Understanding why New Age s a Lie, Ep 2-18

Welcome back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing the New Age religion.  We are going to examine the common beliefs and reveal where it counterfeits Christianity.  I want you to understand how it misleads people and could easily permeate into the Christian belief system if we do not recognize it.  We will see where the root of this religion was first established and identify scriptures of truth that contradict New Age beliefs.

Let's start with what is the New Age Religion? New Age primarily dates back the last few hundred years and gained popularity in the 70's and 80's.  The root of New Age, however, dates back to ancient times because it is a melting pot of a number of beliefs and practices that include occultism, mysticism, pantheism, reincarnation, holism, much of it coming out of Hinduism, which produced an offspring of Buddhism and several smaller practices which we will cover as we walk through this discussion.  The very first root of New Ageism actually can be found in the Bible with some words from Satan and we will get to that in a minute.  What I want to go over first is a general understanding of New Age beliefs.

I say a general understanding because with New Age, there is no one set of beliefs or practices, they actually vary and I will explain why as we go through this.  As Christians, we have a Holy Bible.  It gives us an understanding of God's character and reveals to us what is evil.  We learn of God's character and the saving grace of a salvation through Jesus.  We understand God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as one and we worship and find peace, love and guidance from them. 

In contrast, New Age does not believe in the concept of good and evil.  Where that creates a problem is that if you don't accept that there are good and evil options, and consequences of those options, then you do not accept a moral structure that civilization is built upon.  For those believing in New Age, there is no fall from grace or sin, but rather man has fallen into ignorance.  They believe there is a gradual ascent into enlightenment. 

Enlightenment is defined differently among those who practice this, but it essentially involves gaining your enlightenment through spiritual means.  This is a wide door because it involves the use of mediums or psychics who help you navigate your spiritual path.  As we have discussed in previous podcasts this is all witchcraft which the Bible tells us is strictly forbidden.  This process also includes speaking to dead loved ones, again forbidden in the Bible.   As you develop in your spiritualness for enlightenment, you will enlighten yourself on your own terms, so there is no standard, it's essentially self-monitored or self-realized.   They believe there is a third eye that will guide you through the spirit world.  Whatever name you want to call it, it's all demonic.  Mediums and psychics only have one source for information and that is demons.  Demons were here at the beginning just as the angels were so they know the history of places and people and can easily recreate events and reshape to people we are familiar with to entice us to engage with them.  Other activities for enlightenment would include seances, yoga, mediations, crystals, out of body travel, and some ridiculous stories of extraterrestrial beings.  Again, those are called demons.  When you seek to be a part of that world, they will be more than happy to entertain you with fantastical beings and images.  Anything we haven't seen or recognize will fascinate people who are seeking and looking to experience something. 

There is a level which is called, "cosmically enlightened" wherein they believe they are attuned to their cosmic consciousness.  If one reaches this level then they are considered to be "born again," sound familiar?  Another counterfeit to a Biblical truth.  Where this enlightenment path is intended to lead them is the belief that they are gods themselves.  

This belief that they are individual gods is one that Oprah is discussing and misleading people by the millions.  This philosophy allows people to create their own religions to suit themselves and have no accountability.  Part of your journey to be enlightened means you understand your godliness and you can elevate yourself through this spiritual peak.

I said earlier that New Age does not believe in right or wrong and the belief they have behind that is they believe they can create their own reality.  Based on what they believe, they can change their own reality.  I don't know about you but if I look at the reality of my bank account, there is a specific amount of money in there and even if I change my belief in what is in my bank account, the reality of the amount of money I have does not change.  There is no truth to be found in a belief system that says if you change what you believe you can change your reality.  It's nonsense. 

One of the reasons this religion has been able to permeate the culture is the practice and teaching of optimism.  Part of this teaching involves the future and a new world order coming, a new world government where there will be a progressive unification of world consciousness.   Now there is a new world coming and a new government and I call that the coming of Jesus but that's not what they are referring to here.  The other side to this optimism is that it is a practice that is taught as a lifestyle, no negativity.  While this appears to be a noble idea, remember that if we aren't using optimism and applying reality into the picture, we are creating a world that does not exist and sends you down a path of irresponsibility if you are not addressing those things that do not fit into your idea of reality.  It in essence is another counterfeit to Christianity.  Peace can be found in a relationship with Christ, peace cannot be found in a relationship with yourself where you believe you are a god.  

