New Age Beliefs and Practices

Introduction: The material that I am sharing in this booklet comes from a number of sources. Much of it has been taken from various internet sites. Other material I have gleaned from books that I have in my own personal library. What is often termed the New Age Movement is actually not a unified movement with national or international headquarters in a given location but is a varied collection of similar beliefs, practices and philosophies often based on Eastern Religious thought. As a Christian I find the majority of so-called New Age belief to be at odds with the Bible.

What Is Meant by the New Age Movement?
If the truth be known there is no such breed as “the New Age Movement.” As I mentioned in the Introduction there is no central headquarters of what is termed “New Age.” New Agers have no one particular text such as the Torah, New Testament or Koran. Numerous books and writings are used by New Agers. There is no official creed or dogma nor is there a recognized “clergy” although there are many varied systems of beliefs and countless leaders including psychics, ministers, spirit-guides, etc. who often advertise themselves as available for all kinds of New Age practices, ceremonies, rituals, etc. There are, however some mutually exclusive definition for some of the terms used by New Ages. The New Age is in fact a free-flowing “spiritual” movement; a network of followers and practitioners who often share similar beliefs and practices. Throughout the New Age world there are numerous book publishers who appear to take the place of a central organization. New Agers offer seminars, conventions, retreats. Informal groups and often maintain their own stores and churches/societies. Go into any major bookstore and you will find a section of material labeled as “New Age” or “Spirituality”.

One of the hot spots of New Age practices and retreats is the town of Sedona in Arizona. I live just a few miles from this very colorful red rock area. One cannot visit Sedona without immediately realizing that it is a major center of New Agers. New Agers are convinced that there is power in this area that is found in few other spots on earth. This spot has become virtually a mecca for New Agers from around the world. A drive through Sedona one will quickly spot abundant stores, resorts and retreats de-signed especially for New Agers. Sedona is said to contain several Vortexes.

What is a Vortex?
New Ages view a vortex as a giant magnet of energy that is either positive or negatively charged. Positive charged vortexes are said to have feminine attributes: nurturing, calming and tranquil or yin. Negative vortexes are considered masculine: active, energizing or yang.

In the Sedona area New Agers believe that there are at least fifteen vortexes of energy within a ten mile radius. This, is said, what makes Sedona so very powerful. The sandstone in the mountains surrounding Sedona contain iron oxide which gives the rocks the red color and silica; which is crystalline. Both are said to give special energy to the rock formations, hence New Agers often believe that each of these formations are like a powerful nature church or temple of energy.

New Agers, as the picture to the left portrays, seek to promote the development of one’s own power or divinity. When referring to God a New Ager is not talking about the transcendent, personal God who created the universe, but is referring to a higher con-sciousness supposedly within themselves as God. Those adhering to New Age be-liefs and concepts view themselves as God, the cosmos, the universe. In fact, everything that the person sees, hears, feels or imagines is considered to be divine. The New Ager believes that there is no reality outside of what the individual determines.

Included in the practices of New Agers are found many varied aspects and practices of eastern mysticism and spiritual, metaphysical and psychic techniques, such as breathing exercise, chanting, drumming, and meditating. These are all done in order that the individual may develop an altered consciousness and his/her own divinity. Similar to Christian Science belief New Agers view anything negative in a persons’ experiences such as failure, sadness, anger, selfishness and hurt) as an illusion. New Ages invariably believe that they are completely sovereign over their life. They further believe that nothing about their life is wrong, negative or painful.

Eventually a person is said to develop spiritually to the degree that there is no objective or external reality. A person, becoming a god, is said to create his/her own reality.

God is Not Dead!
Those of us who were living in the nineteen sixties may remember a philosophy developed which taught that God is dead. A few theologians grabbed hold of this view and began to spread its misguided philosophy. Fortunately, this religious fad did not gain a huge following and quickly passed from the religious scene.

The new view in our day is not that “God is dead” but that “everyone is God!”

Wow! You are God or at least a god according to the New Age belief system. But are you God or a God?

Wanting to be God or “a god” stems from the Garden. In the Genesis account of creation we read:

Wanting to be a god or at least just like God is not new. It is as old as humankind is as we know it.

This belief of New Agers teaches that you shape your own destiny, that you are capable of overcoming all problems, that sin is not real, that since the God in you or your position as “a god” makes all decisions, this resulting in whatever you decide is right.

