THE AGE-OLD NEW AGE MOVEMENT
The New Age Movement is "the most dangerous enemy of Christianity
in the world today,...more dangerous than secular humanism." This
is the knowledgeable opinion of Norman L. Geisler, professor of
Systematic Theology at Dallas (Tex.) Theological Seminary.
Many people have never heard of the New Age Movement. Its
philosophy, however, has been around for a long time, and
specific groups are now aligning with it. In his 1978 book, New
Age Politics, Mark Satin cited resources of "250 New Age Books/20
Interesting Books by Some Early American Advocates of 'New Age
Politics'/50 New Age Periodicals/100 New Age Groups." In the
years since, the publications and groups seem to have exploded on
the scene. Various names are associated with the movement, such
as Alice Bailey, Benjamin Creme, David Spangler, Levi Dowling,
George Trevelyan, Fritjof Capra, Abraham Maslow, Marilyn
Ferguson, Shirley MacLaine and George Lucas.
Various symbols are used by the New Agers. In Smugglers From the
East, Don Morris -- co-pastor of First Federated Church in Des
Moines, Iowa -- recites some of the most frequently used signs:
"Rainbow, pyramid, triangle, eye in triangle, unicorn , yin-yang
(two black and white comma shapes nestled together in a circle),
goat head on pentagram, and even 666 worked into art."
Morris is quick to caution -- as are most observers -- that a
person must not make the mistake, however, of assuming that the
appearance of one of these symbols necessarily means that the
person associated with it is part of the New Age Movement .
The New Age mind-set has touched almost every area of life:
education, culture, history, religion, politics, psychology,
science and health.
The Movement has no central headquarters; therefore, no
leadership or membership lists are available. So we have no clear
statistics that tell us how many people are followers. Some have
sought to determine the number of adherents by other means , such
as by finding out how many people hold to one or more of the
major beliefs of the New Age.
Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, cites "a
Gallup poll released in February, 1978, [which] reported that ten
million Americans were engaged in some aspect of Eastern
religion." New Age has much in common with Eastern religions , so
the number of followers of one is likely an accurate measure of
the number of followers of the other. But from all the evidence,
that number has taken a quantum leap in the years since that
poll.
Robert J. L. Burrows, editor of publications for Spiritual
Counterfeits Project (Berkley, Calif.), says, "The Christian film
Gods of the New Age, arrived at a figure of 60 million [aligned
with the New Age Movement] by using a similar poll that suggested
23 percent of Americans believe in reincarnation."
Television networks in America seek to be as up-to-date as
possible on the interest of their viewers. They know about the
population's fascination with New Age views. Shirley MacLaine,
actress, author and promoter of New Age beliefs, wrote concerning
the interest in making a film of her book, Out on a Limb: "They
(ABC-TV) spoke of metaphysical searching being popular now and
extraterrestrials and UFOs as something the public was genuinely
interested in." The network was correct in its assessment, and
the miniseries Out on a Limb (aired Jan. 1987) greatly aided in
further popularizing the beliefs of the New Age.
But what really laid the groundwork for this Movement -- a
movement that emphasizes the mental and spiritual dimensions of
mankind and a movement whose beliefs are contrary to biblical
Christianity?
BACKGROUND
Although the words "New Age" could cause one to assume that these
beliefs are new, little is new in the New Age Movement. The words
"New Age" are derived from the idea that the world is about to
enter a utopian age of Aquarius. Astrology -- the belief that the
heavenly bodies affect the mundane matters of humanity -- gets a
lot of attention from the New Agers. It is from astrology that
the "age of Aquarius" is derived.
So the name "Aquarius" has become closely associated with the New
Age Movement. In The Aquarian Conspiracy, Marilyn Ferguson tells
the story of the New Age Movement. She explains her choice of
words in the title. At first she thought "conspiracy " was too
strong a word. But then she said she realized that "conspire, in
its literal sense, means 'to breathe together.' It is an intimate
joining. To make clear the benevolent nature of this joining, I
chose the word Aquarian. Although I am unacquainted with
astrological lore, I was drawn to the symbolic power of the
pervasive dream in our popular culture: that after a dark,
violent age, the Piscean, we are entering a millennium of love
and light -- in the words of the popular song, 'The Age of
Aquarius,' the time of 'mind's true liberation.'"
