See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. [Colossians 2:8]
New Age is not new ... it is a modern revival of ancient religious traditions,
along with a potpourri of influences: Eastern mysticism, modern philosophy
and psychology, science and science fiction, and the counterculture of the
50s and 60s. "... So here we are in the New Age, a combination of spirituality
and superstition, fad and farce, about which the only thing certain is that
it is not new. Nobody seems to know exactly where the term came from, but
it has been around for several decades or more, and many elements of the
New Age, like faith healing, fortune-telling and transmigration of souls,
go back for centuries." [Otto Friedrich, "New
Age Harmonies," TIME, Dec. 7, 1987.]
Despite its popularity, the New Age is hard to define. It includes a variety
of beliefs, fads, and rituals. It seems to be a marriage of Science &
Easternism Cult-religious organizations and can be a mixture of Christianity,
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Spiritualism such as, Church Universal & Triumphant
(Elizabeth Clare Prophet). Some New Agers subscribe to some parts, some
to others.
It is a religious movement that is centered in SELF- all you need is within
- with no defined order of sin, repentance or salvation! You become your
own god! The people worship the god of forces and promote The Aquarian Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Jesus was not and is not
the only Christ, nor is he God.
Some may think that everyone means the same thing when they say "Christ."
Christians see the one and only begotten Son of God, our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Many New Age writers on the other hand refer to a Christ spirit.
They believe there have been many Christ, Jesus being only one of many.
New Age prophetess Alice Bailey and author of many occult books, including
The Reappearance of The Christ, describes the "Avatar of Synthesis,"
who she says is a "close Associate" of "the Christ." She says: "He works
under the great natural Law of Synthesis, producing at-one-ment, unification
and fusion. His function (in unison with the energy of Christ) is to generate
spiritual will in humanity, the will-to good.
The New Ager understands Christ as a reincarnated avatar, Messiah, or messenger
sent from the 'hierarchy' to give the living on earth spiritually advanced
revelation. The New Age accepts that Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Jesus,
and many others were 'Christ'.
The Baha'i World Faith claims to be in perfect
harmony with the Christian Faith yet see the historical Jesus as only one
of several manifestations of Christ on equal ground as Abraham, Moses, Krishna,
Zoroastrian, Budda, Mohammed, the Bab, and their founder: Baha'u'llah.
"God" is impersonal, cosmic,
a God of energy forces.
All things, including man, constitute, the ONE - called Universal Mind,
The Source, Universal Self, Cosmic Consciousness, Universal Presence, or
The Force" - your Inner Voice, Higher Self, or Intuition. " God is an impersonal
energy; force, immanent in all things (including man). God can be referred
to either as she or he, mother or father, god or goddess.
Do not be deceived! New Agers do not mean God or Jesus Christ of the Bible.
Most New Age teachers hold that Mother Earth, the sun, the moon, and the
stars, indeed all of Nature can be worshipped as God.
Man is himself God, for
he consists of and is the creator of "the forces." Man already exercises
the powers inherent in his divinity and needs only to awaken to this fact.
New Ageism embraces supernaturalism, but ascribes it to the creature, not
the Creator (as in Romans 1:22-24). They flaunt the "I am God" concept as
it naturally appeals to man's ego and thirst for power, an appeal as old
as the Garden of Eden. Satan promised Eve: "Ye shall be as God."
It is of of the goals of the New Age Movement to cause people to rebel against
the true God of the Bible and to believe that they are deities. Once Satan
has the person in this heretical frame of mind, then the battle is won.
The individual will then be called for greater service to the Prince of
Darkness. And with a mind clouded and confused, he or she will comply. The
individual will have become a member, knowingly or unknowingly, of the Satanic
conspiracy. [Texe Marrs, Millennium, pp. 224-25]
Man should seek and accept
spiritual instruction and direction directly from the spirit world.
The lure of the occult is almost always on the basis of acquiring knowledge
or power. [Neil T. Anderson, The Bondage Breaker,
pg. 114] We crave a knowledge that is esoteric, not normally available
to the ordinary person. We want to experience a power that is spiritual
and supernatural in origin. People don't seem to want to hear what God has
to say, they want information and direction from someone else who "knows";
a psychic, a channeler, a palm-reader, a card-reader, Ouija boards, astrology,
magic charming, automatic writing, or the spirit of a dead friend of relative.
