The New Age Movement

[Garland-Green]

New Age concepts and ideas are everywhere, and I personally would say are more dangerous then most other cults. These ideas will hopefully seem alien to you, even though you more then likely have encountered them before. They are not unfamiliar to me as someone who used to be an esoteric Buddhist, I shared a lot of these beliefs. It is important to be able to distinguish the Truth from a lie.
The biggest lie inside the New Age Movement is that we are divine, that we are god. It is the age old lie from the garden. You may even have heard Christian preachers influenced by these thoughts claim that we are little gods.

Warning: If you are confused about what you believe don't draw inspiration from the New Age movement, but from the word of God - The Bible. In knowing the truth the lies will stand out like an eye sore to you.

First I would like to start of with a video of Barbara Marx Hubbard, who looks very much like a nice old grandmother, but she proposes ideas that are not very nice to make an understatement. They sound nice, but are not. Once you have read the article below you might understand better what she is saying.

In 1952 she was invited to the White House (through her father’s connections) where she famously asked President Eisenhower: ‘What is the meaning of our new power that is good?’ Since then she has written five books, delivered more than 80 keynote speeches and given more than 75 interviews. She is currently President of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, which she co-founded in 1990 with Sidney Lanier. Hubbard was featured in the 2006 film Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within, a documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world. So you could say she is one of the leading voices in the movement.

Here is a Barbara Marx Hubbard quote; "...as we approach the
quantum shift from the creature-human to the co-creative human - the human
who is an inheritor of god-like powers - the destructive one-fourth must be
eliminated from the social body. Fortunately, you are not responsible for
this act. We are. We are in charge of God's selection process for planet
Earth. He selects - we destroy. We are the riders of the pale horse, Death."  

[Garland-Green]

CHAPTER ONE - A Christian Response to the New Age

I first became aware of the New Age movement by name early In 1988. I say 'by name' because I soon realised that many of the ideas I had come up against through evangelism, through my work as a teacher in London comprehensive schools and even from experiences within the church actually came from this source or were moving towards it. Perhaps this is the first lesson Christians need to learn about the New Age movement. It is not always easily identifiable like the Jehovah's Witness who arrives on your doorstep offering you "The Watchtower.' In fact many people who are putting over New Age ideas may not even be aware that they are doing so. So we need to ask the Lord for discernment in order to "watch out that no-one deceives you" for as the Lord warned, a sign of the end of this age and his return is that "many false prophets will appear and deceive many people" (Matthew 24:11).


Defining The New Age Movement

So what is the New Age movement? Certainly its profile has been raised over the past year with articles in both the religious and secular press familiarising people with the term. Yet there are many within the movement who are reluctant to use the term of themselves and unclear about how to define it:

A New Age writer Jeremy Tarcher has said, 'No one speaks for the entire New Age community. Within the movement there is no unanimity as to how to define it or even that it is significantly cohesive enough to be called a movement.' New Age as a Perennial Philosophy [Los Angeles Times Book Review, Feb '88].

At best it is a loosely connected movement linking together a wide range of ideas and philosophical systems in an attempt to formulate an understanding of humanity's place within the whole order of natural creation. What is important for Christians seeking to recognise and respond to the New Age movement is not just to look for the term 'New Age' but to be able to recognise the ideas behind it and to understand why they conflict with the revelation given us by God in the Bible. Then hopefully we will be able to give a "reason for the hope that is in us" and respond not with fear and paranoia, but with confidence in our faith and with love for those who are being misled and a desire to lead them out of darkness into the light of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is the main purpose of this booklet, rather than to give a detailed analysis of the New Age Movement in all its various manifestations.


Origins Of The New Age Movement

Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun and in many ways there is nothing new about the New Age. There is a strong link with Hinduism, which is not accidental, as many of these ideas began to take root in western culture in the 1960s with the interest in yoga, transcendental meditation and eastern gurus, which characterised the 'hippie' movement. The Beatles looked to India and became for a short while the most famous 'evangelists' of the New Age world view. The line from their song "I am the Walrus". 'I am you and you are he, and he is she and we are one together' is as we shall see straight New Age teaching. There is also a link with the mystical ideas of all the major religions and particularly with the early Christian heresy of Gnosticism. It is significant that there is a growing interest in the Gnostic gospels amongst radical theologians and those interested in the New Age. The idea is being raised that these may represent the authentic teaching of Jesus, which was suppressed by the early church.

This quotation from the 'Gospel of Thomas' in which Jesus is supposed to be speaking expressed perfectly the New Age view of 'All is One', God is in everything:

'It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the All. From me did the All come forth, and unto me did the All extend. Split a piece of wood and I am there. Lift up a stone and you will find me there.' (James M. Robinson ed. The Nag Hammadi Library, p. 126).

In addition the New Age draws heavily from pre-Christian tribal religions, from the Druids to native American (Red Indian) medicine men. The occultic art of astrology is a strong influence as the New Age is seen to be the transition from the 'dark violent Piscean age' (i.e. this age) into the Aquarian Age, 'a millennium of love and light'. In the words of the musical Hair the 'Age of Aquarius' will be at a time when ‘. . - peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars... Harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding. No more falsehoods or derision, golden living dreams of visions. Mystic crystal revelation and mind's true liberation.'


New Age Goals - World Transformation

What is new about all this is the coming together of so many diverse influences in a recognisable movement which hopes to 'cover the globe with a myriad of 'networks' - interconnecting ideas, people, services and organizations in order to implement world transformation' (DR Groothuis Unmasking the New Age. 31). The 'networks' are an important aspect of the New Age Movement. There is no central organization, but like minded people coming together for a common purpose. Marilyn Ferguson in her book The Aquarian Conspiracy makes the point that Networks are a source of power never before tapped in history:

'multiple self sufficient social movements linked for a whole array of goals whose accomplishment would transform every aspect of contemporary society.'

When we begin to recognise this influence we detect it in such areas as entertainment, the media, education, health care, religious and political groups, environmental and feminist groups. With modem communications and travel facilities, ideas can quickly cross linguistic, national and political boundaries, and the New Age influence has taken root in Capitalist America and Communist Russia with the aim of transforming both and merging them into the New Age. The battle has begun and Christians cannot opt out because the goal of the New Age is a radical change in the way people see themselves, the world around them and God. This involves a definite denial and opposition to Christianity as John Dunphy writing in The Humanist (Jan -Feb 1983) on 'A Religion for the New Age' says:

'I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the school classrooms by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytisers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognises and respects the spark of what the theologians call divinity in every human being. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new - the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evil and misery and the new faith resplendent in its promise.'

The appeal of the New Age is clear. The 'gods' of the old age - Christianity, Secular Humanism, Capitalism and Communism - have all failed; the earth is on the brink of environmental catastrophe; we must work for a new age in which we rediscover the sense of the sacred in nature and in ourselves in order to save the world. It all sounds so plausible - but that is the nature of deception. The New Age movement probably represents the greatest (and most subtle and sinister) challenge to Christianity since the heresies of Arianism and Gnosticism assailed the Early Church in the Second Century AD.


Love And Light Or Doorway To Occult

The more we study the ideas behind the movement, the more we come to recognise that for all the fine sounding words such as love' and light', which are extensively used in New Age writings, there is a demonic influence at work within it, manipulating those who are involved. This should not surprise us as Satan is able to transform himself into an angel of light in order to deceive those who reject the Lord. The New Age appeal will always be to improve the quality of people's lives, relating to different kinds of people in different ways. For example it appeals to those concerned for the environment by promising that when people are 'attuned' to New Age ways of thinking they will naturally work for the 'healing of the planet.' To businesses and individuals wishing to improve their efficiency and earning power it offers programs on how to relieve stress, increase concentration and visualise your dreams and work for their accomplishment. Many of these programs use yoga and eastern meditation techniques either openly or packaged in some westernised 'non religious' form.