The New Age Movement seems to be a reaction to the scientific
age. During a time when everything has become so objective and
particularized, the shift now is to emphasize the subjective and
the whole. This shift has focused attention on the "inner"
feelings and on wholistic (or holistic) health, as well as on
global matters rather than nationalistic ones.
In the past, the public educational system of the United States
-- from kindergarten through graduate level -- has been based on
an atheistic presupposition. That is, everything must be
explainable apart from a supernatural God. Even though some fine
Christian teachers have counterbalanced this presupposition
somewhat, nevertheless, the system itself has made no room for
God.
This educational system has produced scientists who have taken
the same worldview. Again, although some scientists have been
outstanding Christians, the norm has been to explain everything
in the experimental lab totally apart from God.
A country can rule God out of the classroom and the science lab,
but it cannot rule Him out of the hearts of people. "[God] has
... set eternity in their heart," the Bible declares (Eccles.
3:11, NASB). Consequently, there is a spiritual vacuum within the
heart of man that only God can fill. When people reject the true
God, they begin to worship other objects. Secular humanism turned
to man himself, seeing man as only a highly evolved animal with
no spiritual capacity. The New Age Movement is a reaction to this
atheistic view, but it is no closer to the truth than secular
humanism is. The New Age Movement has put an emphasis on the mind
(as seen in its mysticism) and on the spirit (as seen in its
worldview of God, matter and mankind).
BELIEFS
Douglas R. Groothuis, research associate with Probe Ministries
(Seattle, Wash.), identifies six distinctives of New Age
thinking:
All is One
All is God
Humanity is God
A change in consciousness
All religions are one
Cosmic evolutionary optimism
Norman L. Geisler focuses on 14 doctrines typical of New Age
religions:
1) an impersonal god (force)
2) an eternal universe
3) an illusory nature of matter
4) a cyclical nature of life
5) the necessity of reincarnations
6) the evolution of man into godhood
7) continuing revelations from beings beyond the world
8) the identity of man with God
9) the need for meditation (or other consciousness-changing
techniques)
10) occult practices (astrology, mediums and so forth)
11) vegetarianism and holistic health
12) pacifism (or anti-war activities)
13) one world (global) order
14) syncretism (unity of all religions)
Robert J. L. Burrows cautions: "Issues New Agers address do not
necessarily come with New Age ideology attached. Nor does the
terminology they use. Holistic, holographic, synergistic, unity,
oneness, transformation, personal growth, human potential,
awakening, networking, energy, consciousness -- such words occur
with predictable regularity in New Age writings. It would,
however, be erroneous to conclude that these words always
indicate New Age commitment." Although there are many ways to
approach an evaluation of the New Age Movement, this analysis
will pursue what the Movement believes concerning source of
authority, God, Jesus Christ, sin and salvation, good and evil,
and future life (reincarnation).
SOURCE OF AUTHORITY
Generally, New Agers do not speak of a source of authority. If
such is referred to, it is not an external authority but an
internal one. In the New Age Movement, the individual is
considered to be the standard of truth. New Age proponent Shirley
MacLaine reveals the supposed power of the individual when
commenting, "It's all my dream. I'm making all of it happen --
good and bad -- and I have the choice of how I'll relate to it
and what I'll do about it."
MacLaine goes on to say, "Perhaps everyone has his own truth, and
truth as an objective reality simply does not exist."
The Scriptures, on the other hand, present objective truths. They
are inspired (literally, "God-breathed"); therefore, they can be
fully relied on. The fact of the inspiration of the Scriptures is
seen in 2 Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is inspired by God, and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for
training in righteousness." The method of inspiration is seen in
2 Peter 1:21: "No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will,
but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." The extent of
inspiration is seen in Matthew 5:18: "For truly I say to you,"
said the Lord Jesus Christ, "until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law,
until all is accomplished." So no individual is left to himself
and his inner feelings as final authority; the Bible serves as
this objective standard.
