Initially wrote this for my cell group's blog....just wanted to keep a personal copy on my on blog....it is an important issue ...
Just wanted to share a few thoughts from the New Age talk by Rev Rick Howard on 16th February. Had the privilege of attending it with Shen Li (!?!) and it was a well worth talk .....despite the fact that I was post-night and really really tired. ;)
Food for thought:
How many of us actually know what the New Age movement is all about and how it affects Chritians?
Well, I for one wasn't very sure about a lot of things......and definitely never thought much about it except that it was wrong, and that as Christians we are not to participate in it. But I never read/ knew what New Age encompasses .....
Rev Rick Howard opened with a few Scriptures as a foundation to the talk:
1) Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. (Jude 3)
2) I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1: 6-7)
3) 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)
4) Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name claiming 'I am the Christ' and will deceive many (Matthew 24:4-5)
5) For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine . Instead, to suit their desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4: 3-4)
- this illustrates the deception from the hearer who demands 'this' kind of teaching
6) For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough (2 Corinthians 11:4)
- the New Age movement seeks to :
a) dethrone Jesus
b) Encounters another spiritual presence
c) preach a different gospel
7) For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. ( 2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
Then he goes on to talk about the history of the New Age movement , introducing us to a few key people:
a) Helena Pertovna Blavatsky - founder of theosophy which is based on the belief that Lucifer is good and he is the light bearer and rightful Lord over the earth; also propogated the idea of 'root race' --> which leads to the idea of an 'Aryan race'
- as you would notice, Adolph Hitler was a student and occult practitioner who studied her works and where his philosophy of an Aryan race originated from
b) Alice Bailey - student of Blavatsky
- founded the 'Lucifer's Trust ' Magazine --> which is now known as the Lucis Trust which is affiliated to the U.N
- espoused the abolition of Christianity, Islam and Judaism
- also espoused the evolution of the Aryan race
- here's a quote from one of her books (The externalisation of the hierarchy)
" The 3 main channels through which the preparation for the new age is going on might be regarded as the the Church, the Masonic Fraternity and the educational field. All of them are as yet in relatively static condition, and all are as yet failing to meet the need and to respond to the inner pressure. But in all of these three movements, disciples of the Great Ones are to be found and they are steadily gathering momentum and before long enter upon their designated task"
Then, Rev Rick Howard introduces a few other key peoples:
a) Benjamin Creme - a British new age leader who took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal in the early 1980's announcing that 'The Christ is now here' and introducing 'Maitreya' as the second coming of Christ
The talk continues with a few more statements re: New Age and its goals
- the goal of the New Age is not to eliminate the Christian church, but to transform it into a useful agency that feeds the poor, seeks to cure disease and bring "peace on earth", a church that does not believe Jesus is the only Son of God but a forerunner and a great world teacher
Food for thought:
Do you shudder at that statement?
Then he helps to illustrate how the new age thinking is being absorbed into the Church through:
a) Tearing down the integrity and importance of the Word of God
- eg: Through the multitudes of exotic translations of the Bible which causes divisions through the paraphrased ideas of translation
- a hand out was given which was written by Gregory Reid on this and he quotes Eugene Peterson as the author of The Message Bible as an example
b) Introducing Eastern style and Hindu/Buddhism prayer models
- transcendental meditations
- yoga (Can there be such thing as Christian yoga?!? )
c) Lying signs and wonders
- eg: the Hindu master -Sai Baba and his miracles
- Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1)
d) Introduce other religions as compatible with Christianity
e) Substitute the power of God to change lives for a social gospel that makes the church as relief agency
- eg: New Age thinkers says - Accept and Affirm homosexuals
- what should the Christian say - Accept and TRANSFORM (not affirm!) homosexuals
f) Change the language of the gospel
- refer to 2 Cor 11:1-4
- New Age thinkers belief that Jesus is only one of the 12 ascended masters
g) Eliminate the prophetic
- the concept of "Kingdom Now" and Reconstructionist theology is highly compatible with New Age teaching that the Kingdom is here and we are here to repair the earth and heal it, not wait for some apocalyptical end and the 2nd coming of Jesus
- the New Age teachings suggest that any 'apocalyptic' Bible passages are simply a possible outcome that can be changed by us having a 'planetary pentecost' and discovering an alternative to armageddon
Wow!! It was heavy stuff and challenged me extremely.....was reminded of a passage of Scriptures which is becoming clearer to me:
- men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do - 1 Chronicles 12: 32
Indeed, this truly echoes the word in 2 Timothy 3 :1-5
- But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money. boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Okay...that sounds like a lot to digest....will bring the hand out (zapped a few copies for you all) at next cell meeting.....for those interested to know more, a list of readings were recommended by Rev. Rick Howard:
a) Reinventing Jesus Christ by Warren Smith - www.reinventingjesuschrist.org is highly recommended)
b) The Beautiful Side of Evil by Johanna Michaelson ( also recommened Lambs to the slaughter which shows how the educational system is influenced by the New Age movement)
c) The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow by Constance cumbey
d) 2 other books by Warren Smith ( The Light That was Dark, Deceived on Purpose)
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