Christianity And The New Age Movement: Spiritual Warfare, Part 2b

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness,
but instead expose them.
~ Ephesians 5:11

Church Documents

(The reader is encouraged to read Part 2a of this series for the scriptural warnings in order to fully appreciate the contents in the documents below.)

The following documents warn the faithful of the dangers of New Age practices. The excerpts provided here are to show that there is no "innocent" dabbling in New Age/occult; however, it is recommended that the viewer read the documents in their entirety (links are provided).

Guidelines For Evaluating Reiki As An Alternative Therapy
Committee on Doctrine, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
March 25, 2009

III. CONCLUSION, 11, footnote 9: Some forms of Reiki teach of a need to appeal for the assistance of angelic beings or "Reiki spirit guides." This introduces the further danger of exposure to malevolent forces or powers.

[Admin. note: Reiki will be explained in more depth in a later posting on specific New Age practices.] 

Jesus Christ The Bearer Of The Water Of Life: A Christian Reflection on the New Age
Pontifical Council for Culture, and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue

2003 

2.2.1. Enchantment: There Must be an Angel

One of the most common elements in New Age “spirituality” is a fascination with extraordinary manifestations, and in particular with paranormal entities. People recognised as “mediums” claim that their personality is taken over by another entity during trances in a New Age phenomenon known as “channeling”, during which the medium may lose control over his or her body and faculties. Some people who have witnessed these events would willingly acknowledge that the manifestations are indeed spiritual, but are not from God, despite the language of love and light which is almost always used.... It is probably more correct to refer to this as a contemporary form of spiritualism, rather than spirituality in a strict sense. Other friends and counsellors from the spirit world are angels (which have become the centre of a new industry of books and paintings). Those who refer to angels in the New Age do so in an unsystematic way; in fact, distinctions in this area are sometimes described as unhelpful if they are too precise, since “there are many levels of guides, entities, energies, and beings in every octave of the universe... They are all there to pick and choose from in relation to your own attraction/repulsion mechanisms”.^[22] These spiritual entities are often invoked 'non-religiously' to help in relaxation aimed at better decision-making and control of one's life and career. Fusion with some spirits who teach through particular people is another New Age experience claimed by people who refer to themselves as 'mystics'. Some nature spirits are described as powerful energies existing in the natural world and also on the “inner planes”: i.e. those which are accessible by the use of rituals, drugs and other techniques for reaching altered states of consciousness. It is clear that, in theory at least, the New Age often recognizes no spiritual authority higher than personal inner experience.
.....[22] Cf. Chris Griscom, Ecstasy is a New Frequency: Teachings of the Light Institute, New York (Simon & Schuster) 1987, p. 82.

2.3.4.2. ...God?

New Age has a marked preference for Eastern or pre-Christian religions, which are reckoned to be uncontaminated by Judaeo-Christian distortions. Hence great respect is given to ancient agricultural rites and to fertility cults. “Gaia,” Mother Earth, is offered as an alternative to God the Father, whose image is seen to be linked to a patriarchal conception of male domination of women. There is talk of God, but it is not a personal God; the God of which New Age speaks is neither personal nor transcendent. Nor is it the Creator and sustainer of the universe, but an “impersonal energy” immanent in the world, with which it forms a “cosmic unity”: “All is one.” This unity is monistic, pantheistic or, more precisely, panentheistic. God is the “life-principle,” the “spirit or soul of the world,” the sum total of consciousness existing in the world. In a sense, everything is God. God's presence is clearest in the spiritual aspects of reality, so every mind/spirit is, in some sense, God.

When it is consciously received by men and women, “divine energy” is often described as “Christic energy.” There is also talk of Christ, but this does not mean Jesus of Nazareth. “Christ” is a title applied to someone who has arrived at a state of consciousness where he or she perceives him- or herself to be divine and can thus claim to be a “universal Master.” Jesus of Nazareth was not the Christ, but simply one among many historical figures in whom this “Christic” nature is revealed, as is the case with Buddha and others. Every historical realisation of the Christ shows clearly that all human beings are heavenly and divine, and leads them towards this realisation.

