New Age Entry #18

This is the last of these posts unless something else comes to mind. With this last post I want to bring us back full circle to the scriptures we began with and give you a few more to encourage you.

In our first post the scriptures we used began with the first of The Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)

The New Age says there are many ways to God, but in John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” So whether Oprah or anyone else believes that, as we saw in one of our last posts, Jesus’s words are the final say-so.

In our second post is one of the main scriptures we should all be reading and thinking on now, Matthew 24. Although I didn’t post the whole chapter, we should be reading it in its entirety because Jesus has a lot to say, including: “See to it that no one deceives you,” Matthew 24:4, and in verse 11, “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.” He is speaking of the end times as His disciples had questioned Him about that specifically.  If it were not possible for us to be deceived, why would He warn us against it?

Paul laid a foundation for our study in Acts 20:27-31, especially in verse 30 when he said: “and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” (Notice "from among your own selves.") Our study took off from there as we showed how easy it is to be deceived if we don’t read and study the Bible for ourselves and not just swallow everything that comes down the pike just because someone stands in a pulpit (or on a stage or on TV) and says it.

The book of Jude has only one chapter, but verse 4 there contains a similar warning: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Notice the phrase, "certain persons have crept in unnoticed." Also, licentiousness has to do with being sensual, disregarding morality.) While I love a lot of the contemporary music, I am seeing some of this in a few of the newer songs. I have also noticed over the last few years how much Christian people are enjoying using the words "passion, passionate, and intimate" when referring to the Lord and their relationship with Him. I understand the point they're trying to make, but I have to wonder if there aren't other terms that could be used that would make the reference more Godly and less worldly.

If you’re reading this, you are a thinking person to whatever degree God has given you the ability to think. Use your own mind and your own Bible (not The Message or The New Century Version, as we saw in earlier posts!) and talk to God. Ask Him to show you all His truth. Do it with an open heart.

I have often had this radical thought: Maybe it’s good to forget everything I was ever taught as a child (and maybe even as an adult!) and read the Bible and study it for myself, letting God tell me what HE wants me to know instead of listening to what others want me to believe.

I hope these posts have blessed and helped you. Thank you to so many of you who have spoken to me about them. It has been very encouraging to me. God bless you all.

New Age Entry #17

Star Wars. There. I got your attention.

This one is pretty long. Sorry about that. But there’s a lot to chew on here. I hope you’ll try to stay with me.

The Bible says in Mark 12:30, “and you shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your MIND, and with all your strength.” (Emphasis mine.) As we think on this, we can make a list of things that we could do but don’t because they don’t show our love for Him or are not honoring to Him. One of the items on my list would be the kinds of movies I watch. Of course, we all slip up sometimes. Maybe we visit friends and they’re in the middle of a movie when we arrive. We’re sorta stuck in cases like that. (They really should turn off the TV or ask if we want to join them in watching, but I digress.) :)

I’m probably going to lose some of you here, and that will have to be a matter of prayer for you. (I’m almost finished with these posts, though, so hang in there, if you can!) Some of the movies that I would say you should stay away from are…wait for it…any of the Star Wars flicks. Yeah, I know. You’re about to click away from this post.  Please don't.

In light of our New Age conversation, though, let me just throw out some thoughts. I know there are probably those of you (as there are others) who say that “The Force” and “The Dark Side” in those movies represent God and Satan. Um. No, they don’t. Not when you go back and read the very first few of my posts that explain what the New Age is. Remember? Everything is God to the New Agers.

Here is a portion from “The Empire Strikes Back” from a website called allaboutworldview.org.(www.allaboutworldview.org/new-age-theology-and-star-wars-faq.htm ) 

“During an extended scene in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Yoda, the Jedi master, takes Luke as an apprentice and instructs him more fully in the ways of the Force. In true guru fashion, Yoda tells Luke, ‘For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life breeds it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the force around you, here between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes, even between land and ship.’ Talk about the Force takes place in other scenes throughout the Star Wars series, providing a comprehensive initiation into New Age theology.”

Notice that the Force is referred to as “it.” God is not an “it” in any of His three Persons.

http://www.mt.net/~watcher/starwarsmessiah.html Here is a bit from this site regarding Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999):

ANAKIN : Master, sir...I've been wondering...what are midi-chlorians?
QUI-GON : Midi-chlorians are a microscopic lifeform that reside within all
living cells and communicates with the Force.
ANAKIN : They live inside of me?
QUI-GON : In your cells. We are symbionts with the midi-chlorians.
ANAKIN : Symbionts?
QUI-GON : Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the
midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the
Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force.
ANAKIN : They do??
QUI-GON : When you learn to quiet your mind, you will hear them speaking to
you.
ANAKIN : I don't understand.
QUI-GON : With time and training, Annie...you will.

Remember that quieting the mind is part of the New Age training. They say you are to empty your mind so that you can hear. Sounds good, but Christians are to meditate ON THE LORD AND HIS WORD, not empty our minds. When you empty your mind and don’t think on the things of the Lord, you have opened yourself up for anything to drop in, including thoughts that Satan throws at you.

How about George Lucas? What kind of ideas do we think he might like to get across in his movies? Let’s find out. From Wikipedia:

Lucas was born and raised in a Methodist family.[7] The religious and mythical themes in Star Wars were inspired by Lucas' interest in the writings of mythologist Joseph Campbell,[71] and he would eventually come to identify strongly with the Eastern religious philosophies he studied and incorporated into his films, which were a major inspiration for "the Force". Lucas eventually came to state that his religion was "Buddhist Methodist".

