Sermon Illustrations on New Age

An Enlightened Guru Without Guarantees

Frederick Lenz, 37, of Malibu, California, claims to be an enlightened guru, Zen Master Rama. He advertises in New York Times. Spent $500,000 on ads in 6 months. Accused of roughing up critics, seducing clients. Claims to be one of 12 truly enlightened beings on the planet, won't say who other 11 are. Buddhists believe in two paths to enlightenment, the fast and slow - slow takes thousands of lifetimes, fast takes one. Lenz's path is express lane - an hour with him is worth 100 years of meditation. Owns two Porsches and a Learjet. Monthly sessions cost $600. Likes cash in big denominations; small bills are "low vibed" and he also takes credit cards. Anny Eastwood claims he waved a loaded pistol and forced her to have sex with him. Another says she became his mistress.

Disclaimer in program for a 1986 Rama seminar says, "Neither Rama Seminars Inc. nor any of its agents or employees, including Dr. Frederick Lenz, make any express, implied or other representation or warranty of any kind whatsoever that your attendance at any Rama Seminars may or will result in your receiving any particular benefit(s) whatsoever, including without limitation benefits concerning your health, prosperity, life-style, personal growth, meditation ability, psychological well-being, personal circumstances and/or any other matters. Your attendance at Rama Seminars is solely at your own risk."

The Church of Oprah Winfrey -- A New American Religion?

Ruth 1:14

By any measure, Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful women in America. Her net worth is now thought to exceed one billion dollars, and her expanding media empire is one of the great success stories of the modern entertainment industry. She recently celebrated the twentieth anniversary of “The Oprah Show,” and is committed to a contract that will take the show through its twenty-fifth season. She regularly appears at the top of the “Most Admired Women” listings and has become a cultural icon, complete with her own magazine and product lines. But is there more to the meaning of Oprah Winfrey?

Marcia Z. Nelson sees Oprah as a major American religious leader. In THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO OPRAH, Nelson presents her as the symbol and catalyst for a new American religion. “Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, film producer, and philanthropist, is not ordained. She is neither preacher nor religious professional. Yet her multimedia empire, built over two decades, has given her the scope and stature of an influential leader. Oprah has a prominent pulpit from which to preach,” Nelson insists. Oprah's television audience of ten million (according to Nielsen ratings) and her magazine readership of 2.7 million together represent a massive media phenomenon. As Nelson explains, “Oprah's whole enterprise, which includes many media that provide platforms for her gospel as well as sources of income, is vast.” Nelson's book represents an effort to understand Oprah Winfrey as an exemplar and prophetess of a new form of American religion. In reality, Oprah is probably best understood as a highly-talented representative of the religion of positive thinking that has shaped American culture for at least the last two centuries. In this role, Oprah continues and extends a line of religious thought that replaces the transcendent with the temporal and looks for fulfillment and success as the goods of a satisfying life.

Marcia Z. Nelson is a writer who covers religions and spirituality. In previous works, she has considered various aspects of modern American religion, including contemporary meditation movements. In Oprah Winfrey she has found a figure of such influence and reach that she may well represent the mainstreaming of her own life philosophy.

Of course, Oprah's primary audience is comprised of women. “Oprah is primarily the voice of women in the middle: middle-class middle Americans,” Nelson explains. Through her television show, magazine, and book club, Oprah reaches out to these women with a message of self-improvement, empowerment, and self-actualization.

Watching “The Oprah Show” is, Nelson insists, something like attending a worship service. “Go to this house of worship and sit down for an inspiring hour that will engage you and give you a lift,” Nelson encourages. “An hour-long show five days a week adds up to a lot more pulpit time per week than the average pastor enjoys, and Oprah commands a lot bigger congregation.”

Nelson's book is genuinely interesting, offering credible and helpful insights into the Oprah phenomenon. At the same time, Nelson gushes over the meaning of Oprah and seems to celebrate Oprah's redefinition of religious experience. Indeed, she goes so far as to refer to Oprah as a symbol of spiritual renewal. “In other words, it is not just talk, but talk that's been tested in life's fires -- talk is testimony,” she asserts. “As Oprah would say, this is about getting real. This is the language of authenticity. A preference for the freshness and vividness of experience over what can seem like the dull dryness of institutional faith is hardly new, of course. Spiritual renewal has ever been thus.”

Oprah Winfrey was born January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Originally, she lived there on a farm with her mother, Vernita, and her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee. In later years, Vernita was unable to care for Oprah, and she went to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, in Nashville. Interestingly, Oprah was supposed to have been named Orpah, after the daughter-in-law of Naomi as cited in Ruth 1:14. A misspelling of her name led to the name that has made her famous. She was raised in a Baptist church and developed her speaking ability in the context of the local congregation.

As an adolescent, Oprah was sexually abused by male relatives, became sexually promiscuous, and gave birth to a baby boy, who later died.

She got her big break in broadcasting at age 19 and left her college studies in order to become a TV newscaster. In 1984, she moved to WLS-TV in Chicago and began a local talk show. The show was so popular that it was eventually named for Oprah and then went into national syndication. From those roots, a vast media empire was born.

Nelson is candid in dealing with the way Oprah repackages spirituality. “She translates what religions would term transcendent into something that is inspiring but secular. She would call it a vision of possibilities. She has tried to develop her own unique language, which means talking about values in a secular and inclusive sense in a religiously pluralistic country.”

The Oprah phenomenon is based in self-disclosure, confession, testimony, and talk -- lots and lots of talk. Episodes of “The Oprah Show” often deal with abuse, frustration, and the search for fulfillment. Guests are routinely encouraged to confess their wrongdoing, claim their promise, and move into a new phase of their lives, empowered and encouraged by Oprah and the experience of sharing their inner lives with millions of television viewers. In this sense, Oprah's television show promises something like a secular catharsis -- complete with Oprah's validation of their problems, their desires, and their self-analysis. Nelson suggests that Oprah's influence is based in her gift for listening and her knowledge that self-disclosure and personal testimony offer a means of liberation. Of course, this dependence upon disclosure and confession also makes for good ratings -- and Oprah understands what interests a television audience. As Nelson explains: “On Oprah's show, abuse may be the subject of a show, followed the next day by an entertainer. However morally laudable or pressing, unrelieved focus on abuse or mistreatment of women or AIDS in Africa or any of the world's pressing needs doesn't make for good ratings, either. Without good ratings, the television platform Oprah needs to 'get people to think about things a little differently' would vanish.”

In the course of her research, Nelson approached several scholars of American religion, asking them “whether they could think of Oprah as a teacher who advanced a kind of entry-level religion that included the same core values many religions promote.” When Oprah was criticized for offering meaning without community, Nelson counters by suggesting that Oprah's television show and reading club offer one form of community, even as her expanding presence on the internet promises “virtual community.”

Oprah Winfrey's approach to life centers in self-analysis and positive thinking. Of course, material abundance also plays a part. “Oprah believes in abundance, a concept not generally associated with religion,” Nelson acknowledges. “A lot of people think of religion as requiring asceticism and poverty -- giving up goods, denying personal desires. And for good reason.” By offering a seemingly endless array of product recommendations and endorsements, and by filling her magazine with advertisements for expensive products and services, Oprah clearly associates the good life with material fulfillment.

In keeping with the theme of positive thinking, and with the ideology of spiritual movements of this kind, Oprah's secularized spirituality includes few rules or moral judgments. “Oprah is famously nonjudgmental and empathetic,” Nelson explains. Even as she features programs on romance, dating, marriage, and parenting, Oprah remains unmarried. Her nonjudgmentalism extends to her own lifestyle, even as she has publicly acknowledged the fact that she lives with her longtime boyfriend, Stedman Graham.

When Oprah refers to God, she is clear to insist that this means no specific god and entails no particular theological commitments. Nelson refers to Oprah's treatment of religion on her program as “a non-sectarian picture” in which theological content “is present but not primary.” In other words, “God is acknowledged as necessary, but the language doesn't insist on that. It's soft sell.”

As Nelson understands the Oprah phenomenon, forgiveness is at the center of Oprah's message. Nevertheless, Oprah offers forgiveness without atonement. Confession of inadequacy is presented as a sufficient remedy for sin and wrongdoing. God is effectively out of the picture as lawgiver or judge, and there is no room for the cross of Christ as atonement for sin.

“Oprah's 'New Age' talk about spirit was part of her ongoing, ever evolving attempt to find the right words for teachings she learned through religion,” Nelson suggests. “Her spiritually inclusive language is also intended to be unique -- the language she alone speaks that makes her inspiring and distinctly herself. For marketing reasons as well as for her own sense of mission, she's putting her own stamp on the language, on the words she uses, on the culture, where the 'Oprah effect' and 'Oprahfication' and 'She Oprah'ed it out of me' are terms that have been coined to describe her pervasive influence and style.”

Oprah's faith wears no labels, Nelson insists. Oprah “talks often enough about values that her audience can see she is value driven, even if the values and beliefs don't wear a specific denominational label,” Nelson observes. As she explains, “Oprah's clothes may wear labels, but her faith does not.”

New York University professor Paul Vitz once observed, “Contemporary psychology is a form of secular humanism based on the rejection of God and the worship of the self.” In her substitution of psychology for theology, Oprah has become a high priestess and icon of the psychologization of American society. When she features prominent New Age figures on her television show, she helps to mainstream New Age influences and philosophies among millions of Americans. Her substitution of spirituality for biblical Christianity, her promotion of forgiveness without atonement, and her references to a god “without labels” puts her at the epicenter of a seismic cultural earthquake.

At the same time, Oprah cannot be ignored. Marcia Z. Nelson's new book is intended as a celebration of Oprah's significance as a harbinger of a new gospel. In the end, the importance of this book is grounded in the fact that it draws attention to Oprah's influence and cultural impact. Oprah's newly-packaged positive-thinking spirituality is tailor-made for the empty souls of our postmodern age. She promises meaning without truth, acceptance without judgment, and fulfillment without self-denial. Marcia Z. Nelson is certainly right about one thing -- Oprah Winfrey's “congregation” cannot be ignored.

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Shirley Maclaine Knows Everything

John 10:34

Human wisdom is a source of pride.

Shirley MacLaine representing the New Age:

"We already know everything. The knowingness of our divinity is the highest intelligence. And to be what we already know is the free will. Free will is simply the enactment of the realization you are God, a realization that you are divine."

Drums, Sweat and Tears

Article on male bonding movement. Male intimacy is encouraged through use of drums, sweat lodges and other forms of primitivism. "We were chanting and sweating and screaming and hollering. It was fun and uplifting because it involved prayers and a lot of affirmation. People talked about pain." Men find it difficult to communicate and these groups help them end their isolation.

Leaders in the movement are Robert Bly and Sam Keen.

Astrology - High Class Occult

Acts 16

Donald Regan's exposure of Nancy Reagan's practice of astrology has made front page news. “Time” columnist Lance Morrow commented, “The Christian who believes in divine providence is bound to reject the idea that the motions of the stars and planets govern human affairs. The fundamentalist wonders what such a muscular Christian as Reagan is up to when he entertains the false gods of ancient Babylon.”

Popular astrology teaches the view that about every 2000 years there is a shift from a major dominant sign to another, a new “star age.” In this case, we are going from the age of Pisces, or the fish, which some associate with Christianity, to Aquarius. Jeanne Dixon has popularized it, and described visions that seem to portray Satan as God, and the Antichrist. Belief in astrology among teens 13 to 17 increased from 40% to 52% in eight years (Gallop poll).

Common sense reasons to reject astrology:

1. Inconsistency. Several systems exist.

2. Unscientific basis. Three more planets have been discovered.

3. Change of constellations. Due to precession.

4. Improper reckoning of life's beginning.

5. Fatalism.

6. Twins. Born under same sign, but different outcome.

7. Lack of data. No relation between time of birth and achievements.

Author Kurt Koch tells of a young university psychology student who was planning to write his doctoral thesis on the psychology of superstition. Since he needed funds, he advertised himself as an astrologer and gained numerous customers for whom he made identical horoscopes. He drafted them as ambiguous as possible and included positive character traits. Later, he was “showered” with letters of appreciation. His proven experience became the basis for his paper.

Booklet concludes with Biblical reasons to reject astrology.

Former Astrologer Now Testifies To Truth of Gospel of Christ

Acts 16

For former astrologer Marcia Montenegro, darkening the doors of a church was the last thing she wanted to do. But when she finally did go, the personal God of the Bible blessed her with what she called a waterfall of love.

“I was very hostile to Christianity and to Christians,” said Montenegro, giving her testimony at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in early September.

It was in the early 1990s that she began to feel a continual compulsion to attend a church service. When she finally relented, Montenegro said she sat nervously in the back row near the door. Then at the start of the service, she said, a young boy came in carrying a cross.

It was then that she felt God's overwhelming love.

“I felt God was telling me, 'I love you,'“ said Montenegro. Afterward she began reading the Bible slowly, starting in Matthew. Before Christmas, she got to Matthew 8:22-27 which tells the story of the disciples in the midst of a terrible storm at sea and how Jesus calmed the storm.

Montenegro said she kept reading that passage over and over again.

“As I was reading it, it was like the fog just lifted and I saw Jesus Christ clearly for the first time in my life,” Montenegro said.

It was then that Montenegro knew who Jesus was and why He died on the cross.

“I turned my life over to Christ at that moment,” she said. “And I knew right away that I was a new creature. There was a complete change.”

As a practicing astrologer in Atlanta, the change was radical indeed.

“I would have been voted the least likely person to become a Christian,” said Montenegro, who now ministers to New Age followers as director of Christian Answers for the New Age. “I would have voted for myself.”

According to Montenegro, her journey into astrology, Buddhism and other New Age beliefs and practices began in college.

Although she attended church regularly throughout her adolescence, Montenegro said during college she decided that the Bible was not true as she began to meet people in other religions, such as Mormons, Quakers, Ba'hai, and “free thinkers.”

“They were very dedicated to their particular belief system,” Montenegro said of her college friends. “I started to question Christianity as the only true religion.”

She said she had felt pushed into Christianity and made the deliberate decision to seek answers elsewhere.

“From that point on, I began a spiritual journey,” Montenegro said. Her explorations took her into meditation, dream journals and eastern religions, among other New Age beliefs, eventually focusing on astrology. She became so knowledgeable about astrology that her friends started coming to her for astrological advice.

In 1983, she sat for a seven-hour intensive exam to become certified through the City of Atlanta as an astrologer.

“I felt astrology was my calling,” Montenegro said.

The exam, which only half of participants pass, includes intensive math exercises and chart interpretation, she said.

As a certified astrologer, some of her clients and associates included witches/pagans, New Age healers, psychics, palm readers and card readers, Sufis, followers of Rajneesh, Sai Baba, Muktananda, Maharaji and other gurus, Hare Krishna devotees, Silva Mind trainees and other New Age followers.

At the time of her conversion, she was working in a client's office, giving astrological advice about her coworkers to him, unbeknownst to her coworkers.

“I found out later that one of my coworkers had been praying for me,” said Montenegro, who practiced astrology for more than eight years, five of which she also taught astrology to others.

Within a few weeks of her conversion, Montenegro said she felt God impressing on her a need to get out of astrology, which she did.

Montenegro said her conversion “is a testimony that nobody is beyond the reach of God. No matter how hardened and hostile they may seem. I know I seemed that way.”

She added that although she was hardened and hostile toward Christ and Christianity, “God in His mercy reached down and intervened in my life.”

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #2492]

On the Home Front

How to help your child develop a healthy imagination. Creativeness is good, but children need to learn discernment. We must warn them about occult influences without being paranoid.

Forecasting the Future of Religion: the Next 50 Years

Luke 13:24

Toward the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams, wrote his prediction for the future of religion in the new American nation. Jefferson predicted that Unitarianism would soon become the religion of a majority of Americans because of its rational and democratic nature.

This prediction shows how very wise men can be very wrong when they try to predict the future of religion based upon what is happening in the society of their day. Forty years ago, mainline Protestant denominations were surging, and no one would have predicted that they would collapse and be replaced by Evangelicals.

Our society embodies a paradox: on the one hand society is increasingly secular and on the other there is increasing supernaturalism in personal belief. This contradiction goes back to the Enlightenment when intellectuals separated their public life and thought from the constraints of religious supernaturalism.

There has been a constantly decreasing presence of supernaturalism in the institutions which organize everyday life. In the economy, government, science, medicine and education, supernaturalist ideas are not much in evidence. Modern art expresses very little supernaturalism; Paul Tillich said modern art does a much better job of expressing spiritual aspirations and pain in any age than does theology.

Western Europe is much more secular than the United States, with 40% of French claiming to be atheist but only 3% of Americans. However, religious fundamentalism is also surging around the world.

TWO FORMS OF RELIGION

Most modern supernaturalism takes the form of folk religion. Mayan Indians in Guatemala practice a form of Catholicism which assimilates much of the previous Mayan religion. Their gods have been transformed into Christian ones. The Mayan religion has survived four centuries after being formally replaced by Christianity. When an institutional religion is conquered or becomes eroded, old religious traditions don't simply disappear; they become a folk religion and live on in the daily folk traditions of the village.

Robert Ellwood, a professor of religion at the University of California, suggests that the Christian religion has already become primarily a folk religion. Fundamentalist movements are revitalization attempts, aimed at restoring a long-lost way of life in which beliefs and values based upon supernatural preconceptions guided much of everyday life. In this sense, fundamentalist religious movements are much like the Ghost Dance religion of native Americans in the 1880s, which hoped to restore the vitality and power of the Native American religion in the West after it had been vanquished by a very alien way of life. Fundamentalists are strangely correct in viewing themselves in a defensive posture against an alien world.

THE DECLINE OF INSTITUTIONAL RELIGION

Institutional religion is maintained by "the word," religious texts, doctrines and interpretations. It is maintained by an elite, who attempt to offer a broad historical, transcultural and idealistic vision of the world. The sacred texts and doctrines of Christianity have been largely discredited as a source of wisdom in elite culture, except for the religious elite which remains in charge of the institution.

Folk religion is maintained through personal experience: through the magical and mystical experiences of childhood, which are repeated over and over throughout later life. Religious texts function merely like charms, to be called upon for emotional comfort and wish-fulfillment; they are not open to critical examination. Folk religion is maintained and passed on through the family and the local community. It is eminently practical: it offers formulas for dealing with the problems of everyday life in a particular time and place. It is always parochial.

PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF RELIGION

No new religion will replace the shell of institutional Christianity. Cults and New Age religions arise out of folk religion. Fundamentalism will try to "awaken" American culture but as it attempts to force its parochial folk religion on people of different folk religious cultures, it will experience a great backlash of resentment. It is unable to offer a universal religious worldview because it is culture-bound. The more successful it is, the more thoroughly it will destroy itself.

Islamic fundamentalism ties itself with anti-colonialism and will spread widely. It will also be a greater threat to world peace than communist militancy ever was.

Finally, what about Jefferson's dream about the realization of a religion based upon reason, the scientific method of inquiry, and humanistic values? As is the case with many beautiful dreams, that is all that it can be. I cannot envision any fertile ground in social arrangements out of which a mass basis for humanistic religion can arise and grow. Such a religion simply lacks a passionate message offering simple answers to questions of ultimate meaning and everyday suffering. Humanism is too individualistic to produce the collectivism necessary to develop massive organizing around a consuming message, although humanistic religions will, to be sure, always find their niche and attract small numbers of followers.

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They're Everywhere; Angels That Is. So, Why Haven't I Seen Any?

Luke 10:18

Let me be real clear right from the start:

I have never seen an angel -- as far as I know. Hey, when I was a little kid, I didn't even get to play an angel in the church Christmas pageant. (Mrs. Marsh handed me a blue bathrobe and a cane and said, "You're a shepherd.")

On the other hand, my friend Tim thinks he just may have had "a close encounter of the angelic kind."

While on a winter ski trip, Tim was driving along an ice-covered road in the Colorado mountains. "Suddenly my car went into a skid," says Tim. "I hit the brakes. No action. The car spun around backwards and kept sliding downhill and was about to drop off the side of the mountain.

