New Age Deception
Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD, that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 83:18
The New Age Movement is very attractive to the natural man who has become disillusioned with organized religion and Western rationalism. He desires spiritual reality but doesn't want to give up materialism, deal with his moral problems, or come under authority.
I've discovered six unifying factors in New Age thinking.
The first is monism—the belief that all is one and one is all. It says we all swim in one great cosmic ocean. History is not the story of humanity's fall into sin and its restoration by God's saving grace. Rather, it is humanity's fall into ignorance and the gradual ascent into enlightenment.
Monism is a counterfeit to the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17:21. That unity is possible only when we are united together in Christian fellowship.
Second, all is God. If all is one, including God, then one must conclude that all is God—trees, snails, books and people are all of one divine essence. A personal God is abandoned in favour of an impersonal energy force or consciousness, and if God is no longer personal, He doesn't have to be served.
New Agers say, "When I was a little child, I believed in God. When I began to mature, I stopped believing in God. Then I grew up and realized that I was God."
A third unifying factor refers to a change in consciousness. If we are God, we need to know we are God. We must become cosmically conscious, also called "at-one-ment" (a counterfeit of atonement), self-realization, god-realization, enlightenment, or attunement. Their faith has no object; neither does their meditation, so it becomes an inward journey. To us, the essential issue is not whether we believe or mediate, but whom we believe in and what we meditate upon. We believe God and meditate upon His law day and night.
let’s pray:
Lord, I affirm that I am nothing, can do nothing, and will amount to nothing apart from You. You are the object of my faith and life today.
There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5
The fourth unifying factor of the New Age Movement is a cosmic evolutionary optimism. There is a New Age coming. There will be a new world order with a one-world government. New Agers believe in a progressive unification of world consciousness eventually reaching the "omega point." This is a counterfeit kingdom and we know who its prince is.
Fifth, New Agers create their own reality. They believe they can determine reality by what they believe, so by changing what they believe, they can change reality. There are no moral absolutes because there is no distinction between good and evil.
Sixth, New Agers make contact with the kingdom of darkness. Calling a medium a "channeler" and a demon a "spirit guide" has not changed the reality of what they are. They are in contact with the god of this world instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Recently I received a call from a lady who was concerned about the turn of events in a small group she was attending. It had started out as a group of supposedly Christian women. Then one woman began to function as a medium, and they thought they were hearing from God. They recorded six hours of videotape, and in that six hours, five different personalities can be identified in the medium. The group was convinced they were hearing from God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and two angels.
The lady functioning as a medium was later identified as not being a Christian. In the tape her eyes roll back in a trancelike state. At one point a voice says through her, "It's going to snow here tomorrow." I'm surprised that when it didn't snow the next day, they couldn't see the snow job being done on them!
How can a thinking person, professing to be a Christian, consider this as anything other than demonization? But it isn't just lonely homemakers who are being deceived. This deception is invading every area of society today.
let’s pray:
Father, keep me alert to the deception of New Age thinking around me, and help me dismiss the darkness I encounter with the light of Your truth.
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.