Question: "What is Kabbalah?"

Answer: Kabbalah has many different ways of being spelled in English. It can be as you have spelled it, or one of the following: Kaballah, Kabala, Qabalah, or Cabalah.

Kabbalah developed between the 6th and 13th centuries among Jews in Babylonia, Italy, Provence, and Spain. The word Kabbalah means "to receive" and refers revelation from God received by Jews and passed to succeeding generations through oral tradition. The word was first used by mainstream Judaism but later came to refer to those who believed that only a select few were given the secret knowledge from God as to the "true" meaning of Scriptures.

Kabbalah uses occultic practices and is considered to be a cult.

Kabbalah resembles closely some of the beliefs held by the Greek Gnostics in that both groups held that only a select few were given deeper understanding or knowledge. Also, Kabbalah teaches that emanations from God did the work of creation rather than creation being directly from God. With each descending emanation, the emanation became further away from God. The final emanation took the personal form of angels. This would be like God created a lesser god, and that one then created a lesser god, and this kept happening until the end result were angels. This directly contradicts God's revelation of Himself in the Bible. In the Bible, God teaches that He is both separate from all of His creation and yet is directly accessible by those who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

Kabbalah does hold to the inspiration of Scripture, but does not seek the plain meaning of Scripture. The Kabbalah approach is mystical and very subjective, using such things as numerology to find "hidden" meaning. Through this method, almost any teaching that one desires could be "found" in Scripture. This goes against the very heart of communication. God provided Scripture that He might communicate with mankind and teach humanity of Himself. It is obvious that Scripture is meant to be taken at face value and NOT mystical interpretation. This can be demonstrated by fulfilled prophecy. God said something would happen, and it happened as He said it would. The greatest example of this is the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ. The were hundreds of verses referring to His coming, and they were fulfilled literally (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Micah 5:2; Isaiah 53). This is why the Bible should be interpreted literally or normally.

Kabbalah even has a pantheistic characteristic. Pantheism is the idea that God and His creation are one. This of course is not what God has told us in the Bible. God created all that exists from nothing (the Hebrew word "bara"). Kabbalah says that creation is one of God's emanations - this is the pantheistic quality that Kabbalah has.

If you are seeking to know God and have a personal relationship with Him, look no further that Jesus Christ and the Bible. Jesus is God in the flesh, and He came to die for every person's sins. If an individual trusts in Christ -- that He is God (John 1:1-3) and paid for sin (Romans 8:3) -- then that person is forgiven and becomes a child of God (John 1:12).

Recommended Resource: The Kingdom of the Cults, revised and updated edition.