The New Age Umbrella of Beliefs:
In some respects it is somewhat difficult to nail down any one particular creed or set of New Age beliefs. They vary from person-to-person. However, there is an um-brella of commonly held beliefs of New Agers. These include:

	Monism:
		All that exists is derived from a single source of divine energy.
	Pantheism:
		All that exists is God: God is all that exists. This belief leads natu-rally to the concept of the divinity of the individual, that we are all gods. Those holding this concept do not seek the God as revealed in Holy Scripture rather they seek the so-called god within oneself.
	Relativism:
		A belief that all truth, knowledge, and laws are relative to particular perceptions or situations and to not carry universal authority. The objective truth does not exist, all depends of what you think.
	Reincarnation:
		After death, one is reborn and lives another life as a human. It is believed that this cycle repeats itself many times. This belief is similar to the concept of transmigration of the soul in Hinduism.
	Karma:
		The good and bad deeds that individuals do adds and subtracts from one’s accumulated record, their karma. Supposedly at the end of the individual’s life, they are rewarded or punished according to their karma by being reincar-nated into either a painful or a good new life. This belief is linked to that of rein-carnation and is also derived from Hinduism.
	Aura:
		An Aura is believed to be an energy field radiated by the body. Invisible by most people, it is said to be detected by some as a shimmering, multi-colored field surrounding the body. Those said to be skilled in detecting and interpreting auras claim to be able to diagnose an individual’s state of mind as well as their spiritual and physical health.
	Enlightenment of the Buddha:
		This is sought through New Age meditation
	Personal Transformation:
		A profoundly intense mystical experience that supposedly leads to the acceptance and use of New Age beliefs and practices. In-cluded in this process is: guided imagery, hypnosis, meditation, and (sometimes) the use of hallucinogenic drugs are believed to be useful to bring about and en-hance this transformation. New Age believers hope to develop new potentials within themselves: the ability to heal oneself and others, psychic powers, a new understanding of the workings of the universe, etc. Later, when sufficient num-bers of people have achieved these powers, a major spiritual, physical, psychological and cultural planet-wide transformation is expected
	Universal Religion:
		Since all is God all religions are believed to be simply dif-ferent paths to that ultimate reality. The universal religion can be visualized as a mountain, with many sadhanas (spiritual paths) to the summit. Some paths are hard while others are easy. New Agers believe that there is no one correct path as all are said to eventually reach the top. They anticipate that a new universal religion which will contain elements of all current faiths will eventually evolve and become generally accepted worldwide. This belief is help also by the Bahai Faith which is largely New Age in content and practice
	A New World Order:
		It is taught that as the so-called Age of Aquarius enfolds, the New Age will develop and come into full fruition. This will be a utopia in which there will be a world government, and end to wars, disease, hunger, pollu-tion, and poverty. Gender, racial, religious and other forms of discrimination will cease. People’s allegiance to their tribe or nation will be replaced by a concern for the entire world and its people. It should be noted that Jews and Christians believe in a coming Kingdom with the LORD reigning over the earth when condi-tions as we know them will be drastically changed. See: Psalm 2:6-9; Psalm 22; 24; Isaiah 11; 25; 35; 52; 60; 65:17-25; Jeremiah 23:5-8; Zechariah 9:10; 14:1-19; Rev. 20:1-6; etc.

New Age Practices: The practices among New Agers are difficult to nail down. They often vary from person-to-person as well as from one group to another. However, there are a number of practices which appear to be commonly held by many, if not most, New Agers. These practices include:

	Channeling:
		This practice is similar to that used by many people involved in Spiritualism aka Spiritism. In channeling a spirit of a dead individual is conjured up. That being’s consciousness is channeled through a medium and relays guidance and information to the group or individual through the use of the medium’s voice. Channeling has existed for centuries, however it has become increasingly popular since the 1850’s. The popular “A Course in Miracles” is said to have been channeled by Jesus through a New Age psychologist, Dr. Helen Schucman over an 8 year period. Some Christians have become students of “A Course in Miracles” often unaware of its spiritist origin.
	Crystals:
		Crystals are materials which have its molecules arranged in a specific, highly ordered internal pattern. This pattern is reflected in the crystal’s external structure which typically has symmetrical planar surfaces. Many common sub-stances, from salt to sugar, from diamonds to quartz form crystals. They can be shaped so that they will vibrate at a specific frequency and are widely used in radio communications and computing devices. New Agers believe that crystals possess healing energy.
	Meditating:
		In New Age meditation the individual seeks to blank out their mind and release self from conscious thinking. This is often aided by repetitive chant-ing of a mantra, or focusing on an object, i.e. visualization.
	Divination
		The use of various techniques to foretell the future, including: I Ching, Pendulum movements, Runes (a symbol with mysterious or magical sig-nificance), Tarot Cards, Astrology (the belief that the orientation of the planets at the time of one’s birth and the location of that birth predicts the individual’s future and personality), Also included in this is sorcery, witchcraft, astral projection, santeria, voodoo, etc. See – Lev. 19:26b, 31; 20:6; Dt. 18:9-14; Micah 5:12; Rev. 21:8; Acts 19:18-20.