"But my car came to a stop right on the edge of a cliff! It was like somebody had a hold of my back bumper. And there was no way my car stopped just because I was slamming on the brakes. No way. Too much ice.... It was weird."

Tim now believes God was watching out for him in some supernatural way. And as he puts it: "I really think it was an angel."

I want you to understand that Tim's no flake. He's not one to make up amazing stories just to wow me or anybody else. He's a sane, sensible, ordinary guy who thinks he may have had an angel's arms (if angels have arms) wrapped around the back bumper of his Oldsmobile.

And Tim's not alone.

People all over the place are claiming to have crossed paths with supernatural beings. In their book, "A Rustle of Angels," Marilyn and William Webber tell dozens of stories about people who claim to have been encouraged, helped and saved from death by angels. And while not everyone can claim an angelic encounter, around three-fourths of America's teenagers say they believe angels really are out there -- and may be real close by.

Also close by are tons of books and tabloids hoping to get you and me to buy (literally) into the whole angel craze. Tabloids with headlines like "Angels are Everywhere! Real Life Adventures with Heavenly Spirits" line the supermarket checkout line. Every talk show on television manages to dig up someone who's written a book about angelic invasions.

And then there are all those "interesting products." While surfing the Net, I typed in keyword "guardian angel" and found this advertisement:

"Imagine having your personal Guardian Angel! Sterling silver and 14K gold pendants, earrings and necklaces are available now online ... "

The more I looked into angels, the more I discovered some even more bizarre stuff. For example, in "Divine Encounters," Zecharia Sitchin attempts to prove that angels are really super-smart and super-powered aliens from outer space. Then there's Sophy Burnham's best-selling "A Book of Angels." Along with other strange "facts," Burnham lists the names of 12 different angels (the Bible only names two -- Michael and Gabriel) and tells us the "astrological sign governed" by each one.

And in "Angel Energy: How to Harness the Power of Angels in Everyday Life," John Price claims there are 22 angels "dwelling" in everyone us and that these "angels are working at every moment to awaken us and help us to discover the Great Self within." Apart from his impossible-to-understand religious gobbledygook, Price's angels-within-me idea felt like something straight from The Exorcist. After all, nowhere in the Bible have I found angels hanging around inside people. Demons, yes; angels, no. Added to that is Price's emphasis on discovering my "Great Self." Seems like a lot of the current, faddish writing on angels emphasizes "self discovery" and "self actualization." With all this stress on "self," these writers apparently aren't too hip on Jesus' teachings on humility and self denial. (Check out Mark 8:34-38.)

While I was looking into some of these, well, strange teachings about angels, I had an interesting conversation with author Bill Myers. (Myers' books could be called a "Christian alternative" to R. L. Stine's supernatural horror novels.) Since Myers' recent novel, "The Guardian" (Tyndale), is about angels and demons, I asked him what he thought about all the current interest in angels. Here's what he told me:

"I've been to several New Age conferences on angels, and frankly I've gotten bored with them. It's always the same old thing. There's usually a lot of emphasis on us 'evolving to a higher spiritual plane.' The speakers talk about 'channeling' angels ... They stress that angels are dying to dwell in us. As far as I'm concerned, it's just another name for 'demon possession,' that's all....

"When I bring up the cross of Christ to these people, faces go blank.

"Now don't get me wrong. I believe Scripture teaches that angels help us. But angels should never take the place of God -- which I think people tend to do a lot these days."

Myers told me we need to keep a healthy, Christian perspective on angels. That perspective, of course, certainly includes the fact that angels exist. And while I've never seen one of these spiritual beings (as far as I know), I do believe in them. Actually, more so than ever. Through my research for this article, I learned that angels show up around 300 times in the Bible. And my friend Tim is pretty convinced he was saved from almost-certain death by an angel. Even so, Tim is quick to point out that God is The One to thank for keeping him from falling off the side of mountain -- and not the angel who grabbed his bumper.

Actually, angels like it that way. What I've read in the Bible tells me these spiritual beings are not into getting pats on the back (if they even have backs). What they are into is pointing us to God. The word "angel," in fact, means "messenger."

Let me give you an example of what I mean from Matthew's version of The Resurrection Story (28:2-7). With earthquake-like power, an angel shoves aside a huge boulder that blocked the entrance of the cave holding Jesus' body. Two women show up and are terrified by the angel's awesome appearance, which, says Matthew, "was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow."

Here's how Matthew tells the rest of the story:

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he is risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He is risen from the dead!'"

No doubt about it. That supernatural being in white with the lightning look was a fearsome and incredible messenger. But even more incredible than the messenger was the message itself: Jesus is alive!

It's a message I hope none of us will miss when we think about angels.

WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT ANGELS?

Angels are not dead humans with wings. Contrary to TV shows (like Touched by an Angel) and movies (like Angels in the Outfield), angels are not dead humans who've earned (or are trying to earn) their "wings." Angels are an altogether separate creation from humans (Psalm 8:4-5).

What do angels look like? From human-looking beings to bizarre multi-faced creatures with several wings, angels seem to take on a lot of different looks. But don't let appearances fool you. For the most part, theologians believe an angel is an invisible spirit. And these spirits seem to take on appearances that fit their purpose. If they need to reflect God's incredible glory (as in Ezekiel 1:4-28), they look awesome and scary. On the other hand, Hebrews 13:2 says some of us have helped angels without even knowing it. So angels can look like humans, too.

Angels aren't wimps. They conquer armies (2 Kings 6) and demonstrate superhuman strength (Matthew 28:2-4).

Good angels are very good. The Bible even calls them "holy" (Luke 9:26, Acts 10:22).

Bad angels are very bad. Christians call them "fallen angels" and they include Satan and all of the demons. For a glimpse into their evil activities, see Genesis 3:1-5 and Mark 5:1-5.

Don't call them for help -- or for anything. Angels have a habit of showing up when they want to show up (or at least when God wants them to). But nowhere in the Bible do we find individuals calling on angels for help or guidance. On the other hand, we see tons of examples of God's people going directly to him for the help they need.

Angels are never to take the place of God. Most important, angels are not to be worshiped (Colossians 2:18).

So what's the purpose of angels? In the Bible, the word angel means "messenger." The idea is that angels deliver messages from God (Matthew 2:8- 12). Angels also are known for saving people from harm (Psalm 91:11-12), carrying out God's wrath and judgment (Revelation 16:1) and praising God (Revelation 3:6-8).

Want to know more? First, find yourself a good concordance (like "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance") and read many of the passages listed under "angel." There are also many books on angels written from a Christian perspective. Here are two you may want to check out: "Angels" by Billy Graham (Word) and "Celebration of Angels" by Timothy Jones (Thomas Nelson). And be sure to see your youth pastor or church library for other good reads on angels.

Generic Spirituality: Why Christianity Is Unique

John 10:34

It's becoming "the mantra of the new millennium," says American Demographics magazine: the phrase "I'm into spirituality, not religion." The slogan means people are searching for spiritual experience, but they don't want dogma or doctrine.

Today's common view was expressed by a Washington, D.C., psychic, who said: "All religions will take people to the same place, if they practice spirituality within themselves."

I can't tell you how many times I've heard even Christians say the same thing. How do some believers get sucked into cultural trends that are so contrary to their faith?

The answer is that we have not fully understood that Christianity is not just another route to spiritual experience; it is a claim to truth. Christianity is a worldview, and it can be tested by seeing how well it answers the fundamental questions every worldview must address.

Those questions can be broken down into the traditional biblical categories of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Creation refers to ultimate origins: Where did we come from? The Fall asks what's wrong with the world: Where do evil and suffering come from? And Redemption asks how the problem can be fixed -- how we can create a better world. By using these three categories, we can show that, among all the religions of the world, Christianity gives the best answers.

For example, compare the New Age movement with its repackaged Eastern religion. On the question of ultimate origins, New Age thought does not hold to a personal God who created us and loves us, but merely a Universal Spirit, a substratum of energy underlying all things. How well does this answer the question of origins?

It fails miserably. A basic principle of logic is that an effect cannot be greater than its cause. Yet New Age thought implies that personal beings -- you and I -- were created by an IMpersonal energy substratum.

Moving to the Fall, New Age thought teaches that suffering and evil result not from human sin, but merely from an illusion: from our failure to recognize that we are all part of God. We think we are separate individuals, and from that arises all forms of selfishness, greed, anger, and resentment.

But does anyone really believe that suffering and evil are at root massive illusions? Tell that to someone who's just been mugged.

Finally, the New Age offers no real redemption, only enlightenment: Using meditative techniques, we are urged to recover a mystical knowledge of the divine within. But can anyone insist, with a straight face, that we are divine, that we are God? In a scene in Shirley MacLaine's television miniseries "Out on a Limb," she is coached by her New Age counselor to shout over and over, "I am God," until she can say it with confidence. It's not easy to convince ourselves, against all the evidence of our sin and failures, that we are actually divine.

No, the answers offered by New Age thought simply do not stack up against reality. Christianity alone offers an account of our origin and our destiny that is rational and realistic.

For Christians, THAT should be "the mantra of the new millennium," the message we bring to the spiritual seekers of our world.

___________________________

*

Freethought Challenges of the '90s (1992)

Acts 16:16

[Article defends Humanism and shows interesting parallels with the New Age movement. -Holwick]

Humanists, of all people, have been the slowest to leap into the breech, to capitalize on the changes occurring in the public mind-set. Yet the opportunity is ready-made for just such an entry. Proof of this can be found in the rapid and surprising growth of the New Age. Contrary to the way many Humanists think, the New Age is not merely some new superstition to replace the old. Though it certainly has its share of nonsense and foolishness, it also has some important parallels with Humanism and Freethought. Let me list a few ideas that are shared by many followers of the New Age and by almost all Humanists and Freethinkers. These ideas are:

1. Rejection of the notion of a jealous and punishing god.

2. Rejection of the dogmatism of fundamentalist Christianity.

3. Rejection of religious angst and feelings of guilt.

4. Strong belief in the power and significance of human beings.

5. Acceptance of a concept of human evolution.

6. Interest in mental self-development.

7. Recognition of the joys in the here and now, particularly in relation

to food and sex.

8. Support for global and ecological thinking.

9. Flexible and excited interest in new ideas.

I could add more, but this will provide an adequate sampling to demonstrate that a significant percentage of the North American population is ripe for a number of the ideas Humanists and Freethinkers have been advancing for years. Many followers of the New Age turn to it not because they are inclined toward superstition, but because the New Age is the only show in town.

A Dangerous Compromise: Born Again Isn't What It Used To Be

Acts 8:9

If you were asked what you would call a person who believes in astrology, reincarnation, and the possibility of communicating with the dead, your answer would probably be a "New Ager."

Well, according to a new book, these are just some of the beliefs held by people who call themselves "born again Christians" -- which goes to show that simply calling yourself "born again" doesn't make it so.

In his book, Spiritual Marketplace, sociologist Wade Clark Roof chronicles the shift in religious attitudes in contemporary America. Roof finds that, as a result of the Baby Boomer "quest culture," many Americans understand religious faith as some sort of emotional personal experience, which they describe as "spiritual." And all sorts of strange beliefs can fit under that heading.

By describing themselves as "spiritual" rather than "religious," these people tell us a lot. The word "religion," you see, comes from the Latin word for "to bind." But boomer spirituality distrusts authority and dismisses the importance of belonging to a particular church or denomination.

Their emphasis on being spiritual carries with it a syncretistic approach to belief -- meaning that, instead of adhering to a specific set of doctrines, they feel free to pick-and-choose from all the various belief systems, or to create their own tailor-made religion.

Unfortunately, syncretism has found its way into evangelical circles, as well. Roof says that many people who describe themselves as "born again Christians" actually hold beliefs that are at odds with biblical Christianity.

Some 25 percent of those interviewed in Roof's study believe in the possibility of communicating with the dead. A third of them believe in reincarnation and astrology; and, half say they believe in psychic powers.

Moreover, half said, "the various religions of the world are 'equally good and true.'" This prompted Roof to characterize this brand of so-called born-again Christianity as "markedly different" from earlier varieties. Or as columnist Terry Mattingly puts it "born again ... doesn't mean what it used to mean." It also tells us that polls of born-again voters can be very misleading.

Actually, it's not that born-again Christianity has changed. It's that Roof's subjects, like many of those who claim to be born-again Christians, actually practice an entirely different faith.

The situation described by Roof is analogous to the circumstances confronted in the '20s and '30s by theologian Gresham Machem. Liberal theologians had introduced new doctrines and ideas into the Church, often claiming biblical warrant for these ideas. As a result, many people were confused by these teachings.

In his classic book, "Christianity & Liberalism," Machem showed that while these ideas might be attractive, they weren't Christianity. In the same way, while the mixture of Christianity and other religions may suit the spirit of our age, it simply isn't born-again Christianity.

We need to remind people lovingly that Christianity is more than a spiritual experience. It's a worldview -- a set of beliefs about the God who acted in history, belief that has been revealed through Scripture and transmitted by our 2,000-year-old heritage of Western Civilization.

It is these beliefs, and not our "spiritual" feelings, that define what it means to be a Christian -- no matter what the spirit of the age may tell us.

___________________

*

Origen and reincarnation

Did the early Christian church really believe in reincarnation till 553?

NO!!! New Agers often claim that the church took the references to reincarnation out of the Bible. Yet, we have many biblical manuscripts that date before 553. Some of them go back to the third and even second century and none of them mention reincarnation!

Some claim Origen believed in reincarnation. While Origen was condemned for believing heresy, reincarnation was not a heresy he accepted!

Origen is often looked at as the best example of a church

father who held to the doctrine of reincarnation. But

though many of his teachings were condemned by the church,

reincarnation was not one of his heresies. In his

commentary on Matthew, Origen said that the doctrine of

reincarnation "is foreign to the Church of God and not

handed down by the Apostles, nor anywhere set forth in the

Scriptures." [Allen Menzies, ed. _The Ante-Nicene Fathers_

(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 10:474-475, 447.]

Origen did believe in a doctrine of preexistence that

stated our souls existed before we were clothed in flesh.

This false doctrine should not be confused with

reincarnation. In any case, preexistence was condemned at

the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 553 (or 543). This

council issued fifteen anathemas against Origen, none of

which referred to reincarnation. [Charles Bigg, _The

Christian Platonists of Alexandria_ (Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1886 and New York: AMS Press, 1970), 198ff.; Jean

Danielou, _Origen_, (London and New York: Sheed & Ward,

1955), 249-250; Jaroslav Pelikan, _The Shape of Death_

(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1961 and London: Macmillian,

1962), All of these sources confirm that Origen did not

teach reincarnation.] The fact is that reincarnation was

not condemned because it simply wasn't an issue within the

church. No church father held to it. [Norman Geisler & J.

Yutaka Amano, _The Reincarnation Sensation (Wheaton: Tyndale

House Publishers, 1987), 165.]

*

Former Astrologer Turns Minister To New Agers

Acts 16

When it comes to witnessing to people caught up in the New Age Movement, Marcia Montenegro speaks from experience. For years Montenegro was an astrologer. She looked to the stars for answers rather than God.

Montenegro said her views changed in 1990 after she began attending church and reading her Bible. Before long she realized "that I had been on a spiritual path leading away from God my whole life. I understood for the first time who Jesus was and why he died on the cross," she recalled. "I gave my life to him at that very moment."

Montenegro now heads a ministry to people with alternative beliefs called CANA (Christian Answers for the New Age).

Looking back on her old life, which included friends who were psychics and pagans among others, Montenegro observed, "Christianity was far away from me and I wanted nothing to do with it."

Although she attended a Southern Baptist church in Maryland as a teenager and was involved in a lot of activities, she was not a Christian. "I didn't understand I needed a Savior. I thought I just had to be 'good' to get to heaven."

As she grew older and developed friends from other religions, she began to question Christianity. In college she explored the eastern religions because she thought they provided "ancient wisdom."

Montenegro soon became enveloped in the New Age Movement, which she describes as an "umbrella term" for many beliefs based on combinations of eastern religions, humanism and the occult.

She said Christians sometimes tend to write off the New Age Movement as something "flaky or superficial."

That is a mistake, Montenegro continued, because she believes the New Age Movement is "serious, spiritual deception."

The New Age Movement has entered the "mainstream of western culture," she said, and can be found in health, education, business, sports, and even the church.

"It is not on the fringe anymore, and it is not going away," she warned.

While New Agers speak of spirituality and will talk about God, "it's not the God of the Bible," she cautioned.

She said the church needs to be able to respond to New Agers. But to do so, Christians must establish relationships with New Agers and to show them respect.

"The human response is to feel superior to the people who believe those 'strange' ideas," Montenegro said. "We are not better (than the New Agers). We are forgiven and we are saved."

"We once were sinners the same as an astrologer, a witch, or any other New Ager," she added. "We need to see them as people Christ died for."

Montenegro said prayer is a key for reaching New Agers. Sharing her testimony at this year's Tennessee Baptist evangelism conference, she said she learned only after accepting Christ that a Christian co-worker had been praying for her all along.

Montenegro said Christians should not be afraid to talk with New Agers and to ask them questions about their beliefs. In the process of asking and listening, she suggested the response: "That's different from what the Bible says."

While Christians need to appeal to the Bible as the foundation for their beliefs, they can't take it for granted that New Agers will accept that Scripture is true. "You have to stand on the Bible, but you don't hit them over the head with it," she said.

She remembers encounters before she accepted Christ with Christians who came up to her and told her she was going to hell. "That confirmed to me how I thought they were too judgmental," she said.

When talking with New Agers, Montenegro suggested avoiding the phrase, "I believe." Instead, she said, use "God says" or "Jesus says."

She said New Agers often are more willing to talk about Jesus than the Bible.

"They may be hostile toward Christianity and the Bible, but they are willing to talk about Jesus," she said.

Discipleship after a person makes a decision for Christ is important for anyone, but it is especially so for New Agers who take that step, Montenegro stressed.

After her conversion, Montenegro said, she was afraid that Christians would wonder if she was really saved. "There is a lot of fear from former New Agers to even talk with their pastor," she said.

New Agers need a mature, well-grounded Christian to talk to, Montenegro said. "They need to be discipled."

New Agers lose their community when they accept Christ, she said. "They need help, love, attention and discipleship."

_______________________

Lonnie Wilkey is editor of Baptist and Reflector, news journal of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

*

[former illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #4784]

A Christian Booth At A New Age Fair

Acts 16:16

Last year I set up a booth at the largest New Age fair in the Southeast. I gave out Bibles and literature about the New Age movement from a Christian viewpoint.

One of the exhibitors who owned a New Age store in Florida came by our booth and got under deep conviction. After staying and watching us for about thirty minutes he asked if he could come inside the booth and talk to us. I said sure! We witnessed to him and asked him about his relationship with the Lord. He said he had trusted in Jesus at one time in his life but that he had backslidden. We asked him if he wanted to recommit his life to the Lord and he said yes! He got down on his knees in front of all the other New Agers and rededicated his life to the Lord Jesus.

The next day I just happened to overhear two New Age ladies talking about my booth. One of them said to the other, “And I went by that Christian booth and you wouldn't believe the strength of the NEGATIVE VIBRATIONS!”

Attendance was half of what it had been the year before. Who do you think they blamed for the low turnout?

Angel Seeds

Well, I just got back from the New Age - Body, Mind, Spirit, and Earth Expo here in Atlanta. I came across something I thought some of you might be interested in as an illustration of the false religion that is misleading some people. The following is a quote from a product put out by a company called Angel Technologies:

ANGEL SEEDS

These Angels Seeds can heal and illuminate our planet Earth with vitalizing, healing, purifying, and uplifting spiritual energies.

When you follow the instructions below, Angels connected to the seeds will come into your presence. Each seed has an Angel, a non-physical spiritual being, that is waiting to be called into service by you or your friends. When you activate them, they quickly expand to fill an area of about 45 feet in diameter with spiritual healing and purifying energies. They will continually spread Earth-healing spiritual energies in all directions. Each of the activated Angels will continue to uplift and purify their surrounding environment and people in their vicinity for many years.

Angel Seeds are great to activate by yourself and, even more powerfully, in groups of people.

