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More on the New Age Movement

by | Dec 5, 2008 | Minor Groups & Issues, New Age Movement

  1. new ageWhat the New Age Movement does.
    1. It is a sponge that attempts to absorb all religions, cultures, and governments.
    2. It seeks to unify all systems into one spiritual, socio-economic unity.
    3. It uses various means to have mystical experiences with God and/or nature and/or self. Some of the methods were described in Omni Magazine (How to Have a Mystical Experience. Dec. 1988, p. 137-145) as imagining, where you are told to imagine your own reality; transcendence, going beyond the limits of time; sleep deprivation, with the purpose of inducing a mystical experience; focusing, “to experience all of reality as unified and not as a collection of disparate objects”; avoidance, where communication with the outside world is stopped in order to reinterpret the world without its influence on you; identification, “To trade places mentally with a dog or a cat, canary, or animal in the zoo”; reflection, an exercise designed to help you to view the year to come, differently; and star-gazing, “to induce a sense of objectivity about your life and a feeling of connectedness to the rest of cosmos.”
  2. What the New Age Movement does not do.
    1. It does not teach that man is a sinner – Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:3.
    2. It does not teach that man is dependent upon God for all things – Isaiah 43:7; James 1:17.
    3. It does not teach that punishment is eternal – Rev. 14:11.
    4. It does not teach that the wages of sin is eternal separation from God – Rom. 6:23; Isaiah 59:2.
    5. It does not teach that Jesus is the only way to God – Matt. 11:27; John 14:6.
    6. It does not accept Christianity as the truth – 2 Tim. 3:16.
  3. New Age Terminology
    1. According to the Bible, Man is the image-bearer of God (Gen. 1:26), and as such, is a creature of speech. Remember, God said, “…Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3).
    2. In the New Age, words are very important. In fact, the New Age has some of its own special words. Some of them are: Holistic, holographic, synergistic, unity, oneness, harmony, at-one-ment, transformation, personal growth, human potential, awakening, networking, energy, and consciousness. These words are prevalent in New Age conversations and writings.
    3. In fact, if you were to go to a New Age Bookstore and read the titles or their books, you would see a disproportionate amount of them energy-containing the word “self.”
  4. The New Age Interpretation of Christianity
    1. God is not a personal heavenly Father but an impersonal force.
    2. God is all and all is God. God is not the “wholly other” creator of all, but part of all that exists.
    3. There is nothing that is not God. (This is pantheism.)
    4. There is no sin, only an incorrect understanding of truth. Knowledge is what saves, not Jesus.
    5. Hell is not a place but an experience here on Earth; it is a state of mind.
    6. Jesus was just one of many way showers of divine truth. He exemplified the Christ consciousness probably better than anyone else.
    7. Christ is a consciousness, a form of the higher self. It is possessed by all because everyone is divine. “It is not Christ that can be crucified” (Miracles, Lesson 303, p. 441).
    8. “A miracle is a correction…It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes error” (Miracles, p. 164). A miracle to a New Ager is not God’s intervention into this world to perform His will but the realization of the true reality that God is all and that you are God.
  5. The New Age View of Man
    1. Since all is God, and man is part of all, then man is God. This is pantheism.
      1. This is an eastern mystical belief system that has crept into mainstream America.
      2. God is not part of creation. He is separate from it and made it (Isaiah 44:24).
      3. Man is not God, he is a creation (Gen. 1:26).
    2. Therefore, man is good by nature.
      1. Man is not good by nature (Eph. 2:3).
    3. Man has infinite potential.
      1. This arrogant conclusion based upon false concepts of grandiose self-worth, is a deceptive, self-satisfying indulgence into pride. As Satan wanted to be like God (Isaiah 14:12-17) and encouraged Adam and Eve to be like God also (Gen. 3:1-5), the New Ager listens to the echo of that Edenic lie and yields to it willingly.
    4. Man is one with the universe.
      1. Again the difference between man and creation is blurred. Man is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). The universe is not. Man is different than creation.
  6. The New Age View of Salvation
    1. Salvation in the NAM. means to be in tune with the divine consciousness.
      1. In tune means to be in harmony with reality and whatever is perceived to be true.
    2. Since the NAM. doesn’t acknowledge sin or sinfulness, there is no need for a redeemer like Jesus. Salvation, to them, is simply the realization of our divine nature. “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me. Salvation of the world depends on me” (Miracles, Lesson 206, p. 380). Such arrogance is mind-boggling.
    3. It is a form of knowledge, of achieving correct thought. Therefore we need to be saved from ignorance, not sin.
    4. Salvation, in the New Age sense, is self achieved through understanding your natural godlikeness and goodness, combined with proper knowledge.

As you can see, the New Age Movement is not a biblical teaching by any means. It is a false religious system authored by the evil one. It contradicts Christianity in almost all of its main tenets. It is to be avoided, to be guarded against, and to be destroyed. And so it will on that glorious day when the Lord Jesus returns.

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