(Maybe you don't trust Wikipedia, and that's okay.  You can do a search yourself.)

I won’t use up space here talking about Joseph Campbell. If you do a search for him, you’ll find that he was into all kinds of New Age stuff and apparently a mentor to folks like Lucas.

If you were producing a movie, what ideas would you try to get across? Would you, as a born-again Christian, think it the best thing to try and inspire people in Eastern religions or New Age or would you think God’s best for you…and for your viewers…would be to try to help them understand about Jesus? There are those who say that movies like Star Wars do try to do that, but they are being led down the wrong path. Satan will do ANYTHING to try to derail our faith, including twisting God’s words. Didn’t he do that to Adam and Eve?

I know some of you or your loved ones are very much in love with the Star Wars movies and couldn’t possibly tear yourself away from them. (Or could you?) As I said before, that will just have to be a matter of prayer for you.

Stay tuned! :)

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New Age Entry #16

We’ve been looking at the New Age daily guide entitled “A Course in Miracles.” Here are some of the quotes from the “Jesus” of that book: (NOT the Jesus of the Bible)

“There is no sin.”

“A slain Christ has no meaning.”

“The journey to the cross should be the last useless journey.”

“Do not make the pathetic error of clinging to the old rugged cross.”

“The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol…It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray.”

“God is in everything I see.”

“The Atonement is the final lesson he (man) need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.”

Do you think the real Jesus Christ… the One in the Bible…would ever utter any of these?

(Most of these quotes come from an interview with former New Ager, now Christian, Warren B. Smith here:
http://www.lamblion.us/…/warren-smith-testimony-new-age-jes… )

Stay tuned! :)

New Age Entry #15

Our last New Age "discussion" was on “A Course in Miracles,” what I call the “New Ager’s Bible.” You’ll remember that it is a daily guide to teaching the New Age. I last wrote about it, giving two of their examples: “My thoughts don’t mean anything” and “God is in everything I see.” You may want to refer to my Facebook page “New Age Installment for September 30.” “A Course in Miracles” is part of what Oprah Winfrey was pushing on her show before she left it and started her OWN channel. She had a New Age friend named Marianne Williamson who helped her do this. Many people were persuaded to follow this teaching. Oprah believes that Jesus is not the only Way. In her “OWN” words: (Begin at about the 43-second mark of the clip.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noO_dCWtB1E And should you think I’m picking on black people, here’s Joel Osteen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwL1DThtxYg There’s a lot of truth in what he said in this short clip, but he denied Christ. Plain and simple. Stay tuned! :)

Entry #14 in The New Age Series - Special Entry

This is an unplanned entry in our series that I thought I'd include.  A Facebook post I saw recently  included a prayer request for healing from health issues.  I had suspected for a long time that this person is into the New Age, but the comments from the friends pretty much confirmed it.  I know that everything said on Facebook doesn't necessarily reveal the type person the comment is directed to, but I think you will agree that we generally tend to associate with more people who are like-minded than not.  I thought you might be interested in what people said to the person in response to the prayer request.  This is by far not all of them, but it's enough to give you an idea how far away from Jesus Christ people really are.

"Sending you healing energy and light."

"I am sending prayers and reiki for you (sic) healing and highest good.  Blessings."

"Seeing you filled with helping healing energy."

"Seeing you in healing, peace filled moments.  Love you!"

"Sending you love and healing energy."

"Love and light to you."

"Positivity and love surrounds you, sending good vibrations straight on over!"

"Sending healing thoughts and light your way."

"...sending much love and will pray a novena for you..."

"Prayers for you.  Sending white light."

"...I see you healthy and whole!"

"Sending healing energy to you..."

""Healing Light Blessings"  (This one was superimposed on a pink lotus flower, a symbol of Hindu beliefs.)

"I am knowing your wholeness in all ways and ease and comfort now."

"Done and done.  Don't know why, but the light I was instructed to send you is a beautiful bright, limey, spring green.  Much love!"

"...The universe will help.  Keep your hands and your heart open."

"I go to the Source.  I accept this purging.  I am the vibrant light to restore health."

"Sending prayers n love your way.!!!  God we ask that whatever is trying to attack your child that you heal and send the infection and all of its problems back to the pit of hell where's they came from.  Father God we ask for healing and strength in ... body mind and faith.  Your words say where two or three touch and agree,father we are all touching and agreeing that no weapon formed shall prosper.  God you said any thing we ask in your name so God we praise you and give you all the thanks and glory.  We claim victory right now in Jesus name.  Amen."  (There were a number of typos here that I did not correct, but you get the message.  This was one of the very few redeeming comments.)

"Sending bacterial balance and ease of flow so that your body can rejuvenate..."

"Oh no!  Visualizing destroying the infection.  Sending you love and healing energy."


Some of this you may not think is so "off," but please understand that when the New Age folks speak of "energy," it isn't in the same way that others do.  We think of energy as being pep, vigor, ability to plod through a project without pooping out.  We say, "That kid has so much energy I can't keep up with him!"  We think of energy as having stamina to finish working in our garden or cleaning our house or painting a room or just getting through a work day.  Their idea of energy is something from within.  A force.  So when they say they're sending someone energy, it's like they're sending them "a thing."  Maybe some sort of a spirit?