INSTRUCTIONS TO ACTIVATE THE ANGEL SEEDS:

1.) Remove one or more Angel Seeds, you wish to activate, from the package.

2.) Hold the Seed(s) in your hand(s) and speak out loud the following activation phrase: “Please begin to Heal the Earth now!”

3.) Experience the expanding, positive presence of the blossoming Angel that you have helped bring into this world.

4.) Plant or place the seed, with the Earth-Healing Angel hovering around and above it, anyplace that can use improvement. Angel Seeds are to be spread and planted around the world.

Feel free to place or toss them anywhere, mail them to friends, and give them as gifts. Feel free to spread them far and wide. In this way, you can help to uplift the planet and your friends. Have fun with the Angels. And thank you for helping to heal our Earth.

- Submitted by Bill Gordon

Be Informed On New Age and Occult Beliefs

Acts 16:16

In order to reach out to individuals with alternative beliefs, one needs a working knowledge of what they believe, says Marcia Montenegro, head of CANA/Christian Answers for the New Age: A Ministry

"The New Age is an umbrella term for many beliefs based mainly on combinations of eastern religions, humanism, and occultic, esoteric teachings," according to Montenegro.

Montenegro provided a handout at this year's Tennessee Baptist evangelism conference detailing some general New Age/occultic beliefs. They include:

(1) The New Age/occult bases truth on subjective experiences and interpretations.

(2) The New Age/occult usually does not acknowledge absolute good or absolute truth.

(3) There is one force or energy permeating the universe; the cosmos, nature, animals, and man are all part of this force (monism).

(4) God is impersonal; God is an energy or force; God is the One, the Creative Source, the universe, the Divine, the universal consciousness; we are all part of God (pantheism); God is personal but does not judge.

(5) The New Age Jesus is usually seen as an advanced spiritual teacher who attained Christ-consciousness. That is, Jesus realized he is God and set the example for all of us to realize our innate divinity.

(6) People involved in the New Age do not call themselves New Agers. Often they say they have their own religion, spiritual path, or that they are into "spirituality."

(7) Witchcraft/Wicca/Neopaganism revere nature as sacred and often honor the goddess as a symbolic force of creativity and nurturing; they accept occult practices such as divination and casting spells.

(8) Neopagans and Wiccans usually adopt the creed: "As long as you do no harm, do what you will."

(9) Sometimes there is a belief in reincarnation (coming back after death into another body).

(10) There is no standard New Age/occult doctrine, so there are many variations in these alternative beliefs.

__________________________

[The previous illustration at this location was a duplicate of HolwickID #11432]

A god in their own image: Return of the really old-time religions

Sekhmet, with the body of a woman and the head of a lion, is the Egyptian goddess of fertility. When Texas oil heiress Genevieve Vaughan visited Egypt with her husband, she came across a statue of Sekhmet and made a vow: If the ancient fertility goddess would help her have a baby, she would build a temple in her honor.

"Lo and behold, I got pregnant that very month," said Ms. Vaughan. That was 35 years ago. "It took me a long time to keep my promise, but I felt I really had to do it."

In 1993, the temple was finally built in Nevada on 22 acres, just off Route 95, the main highway between Las Vegas and Reno. Built by an all-female construction crew, the temple looks like a gazebo, with four open doorways. Inside, along with images of other goddesses, is the idol of Sekhmet, made of fiberglass. There is also a full-time priestess-Wicca-devotee and former sex therapist Patricia Pearlman-who leads weekly rituals for 20 to 30 followers, with many more who drive in for the major holidays such as Halloween.

Today, the Sekhmet temple is embroiled in a controversy and looming court case over a gravel mine that is opening up about a mile away. As reported by Jim Carlton in the April 17 Wall Street Journal, the temple is trying to get the mine's permit canceled. The temple "is one of the few sites, worldwide, that are dedicated to the pagan way," said Sekhmet devotee Nancy Carlzen. "They do not have to put their mine at our back door."

Pending a major church growth program, the Temple of Sekhmet is small potatoes on the current American religious scene. Still, books coming out of a pagan, New Age, or Buddhist worldview take up far more shelf space in the "spirituality" section of most bookstores than Christian titles do. At universities, campus ministry organizations increasingly include among their members Wiccans (self-described "pagans," also known as witches).

As Christianity becomes less of a presence in the culture, the ancient pagan religions are rushing into the void. Progressives had always assumed that once Christianity faded, people would do without religion entirely. But this was naive. Without an advanced religion like Christianity, people are reverting to what came before, to nature worship, neo-animism, and primitive superstitions.

Though sacrificed chickens and other animals have become a public health nuisance in cities with large Santeria populations (a folk religion for some Hispanics, with something similar for some Haitians), the full pageantry of paganism is hardly evident. But the worldview of paganism-the divinity of nature, the deity of animals, devotion to forces of nature such as sex-as well as the inner mysticism and cosmic unity posited by the more sophisticated Eastern religions, are very much in vogue. And the culture's moral shifts may be a cultural reversion to paganism, which sometimes used prostitution and homosexuality as means of religious awakening and which often tolerated euthanasia and infanticide.

But the main religious shift in American culture is not so much to overt paganism as to syncretism, the attempt to combine a biblical faith with a pagan one. In his new book, Surveying the Religious Landscape, pollster George Gallup documents how Americans "pick and choose" their religious beliefs, mixing elements from different religions into their own personal belief system. "Substantial portions of traditional Christians," he reports, "subscribe to non-Christian beliefs and practices, such as reincarnation."

In the 1960s the ecumenical movement tried to reconcile the various Christian traditions. Today, it tries to reconcile the various world religions. Liberal mainline Protestants increasingly employ Native American rituals and goddess-idolatry in their worship services and shrink from "exclusive" teachings such as the First Commandment and that faith in Christ is the only way to salvation.

Even many ostensible evangelicals are showing signs of pagan flirtation. The "openness of God" theologians are jettisoning the attributes of the transcendent God who has always been worshipped by Christians in favor of a lesser god who is not all-knowing, outside of time, or all-powerful. Just as the warlike Greeks projected their cultural values into deities constructed in their image, this new god turns out to be very similar to the contemporary intellectuals who are making him up--omni-tolerant, liberal-minded, soft-hearted about human suffering, though wholly ineffectual in doing anything about it. This god is a far cry from the transcendent, incomprehensible Holy One of Israel who became incarnate in Jesus Christ.

Christianity can handle the competition from paganism. It has centuries of experience at this sort of thing. But paganism in the church is a more dangerous infection. The main danger is not from the idols that are invoked but from the uncomfortably holy Deity who declares that He is a jealous God.

*

Cyber-Church

From:

Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 12:08 AM

Subject: Tired of Traditional Church? We're starting something new, come join us!!

We're starting a new kind of church and would like you to be a charter member. CyberChurchOnline will open its virtual doors in 30 days. A church with no doors, no walls and no limits!! We are not bound by a denomination, religious rules or tradition. What binds us is our need for a better relationship with Jesus Christ and the faith to make a difference in our lives and the lives of others.

Are you tired of the same old boring church services Sunday after Sunday? Do you even go to church at all? Well, we're here to offer you something very different! As Jesus did 2,000 years ago, we're here to break religious tradition! We're tired of what we see in traditional churches across the country. We're tired of the judgmental attitude that is so prevalent in the church today. We're not here to judge each other but serve each other!

You'll have access to 24/7 instant chat time with live counselors. They'll pray with you, talk with you, and help you through needs and problems in your life. We'll make it our mission to pray for you, your family and your needs each and every day!

Our chat counselors operate out of a physical church in San Antonio, TX. You'll be able to see live video cam images of our counselors and facilities anytime of the day. You'll be able to attend our services in the same way! You'll have a pastor that is real and that is sick and tired of the fake money hungry televangelist we see every day. Our church is FREE and this isn't about money, it's about helping people!

People are searching for a more fulfilled and happy life! We know we can help you overcome the daily battles and struggles you face. We'll go through them with you! We're starting this ministry to help people that need it and begin a new kind of church that has no boundaries. We're starting this church to be a family to people all over the world.

We'll send you daily devotions and you'll have full access to our website to receive up to the minute changing information and spiritual guidance.

Join chat groups that fit your interests:

Singles/Divorcees/Defeating Depression and Loneliness/Teens/Seniors/Young Married/ Mom's Club/Single moms/need a job...and many more!

Do you have needs and problems in your life and want someone to pray with you?

Find friends in our church and we'll help you set up your own instant messaging profile to be able to talk with them at any time!

Do you want to experience the victory that a relationship with Jesus brings?

If so send an email to the address below and join something truly special.

Type “new member” in the subject line and we'll be in contact with you. Quit anytime you want.

cyberchurch2001@excite.com

Please give us your comments and suggestions that might help us as we start this new kind of church. Our goal is to have thousands of members across the globe reaching out and helping one another through prayer, fellowship and spiritual growth!

________________

Emailer's comment: Hoax or yet another goofy idea?? [Holwick: there is no evidence of this ministry as of March 2003]

=====================

July 13, 2001

I got my first piece of church spam today. The “CyberChurchOnline” wants me to join their virtual congregation. Proudly proclaiming, “As Jesus did 2000 years ago, we're here to break religious tradition,” they try to woo me with their appeal to my laziness and my misanthropy and self-righteousness (“We're tired of the double standards and hypocrisy we see in traditional churches across the country. We're tired of the backbiting and judgmental attitude that is so prevalent in the church today. We're not here to judge each other but serve each other!”). That's great. So if I can be a hypocrite by attending church on Sunday, I'll be less of a hypocrite hiding behind an online persona. We all know what “chat” programs have done for people's sense of honesty, don't we? I'm sorry. As much as I love online communities, they will never replace real face to face relationships. Especially a relationship with God. Your thoughts?

Posted by jmcnally

Ready-mix Religion

Judges 17

Sermon on societies which have "anything goes" religion. Judges 17-18

READY-MIX RELIGION

==================

I. Designer religion reflected in website Yahoo!

II. A time of messed-up faith.

A. Early in Israel's history.

B. A sorry cast of characters.

III. Do we need "organized religion"?

A. Jews were limited to a single sanctuary.

B. Jewish priests were limited to one family, Aaron's.

C. There is one true religion.

IV. How to have a real faith.

A. Beware of idolatry and feel-good religion.

B. Circumstances are not our only guide.

C. Belief must be tied to consistent morality.

D. Stands up against philosophy of world.

E. Follows guidelines of Bible.

F. Genuine faith is not man-made and cannot be stolen.

Very Superstitious: Belief In Contemporary America

Acts 16:16

Last month, the Raelians, a cult that worships UFOs, threatened to sue the federal government for interfering with their plans to clone a human being. The FDA insists that experiments such as the Raelians' must meet with its approval, which it won't give.

For their part, the Raelians claim that the FDA's refusal violates their beliefs. These beliefs teach them that human beings are the product of genetic experiments performed by extraterrestrials millions of years ago. Thus, they believe, cloning people holds the key to eternal life.

Well, while this is more than a little ridiculous, what's even more ridiculous is that the Raelians' beliefs aren't as far from the American mainstream as you might think.

Thirty-five years ago, TIME magazine asked on its cover, "Is God Dead?" The answer seemed to be that even if he wasn't, belief in the supernatural was on the way out.

Well, what a difference three decades makes. Americans have embraced "belief" in a big way. So much so, in fact, that social critics and historians are referring to our times as another "great awakening." But wait a minute. While belief is surging, you have to look at what people are believing.

Between 1976 and 1997, the number of Americans who believed in astrology grew from seventeen percent to thirty-seven percent. During the same period, the percentage of Americans who professed a belief in reincarnation nearly tripled -- from nine percent to twenty-five percent. And crystal ball makers doubtless are glad to hear that those who put stock in fortune-telling nearly quadrupled -- from four to fourteen percent.

In addition, up to half of all Americans belief in necromancy (that is, conjuring up the dead), and millions of Americans believe in lucky numbers, alien visitations, and alien abductions. And this is only a sample of America's new credulity.

Well, clearly this kind of spiritual awakening stands in marked contrast to the great awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Those spiritual movements were grounded in historic Christianity. When men and women sought "spiritual growth," they turned to the God of the Bible.

But today, it's as simple as ABC, Anything But Christianity. In their attempt to find spiritual fulfillment without Christianity, Americans have become undiscerning in what they believe. If it enables a person to feel "spiritual" without having to bother with being religious, no belief is too off the wall for some people.

This is to be expected. As G. K. Chesterton noted, when people cease believing in the biblical God, the problem isn't that they believe in nothing. It's that they believe in everything. Irrationality and even superstition become the order of the day.

This situation leaves the church with both an opportunity and a challenge. All of this misplaced belief is, in fact, a tacit acknowledgment of the "God-shaped vacuum" within each human heart. Our challenge is to help our neighbors understand that this vacuum cannot be filled with superstition. It can be only filled by a relationship with the God of history -- the one who created the vacuum within us.

Over the next few days, I'll be telling you about some other examples of beliefs commonly held in contemporary America -- beliefs that put the "super" in "superstition" -- and illustrating how short the distance from ridiculous to mainstream has become.

For further reference:

"The New Superstition in the Midst of a Knowledge Explosion; Americans Embrace Irrational Fears." Boston Globe, 2 January 2001; Pg. E1.

"Sold on Spirituality." Boston Globe Magazine. 3 December 2000; Pg. 19.

Gabler, Neal. "Culture Wars; A Victim of the Third Great Awakening." Los Angeles Times, 14 January 2001; Pg. M1.

_________________________

*

Scents and Nonsense: A Credulous People

Buying candles used to be a lot simpler. They had one basic purpose, lighting. And since there wasn't much at stake, it didn't matter which kind you bought. But that's all changed now, in this age in which people will believe in almost anything.

A walk down the aisle of a grocery store, especially the upscale kind, will tell you that candles aren't about light anymore. They're about achieving tranquility and a sense of well-being. How? Through smell, of course. They come in scents like balsam, lavender, sandalwood, and jasmine, to name but a few. Practitioners of what's called "aromatherapy" maintain that each of these scents can produce a distinct emotional state.

Aromatherapy has its roots in New Age practices. Enthusiasts call it a "complementary medicine." They tout it as a treatment for everything from impotence, insomnia, and infections to liver and heart disease and even cancer.

Well, to put it mildly, scientists are skeptical of these claims. Researchers have concluded that that any benefits from the scents are a matter of wishful thinking. Well, apparently a lot of people are wishing these days. The growth of the market has prompted major cosmetic and houseware companies to jump onto the aromatherapy bandwagon. You've seen aromatherapy stores in supermarkets and airports.

What keeps fads like this going is the increasing willingness of many Americans to believe almost anything, especially if it promises some of the benefits that are traditionally associated with religion. If it promises inner peace or a way to make sense of the world, then rest assured, it attracts followers.

More than half of all Americans not only believe in astrology, they believe there's a scientific basis for it. A smaller but still substantial number say they believe in alien abductions and think there's really a lost continent of Atlantis. Others wear special bracelets that promise protection, healing powers, or wealth.

The word that describes all this phony faith is "credulity," which means to give unreflective credence to claims that are dubious if not ridiculous. The credulity I'm talking about is unconcerned with the reasonableness of the claim, because it's not really concerned with truth.

What credulous people are interested in are the personal benefits that are being promised. If one promise turns out to be empty, just move on to the next one.

By contrast, biblical faith begins with the question "Is this true?" Christians aren't out simply to satisfy our desires but rather to see whether what's being claimed conforms to reality -- whether it accurately describes us and the context in which we live our lives.

Stated another way, faith doesn't believe for belief's sake. It believes because it knows that some things are true and that it is our duty to know what they are, and to live accordingly.

This belief in truth is why Christianity is seen as an oasis of reason in a desert of credulity and superstition. The distinction between true faith and "belief in anything" is something we must make clear to our neighbors. We must gently disabuse them of the idea that believing in scents or stars or crystals or UFOs is in any way comparable to faith in Christ.

And they need to know that true faith is the difference between wishful thinking and the real thing.

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*

Is That You, Uncle Bob?: Flirting With Mediums

Acts 16:16

More than 3,000 fans packed San Francisco's Masonic Auditorium. Many had driven for hundreds of miles to see their idol. Others held up signs reading, "We Love You John!"

Then the man they came to see strode onto the stage -- an unlikely superstar, to say the least. As the Washington Post put it, his New York accent makes him sound more like a cab driver. And the only artistic activity listed on his résumé is his affinity for ballroom dancing. But John Edward is a superstar -- one uniquely suited for our credulous age.

John Edward is America's most famous medium. His nightly television show, Crossing Over, is a staple of the Sci-Fi channel's prime-time programming. Every night, more 600,000 American households tune in to watch Edward and his "guests" -- by which he means spirits -- minister to the loved ones left behind.

The show is such a success that in August it will be syndicated nationwide. Then, even those without cable will be to watch Edward comfort the living by speaking with the dead.

But it's not only television. Edward's autobiography made the bestseller lists. His live appearances, like the one at the Masonic Auditorium, are sell-outs, and there's a two-year waiting list for personal consultations.

Edward isn't the only medium doing a brisk business these days. Belief in mediums and spiritualism has grown markedly in the past decade. Half of all Americans believe that it's possible to communicate with the dead. A third claim to have done so. Just look at the yellow pages or your newspaper for advertisements for psychics.

This isn't the first surge of interest in mediums and spiritualism in the English-speaking world. The first few decades of the twentieth century saw a comparable enthusiasm for séances and psychics. People who wouldn't have been caught dead in a Christian church sat around tables holding hands with their eyes closed, waiting for something to happen.

That surge as well as the present one followed periods in which faith in the biblical God was declared to be untenable. Science, in the form of Darwinism or positivism, promised substitutes for the old beliefs.

What happened in both instances was a rise in superstition. Then as now, occult practice and beliefs began to flourish, even among the most educated members of society. People who dismissed the Resurrection and the Virgin Birth toured the country lecturing about communicating with the dead.

There's no contradiction here. Rejecting the biblical God doesn't change the fact that, as humans, we are incorrigibly religious and need to believe in something. Nor does it mean that questions such as "Is there life after death?" cease being important.

It simply means we've been cut off from the real answers to these questions. And that makes us vulnerable to superstition and irrationality. Paul says, professing to be wise, we become fools instead. C. S. Lewis and G. K. Chesterton, who lived during the earlier age of mediums, understood this well.

Our age is, if anything, even more credulous and needy than theirs. So, we need to help people understand that the answers they seek are not to be found through cable television mediums. Instead, they're to be found through faith in the One who really did cross over -- from death back to life.

For further reference:

"Hot Medium: Prime-Time Spirit Guy John Edward." Washington Post, 30 June 2001.

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*

The Need For Chi: Eastern Metaphysics & Spiritual Poverty

Acts 19:19

Nerissa Rosete thought she'd found the house of her dreams in Orange County, California. So she put down a $20,000 deposit. A few days later, after a consultant looked at the property, Rosete voided the contract and forfeited half the deposit.

Why? Because the spiritual energy wasn't right.

As bizarre as it may sound, this kind of spiritual nonsense is increasingly common in our culture. Rosete's house, we're told, had feng shui problems. Feng shui, in case you haven't heard, is a 3,000 year-old Chinese practice. Adherents believe that decorations, furniture arrangement, and direction of rooms can affect vital energy called "chi." And, they're quick to add, "good chi" makes the difference between success and failure in life.

Feng shui practitioners will tell you, "the northern area of a room governs an occupant's career, the south fame and fortune, the east health and the west creativity and children." Likewise, couples seeking to have a baby should place red or yellow candles in the southwest corner of the bedroom. Well, I can't imagine why, but a house with good feng shui, followers believe, would have its bathrooms in the north side of the house.

Just as important is avoiding bad feng shui, and that's why Rosete forfeited $10,000 rather than complete the purchase. Her feng shui consultant saw the steeply receding backyard and warned her that the decline would cause all the positive energy to rush out of the house. Eventually, she bought another house and spent an additional $1.3 million to bring its chi up to snuff.

That's right. I said "feng shui consultant." According to the Los Angeles Times, an increasing number of prospective buyers hire feng shui consultants to look at homes they're considering purchasing. Some buyers even demand certificates attesting to the home's worthiness. And sales contracts are sometimes contingent on a feng shui inspection.

