New Age:

Man can become his own God and each person

determines his own truth.

TITLE: New Age: Be the God You Want to Become.

TEXT: I John 1:1-4, 2:18-27

THEME: You should believe in the reality of Christ death, burial and resurrection because his disciples are witnesses to it.

The Movie Avatar

'Avatar' is Cameron's long apologia for pantheism -- a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world." It reflects Cameron’s Hindu influenced beliefs that all is God and God is all. Or more simply: “All is One.”

Avatar

An ancient Hindu word describing the reincarnation of any god into a living form. Every species is said to have its own Avatar.

Reincarnation.

Reincarnation is a Hindu doctrine that says that the soul moves from one bodily existence to another until it is released from historical existence into the absolute.

Karma

The Hindu term for law or justice, or cause and effect, requires that the accumulated effect of ones actions in this life determine the type of existence you will have in the next life- you reap what you sow.

Channeling

The Process of receiving information from some level of reality other than the ordinary physical one. The channeler goes into a trance to connect to a spirit or “ascended master” from beyond the physical world.

Transcendental Meditation;

A technique for detaching oneself from the world of things and ideals through freeing ones mind of all voluntary or rational thought in order to achieve a higher state of consciousness.

Yoga:

An ancient Hindu practice of seeking union with the Brahman or the Absolute. A Yogi is one who has attained some proficiency in the practice of Yoga and has obtained through its use union with the Brahman or Absolute.

Nirvana:

Hindu and Buddhist version of heaven where personal existence is absorbed into pure being. It is the absence of suffering and the presence of perpetual bliss.

Other New Age words

• “Age of Aquarius,”

• “Higher Consciousness,”

• “Guru,”

• “Astral Projections,”

• “Astrology,”

• “Chakras,”

• “psychedelic,”

• “spirit mediums”

Modern Psychology New Age Influences

Carl Jung, was a prominent Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology. Jung is often considered the first modern psychologist and has become one of the most well known pioneers in the field of dream analysis. He was strongly influence by Eastern religions.

Modern Psychology New Age Influences

Psychiatrist Abraham Maslow introduced the hierarchy of needs which is used in psychology and education. At the top is self-realization or self actualization which follows Hindu thinking.

Modern Psychology New Age Influences

Carl Rogers, applied Hindu ethical philosophy to the education system under the name of Values Clarification. Rogers sees people as basically good or healthy -- or at very least, not bad or ill. His entire theory is built on a single “force of life” he calls the actualizing tendency.  It can be defined as the built-in motivation present in every life-form to develop its potentials to the fullest extent possible. 

What is an antichrist and why should we avoid them?

I. The true nature of Christ is revealed by those who knew him

(I John 1:1-4)

I John 1:1-4

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

I John 1:1-4

3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete.

The New Age presents a different Christ.

What is the New Age?

• Is not a single organization.

What is the New Age?

• Is not a single organization.

• Does not have a single, identifiable leader.

What is the New Age?

• Is not a single organization.

• Does not have a single, identifiable leader.

• Not identifiable constituency with a clearly spelled-out set of beliefs.

What is the New Age?

• Is not a single organization.

• Does not have a single, identifiable leader.

• Not identifiable constituency with a clearly spelled-out set of beliefs.

• Eclectic in nature, and being such, it is tough to pin down.

Where does it come from?

The New Age is strongly influenced by the Hindu religion and its younger offshoot, Buddhism. Most of its terms and philosophies find their root in these religions.

Other influences include Greek Gnosticism, Western Occultism, and Native American Animism.

What Does It Teach?

• God as an impersonal energy or force.

What Does It Teach?

• God as an impersonal energy or force.

• Abandon the notion of a personal God with whom one can have a relationship.

• God is a cosmic power that can be tapped into

What Does It Teach?

• God as an impersonal energy or force.

• Abandon the notion of a personal God with whom one can have a relationship.

• God is a cosmic power that can be tapped into

• God is a cosmic consciousness that can be experienced from time to time, if you learn how.

What Does It Teach?

• Pantheistic in their view of God.

• "God is all," they say, "and all is god, and all is one.

• Everything that exists is an expression of the divine essence.

• There is a universal energy in all matter in this pulpit, in a rock, in a tree, in an animal.“

• Unity and oneness with this universal life force is a major theme of the New Age Movement.

What Does It Teach?

• Makes human beings god.

What Does It Teach?

• Makes human beings god.

• A universal life force found everywhere and in everything, and so it only follows that this "godness" is in you and in me.

What Does It Teach?

• Makes human beings god.

