What is the New Age movement? Probably no one knows for sure just how to define it. It is so broad, nebulous, and chameleon-like in nature that it is hard to pin down. In this way the movement is like Hinduism, from which it garners much of its under lying philosophy.
How much impact the movement is having, or will have in the future, is hard to gauge. But some of its ideas have already become deeply ingrained in popular thinking in America.
The New Age movement clearly and undeniably has its roots in Eastern religion—specifically Hinduism, along with Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. There is also a close link to primitive shamanism and animism. The link to spiritualism is even stronger. The church used to struggle to liberate people from these "isms." Now the tables have been turned and many Christians are being "liberated" by the "isms" under the guise of New Age thought.
It will require careful preaching and living of a positive Christian message to prevent this manifestly anti-Christian philosophy from gaining a permanent foothold in America. Unfortunately, it appears to me that many Christian preachers have been guilty of failing to prepare their flock to see the errors taught in New Age philosophy.
Reincarnation is one New Age concept that has become widely and quickly accepted. The idea has been popularized not only by Shirley MacLaine, a leading New Age proponent, but also by the respected researcher Elisabeth Kubler Ross. William Johnsson, editor of the Adventist Review, tells of interviewing people on the street of a large West Coast city recently. He asked them about their expectations concerning life after death. Almost no one mentioned heaven or hell, almost all believed in some sort of reincarnation.
Why have people in the most churchgoing nation on earth fallen so quickly to have many preachers failed to proclaim unequivocally the truths of the Bible (e.g., Hebrews 9:27: "As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"), but some have been guilty of preaching everyone right into heaven on the basis of a good life.
You've heard the sermons, maybe even preached them yourself "Joe was a good guy, he always took good care of his family, and even fed, the stray cats that came around his shop. So we know that he's looking down from heaven at us right now because God loves good guys like Joe."
Of course I've oversimplified. But despite the fact that the preacher may believe in salvation by faith alone, the mes sage proclaimed from too many pulpits is that a good life will get you rewards after you die. Jesus Christ may be preached as Lord and Saviour, but the message that comes across more clearly is that a good life is rewarded by a better life after death.
It is a short step from belief in such a Christless reward system to belief in rein carnation. And it is a shorter step yet from belief in reincarnation to belief in other, even more dangerous, concepts that are popular among New Age thinkers.
For instance, transchanneling, or simply channeling. Channeling, or contact with spirits of the deceased, or spirits from other worlds, or spirits who have never had a body, was popularized by Alice Bailey, who claimed to have con tact with an ancient Tibetan named Djwhal Khul. A multitude of Hollywood celebrities now encourage channeling by example and testimony. Christians used to refer to "channeling" sessions as seances. Now, left adrift by preachers who have failed to educate them in the realities of the war between God and evil spirits (see Eph. 6:11-17), people call seances consultations, and assume that their contacts with powers beyond their understanding are harmless.
The contacts are not harmless. My own research into the origins of the New Age movement has uncovered what I consider to be a conspiracy of spirits to deceive the human race. All over the world "familiar spirits" have made them selves known to the spiritually naive in recent years. And it comes as no surprise that these spirits all are proclaiming similar messages. Those who consult the spirits are setting themselves up to be deceived and led to conclusions tailor-made by Satan himself to suit what they want to believe.
This conspiracy of deception should come as no surprise. The apostle John saw and warned us of evil spirits that would go forth to deceive the whole world (Rev. 16:13, 14). Paul warned us that, for those who fail to love the truth, God Himself would send a great deception to replace the truth they hated (2Thess. 2:11, 12).
But those who love God and His truth will not be deceived. The best weapon against error is truth. The best way to combat the enticing errors of New Age thought is to proclaim the gospel loudly and clearly.
Pastor, don't set up your people to be led astray by New Age philosophy. Preach the Word of God. Proclaim the good news that salvation and life after death can be received only as a gift from God in Christ Jesus. —Kenneth R. Wade.
