COVENANT MINDED MINISTRIES

The New Age Movement began with a member of the Theosophical Society named Alice A. Bailey.  She was an Englishwoman who emigrated to America and who lived from 1880 to 1949.  She laid the real foundations of the New Age Movement and is regarded as its high priestess.  

As a spiritist medium she allegedly received messages from a so-called master of wisdom, the Tibetan Djwal Khul.  These messages, which she wrote under dictation from this demonic being were published in numerous books.  

Her secret teachings, which to this day are followed minutely in New Age circles, set forth "The Plan for the New World Order."  According to some secret instructions, the Movement was to keep out of the public eye until 1975.

Believing that God is a neutral force that can be manipulated either for good or evil, New Age occultists are greatly interested in learning the means by which they can achieve this.  Thus at the centre of this New Age spirituality is faith in man in the all-pervasive energy or life force throughout the cosmos.

An essential part of the New Age Religion  is the use of certain psycho technologies.  They include the following practices: meditation, yoga, Zen, hypnosis,transpersonal psychology, and positive thinking.  The growing feminism has some links with New Age spirituality.

While feminist theology endeavours to represent the God of the Bible as being both masculine and feminine or even as an exclusively feminine godhead, the radical vanguard of the New Age feminist movement is  already demanding that the Christian faith be replaced by the myth of Gaia, "mother Earth,"whose cult is now being revived and practiced.

What is common among many New Age groups is a counterfeit religious experience such as contact with demons through drugs, meditation, psycho technologies, and other ventures.  They also believe in UFO's and extra-terrestrial beings, from which they reputedly also receive messages.

The New Age mind-set has touched almost every area of life:  education, culture, history, religion, politics, psychology, science and health.

The Movement has no central headquarters; therefore, no leadership or membership lists are available. So we have no clear statistics that tell us how many people are followers. Some have sought to determine the number of adherents by other means , such as by finding out how many people hold to one or more of the major beliefs of the New Age.

Douglas R. Groothuis, research associate with Probe Ministries (Seattle, Wash.), identifies six distinctives of New Age thinking:

1.  All is One (Monism)

2.  All is God (Pantheism)

3.  Humanity is God

4.  A change is consciousness

5.  All religions are one

6.  Cosmic evolutionary optimism

Generally, New Agers do not speak of a source of authority. If such is referred to, it is not an external authority but an internal one. In the New Age Movement, the individual is considered to be the standard of truth.

New Age proponent Shirley MacLaine reveals the supposed power of the individual when commenting, "It's all my dream. I'm making all of it happen -- good and bad -- and I have the choice of how I'll relate to it and what I'll do about it."

MacLaine goes on to say, "Perhaps everyone has his own truth, and truth as an objective reality simply does not exist."

New Age thinkers show their true colours in what they believe about God. To them, God is not a Supreme Being distinct from creation -- He IS  creation. In developing a worldview about the material and immaterial world, New Agers reach a faulty conclusion.

To them there is only one essence in the universe, and everything and everyone is part of that essence. This is known as "monism," which comes from the Greek word monos, meaning "one".

While all New Age followers look forward to global and universal oneness, they do not all agree on the means by which they expect that oneness to be achieved.

Some focus on humanity's technological potential for harmony, emphasizing advances in telecommunications and the sciences.

Others pay more attention to the somewhat mystical idea that all things share the same essential energy.  If we can tap into that energy we can use it to our advantage.

It is absolutely essential that Christians be sensitive to the philosophical perspective of New Age followers. We have seen that the New Age Movement reflects our culture's rejection of revelation, tradition, and reason as authentic sources of truth.

Witnessing to New Age Followers

Using reason with New Age Followers to show them the error of their beliefs is a complete turn-off because such dependence on logic and reason does nothing more than demonstrate a profound lack of enlightenment on our part from their point of views.

An appeal to New Age Followers to the truth of Scripture and/or the teachings of your church, to them is seem rigid and insensitive.

Since New Age Followers value experience so highly, our personal testimonies as Christians is the most helpful means of communication, because they will simply dismiss our logic and books; but their own beliefs prevent them from dismissing our experiences.

Scripture: Be wise as serpents

By demonstrating the reality of our Christianity and the transformation that the gospel has brought into our lives, we appeal to them on their own terms.

The New Age Movement is very diverse, and it blends in easily with many other religions. One thing that it does not take in very well, however, is the cross of Jesus Christ.

New Age believers have a very difficult time accepting that salvation can only come through Jesus Christ, which is a concept that stands against everything they believe.