Which makes sense when you pair it with the comments from people sending "reiki."  You'll remember our discussion on reiki from Entry #12 when we discussed The Daniel Plan and Dr. Oz.    Here's a little more.  According to one internet definition, reiki is:

a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient's body and restore physical and emotional well-being.

Channel?  Energy?  This sounds very New Age, doesn't it?

Here is a website from an M.D. with his comments on Reiki.  http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/reiki.html

He calls it nonsense.  I call it witchcraft.

You'll notice that one comment says they were "instructed" to send a light that was green.  Instructed by whom?  I have never read or heard of Jesus Christ instructing us to send light.  HE is the light.

Also, people in the New Age are taught to visualize or "see" things.  You'll notice that several of the commenters said they were visualizing things for this person.  This is not a Christian practice and therefore not found in the Bible.

You'll notice that one person mentioned that "the universe" will help.  The New Age followers believe that all of the universe is "God."  (He created it, but He isn't it.)  Remember?  They believe that God is "in" everything.

You'll notice that one person was praying a "novena."  That is a Catholic practice (also practiced by a few other Christian denominations.) so it depends on how you feel about those.  It is a prayer prayed for someone for nine days.  I guess it would depend on what the person is praying as to whether that's a good thing or not.

In light of our New Age postings over the past months, I thought this was a timely occurrence and wanted to share it with you.  I mention no names or places and even refrained from revealing whether this person is a male or female.  My intent is not to embarrass this person but to let people know that the New Age is real and is going on today.  Please...let's pray for this person, really ALL of these New Age people, that they will discover the real God who created the universe and His Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, and His Holy Spirit who empowers and guides us once we become Christians through the blood of Jesus as we accept Him and His sacrifice for us.  May God draw all these people to a forever relationship with Him!  Amen!

Entry #13 in The New Age Series

Let’s look at what appears to be a New Ager’s bible. It’s called “A Course in Miracles,” written from 1965 to 1972 by Dr. Helen Schucman, with help from William Thetford.

“A Course in Miracles” (ACIM) is a daily self-help study guide with practices of the lesson taught on that particular day. They seem to believe that they were scribes for Jesus Christ, that He delivered this to them. I’ll give you a couple of examples of their daily teaching and you can decide if Jesus Christ spoke to them.

Lesson 10 says, “My thoughts do not mean anything.” Without going into the practice sessions for that day, let's remember that Jesus has plenty to say about our thoughts. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, He says that we are to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Him. In Philippians 4:8, He says that if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, we are to think on those things. So…our thoughts mean something to Jesus Christ. The real Jesus Christ. The New Age Jesus is interested in CONTROLLING your thoughts.

Lesson 29 starts off by saying, “God is in everything I see.” According to what we’ve already learned, this is cause for concern without even reading further as we learned earlier that God is not IN everything or everyone. Jesus Christ is in every Christian but not in everyone and certainly God is not in everything. Let’s take a look at the practice for this lesson.

The readers are instructed to make a random list of objects they see around them and apply it to today’s lesson, “God is in everything I see.” Their sample list is:

God is in this coat hanger.
God is in this magazine.
God is in this finger.
God is in this lamp.
God is in that body.
God is in that door.
God is in that waste basket.

(Are your eyes bugging out yet?)

They are to do six 2-minute practice periods a day of reciting this list and also repeat it at least once an hour, “looking slowly about you as you say the words unhurriedly to yourself. At least once or twice, you should experience a sense of
restfulness as you do this.”

Does this sound like Jesus Christ to you?

We’ll expound on this next time. In the meantime, you can go here to read some of it for yourself. The whole book is online.

http://courseinmiracles.com/

www.courseinmiracles.com 


Stay tuned! :)

Entry #12 in the New Age Series

danielplan.com

Last time, we talked about Rick Warren and “The Purpose Driven Life.” We’ll conclude our discussion on Rick today.

Another one of his projects is The Daniel Plan, a diet program he launched in 2011. I haven’t read the book and know nothing of the plan except that it has to do with how the prophet Daniel ate as described in the Book of Daniel, but I found the three men that he invited to help him write the curriculum interesting. You might, too. The men are Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman.http://danielplan.com http://www.doctoroz.com/slideshow/daniel-plan-diet-mind-body-and-spirit  Some websites have made adjustments so that Dr. Oz's name doesn't show up in conjunction with The Daniel Plan anymore.

You recognize Dr. Oz’s name immediately. It’s interesting that he’s a Sufi Muslim. The Sufis are more interested in the spiritual side of Islam, seeking the purification of the inner self. Why would Rick Warren invite a Muslim (of any order) to assist him with writing a curriculum? Dr. Oz’s wife is a massage therapist. Not just any massage therapist. She is involved in Reiki massage, a form of New Age massage. (“The practitioner stores energy in their own body so the heat and flow can translate to energize the meridians, qi, and chakras in the body.” Fromanswers.com http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_Reiki&altQ=What_is_reiki_massage&isLookUp=1#Q=what%20is%20reiki%20massage  They call this energy, we call it demonic spirits. She is not just involved in Reiki, she is a Reiki Master. http://www.tara-do-reiki.com/lisa-oz-reiki-master.html Dr. Oz has placed his seal of approval on this.http://iarp.org/dr-oz-and-the-healing-power-of-reiki

Dr. Amen is a psychiatrist, sometimes dealing with children. In his book “The Brain in Love” (formerly titled “Sex on the Brain”) he recommends tantric sex, which involves the worship of sex. This is not a Christian idea. Does it bother anyone besides me that a child psychiatrist is associated with worshipping sex? Does it also bother anyone besides me that Rick Warren asked him to help write a curriculum…for ANYTHING?http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/5708516031.html

Finally, Dr. Hyman is a family practitioner, metabolic expert, and medical advisor for “The Dr. Oz Show” and to Bill and Hillary Clinton (Amy Chozick (April 11, 2014). "He Tells the Clintons How to Lose a Little". The New York Times) His book “The UltraMind Solution” offers practical medical advice but also suggests New Age resources and recommends yoga and meditation to his readers.