GOD
New Age thinkers show their true colours in what they believe
about God. To them, God is not a Supreme Being distinct from
creation -- He IS creation. In developing a worldview about the
material and immaterial world, New Agers reach a faulty
conclusion. To them there is only one essence in the universe,
and everything and everyone is part of that essence. This is
known as "monism," which comes from the Greek word monos, meaning
"one".
Monism is a common view of Eastern religions, especially
Hinduism. All creatures, as well as inanimate objects, are viewed
as part of this divine essence. Some of the more commonly known
groups in the United States that share this Hindu view with the
New Agers are Transcendental Meditation (also known as the
Science of Creative Intelligence), Christian Science and Unity
School of Christianity. In fact, in The Aquarian Conspiracy,
Marilyn Ferguson lists Unity churches under "discussion groups"
of "Aquarian Conspiracy Resources." The monism of the New Age
Movement is really pantheism, believing that all (pan) is God
(theos). Following this line of reasoning, whatever exists --
whether it's a person, a poodle or a pickle -- is part of God.
This leads observers to say that the worldview in the United
States has switched from the atheism of secular humanism (man is
the measure of all things) to the pantheism of the New Age
Movement (man is god).
The god of the New Age Movement is an impersonal presence, not a
person with intellect, emotions and a will, as the Bible presents
Him.
The God of the Bible is a personal Father, not an impersonal
force. This reveals why New Agers cannot accept the teaching of
the Bible. They are not able to get beyond the first five words:
"In the beginning God created" (Gen. 1:1). Because they confuse
God with creation, the New Agers see God as part of creation --
not separate from it. Biblical Christianity clearly distinguishes
between God and creation.
While rejecting the Bible's distinction between God and creation,
the New Agers accept and believe the lie of Satan. Eve told the
Tempter that God had said they would die if Adam and she ate from
the tree in the middle of the garden. But the Seducer said, "You
surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from
it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil" (Gen. 3:4,5).
Notice that not even Satan indicated they would "be" God -- only
that they would be "like" God. And even this was in only one
aspect: "knowing good and evil." After the fall of Adam and Eve,
God acknowledged what had occurred: "Behold, the man has become
like one of Us, knowing good and evil" (v.22). "This knowledge,
as absolute, is an attribute of God (3:5), who is omniscient,"
wrote Merrill F. Unger. "But man, created with only the knowledge
of good, acquired the experiential knowledge of evil through
pride and disobedience, and in this manner fell into a state of
sin and misery."
Satan's lie -- as verified by history -- was "You surely shall
not die!" (v.4). Adam and Eve immediately died spiritually, for
their act of disobedience separated them from God. They later
died physically as a result of their sin (see Romans 5:1 2).
Because the New Agers think all is One, this leads them to
thinking they -- and everything else -- are part of this divine
essence. They believe each person is "intertwined" with God. New
Agers even use the Bible to support their erroneous beliefs. They
are especially fond of Jesus' words "the kingdom of God is within
you" (Luke 17:21, KJV). New Agers use these words to claim that
each one has a divine spark within because he or she is part of
the divine essence.
As in other instances where they use the Bible, New Agers twist
the context and words to mean what they wish. Jesus Christ had
come to earth to present Himself as the Messiah of Israel. The
Pharisees were opposed to Him because He was ruining their
established man-made rules, which they had added to Old Testament
revelation. They were always trying to pose some question to
disprove the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. When they demanded
of Him an answer concerning when the kingdom of God would come
(v.20), He answered, "The kingdom of God is within you"
(v.21).
Jesus did not mean that these Pharisees had the kingdom of God
inside of them. To the contrary, they were the enemies of
everything the kingdom stood for. The word translated "within" is
entos. Although it can have the meaning of "inside", it can also
mean "in your midst". This latter possibility fits the context,
as well as the rest of the Bible's teaching. Jesus Christ Himself
was the King -- the ruler of the kingdom. When the Pharisees
asked Him when the kingdom would arrive, Jesus told them that the
kingdom was in their midst, because the King (whom they rejected)
was standing right in their presence.
