Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Jan/91

Contributor - Rev. H. Martyn VanEssen

Title - A Look At The New Age Movement

Topic - Cults

We find the philosophy of the New Age movement in virtually every area of our lives. We find it in politics, in the school classrooms, on the television, in movies, in business seminars, even in some religious movements. New Age thinking is not new at all; it is as old as the fall. In Genesis the snake promised the woman that if she were to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, she would become like God, knowing good and evil. That is what the New Age movement is all about. The packaging of the New Age movement we know today is different - crystals, reincarnation, karma, channelling, etc. - but the fundamental quest is the same as it was the moment Adam and Eve rebelled against God - to be like God. It is a refusal to acknowledge the one true God, and an elevation of the self to the level of God. The trouble is that the philosophy of the New Age movement appeals to our rebellious natures. Our fallen human nature is prone to elevating self to the exclusion of God's control over our lives. As a result, we find that many New Age teachings are slipping into our minds without us even realizing it. This is particularly true in the entertainment we find on television. Programs like Star Trek are rife with New Age teaching. So are many children's programs like the Smurfs and Care Bears. Once you learn to identify New Age thinking, you find it everywhere, and you will be amazed at how subtly it is smuggled into your home and mind. Smuggling is the appropriate word. There is a concerted effort by New Agers to influence the whole world through the existing establishment and communications networks. Their influence is subtle and dangerous. Like cancer, it attacks from within, and often is not discovered until it has made itself a part of you.

What follows is based on the questions of the Heidelberg Catechism. It is written in this way so that you may know how someone who embraces the New Age movement might respond to the questions the Heidelberg asks. Read the answers of the Heidelberg Catechism, and then the answers given here so that you can see the differences in the way we believe. The differences in beliefs about human nature for the New-Ager and the Christian are profound; therefore, the questions come from the section of the Heidelberg that deals with our guilt.

QUESTION 1. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

That I, together with all other people, am divine and in the process of realizing my divine potential. My salvation is assured because one day all of humanity will embrace its divinity, and we will all be changed.

QUESTION 3. Where do you learn of your sin and its wretched consequences?

I decide for myself what is right and wrong. No one can or should tell me what is right and wrong. No book or law code such as the Bible has any authority over the way I choose to live my life. Common sense and a careful examination of all the facts are enough 'to lead me. Ultimately, no one can accuse me of any wrong doing if I perceive my actions to be right for me.

QUESTION 4. What does the Law of God require of us?

The Law of God does not apply to me. I decide what is right and wrong. I am only required to act in accordance with what I perceive to be reality. At the same time, I must remember that my standard may be different from other people. What is right and wrong for me may not be right and wrong for other people. I have no light to impose my views on them; nor do they have any right to impose their views on me. We must each choose our own way. Morality is what each person determines it to be.

QUESTION 5. Can you keep all this perfectly?

Absolutely! If I want to, I can be and do anything I want to be and do. In fact, what all people need to do is realize their own divinity. The sooner we all understand that we are really omnipotent, the better off we'll be in the world. As one of our teachers, Dr. Beverly Galyean, so clearly states:

Once we begin to see that we are all God, that we have the attributes of God, then I think the whole purpose of human life is to reown the Godlikeness within us; the perfect love, the perfect wisdom, the perfect understanding, the perfect intelligence, and when we do that, we create back to the old, that essential oneness which is consciousness. (Philip H. Lochhaas, How to Respond to the New Age, Concordia, 1988)

QUESTION 6. Did God create man evil and perverse ... ?

Absolutely not!

QUESTION 7. Where ... does corruption of human nature come from?

Human nature itself is not corrupt. Human beings are basically good. There is no corrupt human nature. Nevertheless, we recognize that people will act in harmful ways. People themselves become corrupt, but not their natures. They become corrupt through being taught false teachings from early childhood on. As one of our New Age experts states:

Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill, because he comes to school with certain allegiances toward our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural Being, toward the sovereignty of his nation as a separate entity. It is up to you teachers to make all of these sick children well by creating the international children of the future. (Confirmed by Caryl Matrisciana in 1983 and quoted in her Gods of the New Age, pp.170-171)

What we need is the re-education of all children and people.

QUESTION 8. But are we so perverted that we are altogether unable to do good and prone to do evil?

Of course not! As I said, we are basically good. Human crises arise from ignorance of divinity. As soon as we understand our divinity all will be well, and nothing will be impossible for us.

"But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' "

- the lie continues -

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