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/011/discernment/warren-gurus.htm

(Some of this information was also extracted from a pamphlet entitled “The Dangers of Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan” from Lighthouse Trails Research, where there is a wealth of knowledge on the New Age.)

I just have to wonder why Rick Warren would claim to be a Christian and invite three unbelievers to join with him in writing a curriculum for a diet plan…or anything else. Why would he ask three New Agers unless he’s into the New Age himself? If you were going to embark on a project that you need help with, wouldn’t you ask like-minded people to assist you? (I think Rick Warren did, don’t you?)

Stay tuned! smile emoticon

Entry #11 in The New Age Series - A Testimony

This is a detour from my regular New Age series posts.  I was just given this link by a friend who knows I am interested in exposing the New Age.  I have not really looked at anything on this website except his testimony, which I viewed on youtube.  His testimony is 14 minutes long and well worth sitting down to watch.  Enjoy this sweet brother's story.  And stay tuned!

http://www.exposingthenewage.com/

Entry #10 in The New Age Series

Our next focus will be on “The Purpose Driven Life,” by Rick Warren. I told you the names were going to be more familiar as we go along! This book was wildly popular in the early 2000s. It seems everywhere you went someone was reading it. I did, and as I read it, there were times when I knew something wasn’t quite right, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I kept reading though, just sure I was going to get something out of it. I really didn’t except for the very first sentence in the very first chapter: “It’s not about you.” Of course, that sounded great because the Christian life is about serving God and helping others, right? That was fine except it seems a good portion of the rest of the book is all about…you.

One thing I noticed was that Rick used so many, many versions of the Bible. I thought that was odd but I just thought that he was trying to please everyone by hoping to cite their favorite version. I didn’t recognize some of the versions, especially the New Century Version. I later discovered that it has New Age tendencies as it uses the “God is in everyone and everything” concept which we’ve already established is not true. God is in every Christian but not in every person and everything. The New Age people believe that God is in everyone and everything and that makes everyone and everything connected…you know, “one with the universe.” Actually you may remember that they think everyone and everything is God. According to the Bible, this is not true.

Another thing that is noticeable is that “The Message” seems to be among his favorite versions, if not his absolute favorite, as he quotes it many times in his book. We can see where that’s a problem as we’ve already seen the fallacy in believing it to be a true Bible. Or even true to the Bible.

Over the years I have heard discussions about “The Purpose Driven Life,” and how others were turned off by it or couldn’t really get into it, or that it even angered some folks. I understand. As it turns out, it seems that Rick Warren was close with Robert Schuller of Crystal Cathedral fame whom we studied several days ago. I understand that Rick’s wife, Kay, even spoke at a Schuller conference several years ago. You may say, “What’s wrong with that?” Well, when I go to a conference or other meeting, I expect like-minded people to be on the stage. Like-minded with me. I suspect that the Warrens and Schullers were like-minded with each other.

My friend Warren B. Smith was deeply into the New Age for years but was radically saved by Jesus Christ in the 1980s. He came across “The Purpose Driven Life” when it was popular and read it. He says that he immediately began seeing some of his old New Age teachings being brought forth by Rick Warren. Mr. Smith now devotes his life to speaking on the dangers of the New Age and its harmful effect on people. After he read “The Purpose Driven Life,” he wrote “Deceived on Purpose,” to help people understand that Rick Warren’s book was not entirely Christian but loaded with New Age implications. There is a lot of information about Rick Warren in Mr. Smith’s book. It and his other books are available at amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Deceived-Purpose-Implications-Purpose-Driven-Church/dp/0976349205/ref=sr_1_8?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1442438406&sr=8-8&keywords=warren+b+smith

In “The Purpose Driven Life,” Rick quoted a number of notable people, such as:

Bertrand Russell, an atheist; Albert Einstein, agnostic; Anais Nin, a female erotic writer; Madame Guyon, a French mystic who said that God is in all things; Dr. Bernie Siegel, a New Age leader with a spirit guide named George; and Aldous Huxley, occultist and New Ager. I’ll just let you draw your own conclusions from that.

