A Biblical Response to New Age - Part 2

The idea that there is anything “new” about the “New Age” movement is quickly laid to rest by the Holy Scriptures. Ecclesiastes 1:9-10: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun… It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” (NIV) This takes us back to humanity’s beginnings.

In contrast to the New Age principles, the Word of God again and again pronounces judgment on all who refuse to distinguish between Creator and creature. Severe judgment falls on the person who considers himself or herself divine. In Isaiah chapters 43-45 God repeatedly declares His sole divinity; i.e., “I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.” (45:5)

In Isaiah 47 the consequences of humanity’s aspiring to divinity are given with this judgment: “They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your much sorcery and all your potent spells. You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, there is none besides me.’ ” (vv.9-10) The prophet Ezekiel sharply reproves those who claim divinity: “...This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘In the pride of your heart you say, “I am god; I sit on the throne of a god…” But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god’ ” (28:2).

The sharp distinction between the Creator and humanity is maintained throughout the Bible. The apostle Paul describes God as follows: “God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and might forever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16) Indeed, refusal to distinguish between the Creator and creation not only brought on the fall into sin but is today responsible for every deplorable condition that is found in human society. Romans 1:18-32 leaves no doubt about the accelerating degradation that follows the deification of creation. We are shaped by what we worship. And worship of self lies behind the “depraved mind” that expresses itself in “shameful lusts” … “every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity” (Romans 1:26-31).

The Bible makes it quite clear that a transformation of humanity is needed, but it must be brought about by an act of the grace of God – conversion – the beginning of a continuing transformation effected by God’s Holy Spirit. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices… Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2, Amplified). Paul makes it quite clear that humanity’s crisis is not due to “lack of consciousness” as New Age teaches. Since “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), the crisis is in humanity’s relationship to God. It cannot be relieved by using “psycho technologies” to alter one’s consciousness. Healing is initiated by God Himself through the redemption in Jesus Christ, and is applied individually and personally by the gracious action of God’s Holy Spirit. Only forgiveness accomplished in the atoning work of Jesus Christ can bridge the chasm of sin that separates people from the abundant life that God intends for them.

A Christian’s response to the New Age Movement consists of three parts:

• Personal knowledge of truth
• Ministry to people
• Bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who walk in darkness (evangelism)

Christians are not dependent on some self-directed evolution to find fulfillment of their potential or meaning for their lives. They know that to be all they were created to be, they must have a living relationship with the Creator Himself. Knowledge of the infinite Creator does not come from within finite creatures. It is revealed only the Creator, and this has been done in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Bible. Only by God’s revelation and the gracious action of His Holy Spirit can people know that the Creator God is a God of love, who has not forsaken humanity in spite of our attempts to replace God with self. In Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, God has reconciled us to Himself for time and for eternity.

This does not mean that Christians emerge victorious in every temptation and trial. They make no claim to perfection or even to being “good.” Living in a world that has been distorted by rebellion against God, Christians recognize that they live in a tension of not having “already been made perfect” yet pressing on toward “that for which Christ Jesus took hold” of them (Philippians 3:12). They remain vulnerable to the temptations of Satan while being assured of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Too often Christians are caricatured by the world as men and women who think of themselves as superior to all others. There is no room for pride or arrogance for the Christian, who in every condition of life must confess, “But for the grace of God…”

The Word of God, the Bible, is the source of spiritual life and the standard by which all spiritual teaching must be measured. Proponents of the New Age movement can be very deceptive in their use of language. Some New Agers plainly state their beliefs in the divinity of humanity in direct anti-God language. Others cleverly disguise their beliefs by using Christian terminology, only with hidden New Age meaning. For example, many new Agers would agree that “Jesus is the Christ” but in an entirely different sense than that used in the Bible. New Agers cannot ignore the influence that the teaching and the person of Jesus of Nazareth have had on Western culture. They must include Him near or at the top of their list of “avatars” or “ascended masters”. Therefore, Jesus is highly respected in the New Age movement, but not as the Christ of Scripture. The Christ of New Age is only one of many “divine personages” who have appeared through the centuries. His mission, like that of other great teachers of the past and the New Agers today, was to awaken the masses to their own divinity.

A tour of the cities of India, where the “New Age” has held people in bondage for centuries, will reveal the starvation, poverty, disease, exploitation, and utter hopelessness that have resulted from the relentless laws of karma and reincarnation and the self-deifying worldview. Is this the “final evolutionary leap”, “the golden age” to which the New Age movement would bring all humanity?

As Christians we seek not to merely save the world from New Age philosophy but from all false viewpoints. Ministry to people, including those in the New Age movement and those attracted to it, begins with recognition that there are problems of great magnitude facing the world today: war, crime, poverty, hunger, racism, and depletion of resources. Christians should never be so preoccupied with self that responsibility for addressing these problems should be left to others. While sharing many of these concerns with New Agers, Christians also have a special responsibility. As stewards created to have dominion over the earth to the glory of God (Genesis 1:28; 9:1-7), we believers should be active in spreading the divine mandate of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Everyone desires confirmation of their personal worth. Our God has attached such great personal worth to every individual that He spared not His own Son in order to redeem humanity from the folly of its broken relationship with Him as Creator and Lord of all. The wonder of God’s love is that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, Amplified) As disciples of Christ, Christians must regard every person as the object of God’s redeeming love, including the aged, the diseased, the nonproductive, the unwanted, and especially the unprotected. Christians do not believe that realizing human potential is anti-Christian. At the same time they must not allow selfesteem to take the place of God-esteem as the measure of human worth.