Sellers hire consultants to help their home have more feng shui appeal. They will do everything, from re-decorate to re-model, so the home can say "Good chi here!" to prospective buyers. In addition, builders are incorporating the ideas into new homes -- and not just those in Asian neighborhoods.

Well, you don't have to be in the market to buy a new house to feel the need for chi. People who want the benefits of feng shui are redecorating and remodeling, even if they don't find the results particularly comfortable.

While it's tempting to dismiss feng shui as just another West Coast fad, that attitude misses the larger point, which is that despite the absurdity, this is fairly representative of America's belief system these days. New Age fads like feng shui make demands of people that, if we were talking about Christianity, would be ridiculed as absurd. Yet, they ask us to believe things that requires a lot more credulity than biblical faith. And such beliefs have nothing to say about how we ought to live, or about our eternal destiny.

Which makes them poor substitutes for biblical faith -- both in terms of eternal salvation, and in terms of creating an ordered society. And the price that society pays for rejecting faith in Christ and buying into superstition is enormous -- a price that makes even the most expensive real estate seem cheap by comparison.

For further reference:

Oldham, Jennifer. "Of Ba-Guas and Lou Pans: A Western Feng Shui Primer." Los Angeles Times, 18 April 2000; p. A14.

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*

Credulous Christians: Nothing More Than Feelings

Acts 19:13

If I asked you what you'd call a person who believes in astrology, reincarnation, and communicating with the dead, you'd probably say "a New Ager." Well, you might be surprised to learn that sometimes the correct answer would also be "a born-again Christian."

For the past few days I've been telling you about America's credulity, or gullibility, when it comes to spiritual matters. If any belief promises to enhance our sense of wellbeing, to make sense of our lives, or provide warm feelings, it will find adherents. It doesn't matter how bizarre or irrational the claims may be.

And I'm not only referring to the unchurched masses. According to a prominent sociologist of religion, the credulous include many people sitting beside you in the pews every week.

In his book, Spiritual Marketplace, sociologist Wade Clark Roof reports that 25 percent of "born-again" Christians interviewed in a recent study believe in the possibility of communicating with the dead. A third believe in reincarnation and astrology, and half say they believe in psychic powers. Oh my!

But just as troubling as this trend toward syncretism is the departure from historic Christianity. Half of those interviewed told Roof that "the various religions of the world are 'equally good and true.'" As Roof put it, what is true of Americans in general is increasingly true of those who describe themselves as "born again." The problem is that "they trust their own experiences more than anything."

And this reliance on subjective experiences, rather than the unchanging truth of Scripture, is what leads to the credulity and the syncretism I've been telling you about. Belief systems based on personal experiences alone place no priority on objective truth. Too often the question asked isn't, "Is this true?" but, rather, "How does it make me feel?"

It's the perfect belief system for an age that places the self at the center of the universe. Every person becomes the judge of what's true for them. And not only what's true, but also what's right. Right and wrong, like truth, is about what we feel.

While it's easy to understand why non-Christians might fall into these traps, why would self- identified born-again Christians succumb? Well, as Roof and others have noted, the past few decades have seen a shift in the way American Christians define being "born again" and "evangelical." Such terms are no longer a matter of believing certain doctrines or teachings; rather they're a matter of having a particular experience -- an experience that the person says changed his or her life.

Now, while I of all people understand that personal transformation is an important part of being a Christian, our faith is about more than feelings or experiences. It means affirming what the Scriptures teach about God, the person of Jesus Christ, and the origins and destiny of man. Believing means not only saying "yes" to what the Scriptures say is true, but "no" to whatever contradicts those teachings as well.

And this is what our churches and our Bible study groups need to hear. Trusting their experiences has led many of them to put their trust in myths. You and I can provide them with an example of what believing should be about: Always ask, "Is it true?" and not simply, "How does it make me feel?"

For further reference:

Roof, Wade Clark. Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999. http://www.parable.com/breakpoint/item.asp?sku=0691016593

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*

Worldview Blindness: Are the Blind Leading the Blind?

In politics, I learned how important it is to regularly take the public pulse. I try to do the same in ministry by reading my mail and asking questions whenever I meet believers. This regular pulse-taking gives me a pretty good -- albeit occasionally alarming -- snapshot of the health of the Church.

From a recent mailbag came a letter from Gail, a California woman who asked about a chiropractor who claims a gift of healing. Gail told me that all of the young moms in her Bible study group were seeing this chiropractor -- supposedly a devout Christian. She massages their bodies to locate their "field of energy," and emits loud moans and guttural sounds when she (apparently) aligns their energy field with the universe's.

Gail became suspicious when she visited the chiropractor herself. Without touching Gail, the chiropractor announced that she had a bone spur between the second and third vertebrae -- just as Gail's doctor had diagnosed.

I advised Gail to flee for her life. Sure, some people have gifts of healing and discernment. But adding up all the evidence, it's obvious this chiropractor was into New Age teachings. If any supernatural powers are involved, they're on the dark side of the ledger.

An isolated case? I wish it was. It's just one example of a growing evangelical disease I call "worldview blindness." It's a direct result of people compartmentalizing their faith. And since modern society has largely repealed the law of non-contradiction, we blithely practice one thing in church and just the opposite in the chiropractor's office.

The solution is to teach believers to be discerning through a systematic effort, to see Christianity as an integrated life system, an explanation for all of reality, affecting all of life.

Second, we must make worldview training a priority for our kids. It's clear from my mailbag that kids are especially vulnerable to the false ideologies and "isms" of our day; they will have their faith challenged in school, on television, at the movies, by friends -- just about everywhere they turn. We've got to reach them while they're young and impressionable, before the world has turned them into skeptics.

Even if they attend Christian colleges, they'll encounter challenges to their faith, and eventually they'll enter the marketplace -- and the risk is they will being sucked into anti-biblical belief systems. The answer: open their eyes now -- teach them what your own belief system says about all of life, and how it differs from secular belief systems.

You can start your children's worldview education by reading BreakPoint to them, on the Internet, or playing our new Best-of-BreakPoint CD-ROM. When they're in high school, funnel them into classes like those taught by Worldview Academy, with summer worldview programs all over the country. Get them reading good books, like J. Budziszewski's How to Stay Christian in College, Lee Strobel's The Case for Faith, or my recent book, Answers to Your Kids' Questions.

All of this presupposes, of course, that we parents have taken our worldview blinders off -- that we're not suffering from the kind of schizophrenia that allows some people to read their horoscope in the Sunday paper before heading off to church. If we don't do this, it'll be just one more case of the blind leading the blind.

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*

Christianity almost beaten says Cardinal

Christianity has almost been vanquished in Britain, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor told a gathering of priests yesterday.

Christ was being replaced by music, New Age beliefs, the environmental movement, the occult and the free-market economy, the Archbishop of Westminster said. In a candid and unscripted passage of his speech, the Cardinal also spoke of the damage and shame brought to his church by the scandal of paedophile priests.

His analysis of Britain's spiritual decline echoed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey, who last year said: “A tacit atheism prevails. Death is assumed to be the end of life. Our concentration on the here-and-now renders a thought of eternity irrelevant.”

But the Cardinal, leader of 4.1 million Roman Catholics in England and Wales, went much further. The extent to which Christianity informed modern culture and intellectual life in Britain today had been hugely diminished, he told the National Conference of Priests in Leeds.

“It does seem in our countries in Britain today, especially in England and Wales, that Christianity, as a sort of backdrop to people's lives and moral decisions - and to the Government, the social life of the country - has now almost been vanquished.”

Increasing numbers of people now gained their “glimpses of the transcendant” from involvement in music, New Age movements and green issues. “I could go on about this and talk also about the rise in New Age and occult practices and the search being made by young people for something in which, or someone in whom, they can place their complete trust.”

People were seeking transient happiness in alcohol, drugs, pornography and recreational sex, the Cardinal said.

“There is indifference to Christian values and to the Church among many young people and, indeed, not only the young. You see quite a demoralised society, one where the only good is what I want, the only rights are my own, and the only life with any meaning or value is the life I want for myself.”

In an apparent condemnation of both Thatcherism and “new” Labour, the Cardinal gave warning of the excesses of the free-market economy and consumerism. “When we live in a culture which says `What I have got is what I am', we are in big trouble. Whilst I understand that - to some degree - we are all consumers, this is something we all enjoy a bit, it's quite clear that a sole reliance on the market place does in the end actually prevent people from taking their destiny into their own hands.

“There are many today who think that to believe in God is to limit one's freedom.”

Confronting the problem of priests who have sex with children, the Cardinal warned the Church against “apathy” and “negligence”.

“All I want to say about this is quite clear and simple. I do not try to make excuses for the past. Yes, we must recognise the depth and the extent of the damage done to the Church and its mission in these cases.”

He said priests, and especially bishops, had not been sufficiently aware of the “insidious” and “pathological” nature of child abuse and had not treated all allegations with the seriousness they merited.

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Thousands gather for total eclipse

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) - On the eve of the millennium's first total eclipse of the sun, Zimbabwe's faith healers warned of national turmoil, Angola's street children sold fake protective eyeglasses and Zambia was overrun by busloads of eclipse-chasing tourists.

Thursday's mid-afternoon eclipse will arc across the southern part of Africa before disappearing in the Indian Ocean. Its path crosses over a civil war, a country wracked by political conflict, and desperate poverty.

In Zimbabwe, tribal healers warned that the eclipse is a sign the ancestors were not happy with a nation that had abandoned the traditional African values of peace and harmony. As retribution, they would bring further conflict to a country already suffering from political and economic turmoil and the crushing scourge of AIDS.

"These natural occurrences are not a mere coincidence. They are signs of the punishment we are going to receive from our ancestors," said Peter Sibanda, deputy head of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association.

In Angola, police seized 5,000 pairs of phony protective glasses being sold by street kids after tests showed they would not protect people's eyes from being damaged during the partial phases of the eclipse as claimed.

Mozambique has urged reporters, including community radio stations, to explain the science behind the eclipse to its impoverished people so it "should not cause fear or panic. Because it is a natural and predictable phenomenon, unlikely to cause any material or personal damage."

In Zambia, members of the Ngoni tribe plan to recreate their 1835 crossing of the Zambezi River during their flight from the warriors of the Zulu king Shaka. The original crossing coincided with a total eclipse.

The eclipse first hits land in Angola at 8:38 a.m. EDT, then travels across Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique before heading out to the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, getting shorter along the way.

Since the eclipse will last longer here than anywhere else except Angola, which is convulsed in a quarter-century-long civil war, Zambia has become the main magnet for eclipse watchers.

Tourists, scientists and even new age eclipse chasers have come to Zambia for the astronomical event. The government expected more than 20,000 tourists _ the most ever. It declared Thursday a national holiday and deployed 2,500 police to patrol the streets of Lusaka and other tourist areas.

"This is a big event for Zambia," said Agnes Seenka, the head of the government's eclipse committee.

A team from Williams College in Massachusetts has brought 11 students and 15 cameras attached to telescopes to take more than 1,000 photos of the eclipse, which will last more than three minutes in Lusaka.

They aim to study why the corona, the hot gas field around the sun, is so much hotter than the sun's core.

The corona is fainter than the blue sky, so it can only be properly studied during an eclipse, said Jay Pasachoff, head of the Willams team and the chair of the working group on solar eclipses at the International Astronomical Union.

"What you need is to have the sun up during the day, without the blue sky. And how you do that is during an eclipse," he said.

Meanwhile, more than 4,000 tie-dyed, dreadlocked, pot-smoking trance dancers from around the world gathered at a farm about 30 miles north of Lusaka for a 10-day eclipse rave.

"It's quite a powerful event that will happen," James Johnson, a 25-year-old South African at the rave, said while rolling a large crystal around in his hand.

"The world is not like an isolated thing in the universe. When something like a solar eclipse happens, vast energies, as far as I'm concerned, are moving around," he said. "The world is moving toward a higher consciousness."

On the Net:

Solar Eclipse site, http://www.astronomy.co.za/eclipse.asp

She Left Astrology

Acts 8:9

Coming from an alcoholic home, with an agnostic father, and believing Christians to be hypocritical and superficial, young Marcia Montenegro sought refuge and cerebral satisfaction in the world of the occult. By the grace of God, after nearly 20 years of being associated with spirit guides, astrology and witches, Montenegro finally found what she had spent so many years seeking.

Before she found real peace and spiritual contentment, however, Montenegro had taken a dark and rebellious path to spirituality. While in high school, she became disillusioned with Christianity, which to her seemed "defined by sermons, going to Sunday school and doing good works."

"I was missing out on something," she recounted. "Also, I never fit in during my high school years. Being someone who wrote poetry, being in an alcoholic home, and having no real roots all combined to make me feel different and unlike other people."

Throughout her college years, Montenegro studied Eastern philosophies and delved into paranormal experiences. "One bright, sunny Florida afternoon, as I rested on my bed fully awake with eyes partly closed, I felt myself floating. I opened my eyes and was stunned to see my body on the bed below me as I hovered near the ceiling. This was my first out-of-body experience."

Her odyssey into this psychic world continued through the '70s and '80s, entailing astrology, Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and the paranormal. Passing a seven-hour exam on astrology to qualify for a business license, she became a professional astrologer and eventually began teaching astrology. "I wrote for New Age journals, gave lectures, and sat on the board of astrology examiners that gave and graded exams," Montenegro recounted. "In June of 1989, I became president of the Metropolitan Atlanta Astrological Society."

Yet, with all the knowledge and success she achieved in her chosen field, she struggled with doubt and apprehension. "I would try to chase away these fears by meditating or chanting.... I sought peace in Zen Buddhism.... But I noticed that the peace I had felt with my initial meditations had decreased, causing me to meditate more in an attempt to recapture that elusive peace.

"I also learned that the nature of occult and New Age thinking is that there is no one answer. There is no one single truth, and there is no one reality. But these teachings gave answers that only raised more questions."

Then, in 1990, Montenegro was gripped by a compulsion to go to church. "Since I hated Christianity, churches and Christians by now, this made me angry. After struggling against it for a while, I decided to give in, hoping it would go away. It was probably from one of my former lives as a priest or monk, I reasoned.

"In the opening minutes of a service in a large church in downtown Atlanta, I felt a love I had never known wash down over and through me so powerfully that I started crying. I knew this love was from God ... that love was the real thing."

Thus began Montenegro's walk with Jesus. By the end of 1990, she had given up astrology altogether and accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

"Reading the Bible put me in touch with something pure. I felt as though I was being cleansed from the inside out as I read it," she recounted.

"I realized that the only way to be forgiven, the only way to be reconciled with God was through Jesus. I knew that the truth and the answer to all my questions were one and the same: Jesus Christ.

"Jesus was different from the masters I had studied," Montenegro said. "He was more real than the spirit guides, the ascended masters, the higher self -- all those airy, elusive things that gave no evidence of their existence -- because he came to earth in the flesh. No sorcerer, no spiritual master, no Buddha, no shaman, no witch, no psychic has conquered death, but all still lie cold in their graves. But Jesus has power over death and is living today. And so I gave myself to Christ, the Savior, and knew I belonged to him from that moment on."

But after her life-altering decision for Christ, Montenegro found that her association with the occult was far from over. Slowly the Holy Spirit began convicting her to reach out to others caught in its seductive world.

"The Lord just started opening doors for me. I never set out to have a ministry. I resisted going fulltime, but after encouragement from others and prayer on my part about it, the Lord convicted me in 1996 [throughout the year, not at one point] to go fulltime. So in 1997, I was interviewed by a mission board, Fellowship International Mission in Allentown, Pa., and was appointed. I am still working on my support, which is not at 100 percent yet."

With the release of this year's most anticipated film, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," Marcia said she believes Ouija boards, psychic readers and other forms of misleading supernatural entertainment will become popular fads -- and it is a mistake to take such activities lightly.

"The occult incorporates beliefs that are often subjective and experiential rather than based on any moral ground," she said. "In fact, there is no absolute good and evil in the occult, and there is no standard for morality.

"I think [American] culture does not recognize or believe this, and may not even care," Montenegro added.

"The thing is, occult practices have become widely accepted as forms of entertainment. For example, cable channels are loaded with TV psychics, tarot card readers, etc. I do not know if they are real psychics. There are some who are con artists, but there are also serious people who are in the occult as part of a belief system. But I think most of the people who answer the phones are simply trained in how to talk to people who call in.

"Deuteronomy 18:10-12 forbids contacting mediums and spiritists. I believe that if a Christian consults a psychic or astrologer, he will be affected. I can't predict how -- I think it's different for different people. But one thing I've noticed is that they lose interest in going to church, reading the Bible, praying. Their walk with God is weakened."

When speaking with someone who is toying with psychic revelations, Montenegro said, "I try to lead to a discussion of Christ and if they had ever trusted him. To someone who is not proclaiming Christianity [such as a New Ager or an agnostic or atheist], I ask them how they think the psychic is getting answers. I attempt to use this as a discussion of their beliefs and try to introduce the gospel."

Asked if she feels God will punish America for its involvement with the occult as entertainment, Montenegro responded, "No. I don't think God is punishing anyone until Judgment Day. He sent Christ for salvation and is giving the world a chance to know Christ, then judgment comes. I think God will just let us suffer the consequences of whatever actions we take, whether as individuals or as countries."

As ardently as Montenegro urges against getting involved with the occult, she is just as concerned about loving those who are involved in such practices, reminding that Christians are called to share the good news, to be salt and light in a dark world. The focus of her ministry is to educate Christians about the occult so they can be discerning.

"The occult is here and it's growing," Montenegro said. "Let us respond to it with truth, love and the light of Christ. Let us shine the light of Christ on the darkness of the occult, so that those who need Christ see the darkness they are in and their need for Christ."

Today, Montenegro is at peace. "The difference is that I am spiritually satisfied. There is more to learn and much room to grow, but the learning and growth spring from Christ as the foundation, not from a search outside him. The search has ended; the thirst has been quenched; the hunger within has been filled."

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http://cana.userworld.com/cana_spiritualjourney.html

New Age Movement Is What Christianity Should Be About

John 10:10

After Christianity Today ran an article which criticized the New Age movement, Dr. John Chrisci wrote a letter to them. He said the New Age religion is what Christianity should be all about, but isn't. The New Age movement is forward-looking, positive and uplifting. Christians, on the other hand, tend to focus on negatives, grovel in sin and guilt, and look back to the past.

Dr. Chrisci concluded:

The put-down has gone far enough. People are hungry for Christ's

more abundant life. We have brought the New Age movement on ourselves.

*

A Dangerous Correlation: Extraterrestrials, Occultism, and the Truth

Some twenty-five years ago, a Stanford astronomy professor surveyed members of the American Astronomical Society. The subject: UFOs. About 1,300 astronomers responded — and what they said sheds light on the kind of people who believe they encounter UFOs.

Although nearly all so-called UFOs can be explained by natural causes, a small percentage can't be. Hugh Ross, himself a Christian, an astronomer, and the author of a book titled LIGHTS IN THE SKY AND LITTLE GREEN MEN, says researchers call these unexplainable phenomena “residual UFOs.” In the Stanford study, sixty-two astronomers, or 5 percent, said they'd seen residual UFOs. But here's the interesting part: Astronomers with just a few observation hours per year witnessed UFOs, while those logging more than a thousand hours per year saw nothing.

This reverse correlation “demonstrates that something besides observing time determines who sees” UFOs and who does not, Ross writes. The most important factor, according to Ross, appears to be the activities these astronomers pursue. Those who are deeply involved in cultic, occultic, or certain New Age pursuits often see UFOs, whereas astronomers who avoid those things do not.

Twenty years of study have led Ross to believe that the principle is universal. Whenever he says this on television or on the radio, he hears from people who claim they're the exception. But upon deeper investigation, Ross writes, it turns out the person actually IS mixed up in some way with occultic or New Age activities.

To support his thesis, Ross points to documented cases in which several people are together at an event, but only some of them witness the UFO. Some will see the UFO and react both physically and psychologically, Ross writes, while others “see nothing and experience nothing.”