JESUS CHRIST
Many counterfeit religious groups use the same tactic when
explaining who Jesus Christ is - they deny His deity by
distinguishing between "Jesus" and "Christ". Those who believe
that "all is One" cannot accept the teaching of the Bible
concerning Christ. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God. It
teaches that He took upon Himself human form to redeem mankind
from sin's penalty.
Typically, those who believe all is of one essence make "Christ"
the cosmic principle, or ideal. Jesus was simply an unusual man,
they say, who had this ideal within Him as we all do. Barbara
Marx Hubbard says we need to recognize that the "Messiah is
within."
The human potential movement among the New Agers is based on the
faulty premise that each person is god and needs only to have his
consciousness enlightened so he will realize that fact. And the
means to this enlightenment is meditation. But the forms of
meditation are many. Daniel Coleman, writing in Psychology Today
(March, 1977), described 13 different forms of meditation. "Each
of these approaches," wrote Coleman, "seeks the same basic
psychological change in the meditator's awareness."
The New Age Movement is not the only group that emphasizes human
potential. Biblical Christianity releases individuals to achieve
their true potential in Jesus Christ by freeing them from the
burden of sin and condemnation and by giving them untold optimism
for this life. But biblical Christianity is also concerned about
preparing people for eternity - not just preparing them to reach
their maximum potential on earth.
Although the emphasis on human potential is selling well in the
business world, when a person truly looks inside of himself, he
finds wickedness and ugliness - not God. "The heart is more
deceitful than all else and is desperately sick," says Jeremiah
17:9, "who can understand it?" (NASB).
David Seamands, author of Healing of Memories, says, "I was a
missionary to India, and the massive umbrella of pantheistic and
monistic Hinduism was a tremendous challenge. It made me an
absolute fanatic on Jesus Christ. The one place that I'm not
going to budge is on the Incarnation, because I see the
tremendous importance of it. 'Whether the Krishna existed or
not,' says my Hindu friend, 'that's not important. It's the
Krishna ideal that matters, so therefore it's the Christ ideal
that matters. Whether or not Christ existed is not
important.'
"To that I would and did say, 'No, we're not talking about the
same thing. Whether Christ exists or not is not just important.
It's absolutely paramount.'"
We cannot separate the human Jesus from the divine Christ, as the
New Agers attempt to do. They believe that the same Christ ideal,
or spirit, dwelt in "Hercules, Hermes, Rama, Mithra ... Krishna,
Buddha, and the Christ."
Sound confusing? It is. The Bible, however, does not leave a
person wondering about who Jesus Christ is. The name "Jesus"
means "Saviour." Referring to the child who would be born to the
virgin Mary, the angel told Joseph, "You shall call His name
Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins"
(Matt. 1:21).
The name "Christ" means "anointed one," or "Messiah." In Bible
times, saying "Jesus Christ" was the same as saying "Jesus, the
Messiah." After Andrew first began to follow Jesus, he went
looking for his brother, Simon Peter. When he found him, Andrew
announced, "We have found the Messiah." By inspiration, the
Apostle John added in his record of this event: "which translated
means Christ" (John 1:41).
Jesus is like no other. He was unique in His birth, life, death
and resurrection. He was virgin born (see Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23);
He lived a sinless life (see 1 John 3:5); He died in the place of
others to pay the penalty for sin (see 2 Cor. 5:2 1); and He was
raised from the dead on the third day and ascended to the
Heavenly Father (see 1 Cor. 15:3,4; Acts 1:11).
SIN AND SALVATION
In New Age writings, we search in vain to find references to sin.
Because New Agers believe that each person is god, they don't
believe in sin as the Bible defines it. Any lack a person has,
they say, is a lack of enlightenment. Their solution is to alter
that person's consciousness so he will think properly about his
oneness with the Force, or the impersonal presence. Because they
explain away sin, they have no need for salvation in the biblical
sense. In their minds, any salvation would simply be a more
complete unification with the One.
