A MASK FOR AN OLD MESSAGE

What Is New Age Spirituality?

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” 

1 Timothy 4:1

New Age Spirituality presents itself as innocent and helpful. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it can look good on the outside. In reality, however, it is deceptive and destructive. Thousands of people follow lies about God and His world because they fail to recognize New Age Spirituality for what it is. 

Are you putting your faith in a cloaked lie?

How can you know if you are?

Read on to understand the lies of New Age Spirituality that may be influencing you!

• New Age Spirituality is made up of a large, loosely structured network of individuals and organizations bound together by a worldview that chiefly consists of …
• the central belief of pantheism
• the common hope of global enlightenment
• the creation of one’s own reality through positive thinking
• the cycle of ongoing reincarnation

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

Colossians 2:8

The Appeal of the New Age 

Many people are deceptively drawn into New Age Spirituality because ... 

• It offers something positive for everyone (health enthusiasts, psychologists, ecologists). 
• It rejects moral absolutes (no distinction between good and evil). 
• It incorporates a broader view of unity to the point that all religions are the same. 
• It generates curiosity in the supernatural. 
• It increases one’s sense of personal worth. 
• It preys on the spiritual vacuum in a person. 
• It abandons accountability for sin. 
• It targets those with little knowledge of sound biblical doctrine. 
• It satisfies one’s desire to be like God. 
• It offers a deceptive alternative to those who will not accept the simple message of Christ. 
• It nourishes one’s hope for a perfect world. 

The Root Cause of New Age Deception 

Wrong Belief: 

“My identity (significance) is found in fulfilling my divine potential to become God!” 

Right Belief: 

“My identity (significance) is in Jesus Christ, whose sacrificial love enables me to have a personal relationship with God.” 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” 

(John 3:16–17).

What Is New Age Spirituality? 

• New Age Spirituality is made up of a large, loosely structured network of individuals and organizations bound together by a worldview that chiefly consists of ... 
  • The central belief of pantheism 
  • The common hope of global enlightenment 
  • The creation of one’s own reality through positive thinking 
  • The cycle of ongoing reincarnation 

The Old Roots of the New Age?

• Hinduism is the dominant religion of India, which teaches the following: 
  • All existence is one substance ... monism. 
  • All existence is divine ... pantheism. 
  • All things, even rocks, are inhabited by God ... panentheism. 
  • All people go through many life and death cycles ... reincarnation. 
  • All reality is illusion (Maya). 

• Helena P. Blavatsky, known as “The Mother of the New Age,” was a Russian occultist who rejected Christianity and adopted pantheism. She developed a cult out of Hinduism known as theosophy (the wisdom of God). 
• Christian Science is a mind science cult created out of theosophy and Hinduism by Mary Baker Eddy. It spread throughout the United States with the publication of her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore crystallized and further developed this line of thinking through their Unity School of Christianity. 
• The name New Age is an umbrella term coined to identify a host of groups and organizations that have adopted the thinking of Ancient Occultism and Eastern Mysticism. 

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” 

(Matthew 7:15)

The Appeal of the New Age 

Many people are deceptively drawn into New Age Spirituality because... 

• It offers something positive for everyone (health enthusiasts, psychologists, ecologists). 
• It rejects moral absolutes (no distinction between good and evil). 
• It incorporates a broader view of unity to the point that all religions are the same. 
• It generates curiosity in the supernatural. 
• It increases one’s sense of personal worth. 
• It preys on the spiritual vacuum in a person. 
• It abandons accountability for sin. 
• It targets those with little knowledge of sound biblical doctrine. 
• It satisfies one’s desire to be like God. 
• It offers a deceptive alternative to those who will not accept the simple message of Christ. 
• It nourishes one’s hope for a perfect world. 

The Root Cause of New Age Deception 

Wrong Belief: 

“My identity (significance) is found in fulfilling my divine potential to become God!” 

Right Belief: 

“My identity (significance) is in Jesus Christ, whose sacrificial love enables me to have a personal relationship with God.” 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” 

(John 3:16–17).

How to Challenge New Age Reasoning 

• Be prepared to challenge New Age reasoning. 
• Pray that God will open the eyes of New Agers to see their illogical thinking.
• Understand the illogical assumptions: New Agers state that reason is an illusion. 
• New Agers state that there is no right or wrong. 
• Respectfully lead them to see the inconsistencies between the way they live and the worldview they declare by asking a series of questions: “May I ask you several questions?” 
• “Have you ever moved your hand from a hot stove?” 
• “If you are intellectually honest, and I know you will want to be, wasn’t it your logic and reason that gave you the impetus to move your hand to keep it from being burned?” 
• “Have you ever quickly moved out of the path of a moving car?” If they answer yes, continue with the following: 
• “Wasn’t it your logic and reason that made you move out of the path of a moving car so that you would not die?” 
• “If death doesn’t exist, why did you move?” 
• “Do you believe pain exists?” 
• “Do you believe death exists?” 
• “If death doesn’t exist, would you be willing to walk into the path of a moving vehicle on a highway?” 
• “Because you have moved away from pain and from potentially deadly situations, then I must conclude that you do live as though logic is real. Therefore, your New Age worldview is not working for you.” 

“‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’” 

(Isaiah 1:18)

How to Confront New Age Spirituality 

Around AD 50, the apostle Paul confronted pantheists in Athens, giving us the model found in Acts 17:16–34. 

• Communicate concern. (Acts 17:16) 
• Converse with reason. (Acts 17:17) 
• Claim the deity of Christ. (John 1:1–3, 14, 18) 
• Commend their desire for spirituality. (Acts 17:22) 
• Clarify the truth about God. God is the Creator, not the creation. (Isaiah 44:24) 
  • God is distinct from the world. (Jeremiah 27:5) 
  • God is holy; people are sinful. (Romans 3:23) 
  • God is changeless; the world is changing. (Psalm 102:25–27) 
  • God is a personality, not an energy force. (Ephesians 1:4–6) 
  • God is the source of all reality. (Romans 11:36) 

• Convey God’s judgment. (Acts 17:30–31) 
• Challenge reincarnation. (Hebrews 9:27) 
• Confront the concept of karma. 
  • It offers no scientific evidence to support it. 
  • It does not allow for a beginning of history. Subsequently, history has no meaning. 
  • It does not satisfy man’s sense of justice. 
  • It has no basis for right and wrong.
  • It implies that suffering is one’s own fault. 
  • It promotes not a life of service to others, but rather a life of self-absorption. 
• Continue to have hope. (1 Peter 3:15) 

Key Verse to Learn 

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8) 

Key Passage to Read 

Genesis chapter 3 

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