- Eastern Mysticism and New Age occultism teaches that God is an impersonal force pervading all creation.
- Jesus was a man separated from the Christ; Jesus is the human messenger, and Christ is the cosmic consciousness or the divine spirit essence that rested upon Jesus.
- Human beings are divine within because they are part of God or a higher consciousness.
- The material world is a lower form of the spiritual essence and must be eliminated by raising it to a higher consciousness.
- Physical exercises and spiritual techniques that seek occult power are necessary to become one with the universal Spirit or universal Oneness.
In the turbulent decade of the 1970s, an explosion of occult knowledge occurred, saturating the Western world with the potent seeds of a new perspective. A strange blend of nineteenth-century Spiritism, mysticism, and humanism, it took the name the New Age movement and quickly evolved into a bolder, more organized revival of ancient occultism. It was a new title with an ancient goal; the penetration of all areas of culture-political, educational, and religious-with man at the center of the universe.(1) The New Age agenda was clear and surprisingly unified: a millennium without the biblical God.
New Age Philosophy
The essence of New Age philosophy is the unity of the world's religions as diverse paths with the same goal. Under the auspices of tolerance, the New Age conception is that all religions are equally valid-memorialized in their theme of "unity in diversity." It is big enough to embrace all: Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Krishna, or Jesus. It merges the faiths of the world and places all of their founders on the same plane for truth and authority.
In New Age beliefs, there are many prophets and no single incarnate redeemer. The law of Karma takes precedence over the atonement of Jesus Christ. Sins are cultural and relative instead of offences toward a holy God. Reincarnation is freedom for this world and the resurrection of Christ was spiritual. Hell is not a place of eternal punishment, but it is only a state of mind or negative thought. Universalism is preached, which saves everyone in the end through the doctrine of reincarnation.(2)
The New Age movement is an all-pervasive, all-encircling philosophy, birthed from Theosophy and Hinduism. New Age groups comprise a united syncretistic religion; everything comes together under one philosophy. Their divine absolute principle is not a person; it is not God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The absolute principle is an impersonal entity that inhabits all creation, whether they call it consciousness, energy, vibrations, spirit, force, Mind, Brahma, or the One. Esoteric philosophy does not reject deity within nature; it only refuses to accept any single faith, like Christianity, as the only way of salvation. In contrast to the true God who created man in his image, the New Age philosophy recreated God in man's image and likeness.
The core of New Age theology is the integration of all religions, practices, mythology, superstition, and the occult found in the world. It refuses to bow the knee and worship the biblical God of creation.
The god of the New Age movement is Lucifer, light bearer, adversary, prince of darkness, who moves through religion, politics, and economies with one purpose in mind: integrate, unify, and then destroy. And the destruction is aimed at the church of Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter said, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world" (1 Peter 5:8-9).
The New Age Today
The New Age movement has mushroomed throughout the world, particularly in the United States. Cloaked in acceptable and seemingly harmless terms, such as the widespread exercises of yoga and meditation, is the hidden agenda of the occult. When one meditates or practices yoga, the mind is said to be emptied to allow the person to become one with the universe, but this is where the person opens the mind and heart to false spirits that await every opportunity to invade a soul that is normally guarded. Noted German authority on the occult Dr. Kurt Koch states the following about the occultic side of yoga: "This technique of relaxation and these 'emptying exercises,' so highly spoken of by the yogis lead to the inflowing of another spirit-other spirits. The students of yoga did not notice it."(3) Similarly, Dr. Koch, who has compiled volumes of case studies on people involved in the occult, wrote the following about meditation: "My counseling work in East and West has given me insight into the nature and practice of meditation. . . . I am totally opposed to meditation in the Far Eastern pattern. . . . We cannot empty ourselves by means of techniques and postures-then other powers flood in."(4) It is difficult to find any New Ager who does not practice either meditation or yoga, but Dr. Koch's warning is clear: if one empties the mind, it becomes an open vessel for other spirits.
It is important to note what Jesus said concerning spirits, particularly demonic spirits that invade human bodies: "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first" (Matt. 12:43-45).
From Jesus we learn, then, that demonic spirits can inhabit human beings. Rather than experiment with the occult and New Age practices where the person unwittingly opens the soul to demons, it is much better to close the door and refuse participation.
The New Age movement was supported by many people who had no knowledge of its origin and nature.(5) The occult is subtle and can deceive anyone. It points to a new religious emphasis. It envisions one planet, one people, harmonious peace, prosperity, and hope for the world, which come through the creativity of positive thinking, harmonizing yin and yang forces, awakening the god within, or balancing spiritual energy through occult practices.
What unifies the New Age is the foundational belief that there are many equally valid beliefs and techniques that enlighten and liberate the individual. Not all groups use the same terminology, but they respect one another and focus upon the "unity in diversity" motif. Relativistic thinking and tolerance prevents them from excessively criticizing or comparing alternate beliefs and techniques. The general idea of "whatever works for you" is perfectly acceptable as a path to truth. Therefore, most New Age gurus, teachers, and instructors believe that their technique for liberation of the soul or awakening the sleeping "god within" is good, but they do not deny that other techniques or beliefs may produce similar results.
- See Walter R. Martin's extensive definition in The New Age Cult, 109-110.
- For a thorough analysis of New Age theology, see Martin, The New Age Cult and Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, 405.
- Koch, Occult ABC, 257-258.
- Koch, Occult ABC, 243, 244, 246.
- Liberal religious leaders like Marcus Bach and Charles Braden embraced the pulpits of the mind-science cults in the 1950s throughout the 1970s, opening a venue for unassuming Christians to ignorantly follow their lead in believing that all religions are equally valid. See Marcus Bach, They Have Found a Faith (New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1946) and Charles Braden, These Also Believe (New York: Macmillan, 1949).