The False Teachers of Gurdjieff's Fourth Way: the deceit of Sufis, Eastern Gurus and Metamodern influencers

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”—Matthew 7:15

We are living in an age of spiritual theft—an age where sacred truths are stripped for parts and repackaged into palatable mysticism for secular consumption and commerical gain. And nowhere is this more egregious than in the systematic misrepresentation of Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way.

A new wave of spiritual entrepreneurs and esoteric influencers have arisen, promoting a bastardized version of Gurdjieff’s teaching—one they claim is rooted in Sufism, or Eastern spirituality, or metamodern psychology.

They style themselves as torchbearers of “the Work,” and yet they deny, omit, or outright erase the very foundation upon which the Work was built: Christian metaphysics, Christian teleology, and the unmistakable affirmation of the resurrection and teaching of salvation of Jesus Christ.

These foundations are not shared with any other relgion or spiritual tradition except the Fourth Way and Christianity.

Let it be said without ambiguity:

They are deceivers.

Disingenuous at best. Fraudulent at worst.

And they should be ashamed of themselves.

Gurdjieff was not a Sufi, Eastern Spiritual Guru or Metamodernist.

Yes, Gurdjieff studied with all sorts of western and eastern esoteric lineages and spiritual traditions. But his mission was not to synthesize world religions. It was to resurrect the lost esoteric core of Christianity—the original teaching of Jesus Christ, uncorrupted by the moralism, literalism, and bureaucratic rot of modern churches.

“...if only the teaching of the Divine Jesus Christ were carried out in full conformity with its original, then the religion, unprecedentedly wisely founded on it, would not only be the best of all existing religions, but even of all religions which may arise and exist in the future."—Beelzebub's Tales, p. 1009

His system—metaphysical, psychological, and ontological—is, in his own words, monotheistic, Trinitarian, and teleologically theosis. It is not liberation from rebirth, not ego dissolution or self-annihilation, not self-actualization through metamodern aesthetics. It is the formation of the soul, the realization of the Real “I”, and union with the divine through conscious suffering and transformation.

This is not Sufi poetry, Zen paradox, or modern psychotherapy.

This is Christian mysticism, baptized of fire in the awareness of cosmic responsibility.

The Theological structure is unmistakably Christian

To any serious reader of Gurdjieff's writings, the theology is not speculative—it is deliberate. There is God, His ENDLESSNESS, the Maker and Creator or ALL things. The Law of Three—Affirming, Denying, Reconciling—is not a repackaged Hegelian dialectic or Taoist dualism. Gurdjieff explicitly identifies his Law of Three (the Sacred-Triamazikamno) as the Holy Trinity, encoding divine process within the very structure of creation and at every level.

The Law of Seven (the Sacred Heptaparaparshinokh) charts the rhythmic descent and return of divine energies into the created world, paralleling the Christian mystery of Incarnation and symbolically interwoven within the Bible. And his conscious labours and intentional sufferings—mirrors Christ’s passion, calling each human being to take up the Cross inwardly, imitate the Logos, and participate in Divine sorrow through "Remorse of Conscience" and, thereby, helping the reconciliation of the World.

This is not Jungian individuation. This is not “becoming your higher self," or a "better version of yourself.” This is theosis, plain and simple.

The Teleology is not enlightenment—it is Theosis

Sufism generally aims an annihilation of self, a dissolution into the Divine. Eastern spirituality generally aims at liberation (moksha, nirvana), a transcendence of personal identity and the cycle of suffering. Metamodernism offers psychological integration and existential reframing. But Gurdjieff’s aim is radically different: it is the creation of a soul, the attainment of objective individuality, and participation in the divine cosmic work.

This is the Christian doctrine of theosis: union with God not through annihilation, but through transfiguration. The Work is not about escape—it is about incarnation, embodiment, crucifixion, resurrection.

To teach otherwise is to commit spiritual fraud.

Surface Similarity does not mean Deeply the Same

Yes, there are echoes of the Fourth Way in other esoteric traditions. This would be expected from Gurdjieff's claims that his system (esoteric and prehistoric Christianity) is very ancient, having downstream influences on different spiritual traditions throughout history. But resonance does not imply identity. Spiritual technologies may converge at points, but their metaphysical substrates and teleological ends diverge drastically.

The Fourth Way, in its full integrity, is not just symbolically Christian—it is Christian.

Any discipline, method or practice only has meaning and utility when aligned with its theology and teleology. The “why,” the “what,” and the “how” must fundamentally integrate and harmonize to acheive its claimed purpose. Otherwise, technique becomes idolatry—an end in itself that leads absolutely nowhere, except increasing one's "bag-of-tricks."

The Deceivers must be called what they are

To teach Gurdjieff’s system while erasing his metaphysics, denying his Christology, and replacing his soteriology with generic spiritual platitudes is not simply error. It is deceptive.

These deceivers prey on the hunger of a generation desperate for meaning, and offer them counterfeit bread. They disfigure the Fourth Way to make it marketable to postmodern palates—stripped of its Cross, its God, and one's cosmic responsibility. They should be ashamed of themselves.

They are not torchbearers of Gurdjieff’s teaching.

They are grave robbers.

They do not guard the flame—they extinguish it.

Reclaim the Way

It is time to reclaim Gurdjieff’s Christianity—not the institutional wreckage he rightly condemned, but the original fire: the Way taught by Jesus Christ, preserved in the inner tradition, now remembered in the Fourth Way.

We do not need new “spiritualities.” We need the restoration of the Way of transformation, grounded in God, powered by conscious labours and intentional suffering, aimed at reconciliation through deification.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."—John 14:6

If you follow Gurdjieff but deny Christ, you have not understood Gurdjieff.

If you teach the Work but omit its telos in theosis, you are not teaching the Work.

If you preach the Fourth Way but suppress its Christian metaphysic, you are no different from the Pharisees Jesus denounced: the blind that lead the blind!