Stay tuned!smile emoticon

Entry #9 of the New Age Series

Today’s focus is on “The Message” by Eugene Peterson. Some people call it a Bible. I, and many, MANY others, don’t consider it a Bible because the Bible itself says you are not to add to or take away from it. That is mentioned in the books of Deuteronomy and Revelation. Although in both places it says you are not to add to or take away from “this book,” which could limit the instruction to Deuteronomy or Revelation, it would make sense that if God doesn’t want those books amended, chances are He doesn’t want any of the rest of the Bible tampered with either. You may wonder where “The Message” has added to or taken away from the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, not only has it been added to, but it has been watered down. This passage appears to be an unveiled attempt to cater to the “Save-the-Earth” and LGBT communities. Here is the passage in the NASB and in “The Message.” The differences are not subtle at all but blatant. NASB 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified..." THE MESSAGE "Unjust people who don't care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it don't qualify as citizens in God's kingdom. A number of you know from experience what I'm talking about, for not so long ago you were on that list. Since then, you've been cleaned up and given a fresh start...."   The use of the phrase "use and abuse" is relative to the reader's viewpoint.  What does "use and abuse" mean to a Christian?  What does it mean to a homosexual or lesbian?  What does it mean to a pedophile? And notice the phrase, "use and abuse the earth."  Do you see the earth mentioned in this passage in any other version of the Bible?  I tried but I couldn't find it, so here is one passage where The Message has added to the Bible. Let's move on.  Contrast these two versions of The Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13. They don’t say NEARLY the same thing. NEW KING JAMES VERSION Matthew 6:9-13 "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. THE MESSAGE "Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best - As above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! Notice in “The Message” version of The Lord’s Prayer the phrase, “as above, so below.” This is a term used in witchcraft when a spell is cast. This term “seals” the spell. It is also used in numerous New Age works, including “The Secret,” by Rhonda Byrne. Here is more information on “as above, so below.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism (Scroll down about a third of the way to the heading, "As Above, So Below.")  An internet search will tell you much more. There was also a horror movie a year or so ago entitled “As Above, So Below.” While there are many examples of how “The Message” has secularized, watered down, and amended the Bible, there are also some passages that are too embarrassing and, I feel, too crude and borderline vulgar to post here. If the Bible is supposed to be God speaking to us, I can’t see Him using this type of language to do so, especially when you consider that He says in Ephesians 5:4, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” If you want to compare them for yourself, you can find your favorite version and “The Message” at www.biblegateway.com The passages in question are: Ezekiel 16:24; 2 Kings 18:27; Jeremiah 2:24, Jeremiah 3:2; Jeremiah 18:13, 1 Samuel 20:30; Hosea 2:10, Hosea 4:12. Are you seeing how Satan is introducing the New Age into the church? Stay tuned!

Entry #8 of the New Age Series

Today’s let’s talk about “The Shack,” by Paul Young, a popular book several years ago.  It spent over 172 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, 52 weeks at #1.

I had just heard the title and didn’t know much about it until a friend asked if I’d heard of it.  She had received a copy as a gift and said she was afraid to read it.  I wasn’t, so she gave it to me.  I read it, with pen and paper beside me because if THIS friend was afraid to read it, there had to be something wrong with it.  There was.  I took negative notes on every chapter except one!

Before I give you my critique of the book, here is 4:02 of what Voddie Baucham thinks of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqcysnN0-oA

Briefly, it’s a fiction novel about a man whose daughter had been kidnapped and killed.  He ended up on some mind trip where he went into the woods and spent some time with what the book says is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Apparently, it was the New Age father, son and spirit because they weren’t very much like the trinity of the Bible.  See if you agree.

God was portrayed as a woman who was black and hefty and known as Papa.  I immediately knew this book was in trouble with God…the real God…when I saw that description because all male figures in the Bible are referred to as “he” or “him.”  Likewise all females as “her” or “she.”  So how could God, referred to in the Bible in the masculine, be presented as female?   Next he/she was portrayed as black, which meant the author had assigned a race to God.  God is spirit and has no race or color.  Finally, it portrayed him/her as overweight which meant that God had an eating problem, was a glutton, or had a health issue that caused him to have weight gain.  None of this is true about God the Father.  Maybe the New Age “God” has these troubles but our perfect heavenly Father does not.

Next the Jesus character in the book was portrayed as sort of a Brawny guy with a plaid shirt and jeans and a tool belt, which is neither here nor there because Jesus had been a carpenter and in today’s setting would have probably looked like that.  However, on page 104 the Jesus character is mixing something in a bowl and drops the bowl, making a mess and having to clean it up.  Maybe this doesn’t mean much to you, but I think that if the real Jesus could be tempted in every way as man and not sin, he could probably hold onto a mixing bowl.  Just sayin’.  On page 112 he tells the main character that God dwells in, around, and through all things.  Blammo!  There’s our basic New Age belief.

Last but not least is the “Holy Spirit,” of “The Shack,” who was portrayed as a small Asian woman who was glittery and flittery and sort of a “now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t” character.  And again, a woman.  (Not sure how the Jesus character got away with being a male.)  She was here sometimes and you could see her, and here at other times and you couldn’t.  And her name was Sarayu.  I knew when I saw the name that there had to be something behind it, so I did a search and sure enough, there it was.  Sarayu is a river in India and has ancient significance because it’s mentioned in The Vedas and Ramayana, two works of Hindu writings.  The Vedas are credited to the Hindu god Brahma.  On page 136 Sarayu says, “…evil and darkness…do not have any actual existence.”  Maybe not in your make-believe fantasy world, sister, but they do in the real world.

Stay tuned!  J

Entry #7 in the New Age Series

Today’s post concerns the very popular “Jesus Calling” devotional book by Sarah Young. Did you have any idea that it is very New Age? Here’s why.

