The New Age and Devil Worship
By Thomas Horn
RNU News Sr. Reporter

Daniel 11:38, “But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.”

Do those who practice paganism worship “devils?”

RNU.com – (Raiders News Update) - A few years ago during the Christmas season my wife and I walked through a local mall.  As we perused the different shops, we came across a New Age bookstore conducting a “Grand Opening”.  In a derisive tone I said to my wife, “Can you believe some people's lack of intelligence?”  

Casually, I strolled into the store, and without hesitation snatched a book from the shelf and began offering a sarcastic commentary as I read from the pages. I noticed my wife growing uncomfortable and so I placed the book back on the shelf, and proceeded out of the store.  

Suddenly, a dull sensation hit me.  It began in my stomach and shot upward through my head, impacting my equilibrium.  As I stepped outside, into the main mall walkway, my head started to spin, my hands started shaking. I felt as if I was going to faint. It was literally as if an invisible terror had “jumped” on me, and was somehow injecting powerful feelings of nausea and anxiety throughout my entire body.  I tried shaking it off, but couldn’t.  I attempted to walk it off and failed.  At last, feigning interest in something, I moved away from my wife and began to pray.  I asked the Lord to forgive me for my sarcastic attitude, my lack of caution, and for my want of concern for the lost.  I prayed for deliverance from evil and for healing of the body and mind.  After several hours of such walking and praying, I was finally restored. 

I discovered a valuable lesson that day: while a Christian may not be demon-possessed, it’s equally true that the “princes” of this world are powerful, and we should enter their arena only after prayer, and at the prompting of the Lord. 

I also learned the mystical forces of the New Age movement are genuine (and willing to protect their territory!), and that much of what is currently published under the guise of New Age “enlightenment”, is nothing less than Old Age doctrines of nefarious invisible hosts.

As in antiquity, so in modern times, those who practice paganism are guilty of worshipping “devils” (Rev. 9:20).  The dogmas which were once embraced (and still are through the New Age Movement) as the wisdom of the gods, are defined in the scriptures as the “doctrines of devils”.  The Apostle Paul declared: “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils” (1 Cor. 10:20).  In Acts 7:41-42 (Jerusalem Bible), we find that those who worship idols are joined to the “army of heaven” [stratos, the “fallen angel army”], and Psalm 96:5 concludes that “all the gods of the nations are idols” (elilim, LXX daimonia [demons]).  Thus, pagan images, such as represented the ancient gods and goddesses, were elilim (empty, nothing, vanity), but behind the empty idols were the living dynamics of idolatry, and spiritual objects of heathen adoration, the daimonia (demons) of the Bible.

Since the Bible clearly defines idolatry as the worship of demons, and since demons are eternal personalities which desire the worship of men, it is fair to conclude the characterization of such deities as “Zeus,” “Amun-Ra,” “Demeter,” and “Isis,” were simply the classical names attributed to specific fallen spirits.  In other words, Apollo was a real personality; Osiris was a genuine underworld fiend; Hecate actually lived, and still does!  

One also concludes that the images of the gods (falcon headed statues, animal forms, etc) served the purposes of such spirits by providing a point of focus, and by revealing the “nature” of the particular spirit existing within the god.  The iconographies, myths and rituals of each deity exhibited the specific characteristics (nature, gender, underworld authority, etc) of that particular entity.  Thus, the myths and images of Zeus, according to such theory, were the physical manifestations of a literal demon of air, while statues of the goddess Demeter represented an earth spirit. 

Today, it is my assertion and the claim of my book THE GODS WHO WALK AMONG US, that the same spirits of antiquity, including Zeus, Athene, Dionysus, and others, continue to express themselves within modern paganism. My coauthor, Dr. Jones agrees, asserting that the connection between the New Age Movement and the gods of mythology is strong. 

“Nothing has changed in Satan’s game plan,” says Jones, “just the names of the players, and, in some instances, even the names are the same.”

Paganism in America is exploding as we enter the new millennium.  Throughout Hollywood, government, cyberspace, and even the church, the masses are embracing the religious philosophies of the New Age of Aquarius. 

As a modernistic process by which the old gods are worshipped, the New Age Movement emerged in the United States during the 1960s, and has experienced a steady growth ever since.  The broad appeal of the New Age Movement as a Western phenomenon can be explained to some degree as the result of a changing culture.  Americans have gradually abandoned the fundamental precepts of Christianity (prayer in school, Bible in courts, etc) which provided the cornerstone of civil life and jurisprudence in American society for more than 200 years.  As a generation of baby-boomers has focused on human potential and the “god within us all”, Eastern philosophies of Monism, Pantheism, Hinduism, and Self Realization are providing Americans and even some Christians with an alluring opportunity to throw off the “outdated ideas” of fundamental Christianity and to espouse a more “enlightened” worldview of God and reality.  

Some notable celebrities have joined the political ambitions of the New Age Movement (goals include a United Nation’s sponsored Environmental Sabbath for the Goddess Earth), including Shirly MacLaine, Dick Gregory, Lindsay Wagner, Dennis Weaver, Dirk Benedict, Cloris Leachman, Richard Gere, Ally Sheedy, and the late John Denver.  Many mainstream “Christian” denominations have also annexed the New Age ideas, and believers who once held strong doctrinal positions of the supremacy of Christ, have abandoned those views in exchange for a New Age universal philosophy.  Examples include a witch who teaches principles of Goddess worship at a Roman Catholic college in California, and United Methodist pastors who propose replacing the name of Jesus with Sophia (Goddess of Wisdom) when reading about the crucifixion.  Such persons claim we should join the efforts of New Agers and be sympathetic to “Goddess-minded Christians.”