Do You Want to Become God? According to New Agers to become God is easy. Why? Because you are already God. The only thing left is that you now realize it, and live as God or as ‘a’ god. This is said to result by having “consciousness of God” not by “reason,” but by “intuition” in mystical experiences. The old, old four lies ~ All we need do is to dig back into the biblical passages of Genesis in the Torah (Hebrew Scriptures) to discover four lies that are recorded. These four lies are found in Genesis 3:4 and 5. They are: 1. “You will not die” 2. “Your eyes will be opened” 3. “You will be like God” and 4. “You will know good and evil.”

The above four premises given by the ‘serpent’ to Eve in the Garden are the four main teachings of New Agers. Let’s take a closer look at what is being taught to one degree or another among New Agers. Keep in mind that New Agers do differ widely from group to group.

1. “You will not die.” At the core or center of New Age belief is “Reincarnation.” New Agers place a great emphasis on the healing effects of crystals, pyramids, forms of magic, etc. The New Age emphasis on healing often overlooks much of the good that has been developed in Western scientific discovery. To the New Ager the individual is said to obtain the utopia of “immortality” because matter and spirit are one (monism). Christians believe in praying for the sick of body, soul and spirit without neglecting what has been provide through medical means. See: James 5:14-16; 1 Tim. 5:23; 1 Cor. 12:9, 28, 30; Psa. 147:3; Luke 4:18.

2. “Your eyes will be opened.” The idea is that once the individual has become conscious of how powerful they are, they are then capable of overcoming any prob-lem. This is what we often view as the “human potential movement” which has made the greatest inroads in the spread of New Age concepts: The “seminars” car-ried out in many major corporations such as RCA, IBM, Boeing, Ford Motor Co., General Dynamics, etc. designed to increase productivity and potential among the employees. The element of truth in this concept is that Christians of all people should be positive in their mindset rather than focusing solely on the negative things that come in life. See – Philippians 4:8; 2 Peter 3:1.

3. “You will be like God.” Pantheism is at the heart of New Age belief, i.e., “God is all and all is God.” God is not seen as a Person, rather as “Energy” or as “the Force.” God is an “it”, a stone, a star, you, me. The “gigantic quantum leap” is said to be when every human will realize that he/she is God. It is believed that this will occur suddenly, as a “quantum leap”, when enough people on earth have the consciousness of God, of being God! This great energy will then produce the sud-den “gigantic leap” of all men and women on earth becoming conscious of God, lit-erally becoming God. It is believed by New Agers that this will then bring world peace and prosperity, a sudden solution of all the problems of the world. On the other hand Christians believe that a day is coming when Christ shall return to reign ushering in peace.

Some New Agers are looking for a “Messiah” who will be a world leader or great Avatar. Back in the 1980’s Benjamin Crème attracted considerable attention when he announced the coming of the Messiah “Lord Maitreya”. However, when Mai-treya failed to appear, Creame’s popularity quickly died. Christians believe that there will be a coming anti-Messiah (anti-Christ) at some time in history who will seek to deceive. However, Christ will have final victory. Christians differ on the de-tails but hold to the promise of our Lord’s return. See – Revelation chap. 13; 19:20; 20:10.

4. “You will know good and evil.” As gods and goddesses humans are thought to reach higher stages than is possible under the “old” system of Judaism and Christi-anity.

Money Talks:
As is common within nearly all religions there are some leaders and personalities within New Ageism who have become “big money-makers.” These individuals often become famous and rich with their seminars, books, tapes, videos, movies, selling crystals or pyramids for $2 or $400,000; or by doing all kinds of divination with astrology, channeling, psychic readings, or by selling what is toted as “natural” health products, of practicing their brand of holistic medicine, past life therapies of reincarnation, and by or-ganizing tours to sacred places. Some New Age groups ‘claim’ to possess “inner wis-dom” resulting in their members giving considerable amounts of money to the leaders.

The term “New Age” was originally coined by a spirit medium named “Alice Bailey” who was associated with the Theosophical Society of America who died in 1949 although the New Age has not a single founder or world leader. New Age beliefs became popular after the musical “Hair” launched the concept of the Age of Aquarius first as a Broadway Musical and later teams of players toured the country and the world.