The New Age also seeks to influence Christians through using titles which will appeal such as 'Creation Centered Spirituality' or 'A Course in Miracles'. The following advertisement from the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland illustrates this:

'A Course in Miracles is a channeled three-volume set of books in a self study format. The goal of the course is inner peace found through forgiveness and turning within for guidance. In the supportive environment of a group we will look honestly at our relationships, seeing when through fear we deny and project our guilt onto others and how we can learn to love ourselves and each other by forgiving rather than judging. Using meditation, guided imagery and higher self exercises we will endeavour to make contact with the guidance of the Holy Spirit within.' (Guest Programme. April - Dee, Findhorn Foundation 1990, P- 22).

We should note that the word 'channelled' refers to the New Age practice of receiving insights intuitively or psychically from 'non-physical entities.' Alert Christians should have no difficulty in identifying such entities as demons. We should also note that this programme offers the guidance of the Holy Spirit, inner peace and forgiveness without reference to the Lord Jesus, the one to whom the Holy Spirit bears witness and who offers us peace and forgiveness through the blood of his cross. Biblical 'Fall and Redemption' theology is ridiculed and rejected by New Age teaching and is held up as the main barrier to people achieving peace through discovering the 'god within.' Of course as an 'angel of light', Satan offers good things, not evil, to those whom he seeks to deceive.

In The Magic of Findhorn, the story of the community by Paul Hawken, the author relates how Robert Ogilvie Crombie (Roc), an associate of the Findhorn Community met a spirit being whom he recognised as 'Pan'. This being, during the course of the ensuing conversation, asked him, 'Do you love my subjects?' "Yes'. In that case do you love me?' 'Why not?' 'DO YOU LOVE ME? "Yes' ...'You know of course that I am the Devil? You have just said that you love the devil.' 'No you are not the devil. You are the god of the woodlands and countryside. There is no evil in you.' There are many other references in the book to contact with spirit beings.

David Spangler, one of the leaders of the New Age movement states in Reflections on the Christ (p. 40-44), published by the Findhorn Foundation, 'Christ is the same force as Lucifer, .(who) is an agent of God's love acting through evolution - . . Lucifer prepares man . . for the experience of Christhood . . . The light that reveals to us the path to Christ comes from Lucifer . . . the great initiator . . . Lucifer works within each of us to bring us to wholeness as we move into the new age . . . each of us is brought to that point which I term the Luciferic initiation , . Lucifer comes to give us the final Luciferic initiation . . that many people in the days ahead will be facing, for it is an initiation into the New Age.'

Could such an 'initiation' be the "powerful delusion" of which Paul speaks in 2 Thessalonians 2, causing people to worship the "man of sin"? Whatever our conclusions on this point we have to recognise that we are dealing with a powerful force of antichrist, whose goal is for Lucifer to take the place of Christ, which means for Satan to take the place of God.


Questions

Many in churches today play down the need to study Christian doctrine. Why is this dangerous in the light of information in this chapter?

A saying of the early church was 'Heresy has many gospels. The Church has four.' How would you argue for the Gospels we have in the New Testament being the authentic record of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ?

Compare the quote From the Gospel of Thomas with John 1:1-18. What conclusion do you come to?

Read Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-19, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Revelation 12-13. What do these passages tell us about Lucifer's/Satan's ambitions, his downfall and our victory over him?


CHAPTER TWO - Monism/Pantheism 'All is One'

The New Age bottom line can be stated In three words: 'All is One.' 'The cosmos is pure, undifferentiated energy - a consciousness or life force. Everything is one vast interconnected process' [Russell Chandler -'on understanding the New Age' p. 28].

This idea of God being in everything, the belief that God is one in essence with the created world is fundamental to New Age thought. It also underlies Hinduism as well as Greek philosophy which thought of the cosmos as a great animal organism with a body, a soul and a spirit. The New Age movement has given the idea a particular relevance with the 'Gaia' hypothesis - that nature itself is a living being. As Fritjof Capra puts it:

'The universe as a whole is alive; therefore the living environment is there and life in its multiple manifestations will arise again and again in various parts of the universe because the whole thing is alive.' (Resurgence magazine September/October 1989).

Just as different parts of the body are needed to make the whole function and the ability of the whole body to function properly is weakened when one part is hurt or damaged, so the various parts of the ecosystem - air, water, plants, animals, human beings, etc - need to work together to make the whole function as a healthy living body. (Christians will no doubt see a parallel with the New Testament concept of the church). Because human beings have become alienated from 'Gaia' - mother earth, the forces of nature -we are polluting the earth and thus banning our own body. So we must urgently rediscover the sacred both in nature and in ourselves before we destroy the planet.

At a New Age meeting I attended the speaker spoke of the native American saying 'All my relations' by which she meant not only other human beings, but also animals, plants, rocks, rivers etc. New Age and Ecology The most important result of the growth of this world view is the effect it has on 'green' issues, which have become heavily infused with New Age ideas. Bob Hunter describes ecology as New Age relegation in an article in Environmentalism in the 1980s, Greenpeace Chronicles no, 18 (August 1979):

'Nature is quite obviously the physical totality of God's work. Within it, as part of it, viewing what is Our Self from the individual compartments of our little selves, we become aware that Nature is in fact us. The world is Our Body . . . Mother Earth is not passive. To align oneself with her energies is to liberate the Godhead within you, to be lifted up into a higher slate of being, to align yourself with her energies is to liberate at the same lime the true animal within.'

The entry point for the destructive view of nature for many New Agers is the Protestant reformation. 'The Reformation attempted to take the magic out of nature and to concentrate on the spiritual life, within human beings. The idea that places and material things, even that the consecrated mass was sacred, was anathema. Nature was not a living system with a spirit and a life of her own. The idea that Nature should be reverenced by men was considered idolatry. . . . The idea of sacred places was denied.' (Rupert Sheldrake -Rebirth of Nature in Resurgence Sept/Oct 1989). 'This paved the way for the industrial revolution in which 'man would probe and torture nature to Find out her secrets in order to gain power and dominion over her, so that she could be subjugated and used to serve man's purposes.' (same article).


Christian Response

As a Christian I too am concerned at the destruction of nature in order to serve our industrial system, but I cannot approach this problem from the New Age pantheistic view of nature, which the Bible strongly contradicts. Because most Christians have surrendered to evolutionary teaching we often fail to grasp the significance of God as Creator, as it is taught throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Although there is a harmony in nature, all is not one, as New Agers teach. All things are created by God, but God is separate from his creation, which is not the 'physical totality' of his work. There is also an unseen spiritual realm through which God can communicate with us by the Holy Spirit. What is more the revelation of God's creative work in Genesis 1 shows that he separates different created things from each other: light from darkness, waters under the firmament from waters above the firmament, dry land from sea, different kinds of plants, living creatures and human beings, all of which contain their seed within them and reproduce after their own kind. This is also taught in the New Testament; "God gives . . . to each kind of seed its own body. All flesh is not the same. Men have one kind of flesh, birds another, fish another . . ."(I Cor. 15:38-39). Human beings have a value above other created beings in God's sight.

The biblical view of the unseen world is also dualistic not monistic. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph.6:12). This conflict between God and Satan means the Christian must learn to separate good from evil. "Test everything; Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil" (I Thess. 5.21-22). On the day of judgment the Lord will separate the lost from the saved, those who have accepted the salvation offered us in Christ from those who have rejected it. "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Matthew 25:46). All of this has profound implications in our response to the New Age movement.

We cannot identify with the idea of a God who is a 'universal energy', an impersonal force behind the universe, because God is personal, knowable and at the same time so much greater and higher than the created universe. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). Our problem is not alienation from 'Gaia' but alienation from God who has given us specific moral laws which we have disobeyed both individually and collectively, causing the dreadful slate of our world today. The environmental crisis of our world is the direct result of human sin and failure to take care of the earth in the way God commanded us to in Genesis.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the Fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the ground" [Gen 1:27-28].