But this is not what the Bible teaches. Genesis 3, previously
referred to, reveals that mankind was separated from God when he
disobeyed God in the Garden. Because of this sin, a curse was
placed on both mankind and nature (see vv. 14-19). The New
Testament confirms that each individual is a sinful being (see
Romans 5:12). Note that the reason death passed to all of us is
that we all have a sin nature. Contrary to what the New Agers
tell us, each person is not god; each person is separated from
God.
GOOD AND EVIL
The New Age Movement mimics Eastern religions, which distort the
distinction between good and evil. Because of the New Age's
monastic view that "all is One," how can it account for both good
and evil? Is the one "essence," or "force" (the Hindu equivalent
of God), both good and evil?
The God of the Bible stands in stark contrast to the god of
Eastern religions. In the One-is-all and all-is-One view of
divine essence, there ultimately is neither good nor evil. "In
the philosophy of the One, ethical distinctions evaporate;
supposed opposites - light and dark, good and evil, humans and
God - merge and fuse," wrote Douglas Groothuis who also documents
that Charles Manson was "deeply immersed in the One for all"
movement when he ordered the murders of actress Sharon Tate and
several others. Manson felt he had reached a state of
consciousness beyond morality; therefore, he was free to kill.
Although highly unusual behaviour, Groothuis points out that such
behaviour is not inconsistent with the way Hindu gods have been
served in the past.
The Bible clearly distinguishes between good and evil. The two
never merge. Nor does a person ever transcend in his
consciousness so he goes beyond the bounds of moral
distinctions.
FUTURE LIFE (REINCARNATION)
Although ultimately denying any distinction between good and
evil, New Agers are concerned about a future life - but not the
future life known in the Bible.
They say that the way a person lives in this life will determine
the way he will be reincarnated in the next. This is not a new
concept- it is as old as the Eastern religions the New Agers
follow. It also shows the natural bent of man's mind -he may
think he can transcend any moral boundaries, but somehow he still
realizes the need to account for wrongdoing in this life.
Caryl Matrisciana of Great Britain was raised in India. In her
book, Gods of the New Age, this former New Ager shows the
miseries of those living under Hinduism. She admits that her
vegetarian diet and her crusading for animal rights and ecology
were motivated by her worldview when she was a New Ager. "'Purity
in eating leads to a purity in being, in essence, in mind, and in
emotions,' became my motto. This holistic guideline convinced me
that my spiritual and physical being were one." She continues,
"The theory behind vegetarian eating as the highest form of
purity led me to campaign tirelessly for animal rights. Many
times I placed animals high above human priorities." Matrisciana
reveals the thinking of some New Agers when she says, "After all,
I believed, these poor little creatures are reincarnated".
"I didn't realize until years later," admits Matrisciana, "that I
was developing an attitude toward animals that I had rejected
while growing up in India. Some animals were becoming sacred in
my eyes. And I was placing them well above human beings!"
This raises an important question. If New Age teachings are so
helpful to mankind, why haven't these teachings helped improve
life in the countries where such ideas originated? Robert J. L.
Burrows is on target when he writes: "The vision [Fritj of] Capra
believes will deliver us seems to thrive in cultures where misery
is perpetually rampant and corruption is rife. India is a case in
point. Christians know that the problem is perversity, not human
perception - holiness, not holism."
In Hinduism, the teaching of reincarnation involves the doctrine
of "karma" - the law of sowing and reaping. They believe that
whatever a person sows in this life he will reap in the next life
in his reincarnated state.
But the New Agers are not consistent at this point in borrowing
from Eastern religions. As Groothuis points out, "The doctrine
[of reincarnation] as conceived in Hinduism and Buddhism involves
all forms of life and is called 'transmigration.' Westerners
ignore this fact and colour the idea with hopes for
self-development. But according to the Eastern doctrine, one may
come back as a dog, cow or gnat -something decidedly less
attractive than a more fully realized 'human potential.'"
