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?
