Usually, on Thursday I like to review books for you all, dear ones. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the book I’m working on in time for this. However, I did catch a very interesting two-part interview that I felt warranted a special post. This isn’t necessarily a review of the interview, but more like a warning and an opening up of dialogue on the topic. Many of you are older in the faith than I am, which blesses me more than I could say in a thousand posts! When topics like this come along, they make me very nervous. I have a tendency to get a little off balance when something reminds me of my childhood. You’re steadfast corrections, sometimes in comments, other times in your own posts, edify me greatly! With that in mind, today I’d like to talk about the dark side of ’spirituality’.
Let me give you some background as to why this topic makes me so uncomfortable. Just before the last chapter are links to the aforementioned two-part interview. This is an Apologia connected broadcast, as you’ll see Jeff Durbin involved in the first part. They are interviewing a man who was saved out of the New Age movement, and I praise God for that! Here is a young man who was making a lot of money, at a young age, who was so struck by his own sin that he repented and put his faith in Christ alone. He then repented publically and called his many hundreds of thousands of followers to leave the New Age movement. These are very encouraging things to hear! That being said, it was the most difficult two hours I’ve spent in a long time. It cost me no small amount of sleep as well, with the flood of horrid childhood memories that seemed to be endless, bringing me repeatedly to prayer. The things he describes in his interview sound an awful lot like what I grew up hearing.
At this point, some of you may be wondering why I would bring these interviews to you in a post when they were clearly so disturbing. Hang in there with me, dear ones, I promise I’ll get to that. I’ve mentioned before that I was raised in a pagan, Wiccan, household. There were oils, crystals, books on spells, being spiritually awakened, leaving the body, and the likes, all over our shelves. I knew more, as a child, about astral-projection than I did about math. Our house was a dark, and frightening home, as full of fear as it was New Age items. There’s no such thing as a ’good’ witch or good magic, its all against God, and it all has the same consequences. As a result, even early into our teens, my sister and I would bring a blanket and pillow into our mother’s room to sleep on the floor by her, just to stem the fear. I don’t want to get into the details, the world has a strange fixation on this topic that I hate to feed. This is where the balance is hard for me, should I even be discussing these things? Lost people are being drawn into this world, as believers we need to understand enough to help, and to reach them with the Good News. That’s as far as I could go in my suggestion to learn more about this topic.
So, now you know what we’re talking about, and why I find it such a difficult topic to discuss. I’d like to offer a less detailed, and disturbing, alternative to the interview. This is for anyone who is uncomfortable with the topic, or hearing the details of such. This is something we need to be able to address, but if you’re not directly witnessing to those deep into the New Age occult then this will dip your toes in enough to make you aware. It will also help you to know what the Bible has to say, and how to answer those who believe in aliens. There’s not a difference in how these things play out, whether it’s ghost hunting, aliens, or the occult. It’s all coming from and leading to the same place. Here is that less detailed, but still very thorough video.
When I say less detailed, I mean they don’t go into descriptions of the varies areas of practice within the New Age community. Whether it’s taking drugs to channel aliens, or to channel spirits, the groups are all aiming in the same direction. These people are all, like the young man in the interview below explains, searching for that secret knowledge. That gnostic pride in knowing what those ’mindless’ Christians don’t know. Most were raised in homes where the name of God was at least spoken of respectfully. The generations since postmodernism mixed with New Age through mass media and influencers like Oprah, have no idea how dangerous this is. They didn’t grow up in it, they want something more exciting then church, and no amount of fog or guitar solos will change that. Now pragmatic ’churches’ are quickly adopting New Age language, aided by hotbeds of heresy like Bethel. That’s not new, my friends, it’s just becoming more popular.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=quhgfEUq834
How do I know it’s not new? I don’t think I’ve spent much time discussing the church where my mother was converted. We were both baptized there. Shortly after, they began to adopt the New Age language. Freshly free from the chains on witchcraft, this did a lot more than making my mother uncomfortable. She mentioned it, it was brushed off. She warned the leaders, that was ignored. She finally told the pastor she had been a Wiccan for years, that these phrases weren’t harmless, that the church should have nothing to do with that darkness. We were told to leave. She spent several years after that learning everything she could, so that she could warn other churches about the same dangers. After a while, the weight of it all, on top of major health issues, stopped her. I feel for her, everyone wants to hear about the haunting, terrifying nights, no one wants to hear the warning behind the story.
This brings me to why I felt the need to share this interview with you. We need to be warned ourselves, there are things we should not watch, places we ought not go as new creations in Christ, and phrases that should not be mixed with Biblical language. We need to be clear, we need to be separate, and we need to be vigilant. Our children have full access to this wicked information at the touch of a button. The world has an obsession with spiritual powers in heavenly places, not God, not our Savior, but the darkness, the frightening, the mysterious. We need to be able to warn our families, our churches, and the lost. Again, if you’re sensitive to the details, or uncomfortable at all, please don’t watch these. While this subject is very important, the video above shares the same rebuttal in a different fashion, without the explanations into the frightening New Age practices and their consequences. If, on the other hand, you have friends or family involved in these practices and want to witness to them, these two videos will be a great aid. Either way, whether you listen or not, we need to warn against these things entering our churches. A great resource for that is Justin Peters Ministry, he deals with the subtle, and not so subtle, ways this is seeping into the church. Paul Flinn also does a great job here, again addressing the influence New Age has on the church. The two links below are the best explanation and discussion on what the New Age is and how we can reach those lost in it.
Please, again, be warned that there are some details in these interviews that are disturbing. At the very end of the second one the young man gives an encouragement to those sharing the Gospel with someone lost in this movement. He tells us not to think those we talk to are unaware of their state before God. Though the lost may say they don’t believe, or don’t care, they truly know. They suppress that truth in unrighteousness. I found that to be very helpful. I hope this post was balanced enough to encourage, and edify my brothers and sisters in Christ. If you have stumbled onto this post and you are, yourself, in the New Age movement please listen to these interviews. Know that God has given only one way for salvation and that is through the Son. As always, beloved brethren, be good Bereans and study to show yourselves approved.
Tulips & Honey 