Since the original creation was 'very good' human dominion over the living creatures must imply care for the environment and their welfare and not exploitation of it for our selfish greed [See also Psalm 8]. Any committed Christian must join with the environmentalists in crying out against the destruction of nature in order to feed the Frankenstein monster our industrial society has become. But we will do this from the very different motive of our concern for what God has created and given humanity to look after and not that we are harming the earth mother, Gaia.


Pantheism/Monism And Idolatry

From the biblical point of view the main problem of pantheism is that it leads straight into idolatry. Because Satan is actively working in fallen human nature, if you look for God in nature and created things, inevitably you end up finding some thing or place which is invested with a special religious significance and you worship it. The effect of denying the creator is clearly spelled out in Romans 1, leading to a situation where people "exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised" (Romans 1:25).

There is nowhere like India, the source of so many New Age ideas, for the worship of idols, and sacred places. This has not led to enlightenment or even to environmental concern, but to fear, superstition and is a major factor in contributing to India's poverty. In the quote above from Rupert Sheldrake's article it is significant that he criticises Protestant Christianity not only for 'taking the magic out of nature' but also for 'denying the idea of sacred places.' New Agers go to places like Glastonbury and Stonehenge to make the 'great invocation' for the new age of truth, justice and co-operative living. There is an interest in locating sacred places through ley lines where one can make contact with and harness spiritual energy and power.

A New Age leaflet calls for 144,000 Rainbow Humans to 'gather at sacred sites such as stone circles, ancient earthworks, sacred mountains and lakes. Beacon hills, hill carvings, cathedrals, churches, abbeys, fountains, village crosses' to invoke 'great fire Serpents' to bring about 'a planetary change of consciousness and become co-creators and friends of God'. (Harmonic Convergence published by Acorn Publishing, Wiltshire). Incidentally this has a parallel in the way many professing Christians are making pilgrimages to such places as the shrine to Mary at Walsingham. For Bible-believing Christians all this is a massive deception, for "the earth is the Lord's" and we may call on his name at any time in any place. The condition of whether or not he hears us is whether or not our hearts are right with him and whether or not we come in repentance and faith in the one mediator between God and humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have experienced the presence of the Lord in the most unpromising places - an inner city comprehensive school, or the London Underground - and his absence in the most magnificent cathedrals and the most spectacular coastal scenery in Cornwall, depending on the condition of my relationship with him at the time. The danger of looking for spiritual experiences of God in specific places considered holy or sacred is similar to the danger we will be looking at in the next chapter of looking for God within ourselves. We may well have an experience of the supernatural which is demonic in origin which the unwary may believe to be an experience of God. Many of these places favoured by New Agers have been centers of occultic worship from pre-Christian times and are now places where it is easier for evil spirits to make contact with human beings who are looking for spiritual experience, but denying the one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.

Another negative result of the pantheistic view is that it gives no adequate explanation for the problem of evil and suffering and reduces our will to resist evil. Despite all the New Age calls to world transformation, where its view has become dominant in any culture it leads to a fatalistic view of life that suffering and evil are inevitable and have to be accepted as 'karma' through which we pass into a better life in our next incarnation. I heard of a Christian working in India who was discouraged from doing welfare work to alleviate poverty because it would prevent those suffering from working out their bad karma and thus preparing for a better incarnation next time.

The biblical view sees God as separate yet involved in his creation, a personal being whom we can know and a holy being who calls us to repentance and faith. This gives us a reason to struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil and a hope in the resurrection of the dead. Jeremiah's rebuke to his generation for their idolatry is very relevant to our generation who look to eastern religions for enlightenment:

"My people have exchanged their glory for worthless idols...They have forsaken me, the spring of living water and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water" (Jeremiah 2:11-13).


Questions

What difference will our approach to the issue of creation make to our response to the New Age? Does the evolutionary ides fill in with the New Age view that 'all is one'?

What does Romans 1:18-32, particularly verses 20 and 25, have to say about the pantheistic view of nature?

What does John 4:20-24 have to say to those who believe some places are more sacred than others?

Why should a dualistic view of the unseen world (i.e. God and Satan, angels and demons exist in opposition to each other) give us a different view of suffering and evil from a monistic view (all is one)?


CHAPTER THREE - God within you - 'The only way out is in'

God Within You

'The only way out is in'. 'Kneel to your own self. Honour and worship your own being. God dwells within you as You.' Swami Muklananda. Quoted in Dave Hunt The Cult Explosion (p. 106)

Apart from the influence of pantheism there is a strong humanistic influence in the New Age movement. Humanism declares, 'No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.' Denying the doctrine of original sin and the saving work of Christ, humanism believes In the basic goodness of man and that the goal of history is our evolution towards perfection through education, enlightenment and social change. This idea is also basic to Marxism and is clearly expressed in the Internationale, the Communist battle hymn:

'No Saviour from on high delivers, No faith have we in prince or peer,
Our own right hand the chains will shiver, Chains of hatred, greed and fear.'

However as we approach the end of the 20th century the optimistic secular humanism with which the century began which expressed the view that 'humanity has come of age' and we are the 'captains of our fate' no longer seems credible.

Most recently the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe has shown the bankruptcy of the atheistic materialist world view. Christians might hope that those who are disillusioned with secular humanism and Marxism would repent and believe the Gospel, but. the evidence seems to be that many are moving towards a new humanism invested with a spiritual dimension which must inevitably produce an even more anti-Christian world view. I believe the New Age movement is ready to fill the spiritual void left behind by disillusionment with our materialistic culture, both the consumerism of the West and the communism of the East. It offers those who seek its enlightenment unlimited potential through achieving union with the life force, the energy within the 'Gaia' system of which we are a part. This involves a definite rejection of biblical Christianity.


The God Within

'The myth of the Saviour 'out there' is being replaced by the myth of the hero 'in here', its ultimate expression is the discovery of the divinity within us... In a very real sense we are each other.' Marilyn Ferguson in Yoga Journal. (Jul-Aug '81).

New Agers seek to make this discovery through various means - yoga, meditation, bodily disciplines, use of drugs, occult practices, shamanism (witchcraft). Many people are. in fact unaware of how close much of this comes to straight witchcraft, as New Age writer. Miriam Starhawk has openly stated: 'Witchcraft is a religion... To reclaim the word 'witch' is to reclaim our right, to know the life spirit within as divine. The longing for expanded consciousness has taken many of us on a spiritual journey to the East and to Hindu, Taoist and Buddhist concepts. Eastern religions offer a radically different approach to spirituality than Judeo-Christian traditions. Their goal is not to know God but to be God. In many ways these philosophies are close to that of witchcraft.' (Yoga Jownai May/June 1986).

New Agers speak of drawing on the power within us which has been lost by modem civilisation, to rediscover our divine potential and bring about our own spiritual awakening. At a New Age meeting I went to, the speaker told us that as this revelation dawns on people all over the world it will bring about the New Age as humanity learns to live in telepathic communication and the revitalization of the planet takes place. People will discover the ability to live intuitively, using psychic powers to overcome situations they cannot cope with naturally. In the film Star-Wars, Luke Skywalker being instructed telepathically by the dead Obi Wan Kenobi to use the 'Force' to destroy the Death Star is a clear example of this in popular culture. This idea is attractive not only to the 'counter-culture but also to many in business, education, politics and social services, who organise courses and seminars designed to increase their employees' ability to handle difficult, situations by releasing their own potential and discovering latent psychic powers. It also affects the 'holistic' approach to health care which is increasingly influential in mainline as well as alternative medicines.

In the book Holistic Healers (p. 20) Reisser says:
'The innate intelligence that runs the body is connected to the universal intelligence that runs the world, so each person is plugged into the universal intelligence through the nervous system.' Techniques like acupuncture and reflexology seek to make the connection with this 'universal intelligence' in order to bring about physical healing. Many ideas and therapies of psychiatry, particularly Jung's idea of the 'collective unconscious' are also running along parallel lines.