How interesting it is that Shirley MacLaine admits that in her
late teens she decided "God and religion were definitely
mythological.....I couldn't believe in anything that had no
proof." And yet this same person is a strong believer in
reincarnation. She has rejected the eyewitness reports contained
in the Bible for the mysticism of Eastern religions. It is no
wonder that she looks at her daughter, Sachi, with all kinds of
questions: "When the doctor brought her to me in the hospital bed
on that afternoon in 1956, had she already lived many times
before, with other mothers? Had she, in fact, been one herself?
Had she, in fact, ever been my mother? Was her one-hour-old face
housing a soul perhaps millions of years old?"
New Age thinkers who have borrowed the idea of reincarnation from
ancient Eastern religions also have gotten into the channelling
business. "A step up the occult ladder from mediums, channels
claim their bodies are taken over by 'entities' or spirits from
another dimension." One of the best-known channellers is J.Z.
Knight, supposedly a channel for Ramtha, a 35,000-year-old male
spirit who calls himself "The Enlightened One." Since Knight was
popularized in 1985 by Shirley MacLaine, "thousands of adherents
have paid up to $400 apiece to hear Ramtha preach his blend of
Christianity, Eastern mysticism and New Age self- reliance."
In his critique of the channelling fad, Brooks Alexander of
Spiritual Counterfeits Project states, "The entities endlessly
repeat the primal lie, the three-fold creed of error: There is no
death; man is God; knowledge of self is salvation and power."
Alexander alludes to the estimate that there are 1000 active
channels practicing in Los Angeles alone. He concludes that
channelling is the same old spiritism of the past and says,
"There is irony in the fact that this spiritual relic is the
latest rage of our 'secular' age, the hottest fad of the so-
called New Age Movement." The answer to man's future life is not
karma but Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the full penalty for
sin so that each person can be completely delivered from
condemnation by trusting Him as personal Saviour. "There is
therefore now no condemnation, "says Romans 8:1, "for those who
are in Christ Jesus."
CONCLUSION
The concepts of the New Age Movement are not new - they are based
on ancient erroneous beliefs about God, man and the world. The
Movement is to be commended for its spiritual concern, but it has
turned away from the true God to gods of the spirit world. As
Paul said of the Jewish leaders of his day, "They have a zeal for
God, but not in accordance with knowledge" (Romans 10:2).
Any believer who is tempted to delve into the teachings of the
New Age Movement needs to heed the warnings of the Bible (see
Deut. 13:1-3; 18:9-12). God has given us His completed
revelation, so we have no need to seek further information
through the spirit world. Our need is to know the clear teachings
of the Bible better.
Believers should be concerned about world peace, the environment,
humane treatment of animals and reaching our full potential in
Christ. Our concern should not be based, however, on the theology
of Eastern religions - believing that all these things are part
of the One, or the impersonal Force. Above all, we should not be
naive when we hear someone mention the terms "God" and "Christ."
When the New Agers use these terms, they are not talking about
the God and the Christ of the Bible.
Let us love those who have gone after other gods. Let us live
before them as dynamic, caring Christians so they will see that
Christianity is more than a creed; it is life - eternal life. And
let us be faithful in gently, but firmly, persuading them to turn
to the Christ of the Bible who has paid the penalty for their
sins. Let us pray that they will trust in Him as Saviour and be
delivered from the hopelessness of their man-centred, pantheistic
religion.
(From an article by Harold J. Berry in the June-August 1989
issues of Confident Living.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Provided courtesy of: Eternal Word Television Network PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110 Voice: 703-791-2576 Fax: 703-791-4250 Data:
703-791-4336 FTP: EWTN.COM Telnet: EWTN.COM Email address: SYSOP@
EWTN.COM
EWTN provides a Catholic online information and service
system.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
mirror www.ewtn.com/library/newage/age-old.txt
Further Reading:
Refutation of the New
Age Movement
Holy Spirit Watch
