New Age Spirituality By Bruce W. Robida

 

New Age Spirituality

This note is a pleading to you, especially my family and friends who are fervently seeking spirituality, longing to learn the secrets to such questions as, ‘who am I’? ‘Why am I here’? ‘Where am I going’? And, ‘Where do I fit in’? You’re searching for answers as do all people of faith and New Age guru’s like, Eckart Tolle, Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer seem to have some of those answers, dolling them out in books, seminars, and TV shows like, Super Soul Sunday, passing them off as gems to be treasured, meditated upon and if possible, acted out in positive ways. They appeal to the masses because they are not condemning or judgmental, never speaking of evil, sin or any other human failure. Their messages are always uplifting, encouraging, loving and compassionate. Why would anyone be critical of such teachers?

Some of you have purposely or unwittingly become involved in the New Age movement in one form or another, whether it is learning from teachers like those endorsed by Oprah Winfrey or practicing yoga or meditation. As harmless as some of these practices seem, often they are anti-Christian although some use Christian terminology in their messages.

Over the years, I have shared my faith with anyone who will listen. I teach that God is real, Jesus Christ is real, the Holy Spirit is real, and heaven, hell and Satan are real. I also teach that the Bible is God’s Word, it is without error or contradiction and that it contains everything necessary for the salvation of mankind and proper Christian living. Everything we know about God, with certainty, is found in the Holy Bible. There is no greater source of information about Him and what He expects from mankind. While Christians can be disillusioned with the organized Church due to corruption and greed, we can have complete confidence that God is not corrupt, He has not changed and neither has His Word.

New Age teaches many things about God. Some of those teachings are accurate and some are contradicting. New Age teachings are as varied as are its teachers and practitioners. Primarily, New Age teachers agree that there are many ways (paths) to God (or as many of them say, “your higher power”) and that they are all correct. New Age teachers also teach pantheism.

Pantheism is the belief that the Universe (or nature as the totality of everything) is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent God. Pantheists thus do not believe in a distinct personal or anthropomorphic god. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism

This of course is contrary to the Christian, personal God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Pantheism means that everyone and everything in the universe, as a whole, is god. When they speak of the divine light or spark within each of us, they are speaking literally that god is within and that through enlightenment, we have the power to exact change upon the universe by positive thought, meditation and action.

The problem for the Christian is obvious. God is in those He calls His, but only those who have received His Son, Jesus Christ. God is not in the atheist, the Buddhist, or the Satanist. God is not in the trees, plants or animals. God is not nature, nor is He in nature. God created nature.

The problem for the non-Christian is not so obvious. Those seeking non-Christian spirituality do not see a need for a Savior. Non-Christian teachers and practitioners believe and teach that Jesus was just one of several manifestations of Christ, another guru equal to others who have come and gone in an effort to bring spiritual enlightenment to the people. Salvation for these people is in self fulfillment. For them, there is no heaven or hell and morality is subjective, based on each individual’s understanding of right and wrong. Sin and evil are therefore man made concepts and are not in the New Age vocabulary since these only produce negative thoughts and actions.

There is a difference between Christian spirituality and non-Christian spirituality. Christian spirituality seeks to worship God by obedience to His will, turning away from the sinful nature, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. We are able to do these things only as a result of receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and receiving the Holy Spirit, who resides in each of God’s people. This is the Spirit Who guides us if we are willing to listen. The Holy Spirit is the only Spirit that is able to lead us to live virtuous lives. God also uses other spirits, His holy angels to do His work concerning His people. There are in fact, many other spirits that surround us. These other spirits do not direct God’s people in any way. These spirits are unholy angels that God threw out of heaven. These fallen angels are constantly on the prowl, seeking to destroy everyone that will follow them. These are the spirits that lead non-Christian spirituality. This spirituality is contradictory to God’s Word. These spirits are disguised as loving, caring and wise, teachers of enlightenment. The Bible says they disguise themselves as angels of light yet they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Anything that distracts people away from the true God, the true Jesus Christ and His message for mankind comes from these unholy spirits.

It is dangerous to follow New Age teachers. At the very least, it distracts true Christians from the real message of Christ and at most it leads people to a false sense of self and a terrible destiny, which is hell. Not all paths lead to God. Not all people will go to heaven. Jesus said, "I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except though Me". Does this sound all inclusive? Is this narrow minded? There is a final destination for all of us. We will either end up in heaven or hell. There are no other options. There is only one way to get to heaven and Jesus told us how to get there. There are no other options.

How many self help books have you read? How many New Age books have you read in an effort to be spiritually enlightened? Is the Bible too much for you? Is the message too difficult to acknowledge? Do your sins keep you from finding the truth about their disposition? Your sins will be acknowledged and revealed one day. Don’t allow New Age philosophy to keep you from acknowledging them and turning away from them in this lifetime because, in the next one, you will come face-to-face with Jesus. He will open His books and either He will find your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life or it will be blotted out. Then, it will be too late! Will Jesus say to you, “Well done good and faithful servant?” or “Away from me, I never knew you?”

Do you seek spirituality? Read the Bible! Do you want to know who you are? Read the Bible! Do you want to know where you’re going? Read the Bible! Do you want to know where you fit in? Read the Bible! Do you want to know the meaning of life? Read the Bible!

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