We must Understand that New Age Followers will probably not embrace the gospel quickly, and/or maybe never at all, but we are to speak the truth in love, and maybe through our words and through our lifestyles point them to Christ, who is our hope.

New Age Practices are Ungodly

New age ideas have gushed forth into living rooms via television shows, radio shows, and/or motion picture shows for decades, and Satan has deceived society into warming them up and paying more attention to them than ever before.

New age practices are the devil's baits and are very appealing to the feelings and emotions demanded of the flesh. 

Deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons are having 24/7 parties and celebrations with this movement and hell is expanding itself for its new arrivals.

Ophra Winfrey has always referred to her show as a ministry, and she's absolutely right; a minister of unrighteousness transforming herself into a minister of righteousness.

Ophra show is actually a puppet for Satan's ruthless assault on humanity, which is subsequently leading people into the fires of hell.  Ophra's power and quidance given to the general public is directly from the spirit world.

Ophra freely confesses to demonic possession as a tool to enhance her influencing performances before the camera. She said: "I tried to empty myself and let the spirit of Sethe inhabit me...Every morning, before my scenes, I lit candles and said the names of these slaves. I prayed every day to the ancestors."

Time Magazine wrote of these spirit guides" Ophra Winfrey calls these her 'go there' moments, spiritual episodes of divine guidance far transcend the chatty exchanges with her studio audiences- Sometimes the epiphanies carry the voices of Negro slaves-Joe and Emily and Dara; Sue and Bess and Sara. Winfrey says that she has come to know each of them personally and calls them in at will to guide her in her work. The spirits began visiting her a few years ago..."

All of the world's heralding of Ophra's great successes is little more than a surrendered compliance to governance by demonic spirits. These spirits are using her to construct the new theological mindset of the masses, ministering their doctrines of demons to society.

Satan's objective is to move people from the truth to that of emotional feelings, which Ophra has surrendered herself an occult evangelist to deliever Satan's sermons and accomplish his will.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

Homosexuality and Lesbianism

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22)

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. (Romans 1:26)

Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. (Romans 1:27)

Beastuality

Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it.  Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it.  It is perversion. (Leviticus 18:23)

Therefore you shall keep My ordinances, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which are committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: "I am the LORD your God.' " (Leviticus 18:30)

The Most Dangerous Enemy

The New Age Movement is "the most dangerous enemy of Christianity in the world today, and even more dangerous than secular humanism."

An essential part of the New Age Religion  is the use of certain psycho technologies.  They include the following  practices: meditation, yoga, Zen, hypnosis, transpersonal psychology, and positive thinking. The growing feminism has some links with New Age spirituality.

While feminist theology endeavours to represent the God of the Bible as being both masculine and feminine or even as an exclusively feminine godhead, the radical vanguard of the New Age feminist movement is  already demanding that the Christian faith be replaced by the myth of Gaia, "mother Earth,"whose cult is now being revived and practiced.

Enemies of the Cross

Secular humanism turned to man himself, seeing man as only a highly evolved animal with no spiritual capacity. The New Age Movement is a reaction to this atheistic view, but it is no closer to the truth than secular humanism is.

Because the New Agers think all is One, this leads them to thinking they -- and everything else -- are part of this divine essence. They believe each person is "intertwined" with God. New Agers even use the Bible to support their erroneous beliefs.

Typically, those who believe all is of one essence make "Christ" the cosmic principle, or ideal. Jesus was simply an unusual man, they say, who had this ideal within Him as we all do. Barbara Marx Hubbard says we need to recognize that the "Messiah is within."

The human potential movement among the New Agers is based on the faulty premise that each person is god and needs only to have his consciousness enlightened so he will realize that fact. And the means to this enlightenment is meditation. But the forms of meditation are many.

Brooks Alexander 

In his critique of the channeling fad, Brooks Alexander of Spiritual Counterfeits Project states, "The entities endlessly repeat the primal lie, the three-fold creed of error: There is no death; man is God; knowledge of self is salvation and power."

A Turn From the True God

The New Age Movement has turned away from the true God to gods of the spirit world.  Their followers have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge that comes from God.

Gnosticism is an ancient world-view stating that Divine essence is the only true or highest reality, and that the unconscious Self of man is actually this essence. It is through intuitional discovery, "visionary experience or initiation into secret doctrine" (not the plenary revelation of propositional truth in the Bible), that man becomes conscious of this true Self.

New Agers confuse the Creator with His creation and think that God is part of creation, not separate from it.