Christians are called to be “the people of God” in everything they do. The Christian life cannot be fragmented into religious, family, business, community, recreational and personal segments. In every walk of life, Christians are to “shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the Word of life” (Philippians 2:15-16). A moral standard drawn from the Word of God and applied without reservation to every circumstance of life is the Christian’s guide. The Christian life which makes the love of God real in the perception of others is often the first step towards gaining an audience for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Even though demonstration of Christian compassion and the confirmation of the worth of every individual are Christian imperatives, they are not substitutes for proclamation of the Christian Gospel. Those who follow the “pied piping” of the New Age philosophy must be confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who does love them enough to have died for them. This Good News must be verbalized in clear and forceful language; we are to testify to what God has done. The way of salvation is not humans aspiring to be god, but God becoming human and dying in our stead for the sins we have committed against Him. We find our true selves when we look away from ourselves to our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. In “The Aquarian Conspiracy” Marilyn Fergusson admits that “the escalating crisis is a symptom of our essential wrongheadedness” (p. 28). The keyword here is “essential.” Our “wrongheadedness” requires more than a mere change in consciousness or adoption of a new worldview. It is symptomatic of humanity’s rejection of the Creator and Source of life.

It must be understood that evangelism is not entering into debate over personalities of New Age leaders or the destructive social effects of following the New Age philosophy. It is not being caught up in quarrels over who is “right” or “wrong”. The essence of evangelism is telling the Good News about Jesus Christ – His life, suffering, death and resurrection – by which God has accomplished the forgiveness of sins and reconciled a world of sinners to Himself. The results of sharing the Good News is the responsibility of God’s Holy Spirit; our calling is to share the Gospel with those who do not yet confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

What are the “tools” with which we meet the spiritually destructive claims of the New Age movement? There are no “new” tools or weapons, and none are needed. The way we meet the New Age movement is the same way we meet every spiritual deception: armed with the Word of God. The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many a hammer which has beat against it, and it is as effective against error today as it ever has been. The Word must be used, however, with an awareness of the hungers that the New Age is trying to address. These vary considerably from one person to other. God’s own promise is that His Word will not return empty but will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purpose for which He sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

The challenge of evangelism should move every Christian to an intense study of the Word of God. To know the certainty of one’s own salvation through faith in Christ as revealed in the Word of God is the first requirement for giving an effective witness. The Christian will want to grow beyond knowing the simple facts of salvation in order to make full use of the power of the “whole will of God” (Acts 20:27). Moreover, as Christians study the Word of God, they grow not only in knowledge, but in grace and power, resulting in blessings that they will discover again and again in their own daily living. Prayer is such a vital part of the Christian’s life that it hardly seems necessary to emphasize it in connection with evangelism. But do Christians ever spend enough time in prayer? The prelude to evangelizing is prayer. The work of evangelism is done with more prayer. And the follow up is still more prayer.

An expectant heart is likewise essential for the Christian evangelist. He or she must operate with the truth that no one is beyond the reach of God’s Holy Spirit. Every individual is part of the world that “God so loved… that He gave His one and Only Son” to redeem (John 3:16). Many thousands of the redeemed are now and will for all eternity be praising God because He sent them an evangelist, who in the power of the Holy Spirit undertook an “impossible” task. If it should please God to let you see a soul delivered from darkness into the light of Christ, it is a special blessing indeed. On the other hand, you may be totally unaware of how the Holy Spirit is working through your testimony.

We as believers must at all times display patience and love. A believer has no right to be unkind to someone who holds beliefs other than his or her own. The followers of the New Age (especially the occult) often consider committed Christians to be their greatest adversaries. An impatient attitude or a display of arrogance will widen the cultural, social, or religious concerns that may have led such people to the New Age in the first place. Overt verbal attacks or ridicule will only strengthen their conviction that something is wrong with Christians.

So don’t be afraid to listen and learn. By listening, the evangelist may come to an awareness of what hungers led a particular person into the New Age. Through such awareness, the believer can then know what Word of God to bring to bear on a particular human condition.

Also, share what Jesus has done for you. In one case you may engage a stranger in conversation who has already been “immunized” against Christianity. In another case you may be fearful of intruding upon the life of a co-worker. In either event, it is helpful to know as much as possible about the person’s involvement in the New Age, but it is not necessary. Attention should not be focused on variations of the New Age theme or defense of Christianity. What is essential is your testimony that Jesus Christ found you and saved you and has given you great joy and security. Be prepared to give simple, clear testimony to your own faith, in a cordial and non-accusing manner.

Remember that the New Age Movement, in both its occult and humanist expressions, does not acknowledge “sin” as a reality. Sin is not considered a moral problem, but merely ignorance of inherent human divinity, and is to be overcome through experimental “enlightenment”. Tell what Jesus has done for you and will continue to do. No one can argue against what is within your own experience. Explain that your faith is not dependent on meditation, lifestyle, psychological techniques, or the word of the latest teacher. Nothing that New Age offers can compare with Resurrection and its power.

Know that every person, including a New Ager, is seeking inherently the same peace, joy, and security that you display. Under God’s grace he or she may be reached by your sincere and patient speaking of the Good News. The Apostle Peter says this to believers: “...always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” But then he added, “But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

The New Age Movement demonstrates, perhaps more than any other contemporary religious phenomenon, that the basic human disease has not changed. People still want to “be as God” (Genesis 3:5) – not in personal holiness, but in unlimited power. Therefore, the remedy also has not changed: the magnificent transformation brought about by the Gospel.

“We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true – even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)