Shirley McLaine. The Hollywood Academy Award winner has greatly popularized New Age beliefs, concepts and practices. Many people look to her as the New Age high priestess with her seminars, books and TV series. She charges $300 per person to audiences of up to 1,000. Her books have appeared in bookstores throughout the nation and across the planet. These include: “Out on a Limb” (her so-called transfor-mation), “Dancing in the Light” (dealing with crystals and mantras) and “Going Within” (yoga and charkas).

New Age Influence:
It cannot be denied that this movement of diverse beliefs has attached some of its beliefs onto the personal beliefs of some Christians, hence Christian churches often have been infiltrated with all sorts of New Age beliefs, concepts and practices to some degree or another. A recent survey of US adults came up with the following statistics:

	8% believe in astrology as a method of foretelling the future
	7% believe that crystals are a source of healing or energizing power
	9% believe that Tarot Cards are a reliable base for life decisions
	1 in 4 people believe in a non-traditional concept of the nature of God which are often associated with New Age thinking
	11% believe that God is “a state of higher consciousness that a person may reach”
	8% define God as “the total realization of personal, human potential”
	3% believe that each person is God
	20% of the population hold New Age beliefs to some degree

The roots of New Age beliefs are traceable to a host of many sources which include: Astrology, Channeling, Hinduism, Gnostic tra-ditions, Neo-paganism, Spiritualism; Theosophy, Wicca, etc. Many believe that the so-called New Age movement actually started in England in the 1960’s were many of these elements were well established. The movement quickly became international.

The god of New Agers:

	God is not a personal heavenly Being but an impersonal force
	God is all and all is God. God is not the “wholly other” creator of all, but part of all that exists
	There is nothing that is not God (pantheism)
	There is no sin, only incorrect understanding of truth. Knowledge is what saves, not Jesus Christ
	Jesus is simply one of many way showers of divine truth. He is said to have exemplified the Christ consciousness probably better than anyone else, but he is not the Savior, Deity, nor Son of God
	Christ is a consciousness, a form of the higher self. It is possessed by all be-cause everyone is divine

A Few Quotes from New Age Sources:
This section from “Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry”

The following quotes are from various newspapers as well as other sources:

“I am an entity much like you, Barbara. I simply don’t have a body at this time.” It was Dr. Carstairs talking. Dr. Carstairs is an English physician from the 1860’s. His spirit generally spends its time floating around the astral plane, I am told, but at this particular moment it had taken up residence in the body of Bonney Mayer, a registered nurse from San Diego.

There are many entities about such as myself. Man is not the only living, thinking, breathing creature in the galaxy. Entities that come from other planets right now are about your planet waiting for the time to introduce themselves. (The San Diego Union, Their spirits are willing, Section C. pg. 1 Nov. 12, 1987).

Jach Pursel, a former Florida insurance agent living in Los Angeles, squints his eyes and speaks with the voice of Lazaris, a spiritual entity of uncertain orgins.

“How old are you?” he asked.
“In our reality, we have no time,” says Lazaris.
“Why are you making your presence known to man?”
“Because you are ready now….”
“It the world about to end?”
“No. In a word, no. This is not the ending. This is the beginning.” (Time, New Age Har-monies, pg. 66, Dec. 7, 1987).

“Jo Ann Karl is a tall blond who…gets $15 a customer for channeling the archangel Gabriel and a spirit named Ashtar.” (Time, New Age Harmonies, pg. 66).

Shirley Maclaine said, “We are at any given moment living the totality of everything….The vibrational oscillation of nature is quickening…Just remember that you are God, and act accordingly.”

“In Egypt, a few bemused camel drivers and tourist guides looked on as a lone young many in white shorts and a glittering shawl danced near the pyramids at Giza. ‘I am God, I am God,’ he shouted.” (Paul Nussbaum and Rick Lyman, The San Diego Union, article ‘5,000 greet new age at Mt. Shasta’”).

“T.I.C.’s (The Inner Christ) purpose is to assist every individual to know themselves as a Christ, to clearly and safely channel guidance and prophecy for themselves from their own Inner Christ and to gain dominion over their life circumstances through prayer and self-revelation. T.I.C. makes the intellectual concept that we are God a reality.” (from a tract from the Teaching of the Inner Christ, What is T.I.C.?)