Christian Response

The Bible contains a radically different view of humanity from that of both secular humanism and the New Age movement. It affirms the value of every human being, so great that the Lord Jesus was willing to become man and lay down his life for our redemption. It also leaches that without faith in him we are lost, separated from a holy God by the huge gulf caused by our sins. Trying to cross this gulf by our own effort or by discovering supernatural power within ourselves is as futile as trying to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. Our only hope is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who has crossed the gulf from God's side by taking the punishment for our sins at the cross, so that those who believe in him might experience forgiveness and new birth which makes us children of the living God. In our natural condition God is not within us. In fact Paul says we are by nature “objects of wrath” who “followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Eph.2:2).

God has to be invited into our lives from the outside when we repent and accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13).

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).

The New Age view of becoming as God is as old as the serpent's lie to Eve in the Garden of Eden:

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen, 3:4) .

The fact is that when we look within we do not find what a New Ager once described to me as 'the pure and innocent part of us that was left behind from the Garden of Eden.' We discover that we share in the corrupt human nature which is responsible for all the evil that takes place on this planet. Paul passed judgment on his own self in this way:

“I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do... It is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature” [Romans 7:14-18].

This is why we fail as individuals and why Communism has failed to produce an equal society, why Hinduism has failed to produce an enlightened society and why nominal Christianity has failed to produce a just and caring society. I have no reason to suppose that the New Age movement will succeed despite its promises and its 'great invocation' to 'let light and love and power restore the Plan on earth.' In fact there is every reason to fear that the New Age movement will bring about the most wicked society of all, because it is encouraging people to look for supernatural experiences within and so people are opening themselves up to evil-spirits working through occult practices forbidden in scripture. If we seek the 'god within' us and deny Christ, we will certainly encounter the supernatural but in the demonic realm. New Age writings abound with claims of messages 'channelled' by spirit beings with such names as Ramtha, Seth and Lararis, A leaflet advertising a session with 'Lararis' in Atlanta, Georgia claimed:

'Once we have met Lararis he is like an old friend who somehow we have always known, his joy, his insight, his love makes us realise he has always known us too.' (Promotional Flyer, Lazaris. Concept: Synergy, California.)

Participants were promised 'extraordinary experiences' and were told 'Lararis will again guide us through a meditation to re-tune, restore and recharge us mentally, physically, emotionally and psychically.' This sounds like demon possession, the result of occult activity which is warned against in the Bible and which is a sign of the last days. “The Spirit, clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and the things taught by demons” (I Tim 4:1). Focussing on the idea of the 'god within' also encourages human pride, which is the root of the original sin. In comparison with God the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers limited in time, space and wisdom (Isaiah 40:22). When one looks at the actual practice of some New Age cults which accept this idea one sees some of the most appalling idolatry imaginable. Gurus are worshipped as gods as their followers abase themselves before them, in some of the worst cases even to the extent of drinking their urine. On the proceeds of this devotion many of these 'god-men' have become extremely rich as their followers shower money and adoration on them in return for promises of paradise which often end in misery and insanity.

For a personal account of one who fell for this trap and later found true peace and enlightenment in the Lord Jesus, I recommend ‘Gods of the New Age’ by Caryl Matriciana. One further result of succumbing to the delusion that we are 'gods' is that we end up making up our own laws. New Age writer Carl Frederick said, 'You are the supreme being... there isn't any right or wrong.' (Playing the Game the New Way, p. 171). David Spangler, a leading New Age spokesman put it even stronger, 'We can take all the scriptures, and all the teachings, and all the tablets, and all the laws, and all the marshmallows and have a jolly good bonfire and marshmallow roast, because that is all they are worth. Once you are the law, once you are the truth, you do not need it externally represented for you.' (Reflections on the Christ , Findhorn Publications, p. 73).

This view ties in very well with the relativistic morality which is basic to our society and which has also seeped its way into much of the professing church with its lamentable failure to stand up publicly for biblical standards of morality. It is also utter folly and we can see the results in the swamp of paganism and confusion into which our society is falling. We accept that there are external laws for driving our cars on the roads and that if we disobey these laws and make up our own laws we will cause accidents. God has given us laws for our good which are unchanging and apply to every generation and age. The result of rejecting God's laws and making up our own is not liberation and enlightenment, but the most terrible social accidents, sexually transmitted diseases, broken families, unwanted children, terrorism and violence, drug abuse, etc. Far from throwing away the 'externally represented' law given by God in the Bible, the only hope of saving our society from catastrophe is to repent and turn back to God and live in the light of the new covenant with his law written in our hearts and receiving forgiveness through the blood of Jesus shed for our sins.


Questions

In what way does the New Age movement differ from the idea of human nature taught in the Bible?

How docs the Genesis account of the Fall (Genesis 3) relate to issues raised in this chapter?

Why does the New Age view of God and spiritual experience inevitably lead into the demonic realm?

Why do we need God's law and word 'externally represented' to us? Which biblical passages would you use to support your argument?  

[Garland-Green]

CHAPTER FOUR - The Christ of the New Age

One of the many confusions which may mislead Christians encountering the New Age movement Is the view of Christ which they express. We should not be deceived by statements professing admiration for Jesus, but test whether the Jesus they are referring to is the one revealed in the Gospels. As the New Age teaching bears a strong resemblance to the Gnostic heresies which plagued the Early Church, the tests of true understanding of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ given In 1 John and the exposure of false prophets in 2 Peter and Jude are very relevant to our response to this question.


World Teacher

In the New Age view Jesus was a great teacher, a Messiah for his time, but not the Messiah for all time. Helen Shuchman summed up this view in her Course in Miracles, a New Age programme which some liberal churches have adopted, but which is profoundly anti-Christian. She says: 'Jesus was an historical person, but the Christ is an eternal transpersonal condition.'

By separating the historical person of Jesus from his title Christ/Messiah the spirit of antichrist is revealed as 1 John 4:2-3 teaches. "This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the-spirit of the antichrist." The implication of Helen Shuchman's statement is that 'Christ' as a condition came upon Jesus at some time in his life (usually considered to be his baptism) and left him when his mission ended. That same 'Christ condition' had previously come upon other great religious teachers of other faiths and will come upon the New Age 'messiah' who is believed to be coming for our Time. This is actually the Hindu idea of the 'avatar', the divine mediator who comes at different times of world history to bring in new revelations for that period or age. La Vedi Laffeny and Biid Hollowell writing in The Eternal Dance (p.2) express this view, 'We acknowledge the World Teacher who appeared as Jesus the Christ, also known variously as the Lord Matreya and the Bodhisattva, as well as other appearances of the Christ through such personalities as Melchizedek, Krishna and Mithra.'



New Age 'Christ'

Since the New Agers believe that the present age is the astrological age of Pisces, which is the sign of the fish, a sign associated with Christianity, this idea actually becomes a formula for rejecting Jesus as the Christ, because they believe that the Piscean Age is a 'dark violent age' which is giving way to the Aquarian Age - 'a millennium of love and light.' In order to bring us into this New Age a new messiah will have to come, receiving the 'Christ spirit' which is 'transpersonal' (i.e. can go from one person to another living in another time). New Age writings abound with expectations of a new messiah coming for our age and a consequent rejection of Jesus as Messiah.

In April 1982 the Tara Center publicised the coming of a New Age Messiah through full page newspaper advertisements in many countries:

'The Christ is now here . . . pointing the way out of our present crisis . . . He comes not to judge but to aid and inspire . . The World Teacher, Lord Matreya, known by Christians as the Christ. And as Christians await the Second Coming, so the Jews await the Messiah, the Buddhists the Fifth Buddha, the Moslems the Imam Mahdi. and the Hindus await Krishna. These are all names not One individual. His presence in the world guarantees there will be no third World War . . . With His help, we will build a new world.'