It’s my understanding that Sarah started out as a Christian. Then she read “God Calling,” a New Age book whose authors were two anonymous women who referred to themselves as “the two listeners.” They operated in “spiritual dictation,” believing they were receiving personal messages from God. It was a popular book on New Age participants’ bookshelves decades ago. Because of Sarah Young’s endorsement of it, it has resurfaced and is popular again. She said, “It is a treasure to me.” She liked it so much that she wanted to receive personal messages from Jesus, so she began to operate in spiritual dictation, too. In other words, she became a channeler. How do we know that it is not from the real Jesus Christ? Well, you decide.

On page 246, the August 23 entry, he is talking about entrusting your loved ones to him. He says, “I took Isaac to the very point of death to free Abraham from son-worship. Both Abraham and Isaac suffered terribly because of the father’s undisciplined emotions. I detest idolatry, even in the form of parental love.” Abraham was being obedient to God, not worshipping Isaac. And what undisciplined emotions was this "Jesus" talking about?

On page 376, the December 25 entry, as he is talking about his birth, he says, “I accepted the limitations of infancy under the most appalling conditions—a filthy stable. That was a dark night for me…” Wouldn’t it be more likely that it was a dark night for Satan? Jesus was glad to give up Heaven for earth. In my opinion, the only thing that might appall Jesus is sin. Paul said in Philippians 4:11 that he had learned to be content in whatever situation he found himself. Wouldn’t the Savior feel that way even more?  And he thought that a filthy stable is "the most appalling conditions?"  Can you think of anything more appalling?  Yeah, I can, too.

“Jesus Calling” is rife with references to “My Presence.” That sounds good until you discover that the New Age is also rife with these same references, and especially with both words capitalized. There is even a New Age book called, “Practicing the Presence,” by Joel Goldsmith, in which he states, “All is God manifested…God constitutes the life, the mind, and the Soul of every individual.” We’ve already established that God is not in every human, but He lives in every Christian.

One last point for today. The New Age refers often to Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” They suggest that it is a call to sit in silence and listen for God’s voice when it is actually a call, according to Matthew Henry and others, to the nations to literally “shut up” and be still and know that HE is God. It is taken out of context. God is speaking to the nations in this verse. I have to admit…I had interpreted it as sitting in silence, too, but if we’re supposed to be quiet and listen and think on nothing, wouldn’t it make sense that Satan could drop a few ideas into our heads in that time, too? And didn’t King David say, “Blessed is the one…who meditates on His law day and night?” Psalm 1:2

Warren B. Smith, a man who spent years in the New Age then got saved, has written several books. One is “Another Jesus Calling” in which he points out so many, many New Age tendencies in “Jesus Calling.” It is available from amazon.com. I have taken some of the info in this post from this book. There is much more.

Stay tuned!

Entry #6 in the New Age Series

Today let's look at Neale Donald Walsch. http://www.benchmarkcoaching.com/law2.html

In this entry about him, he is quoted as saying, "The purpose of life is to recreate ourselves anew in the highest version of the grandest vision we ever had about ourselves..." This is in direct opposition to the Bible, which says our purpose is to bring glory to God. Isaiah 43:7

One quote attributed to him at http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/9374.Neale_Donald_Walsch  is, “There is no truth except the truth that exists within you.  Everything else is what someone is telling you.”  However, in John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way  and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Another quote from that same website is, "The meaning of everything is the meaning I give it."  (Please feel free to do a search for any of the names I throw out at you. There is MUCH to be learned about them all and not nearly enough space here for all that information. I just want you to be aware of who they are in case you hear their names or read about them somewhere. Believe me, as we go along you'll see some very well known names.) Walsch is a New Age leader who has authored several books, one of which is "Conversations with God." In the beginning of the book, he thanks "my best friend, God," then Walsch's wife, Nancy, "on a somewhat different plane, though no less heavenly..." Do you see how he has equated his wife with God? Of course, that's because New Age folks believe that everyone is God.

He also thanks such "teachers" as Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Heche (who was her lover several years ago,) Jerry Jampolsky, Marianne Williamson, and Oprah Winfrey. More on Marianne and Oprah later.

In this book, Walsch also experiences automatic writing, an occult phenomenon in which a person writes but not under their own power. Their hand literally writes without the person's control of it. This is a way of channeling a spirit guide. We spoke earlier about channeling and how it is occult. The channeler is under Satanic influence and invites demonic activity. Of course, they don't refer to it as demonic. Sometimes they will even say they're channeling Jesus. Of course, this is never how Jesus works. Our relationship with Jesus is not occult. It can't be since the Bible tells us to stay away from anything occult. Again, a search will tell you much. Here's what Wikipedia says about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_writing (If you are one who has trouble trusting Wikipedia, please feel free to search other sites for information you deem more trustworthy.)

This site has many quotes by Walsch that are pretty "far out."  Compare them with scripture.  You'll find many of them are way off from what God really says.

More later! Stay tuned!

Entry #5 in the New Age Series

Here's a New Age leader I'm sure most of you have heard of...Robert Schuller. Although he died last year, he was on TV for years. As you were channel surfing, you probably saw him in his powder blue robe preaching in his Crystal Cathedral, a massive all-glass structure in Garden Grove, CA. Over the years, he invited various celebrities to join him at his pulpit. He wrote several books, one of which is, "If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It." Let's look at a few quotes from it.

"I characterize the basic needs of people as follows: food, clothing, and shelter; security; family and friends; to understand and be appreciated; to help others, to find God." Notice God's ranking in this list! Odd for a preacher, don't you think?

