8 Journal of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project

When the staff of the SCP sent their newsletter to the typesetter back in the Spring of 1977, they had too much material for their usual format, so made the switch to a journal. I was on the mailing list so I have Vol. 1, No.1, "Thanatology: Death and Dying." I apparently didn't see this journal as part of my collection, and it is terribly marked up with green and blue ink, red pencil, and coffee stains. I did not keep it with my collection, but found it on my reference shelf.

If you were around in the 70s, you may remember that "life-after-death," without real death and out of body experiences were huge topics for best sellers and guests on talk shows. The writings of Elizabeth Kubler Ross, Edgar Cayce, and Raymond Moody (Life After Life) were giving a lot of people hope, not offered by Jesus, for an afterlife.

Authors Mark Albrecht and Brooks Alexander conclude the special topic on death with

"[M]an is saved only in being raised from the dead by the power of Christ to overcome death. Not a natural immortality of the soul, but resurrection from the grave is the message of Jesus and the Bible. It is only the death of Christ, the second Adam, that could transform death itself--the very penalty for sin--into a means of deliverance from its guilt, finality and power."

The web page provides this history

"Since 1973, the Spiritual Counterfeits Project [SCP] has been a frontline ministry confronting the occult, the cults, and the New Age movement and explaining why they are making an impact on our society. SCP was born from the counterculture of the turbulent '60's, as the first wave of Christian conversion hit those who had left Christianity for Eastern mysticism. Those who shaped SCP came to faith in the heat of that battle; they knew that this prized and costly new faith carried spiritual responsibilities. The battle facing the Church was the very thing from which those in SCP had escaped--the mystical worldview. SCP was created as the vehicle for bringing that message to a wider audience. "

Having changed its name almost immediately, the SCP Journal it is still publishing well researched articles in a handsome, glossy format with excellent graphics and writing four times a year. The latest themed issue featured on the web page is "The Two Jerusalems, A Biblical Look at the Modern State of Israel, Judaism and the Church" By Alan Morrison.

I've never seen this publication on the news stand, but it deserves a place in larger, evangelical church libraries. The SCP Newsletter is published 4 times a year.

Journal of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project
April 1977, Vol.1, no.1
ISSN (na)
Subject: Christianity
Publication schedule, alternates with newsletter
Spiritual Counterfeits Project
Box 4308
Berkeley, CA 94704
free; donation of $5 requested for annual subscription (in 1978)
http://www.scp-inc.org/publications/index.php#journal
Editor: Brooks Alexander