I was horrified to see on a Christmas Day concert in 1988 on BBC TV the most blatant expression of this hope when in the midst of traditional Christmas carols the song A child is horn was sung. This song has the following words which were not sung but spoken in a dramatic, prophetic manner, 'The world is waiting, waiting for one child; black, white, yellow, no-one knows. A child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter, hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone's neighbour, and misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten forever.'

This is a clear expression of the New Age dream and the expectation of another messiah, who is obviously not Jesus Christ, coming to save us. Coming in the midst of traditional Christmas carols about the birth of the Lord Jesus it shows very clearly the religious confusion of our time.


Divinity Denied

Many in the liberal churches have accepted this line. Liberal theology has demythologised the Gospels robbing them not only of the miracles, the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection, but even questioning the divinity of Christ. Liberal theologians are agreeing with New Agers that Jesus was a normal man who had 'Christ consciousness' to a marked degree. Dr Rodney Romney, pastor of First Baptist Church, Seattle writes in his book Journey to Inner Space, finding God in us:

'This Jesus came to be called the Christ, meaning the Anointed One of God. It was a title he neither invited nor disclaimed. Yet what he did was even more startling. He inferred that each person was potentially a Christ. He claimed nothing for himself that he did not claim for his disciples. The task he gave his followers is to realise the Christ within their own consciousness and to know that the kingdom of God is within them. If they search for it outside themselves they will never Find it. Although Jesus did say I am the way' he meant that he was the Way-Shower to God. He was not God and never claimed to be'.


Inter-Faith Teaching

This apostasy leads straight into the super ecumenical view being expressed by many church leaders, including Dr Runcie, as archbishop of Canterbury, that the spirit of God can be discovered in expressions of all the great world religions. 'We should recognise that other faiths than our own are genuine mansions of the spirit with many rooms to be discovered, rather than solitary fortresses to be attacked... All the centuries that the Spirit of God has been working in Christians, he must have been also working in Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and others... We must learn to recognise the work of the Spirit at the center of each of our faiths ... and ... to explore together the moments of revelation and the spiritual treasures which our respective faiths have handed down to us... We need both courage and humility to recognise this work of the Spirit among us in other faiths.' (The Sir Francis Young husband Lecture, Christianity and World Religions, May 1986).


Christian Response

Against all this the Bible-believing Christian must recoil in horror, recognising it to be the apostasy which will mark the latter days and give rise to the one the world is waiting to accept as messiah, who is the man of sin, the antichrist. The Bible is absolutely clear that Jesus Christ alone is God incarnate, unique in his status as Messiah and mediator:

"I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved" ( Acts 4:12). "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men" (I Timothy 2:5).

Anyone coming after Jesus Christ claiming to be a Messiah or a mediator between God and man, or bringing a new revelation about how to find God must be a deceiver or antichrist, of whom the Lord warned us there would be many in the end times. "False Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible" (Matthew 24:24). When Jesus Christ returns it will not be a private event revealed only to a few at a secret location, but a public event visible to all humanity:

"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is out in the desert,' do not go out; or 'Here he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Matthew 24:26-27). "Look, he is coming with the clouds: and every eye will see him.." (Rev.l:7).

Moreover we cannot save ourselves by discovering the 'Christ' within:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works so that no one can boast" (Eph.2:8-9).

Obedience to God and an ongoing relationship with him brings true spiritual enlightenment and growth, not mystical experiences or attempts to discover 'Christ consciousness' within ourselves.

"God's elect ... chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood." (I Peter 1:2).


Questions

Why is it so important to 'test the spirits' in the light of information given in this chapter? How would you do this in practice?

Why is the astrological view of the Piscean Age and the Aquarian Age incompatible with biblical Christianity?

Why is the literal application of verses like John 14:6, Acts 4:12, I Timothy 2:5 under attack from so many quarters both inside and outside the professing church? How would you defend the view that these verses point to the unique stains of Jesus as Messiah?

Why is the teaching of Jesus on his second coming given in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) helpful if we are to avoid some of these deceptions?



CHAPTER FIVE - The New Age Agenda '

'There is actually a Plan and a Purpose behind all creation... World unity is the goal towards which evolution is moving. The world plan includes: A World Organization...A World Economy... A World Relegation'. Vera Adler. When Humanity comes of age, (p. 190-193)

Since New Agers believe that 'all Is one', boundaries and divisions between people, whether national, religious, racial or political are considered artificial and the enemy against which they are working. Thus New Agers can be expected to be Interested in movements advocating world peace, racial harmony. Feminism and ecumenical Inter-faith programs. This again causes confusion for some Christians because some causes adopted by New Agers appear moral and for the good of humanity and one may be considered narrow minded and bigoted if one criticises them or withdraws from such movements. But we need to ask where they are coming from and where they are going to. They are coming from a view of the world which emphatically rejects the unique role of Jesus Christ as mediator between God and man and is moving towards a one world government guided by a world religion which resembles eastern religious systems and pre-Christian paganism. In such a world the committed Christian who seeks to present the Gospel message has no part - in fact Christians who insist on staying loyal to the Lord are certainly amongst those considered unfit to participate in the New Age.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the grand guru of Transcendental Meditation has said: 'There has not been and there will not be a place for the unfit. The fit will lead and if the unfit are not coining along there is no place for them. In the Age of Enlightenment there is no place for ignorant people. Nature will not allow ignorance to prevail. Non existence of the unfit has been the law of nature'. (inauguration of the Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. ).

Just as many naive and gullible Christians have helped Communists come to power, impressed by their propaganda about peace and justice, so many professing Christians are actively helping to further New Age programs today, lacking discernment to see the difference between God's programme for world redemption as it is revealed in the Bible and the New Age programme, which, if successful must lead to the anti-Christian system prophesied for the end times.


Multi-Faith Objectives

The New Age programme, as we have seen, is based on a fusion of humanism, the occult and the expectation of a change in human consciousness with a new messiah coming for our age. New Agers are encouraged by current trends in the world. Much of Christendom is in disarray with prominent clergy publicly denying the foundation beliefs of Christianity. The ecumenical multi-faith view expressed by Dr Runcie in chapter four has become the new orthodoxy amongst leading churchmen. New Age writer Lola Davies has praised the World Council of Churches, which she says 'has potential to serve as a source of unity among a diversity of religions. The West is becoming more familiar with the eastern religions because of the efforts of some' (Towards the world relegation for the New Age p.212)

Rome too, appears to be is moving down this path. Leading New Ager, Benjamin Creme has said, 'Pope John Paul II is one of the few leaders who has consistently proclaimed the same message as Matreya the Christ.' Significantly the Pope's New Year message in 1990 called on humanity to build 'the hoped for civilisation of love' not for Christians to build the kingdom of God. There are many danger signs in the Pope's enthusiasm for world peace and unity that are very similar to New Age objectives of one world government and one world relegation. On October 27th 1986 the Pope organised the Assisi 'World Day of Prayer', involving amongst others the Dalai Lama, Hindus, Sikhs, Moslems, Bahais, Shintoists and pagan cult leaders, including snake worshippers from Togo.

Commenting on this Michael de Semlyen says 'Rome's leadership of both the peace movement and the multi-faith advance towards religious unity parallels her central role in the quest for political unity.' Ecumenism - Where is it leading us? (p. 25). Parallel to this desire for world peace visions of Mary are being claimed by Catholics all over the world especially in Eastern Europe and the messages bear a strong resemblance to New Age messages about a coming age of peace and light.


Political Objectives

On the political front there is also great encouragement for New Agers. Disarmament talks between USA and USSR and the changes taking place in both Eastern Europe and South Africa are seen as the result of the 'great invocation' for light and love to fill the earth.' When Gorbachev addressed the United Nations [7/12/88] he announced that he no longer regards the Marxist dogma of 'class struggle' as relevant to the modem world, which, he said, needs to work together for a 'new world order through a universal human consensus.' The 'universal human consensus' mediated through the UN is exactly what the New Agers are working for and there is a 'meditation room' in the UN building in New York where people of all faiths are encouraged to meditate and pray for this goal of political and religious barriers between people coming down.