Another belief that permeates New Age is that there are many ways to heaven and that ultimately all religions point to us to heaven.  In that belief, Jesus is not a savior he is just a good teacher that reached "Christ consciousness, which each person is mean to reach in their own spiritual journey.  Worship of Him is incorrect in their mind because it will lead people away from discovering their own goodness in their spiritual journey.  In addition, God is not the Creator because the Creator is an unknowable force that was created mysteriously from source energy or vibration.

There is also a belief in this religion of nature and health practices.  Earth is "Mother Earth" and how she is treated and the food eaten should put you in alliance with "Mother Earth".  The earth is a creation by God, not an entity we are to come into an alliance with as if it will change our outcome.  This is not a commentary on being responsible with our resources, this is about understanding that we are not to have a spiritual connection to the Earth or the moon or the cycles or any of that.  That is all paganistic.  We worship the creator, not the creations. 

That takes us to a point I raised early on and where in the Bible we see the first seed planted of New Age counterfeit beliefs.  Let's take a walk in the Garden of Eden and see where Satan first introduces this concept. Let's take a look at Genesis 3, where satan disguised as a serpent approaches Eve in the garden and tempts her.  Satan knows the Bible, don't think for a minute he doesn't.  He knows it better than we do and that's why he can misrepresent it in so many ways.  He tried it with Jesus in the wilderness and he uses that trick on Eve but unfortunately, she was manipulated.  We have to believe God's truth or we will be manipulated as well and that's what happens in Chapter 3.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. 

So these words from satan plant the seed that a human could attain a god status but that is a lie coming from the father of lies.  All of these beliefs and practices of New Age are a lie, nothing is valid.

Finally, I want to address the belief in reincarnation.  Whether it is a belief in coming back as another person, an animal, whatever, it is all false.  We have one life, one spirit and when our time comes to die, that is it.  This teaching deceives people into believing they will have multiple chances to know the truth and that is damning them to not get the chance to know the truth. 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 ESV

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  John 6:38 NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14 NIV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.  Acts 4:12 ESV

New Agers seem harmless, maybe even pleasant, but their ideology is dangerous and seeks to replace God and diminish Jesus and we need to understand the importance of knowing the truth and not allowing deceptive, manipulative, false, self-serving, evil false doctrines to interfere with our relationship with the Lord in any way.  Don't allow it in your house, don't entertain it in your mind, stand for the truth. 

I hope this has been helpful to you.  If you know anyone who can benefit from this, please share this podcast.

As always let’s recap Top Show Points:

·         New Age it is a melting pot of a number of beliefs and practices that include occultism, mysticism, pantheism, reincarnation, holism, Hinduism, and gained popularity in the 70's and 80's.  The root of New Age, dates back to ancient times

·         With New Age, there is no one set of beliefs or practices, they actually vary

·         New Age does not believe in the concept of good and evil.  There is no fall from grace or sin, but rather man has fallen into ignorance.  They believe there is a gradual ascent into enlightenment

·         Enlightenment is defined differently among those who practice this, but it essentially involves gaining your enlightenment through spiritual means and involves the use of mediums or psychics who help you navigate your spiritual path.  This process also includes speaking to dead loved ones, as you develop in your spiritualness for enlightenment, you will enlighten yourself on your own terms, so there is no standard

·         They believe there is a third eye that will guide you through the spirit world.  Whatever name you want to call it, it's all demonic.  Other activities for enlightenment would include seances, yoga, mediations, crystals, out of body travel, and some ridiculous stories of extraterrestrial beings.  Again, those are called demons. 

·         There is a level which is called, "cosmically enlightened" wherein they believe they are attuned to their cosmic consciousness.  If one reaches this level then they are considered to be "born again,"

·         belief that they are individual gods

·         New Age does not believe in right or wrong and the belief they have behind that is they believe they can create their own reality

·         a new world order coming, a new world government where there will be a progressive unification of world consciousness.   

·         there are many ways to heaven and that ultimately all religions point to us to heaven.  In that belief, Jesus is not a savior he is just a good teacher that reached "Christ consciousness

·         God is not the Creator because the Creator is an unknowable force that was created mysteriously from source energy or vibration.

·         Genesis 3, where satan deceived eve into thinking she could become a god

·         Reincarnation

·         John 14:6, John 6:38, John 1:14, Acts 4:12

·         Don't let false doctrines interfere with our relationship with the Lord in any way.

We encourage you:

·       To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment

I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!  

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