The New Age Movement Versus Christianity

New Age thought and the new spiritualities have nothing in common with biblical Christianity:

The term “New Age” appeared in the 1980s, but many (including myself in my hippy days) were into this sort of stuff even much earlier. It is a default spirituality for many in the West today. Plenty of folks have given up on biblical Christianity, but they think they are still being truly spiritual by running with NAM beliefs and practices.

Indeed, the New Age Movement (NAM) is really not at all new, being a revival of old paganism, old Gnosticism, and old Eastern thought. As Douglas Groothuis has put it, “New Age spirituality is a rather eclectic grab bag of Eastern mysticism, Western occultism, neopaganism and human potential psychology. But New Age spokespeople tend to view the true essence of all religion to be one.”

Bear in mind that what we find in the West is of course a very sanitised, safe and Westernised version of what has been taught in the East for millennia. The more traditional ideas or practices that are deemed to be unpleasant or overly demanding are simply discarded, while general concepts and feel-good activities are run with.

In the NAM the essential oneness of all religious teachings and practices is emphasised, while the distinctives are played down or denied. But as I wrote in an earlier piece, this is to do injustice to the various world religions which most certainly are very different: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/12/29/world-religions-versus-christianity/

While the NAM is very diverse with all sorts of beliefs, teachings, gurus, practices, and leaders, there are some common core basics that most people hold to. And because the NAM is so heavily steeped in Eastern thought, much of what is found in this movement is what we find in the religions of the East (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc.).

Thus pantheism – the belief that God is everything – or panentheism – the belief that God is in everything – are very common beliefs in the NAM. The more traditional monotheistic religions that posit a divine creator who is completely distinct from the creation do not find much of a run in the NAM understanding of things – or they are twisted and distorted to fit in with Eastern views. See more on this here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2010/01/09/pantheism-and-biblical-christianity/

It follows therefore that monism (the idea that all is one) is also a big part of NAM teaching. As will be seen in a moment, salvation usually has to do with realising that we are already one with everything and one with the divine – indeed we ARE divine, but we just don’t know it yet.

That leads to another major component – Gnosticism. This was a religious and philosophical system that existed during the early Christian era. Salvation was said to come through gnosis (= knowledge). A special, hidden, esoteric knowledge was revealed only to an elite, select group. This was based on a view of the world which says that matter is evil and spirit is good, so we need to transcend the material world.

Given that reality is really a unified, interrelated, interdependent whole, and that all is one, all is god, and all is energy, all perceived differences are only apparent and must be overcome. As in basic Hindu teaching, we are really already part of the One, but we just don’t know it yet.

Since all is god, energy, consciousness, that means I am divine – I am part of God’s essence. Overcoming our ignorance of these truths, and renouncing our individualism and merging with the One (like a drop of water disappearing in an ocean) is our aim. This also means that I control my own destiny and I can script or create my own reality.

To achieve this cosmic consciousness, plenty of occult (= secret or hidden) beliefs and practices are found here. Thus there are things like astrology, tarot cards, spiritism, consulting the dead, spirit mediumship, creative visualisation, fortune telling, astral projection, rebirthing, yoga, and the like (most of which is forbidden in the Bible). These things are routinely utilised, often as an aid in attaining cosmic consciousness, of growing spiritually, and of achieving enlightenment.

And to overcome our false consciousness and beliefs, and to deal with our accumulated bad karma, reincarnation is seen as a major component of our spiritual development. This too is a staple of Eastern thought, and I have already discussed how these things are NOT a part of biblical beliefs: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/12/26/karma-versus-christianity/

And here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/12/27/reincarnation-versus-resurrection/

There is also the belief in a coming spiritual and even political utopia – the age of Aquarius. The old Christian age is ending and a New Age is beginning, an age of peace and harmony. These folks often speak of planetisation – a vision for a unified global community. The political outworking of this includes globalism, global socialism, and one-world government.

As contrasted to the more traditional religions and their practices, the NAM emphasis is on the mystical, the subjective, and the personal – not on the logical, creedal or propositional. All the emphasis is on spiritual experiences and subjective religious encounters, not on various doctrinal teachings and beliefs.