Sri Chinmoy, Hindu mediator and chaplain at the UN has said. 'The United Nations is the way, the way of oneness, that leads us to the Supreme Oneness. It is like a river flowing towards the source, the Ultimate source. The United Nations becomes for us the answer to world suffering, world darkness and world ignorance... A day will dawn when the vision of the United Nations will save the world.' The UN - An Instrument of Unification, Share International Magazine 4, no. 3, Mareh 1985.

As national governments find themselves unable to cope with the problems which are international in character - pollution, wealth distribution and financial debt, terrorism, drug trafficking, AIDS, etc - the possibility of an international organization having power to regulate the affairs of the nations is attractive to many. Europe is already moving fast down this road and may well become the example for a greater unification of the nations.



Christian Response

The trend towards unity, both religious and political, would seem to be here to stay. Those who stand against it will no doubt be accused of bigotry and standing in the way of peace and progress. Where they are in positions of influence, once the New Agers gain power, they will be removed from those positions, especially when they are committed Christians. Bible believing Christians should not go along with this trend towards unity. It is a unity based on a denial of the Lord Jesus, who has broken down the "middle wall of partition" and made peace between those who were previously enemies through the shedding of his blood at the cross (Ephesians 2:13-14). A unity which denies this must be the false unity of Babylon, first attempted at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 2) and which the prophetic scriptures warn us will arise again in the last days in 'Mystery Babylon the Great (note Babel and Babylon is the same word in Hebrew). This will have both a religious dimension (Revelation 17) and a political dimension [Revelation 18]. The instruction to believers is clear:

"Come out of her my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any other plagues." (Revelation 18:4).


Ecumenism

The New Age movement and the ecumenical movement cannot bring in the age of peace and unity of which they dream. This Utopian vision is shattered on the rock of the biblical truth of God's sovereignty over history and the fact of the sinful nature of humanity. Because it is based on the humanistic idea that we can save ourselves it will fail and inevitably lead not to liberation but to tyranny. There will be no 'millennium of love and light' while human beings are in the dark, and the only way we can be delivered from this present world darkness into the light of God is through the true light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.

When the utopian religious vision for changing the world confronts the reality of human sinfulness, it inevitably become repressive and dictatorial. There are two basic reasons for this. Firstly the people trying to change the world are still in the dark themselves. Secondly the people they are trying to change fail to conform and resist what is being imposed upon them. In the Middle Ages the Roman Catholic Church sought to impose its will on 'heretics' by the Inquisition and sank to depths of cruelty and tyranny in the name of Christ. When the Communists encountered resistance to the 'paradise on earth' Lenin promised to build, they used force to destroy their enemies, which led directly into Stalin's reign of terror. Islamic revolutionaries have imposed another dreary, corrupt police state on the countries they rule, intimidating and smashing those who resist them and refuse to submit to their version of despotic Islam.


Persecution Of Believers?

The New Age movement also recognises that there will be those who do not fit into the New Age. Ruth Montgomery writing in Threshold to Tomorrow says. 'Those who survive the shift (i.e. the change into the New Age) will be a different type of people from those in physical form today freed from strife and hatred, longing to be of service to the whole of mankind... The souls who helped to bring on the chaos of the present century will have passed into spirit to rethink their attitudes.' {p. 306) The question is, will they need a little help to 'pass into spirit'? Texe Marrs in his book Dark Secrets of the New Age (p. 144) believe such statements are coded messages pointing to the need to execute those who resist the New Age. He cites Moira Timms' book Prophecies and Predictions: Everyone's Guide to the Coming Changes in which it is said that those with obstinate attitudes 'will graduate on to planes of existence more suited to their unfoldment.' Marrs comments: 'This is a thinly veiled commitment to wipe off the race of the earth those who worship God and His Son only and deny the New Age man-god doctrine'. The biblical prophecies of the end times make it clear that Christians will face persecution (Matthew 24:9-10, Revelation 13:10) At that time the Lord will stand by his people and give them special wisdom by the Holy Spirit (Mark 13:11), so that those who know their God will be strong and do exploits for him (Daniel 1 1.32). By knowing his word we should not be deceived by false promises of world peace when they are made by those who reject the Prince of Peace. “While people ate saying. "Peace and safety", destruction will COME. On them suddenly as labour pains on a pregnant woman and they will none escape” (I Thessalonians 5:3).


The Reign Of God

The Bible does not encourage us to believe that this age will end with humanity solving the problems of the world either by the New Age or any other political or religious agenda (including 'Christianisation' of the world). In fact Jesus clearly stated that this age would end with a time of “great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now” (Matthew 24:11, and that if God did not intervene by cutting short those days no human being would survive). Any realistic assessment of what is going on in the world today must make this distinct possibility in OUR Time, which would mean that we are expecting a totally different scenario from that expected by the New Age. The nations are collapsing in a swamp of moral decadence, violence and deception, as in the days of Noah. For all that we talk about ecology we are making little or no progress towards reversing the catastrophic effects of industrialization in destroying the earth. Far from moving towards the 'revitalization of the earth' by learning to live in 'telepathic communication' we are heading for the destruction of the earth as the greed, folly and wickedness of mankind reach their fullness in these days.

On the other hand the Bible does encourage us to believe that there is a new age coming in which “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9) and “they will beat their swords into plough shares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4). But this will not happen on this side of the coming of the Lord, but only after his feet stand on the Mount of Olives when he will come “with all the holy ones” (Zech 14:5) and be “king over the whole earth” (Zech 14:9).

To prepare for this day we need to respond ourselves to the message of the Lord and to share it with the world in its desperate need. “(God) commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30,31).


Questions

The possibility of persecution or martyrdom awaiting Christians in the West is hardly ever mentioned in our churches. Do you think this is the will of the Lord?

How would you discern when it is right to 'come out' of a church or a business in which you are involved?

In what ways is the inter-faith ecumenical movement moving along parallel lines to the New Age movement?

Why do so many movements promising to enlighten and liberate humanity end up doing the opposite?  

[Garland-Green]

CHAPTER SIX - The New Age and the Church

We have already mentioned some ways in which New Age ideas are Infiltrating the church. Once the church abandons its belief in the divine inspiration of scripture and the unique status of the Lord Jesus as the one mediator between God and humanity it is inevitable that these influences will abound. If the Bible is not regarded as the authoritative word of God there is nothing that can expose false doctrine. It is the Bible that bears witness to our need to be born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. Human beings who are created in the image of God have a 'God-shaped space' within them and if this is not Filled with the genuine experience of the Lord they will reach out for the counterfeit. Few people will be satisfied for long with the dry intellectualism of 'higher critical theology' and few will see much point in continuing church attendance if all the minister is telling them is that the Bible is unreliable and there is no supernatural or miraculous element possible.

For example Don Cupitt, condemning exorcism as an irrational superstition, has said, 'Imperfect as it is, we must accept that scientific knowledge is all we have.' Liberal Christianity. Yet it would seem that even in the extreme liberal wing of Christianity which Cupitt represents, there are dissenting voices to this rationalistic attitude. Where such dissent occurs and does not lead to acceptance of biblical teaching on the supernatural, there is often an open door to New Age mysticism. A church, which has become a leading example of this, is St James' Piccadilly, London. In April 1989 the Buddha's birthday was celebrated in the church with the following invitation given:

'For many people in the New Age movement Wesak - the full moon when the sun is in Taurus - is the most important spiritual event of the year. It is an opportunity for the most intense and focused spiritual work. This particular full moon is celebrated in the East as the Buddha's birthday. There is also a living legend, which states that at this full moon the Buddha and the Christ join together with all other liberated beings and with the communion of saints to invoke a great annual blessing for the planet. We shall be celebrating Wesak this year with an inter-denominational meditation ceremony in the church. We invite people of all cultures, religions and belief systems to join us in this great inner celebration'.

