Is The New Age New? Part 6 of 7
Cults, Occult And World Religions
Text - Colossians 2:8
On April 25, 1982 people in over twenty major cities around the world found an interesting and bold full page ad in their newspaper. It began by saying,
The world has had enough . . . of hunger, injustice, war. In answer to our call for help, as world teacher for all humanity, THE CHRIST IS NOW HERE.
The ad continued to answer in vague terms the following questions: How Will We Recognize Him?, Who Is The Christ?, What Is He Saying?, and When Will We See Him? Under the question, Who Is The Christ?, appeared the following explanation:
Throughout history, humanity's evolution has been guided by a group of enlightened men, the Master's of Wisdom. They have remained largely in the remote desert and mountain places of earth, working mainly through their disciples who live openly in the world. This message of the Christ's reappearance has been given primarily by such a disciple trained for his task for over 20 years. At the center of this "Spiritual Hierarchy" stands the World Teacher, Lord Maitreya known by Christians as the Christ. And as Christians await the Second Coming, so the Jews await the Messiah, the Buddhists the fifth Buddha, the Moslems the Iman Mahdi, and the Hindus await Krishna. These are all names for one individual.
What kind of ad was this? It was an ad that was sponsored by the Tara Foundation under the leadership of a man named Benjamin Creme. Creme and the Tara Foundation are part of what is known as the New Age movement, networks of individuals and organizations dedicated to ushering in the New Age, or Age of Aquarius.
Like the cults, the New Age Movement uses terms and phrases that Christians are familiar and comfortable with. Yet, these terms are vastly different in meaning. This is why many Christians are deceived into thinking that the New Age is simply another appeal for world peace. The rise of some rather unusual groups over the past twenty years has caused the New Age Movement to become more appealing to some who would not have otherwise become involved with the movement.
The New Age Movement is in a class by itself. Unlike most formal religions, it has no holy text, central organization, headquarters, membership, formal clergy, geographic center, dogma, creed, etc. Their book publishers take the place of a central organization and their seminars, conventions, books and informal groups replace sermons and religious services.
The New Age Movement is a loosely structured network of individuals and organizations who share some similar beliefs and practices.
New Age teachings became popular during the 1970 ´s as a reaction against what some perceived as the failure of Christianity and the failure of Secular Humanism to provide spiritual and ethical guidance for the future. Its roots can be traced to many sources: Astrology, Channeling, Hinduism, Gnostic traditions, Spiritualism, Taoism, Theosophy, Wicca and other Neo-pagan traditions, etc. The movement started in England in the 1960´s where many of these elements were well established. The New Age movement today is a strange mixture of science and Eastern mysticism with a liberal splash of the occult.
These are the four areas we are going to examine tonight: The Development Of The New Age The Influence Of The New Age The Teachings Of The New Age What Does The Bible Say?