2.4. “Inhabitants of myth rather than history” ^[43]?: New Age and culture
.....[43] “To be an American... is precisely to imagine a destiny rather than inherit one. We have always been inhabitants of myth rather than history”: Leslie Fiedler, quoted in M. Ferguson, op. cit., p. 142.

....New Age imports Eastern religious practices piecemeal....

...some New Age devotees are involved not only to become more authentic and spontaneous, but also in order to become more prosperous (through magic etc.).

2.5. Why has New Age grown so rapidly and spread so effectively?

...why it is important to discover and recognise the fundamental characteristics of New Age ideas. What is offered is often described as simply “spiritual,” rather than belonging to any religion, but there are much closer links to particular Eastern religions than many “consumers” realise. This is obviously important in “prayer”-groups to which people choose to belong, but it is also a real question for management in a growing number of companies, whose employees are required to practise meditation and adopt mind-expanding techniques as part of their life at work. [50]
.....[50] The shortcomings of techniques which are not yet prayer are discussed below in § 3.4. "Christian mysticism and New Age mysticism."

....Further, the politicisation of ecological questions certainly colours the whole question of the Gaia hypothesis or worship of mother earth.

3.1. New Age as spirituality

...so many of its ideas have been taken from ancient religions....

....This spirituality consists of two distinct elements, one metaphysical, the other psychological. The metaphysical component comes from New Age's esoteric and theosophical roots, and is basically a new form of gnosis.

“Here one can see the gnostic matrix of esoteric spirituality. It is evident when the children of Aquarius search for the Transcendent Unity of religions. They tend to pick out of the historical religions only the esoteric nucleus, whose guardians they claim to be. They somehow deny history and will not accept that spirituality can be rooted in time or in any institution. Jesus of Nazareth is not God, but one of the many historical manifestations of the cosmic and universal Christ." [53]
.....[53] J. Vernette, loc. cit.

3.2. Spiritual narcissism?

....It is interesting to note that this criticism was put forward even by an important exponent of New Age, David Spangler....

 ...“individuals and groups are living out their own fantasies of adventure and power, usually of an occult or millenarian form....the New Age has become populated with strange and exotic beings, masters, adepts, extraterrestrials; it is a place of psychic powers and occult mysteries, of conspiracies and hidden teachings." [55]
.....[55] David Spangler, The Rebirth of the Sacred, London (Gateway Books) 1984, p. 78f.  

3.5. The “god within“ and “theosis”

....we are gods....

4 NEW AGE AND CHRISTIAN FAITH IN CONTRAST

....Jesus is not considered to be the only Christ....

....Rebirth, biofeedback, sensory isolation, holotropic breathing, hypnosis, mantras, fasting, sleep deprivation and transcendental meditation....all create an atmosphere of psychic weakness (and vulnerability).

6.1. Guidance and sound formation are needed 

Christ or Aquarius? New Age is almost always linked with “alternatives,” either an alternative vision of reality or an alternative way of improving one's current situation (magic). [88] 

.....[88] Cf. P. Heelas, op. cit., p. 138.

Fusion or confusion? New Age traditions consciously and deliberately blur real differences: between creator and creation, between humanity and nature, between religion and psychology, between subjective and objective reality. ...

7.2. A Select Glossary
Channeling: psychic mediums claim to act as channels for information from other selves, usually disembodied entities living on a higher plane. It links beings as diverse as ascended masters, angels, gods, group entities, nature spirits and the Higher Self.

Crystals: are reckoned to vibrate at significant frequencies. Hence they are useful in self-transformation. They are used in various therapies and in meditation, visualisation, 'astral travel' or as lucky charms....

(To be continued...)