It is by playing down the actual doctrinal beliefs of other religions that the New Ager can so easily incorporate all teachings and beliefs into their own worldview. Doctrinal differences do not matter – achieving spiritual liberation and enlightenment is what counts.

Even with this all-too-brief account of general NAM understandings, one can see how radically it differs from biblical Christianity. The Christian worldview differs in every area from NAM beliefs. Consider God and ultimate reality. God is one (but in three persons), and is totally distinct from his creation. We certainly are not a part of the divine. This was true even before the Fall.

Sin is a moral and spiritual problem, involving human rejection of God and living for self. It is not just a matter of wrong knowledge or understanding. As far as salvation goes, we cannot save ourselves. Christ came to pay the penalty for our sin, so that we can be restored to God by repentance and faith, not via the various recovery techniques and psycho-technologies listed above.

And of course Jesus Christ as depicted in Scripture has nothing to do with the New Age Jesus and the Christ of the new spiritualities. But another article will look at that matter in more detail. Suffice it to say that you cannot claim to be a biblical Christian while at the same time holding to basic NAM beliefs and practices. The two simply cannot coexist.

Let me conclude with a quote on the New Spirituality by Ravi Zacharias as found in his very important 2012 book, Why Jesus?

Everything that the New Spiritualists say they are seeking is actually found in Jesus. No, not the Jesus of popular television marketing. Not the Jesus of the New Ager’s imagination. And not the Jesus of all talk and no walk, who is heard but never seen. The Jesus I am talking about is the Ultimate Reality who became flesh to bring us grace and truth that we might become the children of God.

Our destiny is in a relationship to a person, not in a pilgrimage to a place. Our purpose is in communion with the living God, not in union with an impersonal idea or nameless Higher Power….

In promising sublimity and divinity to each of us, its proponents have actually made us less than we were meant to be. God alone knows how to humble us without humiliating us and how to exalt us without flattering us. And how he effects this is the grand truth of the Christian message.

For further reading

There are plenty of helpful Christian critiques and assessments of the NAM. The following are some of the better titles. If I had to single out just a few authors here, let me especially recommend Groothuis and Jones.

Image of Why Jesus?: Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality
Why Jesus?: Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality by Zacharias, Ravi (Author) Amazon logo

General Works
Amano, J. Yutake and Norman Geisler, The Infiltration of the New Age Movement. Tyndale House, 1989.
Ankerberg, John and Craig Branch, Thieves of Innocence. Harvest House, 1993.
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs. Harvest House, 1996.
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, The Facts on the New Age Movement. Harvest House, 1988.
Chandler, Russell, Understanding the New Age. Word, 1988.
Clark, David and Norman Geisler, Apologetics in the New Age: A Christian Critique of Pantheism. Baker, 1990.
Clifford, Ross and Philip Johnson, Jesus and the Gods of the New Age. Lion Publishing, 2001.
Clifford, Ross and Philip Johnson, Sacred Quest. Albatross Books, 1993.
Clifford, Ross and Philip Johnson, Taboo or to Do? Darton, Longman and Todd, 2016.
Drane, John, What is the New Age Saying to the Church? Marshall Pickering, 1999.
Groothuis, Douglas, Confronting the New Age. IVP, 1988.
Groothuis, Douglas, Deceived by the Light. Harvest House, 1995.
Groothuis, Douglas, Unmasking the New Age. IVP, 1986.
Herrick, James, The Making of the New Spirituality. IVP, 2003.
Hoyt, Karen, et. Al., The New Age Rage. Revell, 1987.
Jones, Peter, Capturing the Pagan Mind. B&H Publishing, 2003.
Jones, Peter, The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back. Presbyterian and Reformed, 1992.
Jones, Peter, The Other Worldview. Kirkdale Press, 2015.
Jones, Peter, Pagans in the Pews. Regal Books, 2001.
Jones, Peter, Spirit Wars. WinePress Publishing, 1997.
Lucas, Ernest, Science and the New Age Challenge. IVP, 1996.
McRoberts, Kerry, New Age or Old Lie? Hendrickson Pub., 1989.
Martin, Walter, The Kingdom of the Occult. Thomas Nelson, 2008.
Martin, Walter, The New Age Cult. Bethany House, 1989.
Michaelsen, Johanna, The Beautiful Side of Evil. Paperback. Harvest House, 1982.
Miller, Elliot, A Crash Course on the New Age Movement. Baker, 1989.
Newport, John, The New Age Movement and the Biblical Worldview. Eerdmans, 1998.
Rhodes, Ron, New Age Movement. Zondervan, 1995.
Scott, Brad, Embraced by the Darkness. Crossway, 1996.
Smith, F. LaGard, What You Need to Know About the New Age Movement. Harvest House, 1993.
Strohmer, Charles, The Gospel and the New Spirituality. Thomas Nelson, 1996.
Strohmer, Charles, Wise as a Serpent, Harmless as a Dove. Word, 1994.