'St James' Piccadilly has a programme, which openly incorporates New Age thinking and practices - yoga, meditation, Zen Buddhism, alternative healing, parapsychology and New Age music concerts. The leadership of the church claim to give teaching on 'contacting and trusting your own inner voice' which appears to deny the work of the Holy Spirit communicating with us. They say: 'Everyone needs and wants guidance. Ultimately however the only true guidance comes from your own inner self, which alone truly knows the path and lessons that you need. But how do you contact this inner knowing and having contacted it how do you know whether to trust it?' This sounds very similar to the search for 'the god within ourselves’, which we analysed in Chapter 3 of this booklet.


Creation-Centred-Spirituality

Also on offer at St James' is 'Creation Centred Spirituality.' The attraction of this approach is its concern for the environment and its attempt to discover ways in which we can live at one with creation instead of destroying it by technology. It also seeks to find ways of channelling human energy into harmonious and creative life styles and to break down the barriers between races and nations. The following programme was given the title The Global Warming of the Heart; the evolution of a loving Earth:

'Our myriad crises and difficulties share one underlying cause: our fragmented view of who we truly are, and our belief that we belong to separate nations, races and creeds. Out of this belief come so many ills - the wars and persecution, the growing catastrophe of the global environment, the poverty, hunger and pain that afflict so many.

And yet, a different music can be heard, stemming from a steady growth of commitment, determination and love by people all over the world; the music of the Global Warming of the Heart. By opening our hearts to embrace our true unity as one people, on one Earth, we release the creativity needed to take actions to honour Teilhard de Chardin's plea:

'The Age of Nations is past: the task now, if we would not perish, is to build the earth.'

The leading proponent of 'Creation Centred Spirituality' is Matthew Fox, a Dominican theologian who has a wide influence among Protestants and Catholics. From Fox's writings it soon becomes clear that 'Creation Centred Spirituality' is almost more than a concern for the environment and better international relations. He identifies 'Fall/Redemption' theology as the root of evil in Western civilisation. Fall/Redemption theology is defined as the belief that Adam's descendants are automatically sinners because of the sin of their ancestor and can only find redemption through repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross. This is replaced by a theology of blessing, which is the theme of the book Original Blessing described as the 'primer of creation theology'.

In a review of this book in the magazine Resurgence, Colin Hodgetts describes Fox's four paths to blessing:

The first is that of befriending creation, of lasting its beauties and cosmic depths.
The second of befriending darkness, of exploring our divine depths, allowing pain to be pain, a theology of the cross.
Path three is that of befriending our creativity and our divinity, a celebration of the coming together of the first two paths, a theology of resurrection.
Creativity needs criticism and direction which is provided by the fourth path which takes compaction as the fulfillment of the spiritual journey, a theology of the Holy Spirit.'


Gnostic Heresy Revived

In the teaching of Matthew Fox we see Christian terminology - the Cross, the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit - being used, but the direction we are being taken in leads into the New Age movement, not into New Testament Christianity. Instead of discovering God 'out there', God is understood as the 'great underground river' of our unconscious mind. Fox encourages us to immerse ourselves ecstatically in the created world, whereby 'we become like the Creator and lake on the Creator's characteristics' Whee! Whee, Whee All the Way Home (p.79) and experience 'our growth into divinity' Original Blessing (p.85).

He rejects the 'fundamental dualism of man or woman and nature' and even more 'the most gross of all dualism’s. . the dualism between the divine and us.' Original Blessing (p.236). This is clearly a Christianised expression of the New Age belief in our potential godhood. In radical opposition to conventional Christian values. Fox advocates means of attaining 'God consciousness' through 'natural ecstasies' - including enjoying music, the arts, revelling in dance or natural beauties or lovemaking, and 'tactical ecstasies' such as fasting, chanting. Yoga, Zen, Transcendental Meditation and drug taking. His theology embraces evil as a 'vital part of our dialectical way of living. We need to allow sin its rightful and even instructive place in our own and others' lives.' Original Blessing (p. 161).

Fox recommends and clearly practices prolonged humming in a circle of the Hindu word for the divine force, OMM. In understanding the basis of all sin as 'dualism' Fox identifies evil with fall/redemption theology, 'a spirituality for the oppressor' which he claims is guilty of 'false thinking about God and creation.' Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home (p.l02). In creating a genuine spiritual renewal for the Age of Aquarius, Fox's main aim is not to co-exist with orthodox theology but to uproot and eradicate it and to 're-root' man in creation ecstasy, 'our true home'. (For further consideration of this subject see Margaret Brearley's article, 'Matthew Fox: Creation Spirituality for the Aquarian Age' published in Christian Jewish Relationships, vol. 22, no. 2, 1989.) Fox's paganised Christianity is a restatement of the grosser forms of Gnosticism which in effect said 'Love God and do what you like' and against which Paul wrote "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? By no means!" (Romans 6:1).

It is also an entry point for New Age concepts into the church. These ideas have already influenced Creation Festival liturgies, which have been used in British cathedrals. Fox himself is clear that his goal is the fundamental redirection of Christianity in a way, which would abandon the whole concept of sin and the redemptive work of Christ for our salvation. For evangelical Christians this is the heart of the Gospel.


Christian Response

All of this highlights the need for a sound biblical basis to the faith in order to resist these deceptions and false teachings which are flooding the church and Western society. We also need to seek God for the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to discern the work of the enemy and to have power to minister to those who have been caught up in this web of deception. The tragedy of much of the believing church today is that it is so often divided between those who are meticulously concerned for 'sound doctrine' and yet deny the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our day, and those who are caught up in a continual quest for the kind of supernatural experience that stirs the emotions but leaves the intellect behind. To be on the victory side in this battle we need both to “eagerly desire spiritual gifts and to be adults in our thinking” (I Corinthians 14:1,20).

We need also to keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith, understanding and being able to explain to others the vital doctrines of his pre-existence, his incarnation, his unique status as Messiah and Mediator on our behalf and his coming again in judgment at the end of this age. We also need to consider urgently and positively our response to the legitimate issues, which New Agers are concerned about, and which have been neglected by so many Christians, for example, environmental issues, health care and international relations.
To provide guidelines on how we should respond to these issues is beyond the scope of this booklet. However it should be clear from what we have said about the environmental issue that biblical theology showing why we should be concerned for the environment as God's creation, of which we are stewards, is of great importance if we are to respond adequately to the New Age challenge.


Conclusion

Christians who are concerned to counter the great deception of the New Age movement should learn from the bank which trained its employees to recognise forged bank notes by having them study every aspect of genuine notes. As a result they became so familiar with the genuine article that they could easily spot the counterfeit. This is relevant to our study of the New Age. There is a danger of becoming so alarmed at the deceptions taking place that we spend all our time studying deception in all its forms with the idea that this knowledge will save us from being deceived. Those who do this run the risk of ending up with a wholly negative ministry, analysing every word spoken or written for heresy and New Age influences and becoming narrow minded legalists with a critical spirit.

The First Letter of John is helpful to our study of this issue. It was written with the aim of countering the many deceptions, which were plaguing the early church towards the end of the First Century, many of which bear a strong resemblance to the issues we have raised in this booklet. John's message focuses our attention on the real Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and authentic Christian experience. Within the Epistle are three tests by which we may know that we are in him:

The doctrinal test by which we understand that Jesus is the Christ who alone has bought us salvation through his death and resurrection, cleansing us from our sins by his blood.

The moral test by which we walk in the light, confessing our sins and practicing righteousness.

The social test by which we love one another in deed and truth.
It is vital that we lay hold of this as we challenge the New Age movement and apply each of these tests to our own walk with the Lord and that of our Christian fellowships. As we confront New Age and its allied deceptions we need constantly to remember that the New Testament reveals the Father as a God of Love who has the power to protect his children. John declared "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (I John 4:4).