According to Ross, these UFO encounters “strike witnesses with intense fear, distress, and anxiety.” Others experience nightmares, visions, hallucinations, and personality changes. Significantly, Ross writes, “Many who have had close contact with a residual UFO adopt new belief systems.” He points to the many UFO-related cults and religions — cults whose teaching deny the divinity of Christ and the need for a Savior.

For these reasons and many others, Ross is convinced that the so-called UFOs are actually evidence of demonic activity. He points to Scriptures that warn that demons can attack only those who, through their pursuits and friendships, invite them. This, of course, is exactly what the victims of UFO phenomena do.

Skeptics often claim that UFO events are simply hoaxes. Ross agrees. But humans may not be the perpetrators. The nature of these UFOs, and the impact they have on people, are far beyond human capability. Witnesses instead appear to be the victims “of a hoax perpetrated by superhuman authors,” according to Ross.

You might want to read Ross's fascinating book LIGHTS IN THE SKY AND LITTLE GREEN MEN. It gives a rational look at UFOs. And then, the next time your kids watch a film about “friendly” aliens, or read about the latest UFO sighting, share Ross's concerns with them. If Ross is right, there's nothing friendly about these so-called aliens.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

• Hugh Ross, Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men (NavPress, 2002). Ross also has a companion video and DVD to the book.

• Judy Tarjanyi, “Astronomer links UFOs to occultism,” Toledo Blade, 4 January 2003.

• “UFOs Mystify Scientists,” BBC News, 1 July 1998.

• Visit the PBS pages “Hunt for Alien Worlds“ and “Kidnapped by UFOs.”

• Michael Gleghorn, “UFOs and Space Aliens,” Probe Ministries, 2003.

• Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live without God? (Word Books, 1994).

• See past BreakPoint commentaries: “The Cosmic Drama,” “'Maybe We're All Martians,'“ “Lunarians, Venusians, and Martians,” “Is It E.T. — or a Goose?“, “The Real Culprits,” and “UFOs, Little Green Men, and Cloned Babies.”

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*

The Real Culprits: Lights In the Sky and Little Green Men

Every year, more than a million people report seeing UFOs. Are these people crackpots and attention-seekers? Or is there something real behind their claims?

Hugh Ross, a Christian physicist and astronomer, has studied UFO phenomena for years. His conclusion: The overwhelming majority are explainable, but some are not, and they could be dangerous.

In his book, LIGHTS IN THE SKY AND LITTLE GREEN MEN, Ross writes that, after all the frauds and natural causes have been exposed, researchers “agree that there must be something real at the bottom of some UFO reports.”

For one thing, there's physical evidence. In the vicinity of reported UFOs, researchers have found deep soil compressions — including crushed rock — and altered soil and rock chemistry. Pilots encountering UFOs report disruptions in radar, radio, and compass operations. Animals become greatly agitated in the presence of UFO phenomena. And some humans who have seen UFOs claim to experience temporary blindness, burns, and internal bleeding.

And yet, Ross writes, UFOs MUST be nonphysical, because they disobey the laws of physics. For instance, they may be detected by radar but not seen, or they're seen but not detected by radar. They make impossibly sharp turns and sudden stops, disappear and reappear. They melt asphalt and burn grass without fire or flame.

And then there's the fact that ten times as many UFO sightings occur at 3:00 a.m. than at either 6:00 a.m. or 8:00 p.m. They appear in remote areas far more often than in densely populated ones.

Of course, most of these reported phenomena are investigated and proven to be false. But for the remainder that cannot be explained otherwise, Ross has an intriguing theory.

He writes: “Only one kind of being favors the dead of night and lonely roads. Only one is real but nonphysical, animate, powerful, deceptive,” and “bent on wreaking psychological and physical harm.” It seems apparent, says Ross, that UFOs, if there are such things, “must be associated with the activities of demons.”

Other researchers — including secular scholars — have come to similar conclusions. They attribute UFO phenomena to demons or to an equivalent cause — for example, malevolent beings from another dimension. Physicist Jacques Vallee concludes: “The UFO phenomenon represents evidence for other dimensions that simply cannot be understood apart from their psychic and symbolic reality. What we see here is not an alien invasion,” Vallee writes. “It is a spiritual system that acts on humans and uses humans.”

Astronomer and agnostic J. Allen Hynek says that UFOs cause physical effects “in the same way that a poltergeist can produce very real physical effects.” Another agnostic, UFO specialist John Keel, concludes that victims of what he calls “demonomania” suffer the same medical and emotional symptoms as UFO contactees.

The idea that demons are behind UFO phenomena — and that they sometimes harm the humans who see them — can be, if Dr. Ross is correct, frightening and can also raise interesting questions: Who among us might be vulnerable to these kinds of attacks?

Read BreakPoint tomorrow for the answer. We'll test Ross's hypothesis and learn why some people encounter UFOs, and others don't.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

• Hugh Ross, Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men (NavPress, 2002).

• Peggy Fletcher Stack, “Heaven Sent?“ Beliefnet.com, 28 February 2003.

• Benjamin Wiker, “Alien Ideas: Christianity and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life,” Crisis, November 2002.

• Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live without God? (Word Books, 1994).

• Peter Augustine Lawler, Aliens in America: The Strange Truth about Our Souls (ISI Books, 2002).

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What's Wrong With Spirituality?

John 14:6

Several years ago, I was excited that the topic of spirituality kept cropping up on talk shows, in books and magazines, in politics, even in health food stores. What a refreshing change from the “God is dead” philosophy so prevalent during my college years in the sixties, I thought.

In my naivete, I believed this spiritual awakening represented a trend toward a search for a biblically based relationship with God. I accepted what I heard and read with little critical thought.

Then, my nursing supervisor praised me one day for my “deep spirituality.” I thanked her, secretly thrilled my Christian witness had been showing through. My excitement dissolved, though, when I read a book she gave me called A COURSE IN MIRACLES. Although it used Christian terms like “atonement” and “sanctification,” the concepts were far from Christian. I was puzzled. Weren't we speaking the same language? What had my supervisor meant by “spirituality”?

After that interchange, I began listening more closely to all the discussions of spirituality going on. Since then I've been learning how to discern whether the things I hear and read are truly Christian. Here are some guidelines I now use to tell the difference.

LOGICALLY EXAMINE THE CLAIMS BEING MADE. Many statements about spirituality being passed off as “truth” today are not only lies, they're logically impossible. I discovered this when my daughter's public high school class planned a field trip to a meditation center known for its psychic readings. I objected, but the teacher justified the trip by saying this center taught SPIRITUALITY — not religion. He claimed SPIRITUALITY doesn't endorse one set of beliefs.

That's simply not true. The basic (though flawed) belief system behind the whole concept of spirituality is that each person has a right to his or her own “truth”-that there's no such thing as objective, absolute truth. This view essentially makes each person responsible for deciding what's right or wrong, good or bad, truth or lie. The result: There is NO truth; people do what's right in their own eyes.

Another popular notion is that all religions and spiritual quests lead to God. Yet that belief denies the claim of Jesus Christ, who boldly declared HE alone is the way, the truth, and the life: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

COMPARE POPULAR SPIRITUAL CONCEPTS WITH WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. Our human reasoning alone isn't enough to discern truth from error. Just like the bank teller who knows the feel of counterfeit money after years of handling the real thing, our best protection against deception is to study and know God's revealed truth, the Bible.

This seemed more crucial as I began seeing angel pins, books, and stories in every checkout lane, bookstore, and on TV.

At first I took this as another sign of people becoming more interested in spiritual (to me, meaning biblical) things. After all, the Bible teaches that angels are “ministering spirits,” assigned by God to help us in many ways. But when I began comparing the media's portrayal of angels with the Bible's account of angels, I quickly discovered major differences.

In popular culture, an angel is often portrayed as a beloved family member who dies and then gets his wings. The parents or children left on earth then seek guidance and help from their departed relative-now-turned-angel. So what's the problem with that?

For one thing, the Bible is very clear that angels are NOT repackaged souls of people but spiritual beings created by God to serve his purposes. By portraying them as reincarnated humans, the horrible reality of death as the dreadful consequence of sin is blunted. There is no judgment or hell to consider if we all turn into cute angels when we die.

The truth is, everyone will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, who was sacrificed for sinners and promises salvation to those who are waiting for him (Heb. 9:27-28). Jesus is the only mediator between God and man — not angels.

REMEMBER, “CHRISTIAN” WORDS OR SONGS AREN'T NECESSARILY CHRISTIAN. One day I heard the glorious strains of “Amazing Grace” coming from my TV set. I ran to see who sang with such power, certain only a Christian could so magnificently sing those wonderful words: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” After the song ended, the show's host complimented the soloist, a well-known recording artist, on her performance. She thanked him and explained how meaningful the song had been to her.

“So does that mean you've got religion in your life now?” the host asked. I waited, eager to hear a wonderful story of conversion to Jesus Christ.

Instead the singer replied, “Of course not. Religion is what you get when you're afraid of hell. Spirituality is what you get when you've been there and back.” I couldn't believe it!

Although she'd sung the whole story of Christ's atoning work for her, the fact that she needed a Savior from sin seemed the furthest thing from her mind. To her, being saved meant she'd been rescued from the lostness of “not knowing who I was.” Being “born again” meant getting in touch with her “inner self.”

In the past, I'd occasionally examined supposedly spiritual claims by comparing them to Scripture. But I'd never thought to see what the Bible said about the whole idea of spirituality.

Oddly enough, when I did a word search through my online Bible, looking for verses on “spirituality,” the answer flashed back “word not found.” That surprised me. Then I tried “spiritual” and all sorts of verses popped up.

My friend, Barb, pointed out that throughout Scripture, SPIRITUAL is used to describe something else (e.g., a spiritual man, spiritual gifts, spiritual truths). SPIRITUALITY on the other hand, is something all by itself. Why is that an important distinction?

The Bible tells us our spiritual nature is dead in sin until we're born again by the Spirit of God who gives us spiritual birth through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3; Eph. 2:1-9). Any discussion of what it means to be “spiritual” must relate to that diagnosis of our condition. To become a Christian means we receive a person, Jesus — not a thing, SPIRITUALITY.

WHEN SOMEONE SPEAKS OF SPIRITUALITY, ASK HIM OR HER TO EXPLAIN WHO JESUS IS. One day I met a former high school friend for lunch. I was surprised when he began describing his spiritual quest, which included visiting gurus in India.

As we talked about our views of God, I became increasingly frustrated and confused. No matter what I said, he seemed to agree, yet I knew we were miles apart in our beliefs. Why couldn't I pinpoint the difference?

The next morning I woke up and realized my mistake from the day before. Although my friend and I had talked extensively about God, I'd never asked him one simple question: Who is Jesus Christ?

It's fairly easy to agree about God in some vague sense — ”Well, that's how you see your God. I see mine a bit differently.” When we discuss Jesus Christ, however, we must deal with the specific claims Jesus made about himself — including his assertion that he is God — and face the question, “Are they true or not?”

Who is Jesus? The answer marks the ultimate dividing line between who or what is and isn't Christian. In 1 John 4, we're told to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” The apostle John also says those who deny Jesus is the Messiah are liars (1 John 2:22).

Many religions and various forms of spirituality accept Jesus as a historical figure, but reject him as the Christ, the one whom God sent to be “an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Others talk of a “Christ-consciousness” in some mystical sense but refuse to tie that down to the flesh-and-blood person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The fact is, if a person has strong morals and values but doesn't embrace Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God, Savior, and resurrected Lord, his or her spirituality isn't Christian and cannot save.

Some days I feel intimidated as I realize how “narrow” others may see me because I believe the claims Christ made for himself. But the words of the apostle Paul are true: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).

I'm also encouraged. When we stand in the truth of God's Word, we need not fear the spiritual confusion all around. God has promised the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. As the darkness of false spirituality grows deeper, the light of his truth can only shine brighter — pointing the way to those who still seek him.

SURVIVAL OF THE HOPEFUL

"Hope stands up to its knees in the past and keeps its eyes on the future. There has never been a time past when God wasn't with us as the strength beyond our strength, the wisdom beyond our wisdom, as whatever it is in our hearts — whether we believe in God or not — that keeps us human enough at least to get by despite everything in our lives that tends to wither the heart and make it less than human. To remember the past is to see that we are here today by grace, that we have survived as a gift."

-- Frederick Buechner

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An Old Error In A New Package: Hollywood and Kabbalah

One of the best places to catch a glimpse of celebrities in Los Angeles is inside an old church in Beverly Hills. There, “A-list” celebrities like Demi Moore, Britney Spears, and Madonna sing hymns at “pep-rally tempo” and shout hearty “Amens!”

Has the long-prayed-for revival finally broken out in the entertainment industry? Not quite. When I described the church as being “old,” I mean “former.” And, while there is a revival of sorts, it's a revival of an old error: Gnosticism.

The meeting I just described is held every Friday night in a former church, L.A.'s Kabbalah Center. Kabbalah is a medieval form of Jewish mysticism. According to Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, the “preoccupation” of Kabbalah is “understanding and ending humanity's exile from God.” Ending this exile entails not only meditation but also keeping the commandments of Judaism which help to “sanctify” the material world.

If you're having difficulty imagining movie stars keeping the moral and ethical demands of the Old Testament, you're not alone. As Halevi tells us, what's going on at the Kabbalah Center has more in common with other California-based religions like Scientology than with medieval Judaism. What's being taught to the celebrities “doesn't merely trivialize Kabbalah; it inverts its intention.”

Whereas, traditionally the goal of meditation is to “annihilate the ego, not reinforce it,” in L.A., “the spiritual quest isn't about God, but the seeker.” Even when people are encouraged to give to others, it's for selfish reasons. As one “disciple” told Halevi, respecting the dignity of another person “has nothing to do with being a good person. It's about not hurting myself. Not because God told me to be nice to others, but because my life becomes better...“

Most Jewish scholars consider the Kabbalah Center to be, at best, oversimplifying an important mystical tradition and, at worst, a fraud. What's definitely true is that it's only the latest example of the attraction Gnosticism holds for many Americans.

Gnosticism, which has plagued Christianity since before the ink of the Scriptures was dry, teaches, among other things, that secret and esoteric knowledge holds the key to salvation.

In his book, THE AMERICAN RELIGION, Yale professor Harold Bloom argued that many Americans, even some professing Christians, are Gnostics of sorts. Their religion is based on personal experience and has little room for tradition or authority. The goal of their religion is “to be alone with God or Jesus.”

Now, while Bloom was rightly criticized for overstating the case, it's undeniable that many Americans are in the market for what I call “do-it-yourself God kits.” These kits enable them to feel good about themselves without making objective moral demands. They promise valuable knowledge without forcing the adherent to confront questions of truth. In other words, it's a religious system perfectly suited for the spirit of our age. That's why it's standing-room-only at the Kabbalah Center.

Unfortunately, we find traces of Gnosticism in many American churches, as well. That's the subject of an upcoming Breakpoint. You'll want to continue reading, because while it's easy to mock the excesses of Hollywood, Christians must be prepared to recognize error wherever it rears its head.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

• Yossi Klein Halevi, “Like a Prayer: Kabbalah Goes Hollywood,” The New Republic, 10 May 2004. (Reprinted by Jewish World Review.)

• Nancy Haught, “Mystical Kabbalah, Trendy Kabbalah,” The Oregonian, 30 April 2004. Also see “A Who's Who of Celeb Kabbalah.”

• “Hollywood & the Kabbalah,” ETOnline.com, 8 January 2004.

• Kim Masters, “God and Man in Hollywood,” Vanity Fair, December 1997.

• Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, “When Did Madonna Become a Rabbi?“ Beliefnet, 10 October 2003.

• David Mills, “Getting Jesus Right,” Touchstone, October 2001.

• Harold Bloom, The American Religion (Simon & Schuster, 1993).

• Alan Wolfe, The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith (Free Press, 2003).

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate in KeruxID 25837-26027]

The Revival of Paganism

Acts 8:9

In our civilized, scientific culture, we tend to think of paganism as something distant, lost in the world of developing nations. In those places, ignorant medicine men seek to chase off disease through spiritual rituals when they would find better results with a tub of bleach water and penicillin. The word “pagan” often brings to mind half-clothed natives dancing around the missionary in the pot, druids chanting inside Stonehenge, human sacrifice, and barbarism in general.

However, today there is a form of paganism spreading that looks surprisingly modern and has followers among intellectuals. While Judeo-Christian morality is increasingly seen as outdated and 'puritanical' in our Western World, the human need for spiritual fulfillment has not disappeared. Instead, updated forms of the old pagan religions are spreading once again. Modern, neo-Paganism takes on many of the ancient pagan beliefs about nature and the universe, fitting them to modern society. College professors, screenplay writers and the leaders of many ecological movements have delved into modern Paganism, and their ideas come home to us through our college students and our children's movies.

It is important that we recognize this neo-Paganism for what it is, and understand how greatly it comes in conflict with Biblical Christianity. This article will explore the basic beliefs of neo-Paganism. With a better understanding, we can help prepare our families to deal with the lure that Paganism has.

Paganism in general, no matter which local flavor, is characterized by reverence for nature and usually involves a number of gods, goddesses, or spirits. Shamanism, Druidism, and the local religions of hundreds of cultures can all be considered pagan. The most prevalent form of modern Paganism is Wicca, or witchcraft, which is an occult form of Paganism that includes casting spells and seeking 'hidden knowledge'.

Modern Paganism is a religion that reveres Nature as divine. Pagans see every plant, animal, man and woman as part of that divinity. Unlike the God of the Bible, who is separate from and greater than His creation, the natural world itself is considered divine and holy. While the God of the Bible created us in His image, the god and goddess are made in our image - in the image of created things.

To the Pagan, the divine is both female and male, so that Pagans worship both the goddess and the god; loving, wise figures who are seen as completely equal. There are also other lesser gods and goddesses called pantheons. Since Nature is seen as female - Mother Earth or Gaia - the goddess tends to be emphasized. She is seen as our mother, the creator and sustainer of life. Since she is responsible for all living things, the other creatures on our planet are seen as our brothers and sisters. For this reason, Pagans are highly environmentally conscious people - sometimes to extreme measures.

Pagan rituals and celebrations follow the cycle of life through the year - birth, maturity, aging and death, spring, summer, autumn and winter - in a continual, never-ending cycle. Even the universe is in a continual cycle. When this world ends, another will begin. The God of the Bible calls Himself the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev 1:8). However, Pagans deny any beginning or end, but see a constant cycle of death and rebirth. For this reason, they tend to affirm some form of reincarnation.

Sex and nudity are seen as part of nature, and Pagans have no qualms about sexual activity outside of marriage. In fact, Pagans have much in common with the ancient fertility religions and the high place worship that was done in groves of trees thousands of years ago (Ezek 6:13, Jer 3:6). In that respect, it is interesting that on May 1 Pagans celebrate Beltain, the marriage of the goddess and god, when the god becomes Oak King.

Pagans do not believe in sin or Satan. They are often upset when they are seen as Satanists or satanic, since Satan does not enter into their worldview. Rather, they accept concepts of karma and positive and negative energy. They have no rules or guidebook and no leader. Each pagan follows his or her own spiritual path. The single solid rule of Paganism is: “If it harms none, do what you will.” They seek to do 'good' according to their individual understanding of good, to help their communities and take care of the environment and create positive energy. They are responsible to themselves alone, and have their own values and ethics.

Paganism offers spirituality without any rules or regulations, and connection with the spiritual world without requiring submission to the will of the one true God. Paganism teaches that the individual is god, free to choose his or her own path, his or her own boundaries for morality. This is very appealing to those wanting to throw off what they see as oppressive patriarchal religions in favor of the more 'compassionate' female goddess of Paganism. It has had a great deal of influence in the intellectual world, as well as among teenagers. Teens who love nature anyway, and who don't want to be told what to do, find Paganism an attractive form of religion.

Unfortunately, while Pagans see their religion as harmless and good for the environment and community, they do not know the spiritual forces that are truly at work behind it (Eph 6:12, 1 John 4:1-3). Denying the problem of sin is self-deceptive and dangerous (1 John:1:8). And by denying sin, Pagans reject their need for a Savior. Whether or not Pagans believe in Satan has no bearing on the reality of his existence and his ability to influence their lives. Paul warns that even Satan can be transformed to look like an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). A good con artist never looks like a con. Instead, he offers you what you want, in a most appealing package, so that when you buy into his lie and accept what he offers, he can pillage you and strip you bare.