The New Age Jesus
Groothuis, Douglas, Jesus in an Age of Controversy. Harvest House, 1996.
Groothuis, Douglas, Revealing the New Age Jesus. IVP, 1990.
Jones, Peter, Stolen Identity: The Conspiracy to Reinvent Jesus. Victor, 2006.
Rhodes, Ron, The Counterfeit Christ of the New Age Movement. Baker, 1990.
Zacharias, Ravi, Why Jesus? FaithWorks, 2012.

Reincarnation
Albrecht, Mark, Reincarnation: A Christian Appraisal. IVP, 1982.
Geisler, Norman and J. Yutaka Amano, The Reincarnation Sensation. Tyndale, 1986.
Morey, Robert, Reincarnation and Christianity. Bethany House, 1980.
Snyder, John, Reincarnation vs. Resurrection. Moody Press, 1984.

Near Death Experiences
Abanes, Richard, Journey into the Light. Baker, 1996.
Alnor, William, Heaven Can’t Wait. Baker, 1996.
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, The Facts on Life after Death. Harvest House, 1992.
Green, H. Leon, If I Should Wake Before I Die. Crossway, 1997.
Habermas, Gary and J.P. Moreland, Immortality: The Other Side of Death. Thomas Neslon, 1992.

Alternative Medicine
Mathuna, Donal and Walt Larimore, Alternative Medicine. Zondervan, 2001.
Reisser, Paul, Dale Mabe and Robert Velarde, Examining Alternative Medicine. IVP, 2001.
Reisser, Paul, Teri Reisser and John Weldon, The Holistic Healers. IVP, 1983.

Oprah Winfrey and the NAM
Bruner, Kurt, Oprah’s Jesus. Destiny Image, 2010.
Lutzer, Erwin, Oprah, Miracles, and the New Earth: A Critique. Moody, 2008.
McDowell, Josh and Dave Sterrett, “O” God: A Dialogue on Truth and Oprah’s Spirituality. WND Books, 2009.

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9 Replies to “The New Age Movement Versus Christianity”

  1. Excellent short summary Bill. I was an ecclectic mostly solitary RHP Occultist before coming to Christ. This summary would have been very useful for me to read back then. I pray someone right now that is stuck in the NAM will read this summary and be convicted turning to Christ. Bless you.

  2. The very sad thing is that so much of our modern politics is based on this rubbish and nonsense. It does not matter that these things have been tried for millennia and have consistently failed. They invariably end up with injustice and dysfunction. They often seem like fun at the time and when you get disillusioned with one there are many more to take its place but you just end up on a merry-go-round of dysfunctional and evil/destructive ideas, often including drug taking.

    The Biblical concept of evil is actually completely practical and not very spiritual at all. According to the Bible, evil is simply things that are destructive and the concept of evil exists in both the spiritual and the material realms. God is not actually trying to take our fun away but simply pointing out what works and what does not. Part of what works, however, is acknowledging that God is many orders of magnitude smarter than the entire human populous put together.

    Fear of the Lord is, without doubt, the beginning of wisdom. Ignoring God will never work because it is, by definition, foolish and destructive which is evil.