Here's another one: "Treat yourself right. Take care of yourself and others will start treating you better. You deserve the best." Another selfish, self-esteem, New Age statement. Does it agree with the Bible?  Doesn’t the Bible say that we’re supposed to put others first?

The last one I have for you is: "I believe! I believe! I believe! Even if the words don't come naturally, force yourself to repeat them morning, noon and night. Force them into your subconscious. These words will give you the power to face life again. I guarantee it!" Believe what? In yourself, I suppose. And Who is our power to face life? The Holy Spirit, not some mantra we're supposed to force ourselves to repeat in order to feel good. This is just a fraction of what Schuller is responsible for feeding innocents. You can Google him and find much more.

So far we've discussed two New Age leaders who have had much unholy influence over the years on untold numbers of people. These were mild. It heats up a bit. Join me in a couple of days for discussion on another. I'll leave you to  your thoughts on today's post and also give you time to Google Robert Schuller.  Stay tuned!

Entry #4 in the New Age Series

Did you figure out what was wrong in the Noah story from the pictures in the last post? Here it is: It talks about the animals’ and man’s “goodness.” The true account in the Bible never mentions anything about the animals’ or man’s “goodness.” In fact, David says that no one (meaning no person) is good, (Psalm 14:3) and Jesus says that only God is good. (Matthew 19:17) The New Age would believe that man is good because they think we are all God, therefore they would think that we would have to be considered good. They also are into self-esteem and being sure you’re respected and treated well by others. Sounds a bit selfish to us Christians who are taught in the Bible to die to self, doesn’t it?

As I said before, the New Age is a conglomerate religion in that they have drawn on ideas from just about every religion in existence, including Christianity. You can join them and bring Jesus with you if you wish, but you just can’t claim that He’s the only way to Heaven or to God. They even have their own God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, which sounds good to begin with, but on further investigation you find that they are not the same as our God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. We’ll address that later.

There are many New Age leaders, some you’ve heard of and some you haven’t. Here are just a few: Norman Vincent Peale, Alice Bailey, Jerry Jampolsky, Dr. Bernie Siegel, Neale Donald Walsch, Ken Blanchard, and MANY more.  Brace yourself...in a few days you'll read some names here that may shock you.

You’ve probably heard of Norman Vincent Peale. (He died in 1993.) I remember hearing of him when I was a child in the '60s and about a book he wrote that practically everyone has heard of: “The Power of Positive Thinking.” Sounds good, doesn’t it? Let’s investigate.

In the introduction to “The Power of Positive Thinking,” he says you can rise above obstacles “…by channeling spiritual power through your thoughts.” Channeling is occult and the Bible tells us very plainly that we are to stay away from anything that smacks of the occult, including mediums, witchcraft, sorcerers, etc. (Deuteronomy 18:9-12) Galatians 5:20-21 speaks of those who will not inherit the kingdom of God and includes those involved with witchcraft. There is much more in the Bible about the occult. A simple internet search will show you all you want to know about where to find this in the Bible.

Here are a couple of Peale’s quotes: “Practice self-affirmations, for example…I can do all things through belief in myself.” Did you catch that? Isn’t that in direct opposition to the Bible in Philippians 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ…?” Here’s another quote of his: "Only use positive thoughts in prayers, never negative. Only positive thoughts get results.” Does that mean if I’m on my face before God crying out to Him in pain (not a very positive situation) that He won’t answer me? No. It does not. He also quotes an “inspiring friend,” who said, “Learn to pray big prayers. God will rate you according to the size of your prayers.” Not true. In fact, the Bible speaks of not praying long, wordy prayers just for the sake of wordiness.

Norman Vincent Peale pastored Marble Collegiate Church in NYC for 52 years. I heard Donald Trump on the radio awhile back saying that he had attended that church as a young man and Peale was his pastor.

Part of Peale's and his church’s legacy??? Guideposts Magazine! No wonder so many people have read it for decades…my guess is that it’s unrealistically positive and makes them feel ecstatic!

You may want to take a few minutes to do a search for Norman Vincent Peale, but keep your Christian hat on...don't be fooled by all the positive things you'll read!  Speaking positive things doesn't make someone a Christian.

More to come.  I'd love to hear from you!

Entry #3 in the New Age Series

Have you had time to study the scripture passages from the previous post?  You'll remember that we talked about how Satan makes things that are not of the Lord easy to swallow.  Here's an example of "easy to swallow but off-track." Can you figure out what's wrong with the pictures below? (Hint: It's in the wording, not the pictures.) It took me two or three times of reading to my grandchildren to finally catch it! (Apologies to their parents, my daughter and her husband!) Compare this version to Genesis 8:16-19 in your Bible, or read it in KJV here. 16 Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.

We MUST stay in communication with God through prayer and Bible study. If we don't know what's in the Bible, how can we know when something confronting us isn't biblical?

The New Age didn't die out with the hippies and flower children that some of us remember seeing on TV when we were children in the '60s and '70s. I lived in a pretty sheltered area of the country so TV was my only exposure to that culture, and my household didn't take it seriously. We just laughed them off as a bunch of weirdos. The New Age is alive and well and has gone through a bit of a transformation over the decades with the help of Shirley MacLaine and others who have polished it up and repackaged it so that respectable, intelligent people are being misled and are buying into it. You may remember that Shirley gained a bit of notoriety with her New Age beliefs, including informing the world that she is "God." (According to God Himself, she is not, by the way. The first Commandment says, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Exodus 20:3) She wrote an autobiographical book published in 1983 called "Out on a Limb." In 1987 it was made into a TV miniseries. Here is a clip where she discovers that she is "God" and announces it to the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccb2GsnOoBM Start at about the 3:00 mark.