Christians and the New Pagans

Acts 14:11

We can see twelve billion years back into the past, and we have almost completely decoded our own DNA. Scientists are devising increasingly complex models for the workings of the brain, and can send probes far into space. We are in control. At the same time, surprisingly, there is a groundswell of something very old, and apparently irrational in scientific terms - paganism.

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Today as paganism is increasing, Christians read the New Testament with renewed interest. Paul acknowledged links with the worship of the unknown God, and did not demand that pagans adopt the culture and ritual of Judaism. What can we learn from Paul? What is the good news in a world that is becoming more pagan? Where are the points of continuity with Christian faith, and where is there conflict?

On the one hand, pagans themselves sometimes define the difference. In Daniel Quinn's very popular novel "The Story of B," for example, the hero expounds at great length on the perils of Christian faith and the need for a return to a pre-Christian, pagan animism. More than any Christian proselytiser, he draws Christianity and paganism into antagonistic contrast.

On the other hand, Ian Bradley, speaking appreciatively of the pre-Christian Celts, argues that “their pagan past almost certainly helped them to grasp the idea of the Trinity and the mystery of God who is both one in three and three in one.”[1] Christian fantasy writers C. S. Lewis, Tolkien and Madeleine L'Engle also make connections between pagan and Christian belief.

Who is right? Are paganism and Christian faith in conflict, or is this resurgence of faith in an old spirituality grounds for optimism?

Neopaganism is an attempt to rediscover the old religions displaced when Christian faith moved into European and tribal cultures. Some of its appeal is environmental - advocates like Quinn blame the Christian legacy for the ecological crisis, and our estrangement from nature. Paganism also covers a wide range of beliefs and practices, from nature god or goddess worship to finding god in the self, or in the energies of nature. It ranges from antagonism to Christian faith to quiet coexistence or a syncretistic blending of the two.

But paganism is attractive to many people because it is easily accessible, largely non-institutional, and countercultural, and perhaps because it imposes so few social obligations and taboos. Whatever its cause this newly emergent paganism is a genuine search for a lost spirituality and for hidden historical and natural connections.

Christians, however, find this resurgence of paganism confusing because it has been spreading successfully without any institutional presence or proselytising zeal. Where does all this come from? Confusing also is the fact that pagans are often more spiritual and more open to religious experiences than are Christians.

Where are neopagans found? If neopagans have no institutional presence where do we go to find them? A few months ago neopagans throughout North America staged a day in the open, publicly gathering to commune with nature and make their presence known. And in Wellington last year pagan wiccans held a winter solstice meeting that was reported in the news.

But paganism more often has little public presence, though according to anthropologist Dr Kathryn Rountree, there are at least a thousand self-identified witches in New Zealand.[2]

Your local bookshop is a good place to find traces of paganism. Most bookshops will have special new age sections featuring books on alternative spirituality including references to the goddess phenomenon. Children's fantasy and video games designed for children are also turning to pagan themes, as are books on ecology and the environment - and even many novels.

In a resort bookshop recently I found three categories, fiction, non-fiction and new age. The bibles were in the new age section, along with Tolkien, Celtic spirituality, homeopathy, other fantasy and more truly new-age speculation. (A few miles away in Russell, Pomapallier House is testimony to the extraordinary sacrifices missionaries endured to bring the Bible in Maori to a pagan world a century and a half ago.) This conflating of all spiritualities certainly reflects our current market, but it also reflects a considerable confusion and superficiality that bears little resemblance to the original power of either pagan or Christian religion.

Religions are sometimes treated as interchangeable weak forces, to be blended together for better effect. Paganism has become just one among many of these weak forces, confounding the problem of locating its centre.

SIMILAR TRENDS

There are many other trends that seem to be working in tandem with the neopagan movement. Contemporary science brings us technological control and efficiency - but cosmology and atomic physics also take us to the edge of what we can understand or 'map'. No longer can we envisage the world as a neat machine wound up by a benign deity. Rather we see nature as strange, and thus mysterious.

Feminists have described how the western tradition has labelled women as nature-bound and inferior. Because of this some women have established a solidarity with nature, nature religions, and other oppressed nature-bound forms. Then there are women breaking free from traditional support systems and institutions who often seek spirituality elsewhere - in the new age and neopagan ritual and symbol - safely far from the father god of their Christian roots or Christian heritage.

Neopaganism is encountered in the Maori, Aborigine and American Indian renaissance, with the rediscovery of a heritage that belonged spiritually to a particular place and time, and which appears to have had a more benign relationship with the environment than ours. At a recent conference I attended an aboriginal woman testified: “I have Jesus in my heart, and the Dreaming.” She went on to talk about how easily she identified with the whole Old Testament world, not something commonly said by a convert to Christianity.

Today there is an unprecedented searching after our roots and our history which goes much beyond the religious. We want to know about our ancestors - history and genealogy/whakapapa matter to us. The fact that bitter warfare like that in the Holy Land or in Eastern Europe can escalate over events that date hundreds of years or even millennia or more back, shows us that our sense of 'difference' and 'identity' has roots in the distant past. Part of this search for our history is in our pagan ancestry, whether it be Celtic, Anglo-Saxon or Maori.

In the continuing debate over science and religion, we are moving towards a more dynamic understanding of God's presence both in the world and over and beyond the world. At the same time the close connections between humans and animals are becoming evident as animal intelligence is being discovered and researched alongside the ongoing study of the nature of human intelligence and consciousness. The ecological crisis, too, has forced us to look again at nature and its precarious beauty - to recognise that we may be inducing a planet-wide extinction of life.

All of this is part of a trend that is much wider than neopaganism. A trend that is inclined to see God in the world, to rediscover the sacred in nature - to 're-enchant' the natural world in a way that does justice to its God-drenched and God-derived nature.

NEOPAGAN SPIRITUALITY

Thus neopaganism, to the extent that it can be defined, is not basically negative. Thomas Cahill, for example, has shown us in How the Irish Saved Civilisation that Patrick - the Christian missionary to Ireland - chose to work with concepts that were already part of pagan Irish culture. The result was a rich incarnational spirituality in which the pre-Christian concepts of trinity and sacrifice were transformed by Christian faith rather than supplanted.

The Irish, like the New Zealand Maori, renounced revenge or utu when they converted to Christ. Too often a concern that people believe in the right spirits, or the right doctrines, has supplanted an understanding of the heart of the gospel and its demand for grace, love, hope and forgiveness.

Pagans are right in pointing to the vulnerabilities of the church and its long engagement with technological western culture. Perhaps the great pagan strength parallels a weakness in western technological society. Neopagan and Eastern religious spirituality often works toward restoring balance or harmony, and attempts to see the person holistically. In contrast, western scientific reductionism is more often preoccupied with an emphasis on the sin or the disease at the expense of the whole person or the health of communities.

We seem to have some sort of dim collective memory of the force nature must have been in the lives of our ancestors. Green parties, environmental work and our propensity to 'go bush' in order to get away from it all, are evidence of nature's continuing lure.

Pagan belief and practice attempts to dig deeper, turning back the clock on the centuries of technological intervention which have deprived us of nature's rhythms. Even in our incarnational religion the sacraments are our only ritual contact between the spiritual and the physical and in these we often struggle to find meaning.

THE TRINITARIAN GOD AND NATURE

Are there any reasons, then, for going beyond nature? Is paganism enough? After all, a friend of mine who does organic gardening says all her friends are witches, and they are most content to leave well alone. She can be a Christian, but they continue privately with their pagan rituals.

Along with a pagan respect for the mystery, power and spirituality of nature, however, was a belief that we were bound by nature's laws - its cycles and its ultimate death. But monotheism has freed us from this despair. It has given us hope grounded in the promise of God's reign and the salvation of human and material existence in the fullness of time.

The challenge the church faces, then, is to continue to strive for communication with and from God - to keep alive the inclination to be attuned to, and listening for, the Word of God. We should not be content with merely recognising God's hand in nature - thus giving nature itself the status of a god. Rather we should continue to search beyond nature as we reach out to a God who is transcendent, incarnate and immanent.

We should expect to find the Spirit of the Christian trinitarian God in nature, but this communal God should also draw us out of ourselves and nature into relationship and nurture. The Christian God does not just direct us to nature, but promises us that all things - the powers and principalities, and the social and political spheres - will eventually be redeemed in the promised kingdom of God. Nature, human community, the world and the cosmos are all God's concern.

Biblical faith may have tempted us to dominion and control over nature and animal and plant life, but in its transcendent, moral orientation it has also inspired us to preach the good news, to visit the sick and those in prison, send emissaries to foreign countries at great personal cost, or start and maintain the institutions that build societies.

The church prays for the world, makes space for repentance and transcendence, practises hope in the face of death and decay, and breaks the power of revenge or utu in Jesus' name.

MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH PAGAN PEOPLE

For a growing number of people the church door is a barrier. Even Jesus would retire to the countryside to pray, not the temple.

As we go out from our churches to make contact with the world, a different form of gospel proclamation will be required. It will be helpful for us to rediscover emphases that provide some connection with paganised people - the wisdom literature in Scripture, the deep Hebraic connection to nature, and the ubiquity of nature images for God, Spirit and Kingdom.

And to remember that, strangely, at the heart of the Christian story is the visit of the eastern magi: a reminder that God in Christ was being clearly recognised and responded to by some who were not part of the covenant people.

Two thousand years ago these kings, who were both scientists and seers, were able to link Christ to celestial events. The church's future may be in welcoming the three astrologer kings and their gifts, while guarding against the darker side of any pagan renaissance, offering Christ to a newly paganised community.

NOTES

1. Ian Bradley, The Celtic Way, (Darton Longman, 1993) p. 43

2. Quoted in an article in Stuff on the web at HYPERLINK http://www.stuff.co.nz October 31, Fairy Tale Image of Witches Paints a Wrong Picture, by Melanie Appleton and Dionne Christian.

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Why Isn't “Spirituality” Enough?

Hypermodern America has become a collectivity of “spiritualities” even as the contours of American culture become increasingly secularized. How is this possible? The emergence of spirituality as an alternative to historic Christianity is itself a product of secularism -- offering universal “meaning” without doctrine, truth, or specific content.

For the last twenty years or more, observers of American religion have noted the proliferation of diverse models of spirituality, ranging from New Age innovations to the re-emergence of ancient paganisms. The mainstream sociological explanation for this phenomenon is rooted in the assumption that the modern age marginalizes the exclusivistic and truth-oriented doctrines of Christianity and leaves the public square open for the emergence of less demanding belief systems and worldviews.

Of course, most of these are tailor-made for the American mindset. The idea of individualism is as old as America itself, and the dominance of autonomous individualism in modern American culture is, at least in part, the inevitable outgrowth of at least one dimension of America's founding experience.

The sociologists are concerned about the rise of spirituality precisely because more communitarian thinkers doubt that these modern forms of individualist religion can sustain social cohesiveness and the American project. Not so fast, argues Leigh E. Schmidt. In “Spirit Wars,” Schmidt's article in the latest issue of The Wilson Quarterly, he argues that American social critics have prematurely dismissed spirituality as a cultural force.

Schmidt, Professor of Religion at Princeton University, acknowledges that “social critics have achieved a rare unanimity: lambasting American 'spirituality' in all its new age quirkiness and anarchic individualism.”

Indeed, a considerable body of literature now exists in order to document the emergence of spirituality and to consider the danger it poses to the republic. An alarm was first sounded by sociologist Robert Bellah and his team of writers in Habits of the Heart, published in 1985. Bellah and his team argued that the breakdown of traditional religion was leading to a deterioration in the American social fabric and its essential institutions. They lamented the emergence of “liberalized versions” of morality that were and are almost exclusively individualistic in focus. As Schmidt summarizes, “The social costs of such disjointed spiritual quests were evident not only in the fraying of church life but in eroding commitments to public citizenship, marriage, and family.”

But if Bellah and company -- joined by observers such as David Brooks and Martin E. Marty -- think that the rise of spirituality at the expense of traditional faiths is problematic, Schmidt argues that American liberals should embrace spirituality as a means of gaining political momentum and rebuilding social capital.

Schmidt argues for a longer historical vision. Modern versions of American individualism, he argues, are simply the expansion and continuation of a line of individualistic thinking that runs back to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and a host of others. Martin E. Marty may argue that the conflict between “spirituality” and “religion” is “a defining conflict of our time,” but Schmidt suggests a cease-fire.

As Schmidt reviews the history of American spirituality, he sees in Emerson, Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau a combination of “spiritual journeying” and “political progressivism.” As he explains, “Emerson's 'endless seeker' was, as often as not, an abolitionist; Whitman's 'traveling soul,' a champion of women's rights; Henry David Thoreau's 'hermit,' a challenger of unjust war.”

Beyond this, Schmidt is convinced that correctives to excessive individualism were already present in nineteenth century America. He points to William R. Alger, a transcendentalist of the second generation and a Unitarian minister. Alger championed Thoreau's concern for the spiritual while rejecting his solitude. Indeed, Alger criticized Thoreau as “constantly feeling himself, reflecting himself, fondling himself, reverberating himself, exalting himself, incapable of escaping or forgetting himself.”

Alger apparently recognized that Thoreau's extreme form of individualism led to a “self-nauseated weariness” rather than to social progress.

Schmidt also points to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a radical abolitionist who later served as a colonel in an African-American regiment in the Civil War. Higginson took Thoreau and Algier one step further, arguing that Americans should simply embrace spirituality as a diverse testimony to one fundamental reality. In Higginson's words: “I have worshiped in an Evangelical church when thousands rose to their feet at the motion of one hand. I have worshiped in a Roman Catholic church when the lifting of one finger broke the motionless multitude into twinkling motion, till the magic sign was made, and all was still once more. But I never for an instant have supposed that this concentrated moment of devotion was more holy or more beautiful than when one cry from a minaret hushes a Mohammedan city to prayer, or when, at sunset, the low invocation, 'Oh! The gem in the lotus -- oh! The gem in the lotus,' goes murmuring, like the cooing of many doves, across the vast surface of Tibet.”

As Schmidt explains, Higginson's vision called for “a cosmopolitan piety in which religious identities were open, fluxional, and sympathetic rather than closed, fixed, and proselytizing.”

Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote his essay, “The Sympathy of Religions,” in 1871. Clearly, he was ahead of his time. Higginson's poetic description of his universalistic and relativistic spirituality has been realized in the development of American cafeteria-style pseudo-religion.

Schmidt sees a political possibility behind his analysis of America's religious landscape. A proponent of “progressive” causes, Schmidt believes that American political liberals should embrace spirituality as a means of countering the influence of conservatives and traditional Christians.

“The roots of today's seeker spirituality are tangled, but they go deep in American culture and often prove, on closer inspection, to be surprisingly robust,” Schmidt argues. “It is hard, once one has traveled any length on the roads forward from Emerson and Whitman, not to be impressed by the tenacity of this joined tradition of spiritual seeking and political progressivism in American religious life.”

Interestingly, Schmidt points to Sen. Barack Obama, the recently elected senator from Illinois who has emerged as one of the leading lights in the Democratic Party. Obama, Schmidt advises, wants to “reconnect progressive politics with religious vision.”

Senator Obama's statement on this point deserves careful analysis: “My mother saw religion as an impediment to broader values, like tolerance and racial inclusivity. She remembered church-going folks who also called people nigger. But she was a deeply spiritual person, and when I moved to Chicago and worked with church-based community organizations, I kept hearing her values expressed.”

We should note that Obama made no reference to where his mother discovered those “broader values” nor did he identify any specific content concerning these values or the spiritual vision that was claimed to undergird them. Nevertheless, Obama's statement serves to indicate how the concept of spirituality functions as a substitute for any specific truth claim or religious identification.

More surprisingly, Schmidt appears to be impressed with Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine, and his ideal of an “Emancipatory Spirituality.” In Lerner's analysis, “The liberal world has developed such a knee-jerk hostility to religion” that those “who actually do have spiritual yearnings” have been marginalized.

In truth, the vagueness of these statements undermines any claim to make a serious intellectual argument. Lerner's idea of “spiritual yearnings” gets him nowhere -- what exactly is spiritual about these yearnings? Without reference to some specific truth claim or structured thought, this becomes little more than nonsensical wordplay.

This, too, is nothing new. When pressed to define spirituality, pragmatist William James replied: “Susceptibility to ideals, but with a certain freedom to indulge in imagination about them. A certain amount of 'otherworldly' fancy.”

Call me hardheaded, but I just don't see reaching out to Americans who identify themselves as being “susceptible to ideals” and interested in “otherworldly fancy” to be a winning political strategy in today's America.

Liberals will have to make their own decisions, and they are certainly not going to look to me for political advice. Nevertheless, I have more respect for a clear-headed secularist than for someone who espouses this kind of mind-numbing relativism. If spirituality simply means a “susceptibility to ideals,” does it even matter what those ideals are?

Responding to a similar call for an embrace of spirituality, Paul Powers of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon argued: “Softheaded spiritualism is its own form of fundamentalism. The suggestion that the 'true essence' of all religions is spirituality implies that if only people were not so stupid as to believe what their tradition teaches them, they would see that behind all this mere cultural baggage is the supreme 'spiritual' truth. Religions and religious people are mind-bogglingly different. Why American liberals who seem so happy to embrace difference in various contexts want, when it comes to religion, to sweep [different truth claims] under the rug of some invented, undefined, supposedly universal 'spirituality' remains one of the true religious mysteries of our times.”

In reality, it isn't really such a mystery after all. Spirituality is all that is left when truth claims are removed. Spirituality represents little more than an effort to claim higher “values” without the demands of truth, revelation, and obedience.

Of all people, Christians should be the first to see this for what it is -- an effort to replace the Christian faith with an empty “spiritual” shell. Biblical Christianity is profoundly spiritual -- but Christian spirituality is an expression of Christian truth, not its substitute.

American Gnostics: Da Vinci and That Old-time Religion

Despite “bombing with most critics,” THE DA VINCI CODE is doing well at the box office. In its first weekend in theaters it made $77 million in the United States and $224 million worldwide.

But, for the NEW YORK TIMES, the real story isn't about the movie; it's about the audience. And, for once, I agree with the TIMES, for the film exposes what the DA VINCI craze is all about.

As the article puts it, the movie encapsulates “an era in which many Christian believers have assimilated a whole lot of new and unorthodox ideas ... [into] their faith, while still seeing it as Christianity.”

One such “believer” so-called quoted in the article called himself a “Gnostic Christian.” He said, “I don't need someone to interpret God for me . . .” For him, church was not for instruction, much less being told how to live his life. Instead, it was for “[communing] with others.”

This attitude is not just the result of reading or seeing THE DA VINCI CODE. Rather, as George Barna told the TIMES, for millions of Americans “THE DA VINCI CODE essentially reinforced what they [already] believed.” Barna calls that belief system “pick and choose theology.” Another way of putting it, of course, is “Gnosticism.”

In one form or another, Gnosticism has been tormenting Christianity since the late first century. The letter to the Colossians and the Epistles of John were written, in part, to combat an early form of these beliefs.

I said “beliefs” because there are various forms of Gnosticism. The one that church fathers like Irenaeus wrote against “portrayed Christ as a heavenly being who came down to earth to awaken them from their spiritual slumber by disclosing their own divine inner nature.” These Gnostics despised their physical natures, which led some of them to embrace wanton promiscuity. After all, if your body is not a temple, you can't dishonor it.

We can see elements of that kind of Gnosticism in today's so-called “spirituality,” especially among New Agers. But there is another variety of Gnosticism that's even more connected to what people told the TIMES.

In his book THE AMERICAN RELIGION, Yale's Harold Bloom described what he regarded as the Gnostic tendencies of American popular religion. According to Bloom, some parts of American Christianity have stressed “a Gnostic knowing of Jesus through direct acquaintance.” Since this experience of “Jesus” is direct, there is no need for an institution like the Church.