In a sense these are God-given desire, but they are intended to be fulfilled
by the knowledge and power which comes from God. However, Satan is busy
trying to pass off his counterfeits for God's knowledge and power as the
real thing. If he can get us to accept his versions of knowledge and power,
he has a foothold in our life.
All religions and religious
teachings lead to the same goal. All are equally of merit.
Satan's primary tactic in opposing God is not to foster atheism but religion;
not to prove there is no God but to be worshipped as God. "I have not come
to found a new religion," Lord Maitreya says. "I have come to teach the
art of Self-realization," something which is neither an ideology nor a religion,
but benefits people of all religions and those who have none. "I come to
you 'like a thief in the night'", He tells us, "so that you will not become
too excited. Slowly, as you become aware, you can 'digest' what is 'eaten'.
In awareness you will know Me. In 'isms' you will fight against me".
The New Age does express a cloudy sort of religion, claiming vague connections
with both Christianity and the major faiths of the East (New Agers like
to say the Jesus spent 18 years in India absorbing Hinduism and the teachings
of Buddha), plus an occasional dab of pantheism and sorcery. The underlying
faith is a lack of faith in the orthodoxies of rationalism, high technology,
routine living, spiritual law-and-order. Somehow, the New Agers believe,
there must be some secret and mysterious shortcut or alternative path to
happiness and health.
"Ecumenism is essential in creating a "Christianity" which embraces all
religions. Psychology plays a major ecumenical role by providing common
faith, language and ritual for everyone from atheists, cultists and occultists
to Roman Catholics and evangelicals." [Dave
Hunt, "Mystery Babylon Part II," The Berean Call, August 1993]
The "ancient wisdom"
of Babylon, Egypt and Greece - not the Bible - is the basis of all truth.
Vice President Albert Gore in his book Earth in the Balance; Ecology
and the Human Spirit, reveals himself as a person who believes we should
have a "mother goddess" that we can worship. He points back to ancient religions
and Hinduism and says that they have something good in their worship of
"mother earth," and claims that our modern slogan should be the worship
of "mother earth"; that man and nature are one, and that God is part of
nature, and nature is part of God. On pages 258 through 259 of his book,
he shows where he departed from the Baptist faith and entered in to the
New Age Religion. He says "The richness and diversity of our religious tradition
through out history is a spiritual resource long ignored by people of faith,
who are often afraid to open their minds to teachings first offered outside
their own system of belief." "This Pan-religious perspective may prove especially
important where our global civilizations responsibility for the earth is
concerned." "Native American Religions for instance offer a rich tapestry
of ideas about our relationship to the earth."[Al Gore, Earth In the Balance; Ecology and the Human Spirit,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992.]
Sin and evil do not exist.
Peace and love are the ultimate realities.
New Agers deny the existence of a hell (gehenna fire) and a judgment. They
also deny that sin and evil exist. God (The universe) is alleged to be beyond
good and evil.
The New Age gospel is not a system of revolutionary principles. It does
not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not to
set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son, but
fosters the fraternal spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great
"brotherhood." It does not seek to drag down the natural man, but to improve
and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation and appeals to "the
best that is within us." It aims to make this world such a comfortable and
congenial habitat that Christ's absence from it will not be felt and God
will not be needed.
Depending on which branch of the New Age movement you encounter, there
may or may not be a great world leader who will emerge to lead us all to
enlightenment. Some New Agers await the advent of the Lord Maitreya while others believe we will all become
so godlike that we will not need any leaders. The Bible tells of an age
when God is going to permit Satan to actually rule in person on this earth!
If a New Age leader emerges, he could well be the Antichrist, an enemy of
mankind who will be intent on leading the world into terrible rebellion
against God and who will be destroyed along with his followers. Although
God's prophets foretold many explicit signs of Christ's first coming most
people missed Him. Likewise, God has given many definite signs that point
to the second coming of Jesus. False Christ's and false prophets are high
on the list.
The question is, do you KNOW God in
Christ Jesus ... as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures? Have you
read His Book? Have you studied it? How can you be sure you know the real
God in Christ Jesus if you have not studied what He has said about Himself?
