legacy of Theosophy. The soul’s evolution was now conceived to take place through an upward spiral of reincarnation in multiple lifetimes; karma, the universal law of spiritual cause and effect, was the regulating principle. The Ascended Master doctrine was accordingly developed to represent a brotherhood of highly evolved individuals who had achieved superhuman status and powers through gnostic initiation over this cycle of many reincarnations. In Theosophy, great religious figures of the Bible and history, including the occult traditions, such as Melchizedek, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Jesus, and Comte de Saint Germain are seen as Ascended Masters. They have sometimes appeared on earth as incarnate world teachers or to teach occult wisdom, and these historical appearances are construed in the context of astrological dispensations. All these great teachers have brought one universal message; if they seem to disagree it's because their teachings were adapted to the historical and cultural contexts in which they appeared, or because their true doctrines have been corrupted. (In CUT's belief system Jesus is explicitly identified as one of these Ascended Masters; he is often referred to as the Piscean Master.) Blavatsky's occult synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas was expressed in her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine (1888), the Bible of the Theosophical movement whose influence in occult circles has never been equaled.”
Another profile of Helena Blavatsky strangely parallels the personal life of Gwen Shaw, who went to India after leaving her husband (and children). After nearly a decade of separation from her husband, Shaw's marriage ended in divorce. Blavatsky also left her husband to go to India, that ancient source of pagan religion. There she studied Hinduism and Buddhism and met the Ascended Masters, i.e. fallen angels.
“[1848] When 17 she married General Nicephore Blavatsky... After three unhappy months of a honeymoon, HPB managed to escape from the General's bodyguards and... was aboard an English bark, some say eloping with the skipper, sailing for Constantinople.
“The years between 1848-1858 are known as Helena's vagabond years. The actual events are rather sketchy. The important thing to HPB, at least, was the two years she was in Tibet studying with the Lama. In 1856, according to her version, while in India she met a Lutheran minister who was with two mystics...
“In July 1878 Helena P. Blavatsky became the first Russian woman to acquire United States citizenship. Some say she did so not to have the English in India think she was a Russian spy. She and Olcott went to India in December of that year in order to revive the [Theosophical] society's study of Hindu and Buddha religions.
“It was in India that HPB and the society gained much support. Newly acquired supporters included Sinnett, the statesman Allen O. Hume, and various high-caste Indians and English officials. At this time HPB aided Sinnett and Hume in corresponding with the Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya. From this the first suspicions of the Masters occurred, when their handwriting closely resembled that of HPB. However, nothing was every proven conclusively.
“In 1882 the headquarters of the society was moved to an estate in Adyar, near Madras. There HPB had a shrine room constructed for the Mahatmas where they could directly manifest their communications.
“HPB died in her home on May 8, 1891. She became unable to walk and suffered from various diseases. She was cremated with a third of her ashes remaining in Europe, and a third going to America and India each.”
According to the CUT profile, from the time Blavatsky moved to India her writings reflected Hindu and Buddhist ideas mixed with Western Occultism. Did Gwen Shaw also receive her Eastern Occult doctrines during her twelve visits to India, her “great love”? Did she also meet the Ascended Masters in India? She would never reveal that much to Christian audiences, but many of her teachings and techniques reflect the Hindu belief system. It is for that reason this profile has been provided as a background to supplement the following exposes of Gwen Shaw’s occult teachings and practices, which we recommend to our readers.
THE OCCULT TEACHINGS OF GWEN SHAW
Love, The Law of the Angels, which is required reading for all End-Time Handmaidens and Servants, is a primer on Gnostic Occultism. Every chapter presents fundamental Gnostic doctrines cloaked in Biblical terminology along with occult practices that are expressly forbidden in Scripture. This report examines these Gnostic doctrines and occult practices as they are found in Gwen Shaw’s book. However, it is more than an expose of Shaw’s teachings—it is a treatise on Gnostic Occultism which will inform Christians on the key doctrines and practices of this revived heresy. It is designed to equip believers to recognize the various Gnostic heresies and associated occult practices in other pseudo-Christian sources.
ETH&S *ANOINTED YOUTH RETREAT*
Gwen Shaw has predicted a “changing of the guard” in the Church after which “anointed children will have God’s authority to preach the Word with signs following.” What signs and lying wonders will accompany the upcoming generation of *anointed children* who are being prepared for ministry by the End-Time Handmaidens and Servants? Angel Apparitions . . .“Eye of Shiva”. . . Shaktipat . . . Ingesting Gold Dust . . . Superconductivity . . . Luciferic Initiation . . . Translation . . .
TESTIMONY OF A FORMER END-TIME HANDMAIDEN
A former End-Time Handmaiden has written her recollections of the cultic experiences she had and false teachings she received in the ETH&S.