This experience-centered religion, untethered to church or sound instruction, fits in well with our self-centered culture, a world in which everything — including God — exists to glorify the imperial self. And the DA VINCI myth is the ultimate conceit, telling us that we ourselves have the key to life, that we are god — which is, of course, the temptation the serpent offered Eve in the Garden.

The verdict is now in, so you can explain to your neighbors what is behind all of this DA VINCI hype, besides Dan Brown making himself a fortune. It's a seductive lie, as old as humanity itself.

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Who Am I?

Mark 8:27

Many world religions today accept the man Jesus within their belief system. Muslims call him a prophet; some Buddhists consider him a bodhisattva, and New Age practitioners call him a social activist. Amidst such diverse claims of the identity of Jesus, who is the real Jesus? This reminds me of Jesus’s own question to his disciples in Matthew 16 -- namely, “Who do people say that I am?” A brief look at the backdrop of his question would help us better grasp the significance of this passage.

First, consider the location. The incident occurred at a place some miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee in the domain of Herod Philip.(1) It was also the reputed birthplace of the god of Pan -- the god of nature and fertility -- and he was staunchly worshipped there. The surrounding area was also filled with temples of classical pagan religion. Towering over all of these was the new temple to the Emperor Caesar. Thus, the question of Jesus’s identity was aptly and significantly posed to his disciples against a myriad of gods and idols.

Second, consider Peter’s response. The answer Peter accorded to Jesus’s question -- “You the Christ, the Son of the living God” -- was a title with implications that the original audience knew perfectly well. Peter was describing Jesus as the Promised One who would fulfill the hopes of the nation. The interesting thing, though, is that the original audience was expecting a Messiah or savior who was more of a political figure. Of course, Jesus, the disciples were discovering, was much more than this. He described himself as the divine Son of God, and the salvation he was to bring as something not just for the Jewish nation but for peoples of all nations.

Peter’s insightful confession was key in the disciples’ eventual recognition of Jesus and the turn of events that would follow. Though given divine insight, Peter was as unaware as the rest of the disciples that the victory of the Messiah they professed would come in the most unexpected way. Yet from here on, God’s plan was further revealed, Jesus’s suffering and impending death more clearly voiced. Jesus revealed that his Messiahship involved taking on the role of the suffering servant as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. His very identity would ultimately lead him to his cursed death on the Cross.

Of course, how Jesus lived and died has implications as to how his followers are to live as well. That is, we, too, are to deny our self-importance and self-focus and be willing to lose our lives in standing up for what is true and right. The earliest Christians understood this very well as many were persecuted for their faith and betrayed by their own families. The laying down of one’s life was a literal reality for those who would become martyrs.

Today, most of us live in environments where the question “Who do you say that I am?” is still asked in a world of distractions. We live in a context where we have endless options to choose from: a plethora of religions, pleasure and wealth, recognition, and so on. The question is as pressing to us as it was for those who first heard it. Who do we say Christ is? Our response is both personal and public. If we claim that Christ is supreme over all other competitors for our allegiance, how is this confession evident in our lives and in the world?

Regardless of what we may have been told, the way of Jesus is ultimately the way of the Cross. Signing up with Christ won’t give you worldly benefits, but all the forms of suffering that arise from carrying one’s cross. As we proclaim in our religiously pluralistic context that Christ is supreme over all other gods of this world, we need to be reminded that his supremacy and victory cannot be divorced from the heavy price that he paid.

Often, like Peter, we tend to expect a Lord who fits our preconceptions or ideas -- perhaps one who is always “successful,” or one who is validated by signs and wonders. Even the disciples were not spared this temptation. All of their questions about who would sit at his right hand and what one would secure from discipleship reveal that they were expecting glory as they walked with the Son. Their expectations likely did not include getting killed.

However, as they soon learned, any commitment to Christ that does not feature the Cross is merely devotion to an idol, for following Christ is costly. For some, following will mean death itself. It will mean taking up the Cross. It will mean living beyond our comfort zone. It may mean you will have to leave the country you call home. It will mean stepping out in love and conviction and perhaps undertaking a calling that many will scorn. Choosing to call Jesus the Christ may mean losing our lives, but then, this is the only way to truly live.

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1. NIV ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY BIBLE (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005), 1589.

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To Seek the Light

In the book "Megatrends 2000", authors Naisbitt and Aburdene outlined trends they anticipated would be transformational for the future. Among their calculations was the New Age movement, which in 1990 was quickly gaining momentum. They wrote: “In turbulent times, in times of great change, people head for the two extremes: fundamentalism and personal, spiritual experience... With no membership lists or even a coherent philosophy or dogma, it is difficult to define or measure the unorganized New Age movement. But in every major U.S. and European city, thousands who seek insight and personal growth cluster around a metaphysical bookstore, a spiritual teacher, or an education center.”(1) This is all the more an accurate picture for today.

While New Age seekers may not share a cohesive focus or an organizational center, there are certainly consistent and underlying tenets of thought among them. The movement is syncretistic, in that it incorporates any number of spiritual and religious ideologies at one time, but it is consistently monistic and pantheistic. New Age seekers are informed by the belief that all of reality is essentially one. Thus, everything is divine, including themselves; for if all is one, and there are no distinctions, then all is God. Or, in the words of Shirley Maclaine, “I am God, because all energy is plugged in to the same source.... We are individualized reflections of the God source. God is us and we are God.”(2)

Seven hundred years earlier, medieval Christian mystic Julian of Norwich spoke in what some may consider a similar tone: “[O]ur substance is our Father, God almighty... [O]ur substance is whole in each person of the Trinity, who is one God.”(3) Early Christian mystics are known for their fervent seeking and spiritual awareness of the oneness of life. Thus, there are certainly similar melodies to be found within the songs of Christian mysticism and the growing chorus of New Age spirituality. But so there are marked differences among them.

Within its historical context, mysticism, like many other Christian movements, was an expression of faith in response to faithless times. In this regard, New Age seekers are not entirely different. Some New Age seeking is, I think, a legitimate reaction to the comfortable and shallow religious life we find within our society. But as New Age seekers long for the depth and freedom to believe in everything, the result is contrary to what they seek. Their theology and spirituality are entirely segregated. The quest for illumination is a quest that can begin and end anywhere; thus, they find neither depth, nor freedom. On the contrary, Julian of Norwich and other early Christian mystics sought an authentic experience of faith as a result of an already dynamic understanding of that faith. Their theology in and of itself is what LED THEM to spirituality.

For the Christian today, illumination still begins with Light itself, God unobscured, though incomprehensible, revealed through the glory of the Son. Starting with light and standing upon truth, the Christian begins his journey as a seeker knowing there is one who hears his prayers. There is a source for all illumination, and He is light of the world.

New Age seekers would perhaps be helped to know there is a great tradition of seeking within Christianity, a tradition that began with the recognition that we could not fix what is wrong, and a tradition that continues because there is one who can. The human heart is ever-seeking, showing the longing of a soul to be known. In the words of Julian of Norwich, “We shall never cease wanting and longing until we possess Him in fullness and joy... The more clearly the soul sees the Blessed Face by grace and love, the more it longs to see it in its fullness.” For the Christian seeker, communion with God is far more than self-discovery or personal freedom; it is theology that has become doxology, which in turn becomes life.

________

1. J. Naisbitt and P. Aburdene, MEGATRENDS 2000: TEN NEW DIRECTIONS TRANSFORMING OUR LIVES (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1990), 11.

2. Shirley Maclaine, DANCING IN THE LIGHT (New York: Bantam Doubleday, 1991), 339.

3. Julian of Norwich, SHOWINGS, edited and translated by James Walsh in “The Classics of Western Spirituality” (New York: Paulish Press, 1978), 129.

________

The Secret

Genesis 3:5

I had never watched an entire episode of Oprah until her program on “The Secret.” In the promo for the show, Oprah announced that the program would present “the secret” to making more money, losing weight, finding the love of your life and achieving job success.

Who could resist hearing more about such a claim, especially when it is made by the most influential woman in America and touted as the key to all her success? Apparently I wasn’t alone. After the show, Oprah’s website was overwhelmed, e-mails poured in, and within hours The Secret had become the best-selling book in the nation.

A week later, while unpacking in a hotel room, I powered up the TV. Oprah and two guests from the week before appeared on the screen, effusive about the transforming power of The Secret. Her website called the episode, “A follow-up to the show everybody is talking about!”

People are not only talking about The Secret, they are buying it. I am writing this review in a Barnes & Noble bookstore, and this particular branch has completely sold out of the book -- again. Only two days ago -- so I am told -- a storewide announcement assured a horde of anxious shoppers that another large shipment of the book had arrived and would be brought to the sales floor momentarily. Readers quickly grabbed every copy. Almost impossibly, The Secret is even outselling (at this writing) the final Harry Potter book. And if that wasn’t enough, the audio edition of the book follows these two as the nation’s No. 3 seller.

The Australian author of The Secret, Rhonda Byrne, introduces the book by admitting, “A year ago, my life had collapsed around me.” Through searching for answers in a variety of books new and old, she began to trace what she believed was a common thread in them all. She dubbed it the “Great Secret -- The Secret to Life.”

Byrne became convinced that this was the key to explaining the success of “the greatest people in history.” As she started practicing this secret, Byrne says her life immediately began to change in ways nothing short of miraculous. She decided to make a video called The Secret to share her discoveries with others. In March of 2006 it was released on the Internet, but soon went to DVD. By late autumn, the phenomenal success of the video placed it on two episodes of “Larry King Live.” Shortly after, two of the teachers featured on The Secret were guests on Ellen Degeneres’ daily TV show. Before Christmas, The Secret DVD had spun off a book by the same title which Oprah Winfrey catapulted to the top of the charts in February.

The essence of The Secret is “the law of attraction.” According to Byrne and the 29 co-contributors whom she quotes extensively, everything in the Universe (which is always capitalized and usually synonymous for “God”) vibrates on a particular frequency.When you think in harmony with the frequency of something, you attract it to you. If you think about wealth, you will receive wealth. If you think instead about your debt, you will receive more debt. You attract what you think about; your thoughts determine your destiny.

Byrne restates the law of attraction in various ways: “Nothing [good or bad] can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts” (p. 28). “Your thoughts are the primary cause of everything” (p. 33). “Your current reality or your current life is a result of the thoughts you have been thinking” (p. 71). According to the product description on the DVD, “This is The Secret to everything -- the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted.

Byrne promises with ironclad certainty: “There isn’t a single thing that you cannot do with this knowledge.... The Secret can give you whatever you want” (p. xi). By it “you will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want” (p. xii).

But in the final analysis, The Secret is nothing more than so-called Name It-Claim It, Positive-Confession, Prosperity Theology (minus God and the Bible), built on a foundation of New Age self-deification. In other words, the book is just a secular version of what some TV preachers have taught for decades: Namely, if you will sustain the right thoughts, words and feelings, you will receive whatever you want. But The Secret adds this important twist: your thoughts can bring anything into your life because you are god.

Books that promise health and wealth for their practitioners are published every day. But few associate such promises with Byrne’s breathtaking audacity. She proclaims to her readers, “You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet” (p. 164).

If that weren’t blasphemous enough, realize that the book your neighbors and co-workers are reading more than any other also tells them, “The earth turns on its orbit for You. The oceans ebb and flow for You. The birds sing for You. The sun rises and it sets for You. The stars come out for You. Every beautiful thing you see, every wondrous thing you experience, is all there for You. Take a look around. None of it can exist, without You. No matter who you thought you were, now you know the Truth of Who You Really Are. You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of Life. And now you know The Secret” (p. 183).

This would be beautiful if it were addressed to the God of Heaven. But as Byrne thinks this is what we should say to the person in the mirror, it is the heresy of heresies. Her “Secret” is nothing less than Satan’s original lie in the Garden of Eden, “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5).

It is no exaggeration to say that this book implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) denies virtually every major doctrine in the Bible. For starters, the authority of Scripture is undermined in The Secret, because the Bible apparently has value only insofar as it (according to Byrne) teaches The Secret. Moreover, the Bible is neither unique nor supremely authoritative, for Byrne maintains that the holy book of every religious tradition contains The Secret. Thus Byrne’s teaching is eclectic, that is, she believes that all religions and their scriptures are equally valid in their authority and basically teach the same thing.

Without mentioning Jesus, she quotes Him from Matthew 21:22 and Mark 11:24, claiming that the teaching to ask, believe, and receive in prayer is the way to “create what you want in three simple steps” (p. 47). And of course, it is not God we’re to ask, but “the Universe.” Thus The Secret is pantheistic, that is, it teaches that God is not a Person; rather, He is to be equated with the totality of everything.

Despite this brief nod to the Bible, Byrne’s book is marketed upon the implication that readers probably would never discover The Secret on their own. “It has been passed down through the ages, highly-coveted, hidden, lost, stolen, and bought for vast sums of money.... Now The Secret is being revealed to the world” (from the back cover). Thus the book is Gnostic, that is, it makes you dependent upon a small, elite group (namely, Rhonda Byrne and her panel of enlightened experts, “avatars,” and relatively obscure historical sources) to tell you what you need to know. In fact, in true Gnostic style, Byrne and her illuminati expressly refer to what we need to know as a secret -- “the Great Secret.” And of course, you must pay -- in this case, the price of the book or the DVD -- to learn The Secret.

There’s no mention of sin in The Secret. The cause of all the problems in the world and in our individual lives is merely bad thinking, specifically the failure to recognize and appropriately use the law of attraction. Therefore the solution to everything lies within us. And that, of course, eliminates the need for a Savior, a Substitute, or a Sacrifice. The cross and resurrection of Jesus become irrelevant.

Curiously, there’s not a single reference to death or the afterlife in the book. Apparently this is a non-issue for contributors to The Secret, for one of them assures us, “no one will stand in judgment of [your life], now or ever” (p. 177). Another, when questioned about this on Oprah’s second show on the book, suggested that Heaven and Hell were present experiences, not future destinations.

So as with nearly all false teaching, the flaws of The Secret are most visible when you examine what it has to say about the Bible and Jesus.

If I had to commend something about The Secret, I would mention its emphasis on gratitude and the importance of the thought life. Byrne devotes several pages to “The Powerful Process of Gratitude” (pp. 74-80). Though she does not base it on the Bible, Byrne nevertheless encourages just what the Bible teaches in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “in everything give thanks.” She says that regardless of the situations awaiting her, “By the time I am ready for the day, I have said ‘Thank you’ hundreds of times” (p. 76). Remarkably, she never says to whom thanks should be given. Nor is her motivation kindred to the one stated in the verse above: “this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Regarding the thought life, The Secret reminds us that there is a powerful connection between our thoughts and our actions. While the thoughts Byrne wants us to repeat are typically contrary to Scripture, she rightly observes that the thoughts we constantly affirm influence our feelings and our behavior. This conforms to the declaration of Scripture that Christians are “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). For us to live for the glory of God and in increasing conformity to Christ requires not only that we grow in our knowledge of God’s Word, but also that we constantly reaffirm specific truths of Scripture, despite feelings or circumstances that contradict them.

The problem with The Secret is that it focuses our hope selfward and not Godward. It is all about self-empowerment, self-fulfillment and getting whatever we want. But Jesus warned, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). The Secret disregards the fact that God has a Law and we have broken it (James 2:10). What Byrne fails to realize about her law of attraction is that our sinful hearts deceive us (Jeremiah 17:9) and attract not only more sin and guilt, but ultimately, the wrath of God.

However, God in His mercy sent His Son to receive this wrath as a Substitute for all who will repent of their self-centeredness and believe in Him. And “through the true knowledge of Him” -- not Rhonda Byrne’s book -- “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).

“The Secret to everything” (to use Byrne’s term) is God Himself. And The Secret has not been hidden, nor waiting to be uncovered in a 21st century book. God has been revealing Himself since the beginning of creation, and for thousands of years He has freely told us everything we need to know about Him in the Bible. And He remains an unknown Secret only to those who will not look for Him there.

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Don Whitney is associate professor of biblical spirituality at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Universal Belief System

Syncretism is the making of a new religion by adding elements of different faiths together. A recent example from the news:

Daniel Lorenz is suing a Wal-Mart in Texas because they fired him over his religion. While he stocked the shelves at night, he wore a Muslim headdress, a Catholic priest’s shirt, and a giant crucifix necklace. He says his religion, the Universal Belief System, requires this get-up.

It turns out Mr. Lorenz invented the religion himself in 2001. Wal-Mart points out he usually wears normal clothes outside the store. Lorenz admits this, but says his religion is “ever-evolving.”

That’s the great thing about syncretism: you get to make it up as you go along.

New Book, Old Lie: the Secret

What if I promised you that you could make anything happen — anything! — just by wanting it to happen?

You would think I was crazy, and you would be right. So why is a book based on this premise selling so fast that bookstores cannot keep it on the shelves?

Rhonda Byrne’s THE SECRET has been on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list for months, and a DVD version is also selling out everywhere. Byrne is selling the tempting message that ANYTHING you want is possible and easy to get.

This isn’t just about keeping an optimistic attitude to improve your life — it goes far beyond that. Byrne says a force called the Law of Attraction guarantees that if you think positive thoughts about what you want, you will get it. “The Universe” will bend over backwards to hand you whatever you wish for: money, a better job, a spouse, anything.

Byrne’s claims are absurd on their face. She swears repeatedly that the Law of Attraction NEVER fails, that it’s as reliable as the law of gravity. So what happens if two people both use “the secret” to make opposite things happen — for instance, if one wanted a sunny day and the other wanted rain?

Somehow, Byrne forgets to address this topic.

But that’s not the worst part. Among all the positive rhetoric are some very ugly concepts. While you are rearranging the universe to suit your own wishes, Byrne claims, you must avoid people who might inspire negative thoughts. So you should never look at overweight people or let sick people tell you about their illness.

Furthermore, if some people are poor, it “is because they are BLOCKING money from coming to them with their thoughts.” (Jesus Christ, she announces, was actually a millionaire.) And people involved in tragedies and disasters brought it on themselves. They did not want enough NOT to “be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Friends, I am not exaggerating. It’s all in there.

Tim Watkin reports in the WASHINGTON POST, “I watched Bob Proctor ... one of the ‘gurus’ Byrne quotes most often, being asked on ‘Nightline’ whether the starving children of Darfur had ‘manifested’ — that is, visualized — their own misery. In utter seriousness, he replied, ‘I think the country probably has.’”

But Byrne is not saying you should not care about other people. You SHOULD care about them — because it is good for YOU: “If you think thoughts of love, guess who receives the benefits — you!”

Unfortunately, people are really swallowing this stuff. And it is dangerous. The book contains examples of people who supposedly cured themselves of cancer without treatment, and people who bought expensive things because they just KNEW the money was coming in — I saw many of those in bankruptcy court when I was a practicing attorney. Karin Klein reports in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, “Therapists tell me they’re starting to see patients who are headed for real trouble, immersing themselves in a dream world in which good things just come.”

Byrne has scammed millions of people by appealing to their pride and greed, and she is making a fortune. But I will tell you this for free: Byrne’s hot new trend is simply a repetition of the oldest lie there is — ”You shall be like God.”

That’s the secret, not of success, but of misery.

________

'Third' Jesus Is A False Jesus

John 5:23

“One Jesus is historical and we know next to nothing about him,” writes Deepak Chopra in his new book, “The Third Jesus.” The New Age philosopher continues, “Another Jesus is the one appropriated by Christianity. He was created by the Church to fulfill its agenda. The third Jesus, the one this book is about, is as yet so unknown that even the most devout Christians don’t expect he exists.”

In the book (Harmony Publishing), Chopra states, “I have written what I think the New Testament means...” And what it means to Chopra, the author of more than 40 books, is quite different from the way orthodox Christians have understood it through the centuries.

Chopra believes that the “real” Jesus -– the third Jesus -- is much less than the New Testament makes him out to be.

“I want to offer the possibility that Jesus was truly as he proclaimed, a savior. Not ‘the’ savior, not the one and only Son of God,” writes Chopra. “Rather, Jesus embodied the highest level of enlightenment.... Jesus intended to save the world by showing others the path of God-consciousness.”

