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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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.)  :)