“The Pleiadians are a collective of extraterrestrials from the star system the Plaiades. The Plaeiadian culture is ancient and was ‘seeded’ from another universe of love long before earth was created. They have formed a tremendous society which operates with love, with ideas and ideals with which we are yet unfamiliar. Although the Pleiadians exist in what we would call our future, they call themselves our ancient family because many of us came here from the Pleiades to participate in the experiment of earth. As they once promised us, the Pleiadians have re-turned to earth and are now here to help guide us during this time of planetary awakening as earth moves through her transition from the third to the fourth dimension and to assist each of us in our personal journeys of remembering, deepening awareness and knowing.” (From a handout at the San Diego Convention Center, The Pleiadans, Channeled by Barbara J. Mar-ciniak).

The following is the Description for a New Age Workshop:
“FULL MOON MEDITATION. – This Full Moon is called the Moon of Humanity, and the Festival of Goodwill. This time is a gateway to higher worlds, through acts of service. The Moon is in Sagittarius, sign of higher mind, philosophy, the traveler, and teacher. The Sun is the opposite of Gemini, mental sign of communication and the exchange of ideas. This combination creates a time where the mind is stimulated and there is an understood duality, balance, change, resolve opposition, and seek inspiration especially outdoors in nature. The symbol is the winged Caduceus the magic wand where positive and negative energies are beautifully balanced producing light.”

Christian Belief vs. New Age Beliefs: If we Christians are to stand firm in our faith it is vital to be able to know what we believe in contrast to what New Agers believe. The following beliefs contrast Christian belief with New Age beliefs. As reforming Christians we look to the Bible as our authority in matters of faith and practice, therefore is vital that the biblical passages in the following be consulted.

	GOD:
		To New Agers God is not a personal being. God is impersonal; a force. To Christians God is personal. God speaks and has a self-given name: “I AM” (Exodus 3:13-14). God plans (Ephesians 1:11), and demonstrates emotion (Genesis 6:6), character (2 Peter 3:9), and the ability to choose (Psalm 115:3). As the Creator, God is distinct and separate from the universe (Genesis 1:3-2:3). God is long suffering (Psalm 86:15; 2 Peter 3:15) and forgiving (Ephesians 1:7; Psalm 86:5). The Bible teaches that a personal God, not humans, is in control (Colossians 1:15-17) and all people will submit to God (Philippians 2:9-11).
	HUMAN BEINGS:
		New Agers believe that human beings are part of the universe and the universe is God, then human beings must be God. The Bible condemns this irreverent attitude of rebelliousness (Genesis 3:2-7; Daniel 11:36-37; Acts 12:21-23).
	SIN:
		According to New Age belief there can be no sin against God if there is no personal God. However, Christians teach that the basic problem of humans is disobedience against the personal God, and that sin permeates all people (Ro-mans 1:18-32; 3:10-24; Ecclesiastes 7:20). Without God men and women are spiritually floundering through life’s journey (Ephesians 2:1-3).
	INDIVIDUAL UNIQUENESS:
		The New Age goal of merging into an indistinct, blissful cosmic oneness is rejected by the Bible. From before birth (Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13-16), until death (Psalm 116:15), and into eternity (Revelation 20-22) individuality is preserved.
	SALVATION:
		In the Christian faith salvation is not "correct thought," but deliverance from the penalty or consequence of our sin. The Bible has the message of Grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God upon humankind, the un-deserved kindness of God. Grace is getting the blessings we do not deserve. In Christ we are blessed; we are given grace; we are given eternal life and forgiveness of sins. Authentic Christian faith has the message of free forgiveness given. Every other religious system on earth has some form of salvation dependent totally or in part on what the adherents do, not so with Christianity. (Romans 6:23; Ephe-sians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7).
	CHRIST:
		There is but one Christ “anointed”, “Messiah” who alone is LORD. Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. He was, and is, the Deliverer from sin and its penalty of separation from God (Matthew 16:16, 20; Luke 9:20; John 1:41; Phi-lippians 2:9-11; Romans 10:9-10).
	THE GOSPEL:
		The Christian Gospel centers upon the redeeming work of Jesus the Christ; that He died for our sin, was buried, rose bodily from the grave, was seen by many witnesses and returned to God in heaven as our Intercessor, Advocate and Mediator. See 1 Corinthians 15:1-6.

Authentic Christianity and New Age beliefs and practices are at odds with one another and clash in a number of areas. The basic Message that we share with New Agers is Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior.

We offer handbooks further exploring our Christian roots in Judaism: “Our Spiritual Roots in Judaism” and “Israel: Jews, Muslims and Christians.”