AND...the New Agers are a peace-loving bunch, for the most part. I suppose if you're "God" you could be pretty peaceable, right?  It makes a lot of sense to me now when I think about folks who want to save the whales, and save the earth, and save the trees, and won't build a house or a business or a shopping center on a particular piece of land because there is a snail on the endangered species list whose habitat is there. You must save the whales and the earth and the trees and the snails because...they are "God." They believe that everything in the universe is connected, therefore everything is "God." Stay tuned!  (If you don't figure out what's wrong with the pictures below, I'll tell you in the next post.)

 

 

 

 

 

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Entry # 2 in the New Age Series

In Matthew 24, Jesus and some of His disciples discuss "the end of the age." Lots of people don't want to talk about that, for different reasons. Fear, disbelief, "that's a long way off," etc., but He put it in the Bible. That should tell us that He at least wants us to look at it, but studying it is probably more what He had in mind.

When they asked Him when these things would occur and what would be the sign that He was returning and of the end of the age, the first thing He said to them was: "See to it that no one deceives you."   If we think we can't be deceived, we need to read verse 11 where He says, "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many."

Paul lays a foundation for our study in Acts 20:27-31, especially in verse 30 when he says, "and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them."  He was in Miletus and sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus to give them this message. That was a 50-mile trip, not easy back then. For him to summon them on a trip like that seems to say that he was concerned and anxious to deliver this message to them.

The part that jumps out to me in that verse is "from among your own selves." How can that be? How can it be that people in our churches, who identify themselves as Christians, could deceive us? Maybe they don't set out to, but apparently it's possible or Jesus and Paul never would have warned us against their messages. Somewhere along the way a Christian gets off-track and believes something other than what Jesus has taught us and convinces someone else to believe it.  It catches fire and spreads from there.

Of course, we know Satan is behind it all. He is the master deceiver right? How does he make a Christian believe something outside of what Jesus has taught? By making it appealing. Pretty. Shiny. Comfortable. Easy to swallow. It happened in the Garden of Eden, right?

This leaves you with some Bible study.  The scriptures included in this post speak volumes and are worth your looking at until the next post in a couple of days or so.  I'm trying to make these posts short enough to hold your attention, so I'll close for now with this one thought: It's gonna get shocking, folks. Stay tuned!

Let's Talk New Age

Making New Year's resolutions is something I gave up years and years ago because I, like pretty much everyone else, can't keep them.  I forget.  I lose interest.  It becomes more difficult than I expected.  Whatever excuse presents itself, that's what I use to avoid carrying out my well intentioned plans.  So...

...I will not say that my plan to publish more blog posts this year is a New Year's resolution but just something I hope to be able to carry out for more than a week.

If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you will remember that on September 1, 2015, I began a series of posts explaining to folks about the dangers of the New Age Movement, sometimes known as the New Spirituality.  New Age is a conglomeration of the world's religions, basically, but is made up, in large part, of Hinduism.  However, they are very open to you and whatever you believe.  Even if you're a Christian, they will accept you, but you can't bring along one of your most basic Christian beliefs...that Jesus Christ is the only Way to salvation.  You can come into their fold, but you must check that belief at the door as they believe there are many ways to salvation.  Therefore, it stands to reason that if you are New Age, you can't be Christian, and vice-versa.  However, before you go wagging a finger in your Christian friend's face because he or she has a New Age habit, remember that so few people are aware of the New Age and its habits and beliefs that they have just picked some of them up because they seem "nice."  And Jesus was "nice," right?  Here is one reason I'm making these posts.  Not enough people, especially Christians, are educated on the New Age.

In the next few days, I am going to be revamping my Facebook posts for this blog.  On Facebook, people tend to be uninterested in longer posts, so bringing them to my blog allows me to post them as they are on Facebook or edit them, adding info if I feel the need, or leaving off info that is unnecessary.

So let's get right into the first post from September 1, 2015.  I hope you'll follow along!  If you haven't read these, you're gonna learn something.  If you read them on Facebook, you may learn more here since they have been revamped.

Entry #1 in the New Age Series

Our small group at church has been studying the New Age Movement. It's been EXTREMELY interesting with lots of participation from the group. Eyes are being opened.

Let's start with a brief explanation of the New Age Movement, sometimes known as the "New Spirituality."  Basically, when you boil it all down, the New Age teaches that we are all God. Not only humans, but the trees, the birds, the rocks, the planets, the chairs, the carpet, the cars, the coathangers, the stars, the moon, etc.  They believe that everything that exists is connected through the universe and is therefore God. From the get-go, we can see that this is not compatible with Christianity when we remember that the first of the Ten Commandments is: "You shall have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 2:3)  Also, "Hear, o Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one."  Deuteronomy 6:4

From this we understand that there is no such thing as a New Age Christian.  The New Age is pretty much all-inclusive.  If you want to join them, you can even bring Jesus Christ along with you, if you wish. You just can't say He's the only Way. (Jesus says in John 14:6 "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.") The New Age and Christianity are like oil and water;  they don't mix.

This is just a little introduction for you to chew on until the next post, which should be in just a day or two.  Stayed tuned!

(Feel free to contact me with your thoughts, but be nice.)  :)