• A universal life force found everywhere and in everything, and so it only follows that this "godness" is in you and in me.

• Most human beings haven't discovered that yet.

What Does It Teach?

• Makes human beings god.

• A universal life force found everywhere and in everything, and so it only follows that this "godness" is in you and in me.

• Most human beings haven't discovered that yet.

• Therefore, they desperately need to be “Enlightened.”

What does it say about Jesus?

Jesus Christ was simply a good human being upon whom a special, concentrated life-energy descended. It's called a Christ-consciousness. In other words, Jesus was born to a physical father and mother, a total denial of the Virgin Birth.

What does it say about Jesus?

The Bible only traces the life of Jesus between his birth and age 12 and then picks up his life story at around age 30, many New Agers believe that in the intervening 18 years Jesus spent his time in India, studying under gurus.

God Is Distinct from His Creation

Romans1: “20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

God Is Distinct from His Creation

 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

God Is Distinct from His Creation

 24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

New Age vs. Christianity

• The New Agers, when we talk about God, believe in an impersonal force.

• Christianity has taught that we have a personal Father.

New Age vs. Christianity

• New Agers believe man is just a god unaware

• Christianity would teach just the opposite: That man is the creature and God is the Creator, and let there never be confusion as to who the Creator is and who the creature is. Man is created in the image of God, but he is not God.

New Age vs. Christianity

Death?

• New Agers believe in westernized forms of optimistic reincarnation patterns

• Christianity says, "It is appointed unto man once to die and then to stand before God.“ (Hebrews

New Age vs. Christianity

• New Agers say Jesus is a good man with a Christ-consciousness for a period of time.

• Christianity says Jesus is God's Son, and he is the only Savior for mankind.

Rabindra Maharaj,“Escape Into the Light”

“My heart ached as I viewed India’s massive suffering. I marveled that Westerners were looking to India for spiritual insight. From experience I knew that Hinduism, with its fatal belief in karma, reincarnation, and false Gods was the root of India’s problems.

Rabindra Maharaj,“Escape Into the Light”

What blindness for Westerners to turn to Eastern Mysticism for enlightenment. It held nothing but darkness and India’s plight bore eloquent testimony as to how deep that darkness really was…with the vast natural resources and manpower India should be one of the most prosperous nations in the world.”

What is an antichrist and why should we avoid them?

II. The true nature of Christ has been abandoned by the antichrists. (I John 2:18-23)

II. The true nature of Christ has been abandoned by the antichrists. (I John 2:18-23)

•  They abandon the church of Christ (18-19)

I John 2:18-23

18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

II. The true nature of Christ has been abandoned by the antichrists. (I John 2:18-23)

•  They abandon the church of Christ (18-19)

• They abandon the truth of Christ. (20-23)

I John 2:20-23

20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also

Eckard Tolle

“The messengers—Buddha, Jesus, and others, not all of them known—were humanity’s early flowers.”

What is an antichrist and why should we avoid them?

III. The true nature of Christ provides eternal life to those who

know it and believe it. (24-27)

I John 2:24-27)

24See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

I John 2:26-27

 26I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

New Age: “All Religions Let to God”

Those who plead for mutual tolerance and syncretism of all religions fail to realize that there are grave differences in these religions that effect ones life. Some basic realities cannot be dismissed by ecumenical agreements or the desire to just get along.

New Age: “All Religions Let to God”

New Agers believe the creation and creator are one, they believe that they can become gods,they believe that Christ is simply an enlightened human. These cannot be reconciled with the Jesus that the disciples saw and heard and knew. It is only through believing in the Jesus the disciples describe that we can have eternal life.

APPLICATION:

• Be alert to the subtle and sometimes attractive teachings of the New Age.

APPLICATION:

• Be alert to the subtle and sometimes attractive teachings of the New Age.

• Do not confuse the creation with the creator.

APPLICATON:

• Be alert to the subtle and sometimes attractive teachings of the New Age.

• Do not confuse the creation with the creator.

• Not all religions or paths lead to the same place.

APPLICATION:

• Be alert to the subtle and sometimes attractive teachings of the New Age.

• Do not confuse the creation with the creator.

• Not all religions or paths lead to the same place.

• Jesus is the only path to God.

Doug Groothius

“The Apostle Peter proclaimed that “Salvation is found in now one else, for there is no under name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Christ will not join the pantheistic pantheon of counterfeit gods, but instead stand above in judgment. Yet Christ’s exclusivity is our liberation. There is but one way and God calls everyone to go through that narrow door that leads to life.”