    It does not matter which moral law you consider, whether it is theft or murder or adultery or disrespect of parents or lying or covetousness or not resting or whatever, the reason why these things are evil is because they end up in dysfunction and destruction.

  3. Peace, harmony, and hair sniffing!

    Gnosticism seems to be satan’s first attempt to destroy the church. I believe the apostle Paul had to deal with this in one on his letters. I think he also dealt with another of satan’s attacks in a letter the dejudaizing of the early church. This attack proved quite successful. These two things unfortunately defined a good part of church history

  4. Dear Bill,
    I think Cardinal Burke of New York has spoken about climate change activists and their aspirations for a one world government.

    Also animal ”rights” activists see God in animals. One stole a dead piglet from a farm, laid it on a white sheet surrounded by flowers as part of a protest. The piglet got better treatment in death than the millions of unborn babies killed through abortions thrown into dustbins like rubbish.

  5. I would like to point out that if the New Age spirituality craze is indeed market driven, then it appeals to a specific audience and set of circumstances and therefore, we need to find out what that audience and what evangelism cues that they will respond to. It is also possible that this will subside over time as well. Although they’re mostly apolitical, too, I’ve met some pro-life New Agers- which isn’t surprising, considering some Buddhist traditions are pro-life and oppose abortion in the Buddhist heartlands of Southern and Eastern Asia. I’ve also met some pro-life wiccans and neopagans on peace demonstrations. As for animal rights, most animal rights and radical vegan activists I’ve met seem to be utilitarian atheists, although some of them are certainly neopagans. Others are Catholic Christians, who remind us that it is not biblical to treat God’s Creation as if they were mere objects for our personal use and satisfaction. That mentality has always sounded uncomfortably similar to the same radical libertarian mentality used against the unborn child, poor, sick, vulnerable, elderly and disabled in the context of abortion and euthanasia. I don’t class myself as vegan, but I do know pro-life vegans and vegetarians and I listen to what they have to say.

  6. Thanks Rhona. I already dealt with the issue of co-belligerency in my reply to your comment in my world religions article. So yes, as I keep saying, there is a place to work with others on some key issues such as the battle for life. And as I document in my book, we even have atheists for life. But the true Christian wants to see both things happening: the end to abortion, but also the reality of non-Christians getting right with God through Christ and avoiding a lost eternity. And the point of this article was that committed New Agers are NOT Christians and do NOT share common core theological beliefs with biblical Christianity. See also the companion piece to this: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/12/31/the-new-age-jesus-versus-the-biblical-jesus/

  7. Thanks for this article Bill as what I needed right now was are better understanding of where the New Age are coming from as their heads are popping up a lot in the political sphere. They are playing are very active role in the reinstating of our Commonwealth Constitution. Like everything else they want the benefits given to them through our Father in Heaven and the safety net he has provided yet still deny his existence. Yet what really gets up my goat, is that they can see what most Christian can’t, and that is our God given Commonwealth Constitution. They are actually more politically involved than we are would you believe. I have just recently got involved in are Political group called One Australia, with Riccardo who is the Leader, which I am sure you have heard of, as you always seem to have your fingers on the pulse. You may have also heard of Wayne Glew over here in Western Australia who teaches regularly on the true Constitution, one that we could lose all together when there is another referendum put forward for are Republic. I honestly don’t know where all this is going, but this is where the Lord has put me right now and I put all my trust in him and take it one day at are time. Of course there is are new ager involved in our small group and she is full on, so it is proving to be very interesting and challenging. Still I love are challenge. So thank you so much Bill, I really appreciate you and have been following you for the past year. Love Ingrid

  8. It is quite sad when satan’s people know more about God and the Bible than God’s people. Even though they twist and distort it. Maybe that is why they have such influence in churches. They spout what sounds biblical but is actually a distortion of the Bible and with Christians clueless as to what the Bible says or in some areas simply clueless about what it means it is way to deceive. I think PART can also go to just how many translations there are. One verse can have 5 different wordings. Because of that even people who know the verse might not say anything because they figure the person is using a different translation. I understand updating language but some are worded so differently it is hard to know they are using the same source verse.

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