The New Age movement is certainly an enemy of our faith and behind it we see the power of the enemy at work with the intention to harm us and to destroy the souls of those for whom Christ died. But we are told by the Lord to love our enemies and pray for them. There are those who would like to pretend that we have no enemies and make friends with all and sundry on the basis that we are all children of God. We should be in no doubt that we do have enemies but God has given us the power to recognise them and to discern their works. Having done that we should pray for them and seek to make them our friends by presenting them with the truth revealed in Jesus Christ.

Article to be found here  

[Ratsah]

Here is a good link explaining the New Age Bible's of today. Not the best quality but the content is very eye opening on the different BIble's of today and how they pervert and change God's Word.New Age Bibles Again, if one is unsure of what is being said, check the Word, test it by the Spirit and you shall find the answer(s). :3 Happy hunting.  

[real eyes realize]

The two bigs ones I see almost everywhere are the "interfaith" attempts and the "worship of creation over creator" (whether it be planet-worship, people-worship, sun-worship, stone-worship, self-worship, etc...) sigh~ I just pray that more and more people read the scriptures to avoid the traps. Once we're acquainted with the whole book, the devil cannot get us to compromise on a single point.

After reading 2 Kings 10:18-36, about Jehu's little "sting operation"—inviting all the Ba'al worshipers to a service and, once there, had them massacred—I can't help but wonder if that's how end times will be, but on a larger scale. What if it's not just anyone who worships the wrong thing, but those who worship YHWH in the wrong way (using the world's ways & traditions to worship YHWH), so that they gather together in one place, despite in their hearts claiming to adore different deities, and YHWH's wrath pours over them all :L It would be easy if everyone is going to assimilate into one new age religion. I know in Jehu's case, he made sure to keep the true children of YHWH out, but what if in end times, those who want to worship the biblical God end up being deceived (by not reading the bible) and go in with the "Ba'al" worshipers?

On a related note, I sometimes wonder what "come out of Babylon" really means; does our physical locality matter? do we have to move out of the cities/metropolitan areas and live off the grid? will his true sheep be living such drastically different lives? how do we come out? Will it be a situation like the Israelites in Egypt? They're physically in the same place, but one is covered by the lamb's blood and the "angel of death" passes over the obedient, those who heeded the warnings? If an Israelite covers his door with the lamb's blood, but decides to leave his house and go back out into the world to party on the same night he pours out his wrath, does he get saved despite having the blood on his door? I know the "house" is now our physical bodies, we have his seal (his Holy Spirit, Eph 1:13, 4:30) in us. But if we gather at a physical temple somewhere, along with worshipers of falsity, would we be spared? I want to say "yes" because we would have the seal within us, but then why warn us not to be unequally yoked, not to "fellowship" with those following lies, committing idolatry unrepentantly?

I think this is where the 4th commandment acts as a fail-safe: separating worshipers by securing that they worship at different times. I know the SDA's are considered a cult, but what if they're right about a sunday law forcing everyone to worship on the same day, yoking Ba'al and YHWH worshipers together? :S That literally would be a violation of his law (changing his commandments) and a change to his appointed times:

Quote:

Daniel 7:25 (NIV)

25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.[a]

Footnotes:
a. Daniel 7:25 Or for a year, two years and half a year

 

[Garland-Green]

real eyes realize

The two bigs ones I see almost everywhere are the "interfaith" attempts and the "worship of creation over creator" (whether it be planet-worship, people-worship, sun-worship, stone-worship, self-worship, etc...) sigh~ I just pray that more and more people read the scriptures to avoid the traps. Once we're acquainted with the whole book, the devil cannot get us to compromise on a single point.

After reading 2 Kings 10:18-36, about Jehu's little "sting operation"—inviting all the Ba'al worshipers to a service and, once there, had them massacred—I can't help but wonder if that's how end times will be, but on a larger scale. What if it's not just anyone who worships the wrong thing, but those who worship YHWH in the wrong way (using the world's ways & traditions to worship YHWH), so that they gather together in one place, despite in their hearts claiming to adore different deities, and YHWH's wrath pours over them all :L It would be easy if everyone is going to assimilate into one new age religion. I know in Jehu's case, he made sure to keep the true children of YHWH out, but what if in end times, those who want to worship the biblical God end up being deceived (by not reading the bible) and go in with the "Ba'al" worshipers?

On a related note, I sometimes wonder what "come out of Babylon" really means; does our physical locality matter? do we have to move out of the cities/metropolitan areas and live off the grid? will his true sheep be living such drastically different lives? how do we come out? Will it be a situation like the Israelites in Egypt? They're physically in the same place, but one is covered by the lamb's blood and the "angel of death" passes over the obedient, those who heeded the warnings? If an Israelite covers his door with the lamb's blood, but decides to leave his house and go back out into the world to party on the same night he pours out his wrath, does he get saved despite having the blood on his door? I know the "house" is now our physical bodies, we have his seal (his Holy Spirit, Eph 1:13, 4:30) in us. But if we gather at a physical temple somewhere, along with worshipers of falsity, would we be spared? I want to say "yes" because we would have the seal within us, but then why warn us not to be unequally yoked, not to "fellowship" with those following lies, committing idolatry unrepentantly?

I think this is where the 4th commandment acts as a fail-safe: separating worshipers by securing that they worship at different times. I know the SDA's are considered a cult, but what if they're right about a sunday law forcing everyone to worship on the same day, yoking Ba'al and YHWH worshipers together? :S That literally would be a violation of his law (changing his commandments) and a change to his appointed times:

Quote:

Daniel 7:25 (NIV)

25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.[a]

Footnotes:
a. Daniel 7:25 Or for a year, two years and half a year

I am going to share a link that clarified the topic to me:
The Fallacy of the Mark of the Beast being Sunday worship
Is Sunday worship the MARK of the Beast?  

[Garland-Green]

Hamul

Here is a good link explaining the New Age Bible's of today. Not the best quality but the content is very eye opening on the different BIble's of today and how they pervert and change God's Word.New Age Bibles Again, if one is unsure of what is being said, check the Word, test it by the Spirit and you shall find the answer(s). :3 Happy hunting.

=) Thank you for sharing! Always test the the spirits. Comparing Bibles to find deliberate errors is not a great task. Most Bible versions are available online through sites such as: Biblegateway. Anyone who is uncertain about their Bible should do a comparison of verses.  

[real eyes realize]

Garland-Green

I am going to share a link that clarified the topic to me:
The Fallacy of the Mark of the Beast being Sunday worship
Is Sunday worship the MARK of the Beast?

I don't think "sunday worship" is the mark of the beast; the mark of the beast has to be something economic since you can't buy or sell without it (Rev 13:17). What I'm really concerned about is if yoking ourselves to Sunday worshipers = "staying in Babylon"? could there be negative repercussions for following man-made changes to worship? actually, scratch that last question, I've been reminded of King Jeroboam's "arbitrary behavior" with respect to worship practices. (1 Kings 12:25-33). But what does "staying" in Babylon look like? Is it just idolatry/creation-worship? In that case, wouldn't sunday worship be idolatry (worshiping man) since neither YHWH nor Yeshua changed how Shabbat is kept, but man has? sunday worship/rest = worshiping man's ways? Atheists are already worshiping mankind. Like I said, I know we're sealed by the Holy Spirit, but what if physically gathering some place with false believers will actually bring us harm some time in the future?  

[Garland-Green]

Ratsah

Here is a good link explaining the New Age Bible's of today. Not the best quality but the content is very eye opening on the different BIble's of today and how they pervert and change God's Word.New Age Bibles Again, if one is unsure of what is being said, check the Word, test it by the Spirit and you shall find the answer(s). :3 Happy hunting.

New Age Bibles: NIV, NASB, NKJV, NWT, RSV, ECV.. - Gail Riplinger

The link Ratsah provided no longer works, but I assume it was Gail Riplinger so I am re-posting the link, but also a link to someone who does not agree with her position and have attempted debating her on the issue:

"New Age Bible Versions" & the "King James Only" Controversy - A Refutation