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