According to Chopra, Jesus was nothing more than an adherent to what we now call New Age philosophy. “Jesus did not physically descend from God’s dwelling place ... nor did he return to sit at the right hand of a literal throne,” writes Chopra. “What made Jesus the Son of God was the fact that he had achieved God-consciousness.”

We shouldn’t discount Chopra’s book and assume no one is reading it. Sadly, the opposite true. “The Third Jesus” -- full of New Age, heretical pabulum –- was ranked third March 30, 2008, on The New York Times’ list for hardcover advice books.

Jesus’ teachings, Chopra contends, were in-line with other “enlightened” teachers. “The salvation Jesus offered was the same as Buddha’s: release from suffering and a path to spiritual freedom, joy and closeness to God.’

According to Chopra, Jesus was not –- as the Bible states -- God who became flesh for the purpose of dying on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. “Christianity is burdened by some impossible expectations,” asserts Chopra, “and one of them it that God forgave all sins through Jesus.”

Chopra contends that Jesus was nothing more than a man who tapped into his inner divinity through self-effort. And it is something, Chopra says, that we all can do.

How does Chopra deal with quotes where Jesus claims to be God? Such quotes pose no problem for the New Age guru, who contends that Jesus simply was misunderstood. “This audacious claim that Jesus was the same as God infuriated the priests,” Chopra writes. “They couldn’t comprehend that ‘I am God’ is the simplest statement for someone in God-consciousness.”

According to Chopra, “He [Jesus] meant something much more mystical when he says that he and the Father are one or that he is in the Father and the Father is in him.”

In order to deconstruct the orthodox Christian understanding of Jesus, Chopra finds it necessary to undermine the credibility of the gospels. “The writers of the gospels set out not to tell the facts of a life but to convert nonbelievers and support their own belief in Jesus as the Messiah,” he writes. “To this end they almost certainly exaggerated events, invented miracles, and put words into his mouth.”

According to Chopra, among the words the gospel writers put in Jesus mouth have to do with his claim to be the only way of salvation. “Jesus spoke of the necessity to believe in him as the road to salvation,” Chopra writes, “but these words were put in his mouth by his followers’ decades later.”

To further render the gospels as unreliable, Chopra asserts, “It is likely that many unknown scribes altered the original texts of the New Testament before a final version was settled on between the third and forth centuries AD.”

“Unless you believe that the gospels are revealed truth,” Chopra writes, “there are enough internal problems with the four gospels, I think, to question –- and open to interpretation -– the Jesus we meet in the Bible.”

In order to advance the New Age version of Jesus -– the “third Jesus” -– Chopra asserts that the orthodox version of Christianity is nothing more than a sham perpetrated through the centuries by a self-seeking church with its own suspect agenda. In essence, the Christ that is worshiped today by millions worldwide is a false version of Jesus, Chopra believes.

And I thought New Age adherents were tolerant. Can you imagine if an evangelical Christian made the same assertion about a religion -– any religion? He or she would be branded as a narrow-minded bigot and figuratively stoned in the mainstream media.

What is most interesting is how Chopra has no problem using the “unreliable” gospel accounts to support his argument for his “third Jesus.” He quotes from Matthew 42 times, Luke 28 times, John 27 times and Mark five times. If the gospels are so unreliable and suspect, how can Chopra justify trusting them at any point?

It is obvious that when Chopra approaches the New Testament he is so blinded by his New Age “light” that he can only see that which supports it. As such, he cherry picks quotes of Jesus and twists them to fit his New Age version of a “third Jesus.”

Chopra’s “third Jesus” is no Jesus at all. He is nothing more than the figment of a New Age imagination.

________

Kelly Boggs, whose column appears each week in Baptist Press, is editor of the Baptist Message, the newspaper of the Louisiana Baptist Convention

Oprah's 'Jesus'

Acts 17:11

In America’s celebrity-driven culture, perhaps the most harmful “Pied Piper” of heresies leading millions astray is Oprah Winfrey. Her adoption of anti-biblical doctrine is on display every day this year through her satellite radio network channel “Oprah & Friends.” It’s time for Christians to “just say no” to the big “O.”

In recent weeks, I have received multiple copies of the same e-mail warning Christians about Oprah Winfrey’s promotion of New Age teaching.

Oftentimes, broadcast e-mails are baseless and erroneous -- like the one that warns Madalyn Murray O’Hair is attempting to get the FCC to ban all Christian broadcasting. In spite of numerous repudiations of this bogus warning, the claim continues to float around the Internet.

Sometimes, however, e-mails turn out to be true and worthy of our attention. Such is the case with an e-mail currently in wide circulation concerning Oprah Winfrey’s promotion of A Course in Miracles (ACIM). After receiving multiple copies of the e-mail warning about this matter, I decided to check it out for myself.

Most of the e-mails about this include an article by Warren Smith, a former New Ager and student of ACIM, who devastatingly critiques this false teaching. His November 2007 article is online here: www.crossroad.to/articles2/007smith-oprah.htm. As I’m not familiar with Smith or this Web site, I cannot more broadly attest to him or the site. But concerning ACIM, his warnings are accurate and worth attention.

At the center of ACIM is megastar Oprah Winfrey -- perhaps the most well-known woman in the world. Winfrey’s media empire centers on her long-running and popular television talk show but also includes magazines, movies and her book club, and she is well-regarded for her many philanthropic efforts. Unfortunately, too few understand Winfrey’s devotion to unbiblical teachings, especially the New Age Movement.

Cky Carrigan, an evangelism professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in a helpful article, “How to Evangelize New-Agers” (http://www.ontruth.com/newage.htm), notes Winfrey is the “most influential preacher of New Age ideas,” winning “converts every day in staggering numbers -- many from Baptist churches.”

Carrigan quotes Oprah’s view of Jesus from one of her programs:

Oprah: “There are many paths to what you call God.”

Audience Member: “There is one way and only one way and that is through Jesus.”

Oprah: “There couldn’t possibly be just one way!”

What is the New Age Movement? Carrigan writes: “The New Age Movement is an American and European form of ancient eastern religious beliefs (Hinduism and Buddhism), combined with divination, earth-based religions, self-help theory, alternative healing techniques, astrology and other non-Christian religious practices. Therefore, the New Age Movement is not really new at all, though it is new to America.”

Although New Agers rely upon many sources, ACIM is among the most popular. New Age guru Marianne Williamson is responsible for popularizing the work through her book, “A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles,” while Oprah is to be credited with launching Williamson’s career through her appearances on Winfrey’s talk show.

And now, Williamson is one of the featured stars on the “Oprah & Friends” channel on XM Satellite Radio, reprising her role as advocate of ACIM through a year-long series on the course.

ACIM, however, was not written by Williamson, but by a tag-team of psychologists from Columbia University in New York, Helen Schucman and William Thetford. Schucman, on the ACIM Web site, defers credit for the work, which she merely “scribed.” An “inner voice,” she says was Jesus, told her, “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.”

From 1965 to 1972, Schuman experienced “Jesus’” voice through “inner dictation.” Thetford joined Schucman in scribing the voice, resulting in ACIM.

Thetford defined the purpose of ACIM as: “To help us change our minds about who we are and what God is, and to help us let go, through forgiveness, our belief in the reality of our separation from God. Learning how to forgive ourselves and others is really the fundamental teaching of the Course. The Course teaches us how to know ourselves and how to unlearn all of those things which interfere with our recognition of who we are and always have been.”

As would be expected from this definition, ACIM is full of heresy, often wrapped in confusing, contradictory, nonsensical rhetoric. Sometimes, however, ACIM is blatantly clear in its false doctrine. And, since Jesus was supposedly the voice heard by Schucman, these assertions are especially outrageous.

For example, Lesson 70, headlined: “My salvation comes from me,” opens with this comment: “All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to believe the idea for today. Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you. So, too, does the source of guilt. You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere else. When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place. In understanding this you are saved.”

Contrary to the Bible’s clear teaching that our guilt is the result of the fact that we truly are sinners, separated from God by our sin, and rightfully under God’s judgment for our sin, ACIM teaches that we must realize “all guilt is solely an invention of your mind” and in this realization is salvation.

Warren Smith has helpfully summarized some of the other false doctrine of the course in the previously referenced article:

• “There is no sin.”

• “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.”

ACIM is in wide use, even at the grassroots level in local churches. I came across a promotion of ACIM in the Lufkin (Texas) Daily News Feb. 29 for Unity Church of Christianity which offers the course, noting the “class is designed to teach people how to apply spiritual principles in their daily lives. No experience is necessary, just an open heart and an accepting mind.”

Such is the result of Oprah’s promotion of ACIM. Winfrey’s influence is vast. Tragically, far too many Christians -- including many who would consider themselves conservative, Bible-believing evangelicals -- are more likely to take their theological cues from Oprah than they are from their faithful pastors.

These Christians need to pattern their lives after those of the Bereans who “received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether” what they were being taught was true (Acts 17:11). Because they were rightly concerned with testing what they were taught according to the Scriptures, the Bereans were not likely to fall prey to false teachers.

The Apostle Peter describes the challenge of false teachers and how believers should respond to them in his second letter (2 Peter 2:1-22). He warns against “false teachers ... who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them ...” (v.1). He says “many” believers will be beguiled by the false teachers’ “sensuality,” resulting in the maligning of the truth (v.2). These false teachers are “springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved” (v. 17).

Peter’s warnings are clearly applicable to Oprah, Williamson and A Course in Miracles for undermining the faith with a false gospel and counterfeit “Jesus,” which in the end bring no actual spiritual nourishment or relief. Tragically, these teachers are leading people straight to hell.

Christians should flee from Oprah and her cohorts and recommit themselves to careful Bible study, in the context of a local body of believers with whom they have covenanted for mutual edification and accountability, led by a faithful pastor.

Of course, this isn’t as glamorous as Oprah -- but neither is eternal punishment in hell.

A Course In Miracles?

Acts 16:16

Oprah Winfrey told her television audience that the book, A Course In Miracles, was one of her favorite books, and that she had already bought a thousand copies and would be handing them out to everyone in her studio audience. Oprah’s endorsement skyrocketed the book to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

This new revelation began in 1965 when Helen Schucman, an associate professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University in New York, began receiving channeled messages from a speaker who would later identify himself as Jesus Christ.

One day Schucman heard an “inner voice” stating, “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.” So Schucman, an atheist Jewish psychologist, began writing and for the next ten years the voice is said to have dictated “in an inaudible voice” over 500,000 words contained in A Course In Miracles. This was done through the process called automatic handwriting, (in which a spirit entity guides the hand) and clairaudience (hearing from a disembodied spirit).

The primary reason for the Course is the “Correcting of the errors of Christianity.... To foster spiritual development through the study and practice of A Course In Miracles, a set of three books channeled by Jesus. ...to teach the Course’s reinterpretation of traditional Christian principles such as sin, suffering, forgiveness, Atonement, and the meaning of the Crucifixion....” (Foundation for A Course In Miracles, “Forgiveness,” p.3-4). The Workbook includes 365 lessons, one for each day of the year.

From its inception the Course has no qualms saying it is to challenge the word of God written down by the apostles who personally knew Jesus. Here is a quote from the book:

The journey to the cross should be the last “useless journey.” Do not dwell upon it, but dismiss it as accomplished. If you can accept it as your own last useless journey, you are also free to join my resurrection. Until you do so your life is indeed wasted. It merely re-enacts the separation, the loss of power, the futile attempts of the ego at reparation, and finally the crucifixion of the body, or death. Such repetitions are endless until they are voluntarily given up. Do not make the pathetic error of “clinging to the old rugged cross.” The only message of the crucifixion is that you can overcome the cross. Until then you are free to crucify yourself as often as you choose. This is not the gospel I intended to offer you. We have another journey to undertake, and if you will read these lessons carefully they will help prepare you to undertake it.

Same Old Earth, New Disguise: Oprah and A New Earth

You have probably heard of author Eckhart Tolle and his connection with Oprah Winfrey. What with Tolle’s bestselling book A NEW EARTH, its repeated promotion on Oprah’s talk show, and the online course they are running together, they have become pretty difficult to miss.

Unfortunately, for many people, it seems that the true message of A NEW EARTH has proved all too easy to miss.

Let me cut right to the chase: Tolle’s supposedly groundbreaking message is simply the same old New Age thinking in pretty packaging. While Tolle acknowledges something wrong with the human condition (what Christians call “sin”), he preaches the need not for repentance and salvation, but for a new “awakening.”

This involves looking deep within the self for peace and harmony, not looking to Christ. There is nothing new or revolutionary — and definitely nothing Christian — about it. It is paganism. It even seems some who claim Christ are getting caught up in the Tolle phenomenon.

Of course, it is easy to see the attraction. I can contribute to global peace by making life all about me? Who would not want that? It is the oldest temptation there is: letting ourselves be convinced that we “shall be like God.” But as Tolle and his followers do not seem to grasp, that is precisely what is wrong with the human condition in the first place: setting oneself up as God with all the resulting egoism, selfishness, and misery that entails.

At our own blog, The Point, there have been some fairly heated conversations about this phenomenon. There are those who claim that, simply because Tolle talks about God, that should make his teachings acceptable to all who believe in God. (These people, presumably, are unfamiliar with the reminder in James chapter 2 that “even the demons” believe in God).

The real evil, in these people’s eyes, is for members of any one particular faith to claim that it points the way to truth. And that, of course, undercuts Christianity. Even as Oprah Winfrey — Tolle’s patron — claims to still be a believer in Christ, she calls this the most exciting project in her life.

In a popular video on YouTube, when asked a direct question about how she can reconcile belief in Christianity with belief in Tolle’s message, Oprah states: “I reconciled it because I was able to open my mind about the absolute indescribable hugeness of that which we call God. I took God out of the box.”

She says she got tired of “rules” and “doctrines,” and particularly of the Scriptural idea that God is a “jealous God.” “Something about that didn’t feel right in my spirit,” she said, “because I believe that God is love.”

What Oprah did not understand, or would not understand, is that a loving God must be a jealous God — jealous of any lie that would steal His children away from Him and send them after false gods. As I explain in my new book THE FAITH, we need those doctrines to guard us against just the kind of untruths that Oprah, one of the most influential people in America, is now peddling.

Sadly, millions fall for this, especially when it becomes Oprah’s religion. There has never been a more urgent time or need, as I write in my book THE FAITH, “for us to know and defend the truth before millions more are sucked in to the old claims of the New Age.”

________

Christians Believe In Jesus, Ghosts, Reincarnation and the Dreaded Evil Eye

Acts 16

A poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows a surprising number of U.S. adults claim to have had supernatural experiences such as ghost sightings or hold beliefs associated with the New Age movement or Eastern religions.

And some of them claim allegiance to more traditional faiths such as Catholicism or evangelical Protestantism.

“American religious folks hold a variety of views and there is overlap among their beliefs and practices. Many do not fit into simple boxes,” said Pew researcher Alan Cooperman.

Other Pew surveys have shown that relatively few Americans would identify an Eastern religion or New Age spirituality as their core faith. But about a quarter of those surveyed say they believe in aspects of Eastern religion.

Nearly 25 percent said they believed in reincarnation and 23 percent said yoga was a spiritual practice. Twenty-six percent said they believed “spiritual energy” could be found in objects such as trees.

A quarter said they believed in astrology, while 16 percent of U.S. adults think that an “evil eye” exists or that some people can cast curses or spells on others. Among black Protestants the evil eye figure is 32 percent.

The number of Americans who profess a belief in astrology is about the same as the number who claim to be Roman Catholic. Nearly 30 percent of Catholics surveyed said they believed in astrology. Among Catholics who attended church each week the figure was 16 percent.

Much of this would be jarring to -- among others -- many evangelical Protestants, who account for one in four adult Americans and take their Bible very seriously.

Still, 13 percent of white evangelicals profess a belief in astrology and about 10 percent accepted the possibility of reincarnation. Although the percentages are lower than in other groups, they are high enough to curl the hair of a Southern Baptist preacher.

==============

Sermon version:

Americans have a mixed bag of spiritual beliefs.

A quarter said they believed in astrology. Among Catholics it is even higher - 1 in 3. 16% of U.S. adults think that an “evil eye” exists. Nearly 25% said they believed in reincarnation. 26% said they believed “spiritual energy” could be found in objects such as trees.

Of course, Bible-believing Christians don’t go for this stuff. Or do they? 13% of evangelicals believe in astrology. One out of ten believe in the possibility of reincarnation.

The Bible is against these beliefs. Our destinies are not controlled by stars, but by God. And when you die, you don’t come back over and over in a variety of forms. The Bible says you only die once -- and then you face judgment. This life you are living right now is your only chance to make a decision for Christ.

Mystical beliefs certainly get people’s attention. Some teachers like to exploit this. Do you know what you believe, and why you believe it? Or are you just a grab-bag of inconsistencies?

Meditation To the Death

It was billed as a “Spiritual Warriors” training program. The ads promised both spiritual and financial health. Fifty people paid $9,000 each to be motivated and challenged in the Arizona desert for 5 days. It was the fifth day when things went horribly wrong. The final ceremony was held in a sweat lodge.

After two hours of meditation and exhortation, some began to vomit and pass out on the floor. Those who wanted to leave were told they were stronger than their bodies and weakness could be overcome. In the end, three had heart attacks, two died, and 18 were hospitalized.

The leader of the retreat quickly put together a bereavement session by telephone that one person recorded. Some of the participants had unusual attitudes. One named Brent said, “I think that the people that left [died], I do believe they made their own choices, whether on this level or the next, but I do feel really for the families.” A family member said the comments solidified his belief that the leader is controlling the people involved.

________

Adapted from an article at and other internet sources.

A Tale of Two Cities: Apologetics For A Post-Christian World

Acts 17:17

I'll never forget the time a well-known media figure - we'll call him Tom - invited me to dinner. "I don't believe in God," Tom told me straight out. "But tell me why you believe." So I started in - not realizing I was about to learn a hard lesson in what evangelism means for the 1990s. I began sharing my testimony, but Tom cut me off. "I've heard all that before," he said. Then he proceeded to tell me about a friend who was into New Age spirituality. "Crystals, channeling - it worked for her," said Tom. "Just like your Jesus."

No, no, I tried to explain. Jesus is a historical person. Tom shrugged it off: His friend's guru is a real person, too. I argued for the historical validity of the Bible, but he still wasn't buying. As I fumbled with my fork, an idea popped into my mind. "Have you seen Woody Allen's movie CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS?" I asked. Yes, he'd loved it, in fact. It's about a doctor who is haunted by guilt after hiring a killer to murder his mistress. His Jewish father had taught him that God will surely bring justice. In the end the doctor suppresses his guilt, convincing himself that life is a Darwinian struggle where only the ruthless survive. I asked Tom: "Is that our only choice - to be tormented by guilt or else kill our conscience?"

Finally I had his attention. I was able to share from the Book of Romans, which teaches that, try as we may, we cannot run from the voice of conscience. Though Tom wasn't ready to make a decision, he listened as I told him of Christ's atoning work on the cross.

This anecdote illustrates how we Christians need to engage the common culture so we can give a discerning and meaningful defense of our faith. In this we can take a lesson from the early church, which developed different evangelistic approaches to Jews and Greeks. The Jews knew the Scriptures, so the apostles could begin directly with the message of Christ as the long-awaited Messiah. But the Greeks had no prior knowledge of Scripture, so the apostles had to find a starting point familiar to them.

The classic example is Paul's speech on Mars Hill in Athens. Christians need to engage the common culture. As his springboard Paul uses a religious site in the city: an altar to an unknown god. Later he quotes a Greek poet. He appeals to the Athenians' own experience in order to create a common ground before presenting the Gospel.

Modern America used to resemble Jerusalem, but it is becoming increasingly like Athens. It is our task -- in the post-Christian 1990s -- to utilize contemporary culture as a tool to introduce the message of salvation. This series on apologetics will provide you with ammunition for defending the Gospel in the language of today's culture. Use it to share the Gospel effectively in the Athens in which you live.

________

(c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries Copyright notice: We encourage liberal distribution of these transcripts through email and print. Please do not post on the world wide web or use this content for profit.

54 Sermon Illustrations on New Age