There is no place for the concept of sin in the New Age. There can be no sin because there is no transcendent God to rebel against. There are no rules or absolute moral imperatives.

Sin is merely ignorance of one's "inner divinity." Because sin does not exist, there is no need for repentance or forgiveness, and Jesus did not die for our sins. They think that any perceived lack that man might have is merely a lack of enlightenment, thereby eliminating the need of salvation or a Savior.

Satan

The traditional view of Lucifer as the devil or Satan is clearly absent in New Age literature. Rather, he is described as a mighty being of light and the "Ruler of Humanity," as Alice Bailey, foundational apostle and leading writer of the New Age Movement, puts it.

As to the history and achievements of Lucifer, Benjamin Creme, a leading lecturer and proponent of the New Age, says, "Lucifer came from the planet Venus 18.5 million years ago; he's the director of our planetary evolution, he is the sacrificial lamb, and the prodigal son.  Lucifer made an incredible sacrifice, a supreme sacrifice for our planet."

Adopting New Age Philosophy

Anyone adopting New Age philosophy must experience a paradigm shift (a change of one way of thinking to another; a revolution, a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis (any complete change in appearance, character, circumstances, etc.).

A paradigm shift just doesn't happen, but rather, it's driven by agents of change, in this case, New Age beliefs and practices.

The essential or core doctrines of mainstream Christianity must be eliminated or done away with in order to adopt and practice the New Age philosophy, because the God of Christianity is not the god of the New Age Movement.

New Age Fundamental Beliefs

There are a number of fundamental beliefs held by New Age followers; individuals are encourage to shop for the beliefs and practices that they feel most comfortable with, which are as follows:

Monism, Panentheism, Reincarnation, Karma, An Aura, Personal Transformation, Ecological Responsibility, Universal Religion, The New World Order, and The Age of Aquarius.

New Age Practices

The many practices common amongst the New Agers are as follows: channeling, crystals, meditating, New Age Music, divination, holistic health, Human Potential Movement (a.k.a. Emotional Growth Movement).

Since there is no sin nor any need for salvation, "any and everything goes," because the "only person" you have to answer to is "yourself," who is "God."

New Age occultic and humanistic philosophy can be found in the entertainment media (televison, radio, ect.), global politics, environmental crusades, educational paradigms, alternative medical practices and in the world of business.

In identifing oneself as God, the New Age Movement seeks to transform the worldview of individuals toward an understanding of self-diefication, to the end that they will form a society eventually producing complete global harmony among nations and peoples.

The New Age Religion

New Age Religion is not a religion at all, but a vast syncretism (or mixing) of numerous religious and philosophical ideas.  New Age religion more than anything is emotional, filing in a void left by a secular culture and discontent with traditional religious beliefs.

Man is not Equal to God

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

“ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)

Wise in One's Own Eyes

Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid. (Proverbs 12:1)

Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. (Proverbs 26:12)

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. (2nd Peter 2:20)

The End of New Age is Death

There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12)

There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
(Proverbs 16:25)

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits. (Proverbs 16:2)

On January 1, 2008, Oprah and Friends begin offering a year-long course on the New Age teachings of "A Course in Miracles."  A lesson a day throughout the year will completely cover the 365 lessons from the Course in Miracles “Workbook.”  Teaching A Course in Miracles will be Oprah’s longtime friend and special XM Satellite Radio reporter Marianne Williamsom—who also happens to be one of today’s premier New Age leaders. She and "Conversations with God" author Neale Donald Walsch, co-founded the American Renaissance Alliance in 1997, that later became the Global Renaissance Alliance of New Age leaders, that changed its name again in 2005 to the Peace Alliance.

This Peace Alliance seeks to usher in an era of global peace founded on the principles of a New Age/New Spirituality that they are now referring to as a “civil rights movement for the soul.”7 They all agree that the principles of this New Age/New Spirituality are clearly articulated in A Course in Miracles—which is fast becoming the New Age Bible.  So what is A Course in Miracles and what does it teach?

A Course in Miracles is allegedly “new revelation” from “Jesus” to help humanity work through these troubled times. This “Jesus”—who bears no doctrinal resemblance to the Bible’s Jesus Christ—began delivering his channeled teachings in 1965 to a Columbia University Professor of Medical Psychology by the name of Helen Schucman.

A former New Age follower says: "When I left the New Age “Christ” to follow the Bible’s Jesus Christ, I had come to understand that the “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles was a false “Christ,” and that his Course in Miracles was dangerously deceptive. Here are some quotes from the “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles:

• “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
• “The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself.”
• “The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power.”
• “The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.”