Former New Age devotee, Judy Vorfeld re-discovered the real Jesus after embracing such ideas.  She became involved in freelance writing as a result of experiencing the dangers involved in participating in the New Age Movement.  For many years she actively avoided anything to do with the Christianity of her childhood.  When she was in her early forties, a neighborhood minister said he was starting a new church, and she thought the time might be right to look at Christianity again.  Judy writes:

‘For a time I was involved in a fellowship that worshipped a different deity than the God of the Bible....I joined a church that evolved from ecumenism to religious syncretism....Six months after I became part of the fellowship, fundamental Christianity was retired in favor of a universal religious system, one designed to be inoffensive to people of any theological persuasion.  The fellowship then put together a creed that would be acceptable for any visitors coming to worship with us.  Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists were welcome, as were Theosophists, Rosicrucians, and Hare Krishnas....Our minister brought a popular seminar, advertised as a self-improvement course, into our church.  Most of us were impressed with the professional manner of the leaders and their sophisticated system of teaching self-realization....The organization’s format, we were told, held the answers to all our problems....Church leadership eagerly blended the organization’s ideas into an agenda that became a part of our church curriculum.  Eastern meditation, physic healing, and guided imagery were all practiced.’

Judy Vorfeld is a friend of mine and has provided me with guidance on the New Age Movement.  In a recent correspondence she described modern Druids, and spoke of their methods of magic healing through “visualization.”  She confessed:  “Tom.... When we were involved in Silva Mind Control [through her local church!], we did the same thing [visualized healing].  At that time, I thought God was behind all this stuff.  I “saw” people in my mind’s eye who had various diseases, and I sent energy to heal them.  In groups like this, the leader often has a list of people who are sick.  This gives them a way to follow through and see who was healed.  I have no doubt some people were healed, but since we were invoking a power other than that of the real God, what were we doing?”  

What indeed.

An amazing component of the New Age Movement (as verified by such examples as my friend, Judy) is its capacity to adapt to a variety of religious, even Christian ideas.  Consequently, many of the popular “Christian” doctrines advocated today are nothing more than the cultic propositions of Eastern mysticism and ancient paganism.  These include concepts of psychic healing, self-realization, emotional experiences, rules of success, breathing techniques, positive confession, name it and claim it, environmental theology, the ecumenical movement, visualization, hypnosis by clergy, mind manipulation, and so on. 

At times, and I say this with caution, even the activity within the “fundamental” church, including certain physical phenomena we sometimes embrace as the miraculous evidence of “revival,” is a modern form of magic and opens the door for “old gods” and their mysticism to invade the church.  The line between a true manifestation of God, and human orchestration, is often blurred.  Sincere people, in a quest to experience God, frequently mimic the doctrinal and physical activity of others.  Some physical phenomena (crawling on the church floor and making animal sounds, etc) is extra-biblical in nature (not everything that is extra-biblical is un-biblical, however) and therefore undefined by New Testament teachings.  

As a result, some Christians have been drawn after mystical experiences rather than concentrating on God and His Word.  Even sermons preached by well-meaning ministers have tempted Christians to pursue “supernatural” encounters with “God”, rather than instructing them to live by faith.  The danger of such undisciplined sincerity is that human nature rarely limits its opportunity for experience.  If the Bible has no clear guidelines of conduct and order, and the activity is being promoted by church authorities as a way of experiencing God, then the person seeking the “experience” may have trouble defining what is, and what isn’t acceptable, and thus go too far.  For emotional people the “experience” may be expressed by a physical reaction, while academics tend to interpret mystical “experiences” with God as divine revelations or imparted knowledge.  The dangerous consequences of such conduct often leads to religious behavior more reminiscent of Dionysus or Apollo worship than of New Testament Christianity.  As a result, people like Judy Vorfeld start out in a Christian church and wind up in the New Age movement.

The dangers of mysticism, such as those inherent with emphasizing experiences over doctrine, were soundly illustrated in a recent report by Samantha Smith.  She writes:

‘I became strongly concerned about this movement after observing a “service” at a south Denver Vineyard church....[a woman] stood in the middle of a group of people who ran their hands over her body (within an inch or so of the clothing), then kept swooshing some invisible thing toward her heart area.  Saddened, I walked toward the door, where a church member said, “You should come back on Sunday night.  That’s when they levitate.”...[another group] in Seattle...sit in circles, clucking, flapping their tucked arms and visualizing themselves hatching the “Man Child Company,” a heretical Manifested Sons of God concept.  In Kansas City, a pastor watched in horror as men and women lay on the floor with their knees up and legs spread apart, trying to birth the same thing....I tape-recorded a group of Episcopalians howling at the moon, like wolves—giving a “Howl-le-lu-ia Chorus” for Earth Day.  It gets worse.  There are reports of “holy vomiting” (seance ectoplasm?) and of Christians becoming demonized by being “slain in the spirit.”  How can this be?’

I echo Samantha Smith’s concerns.
 

PANDEMONIUM!—THE PAGAN GOSPEL OF THE NEW AGE GOD-KING

The gospel according to the New Age Movement is an expansive idea centered around the birth of a new world “consciousness.”  As a religion of monism (all is one), New Agers hope to accomplish what the builders of the Tower of Babel failed to do—unify the masses of the world under a single religious umbrella, and, at the macro level, harmonically converge the world’s energies with the power of Gaia.  To promote such goals, New Agers claim that God is pantheistic (God is all and all is God) and that humans are divine members of the whole “that God is.” According to New Ageism, Jesus came to reveal this pantheistic nature of God and to teach humanity the gospel of Self-Realization.  After illustrating the divine principle of “God within us all,” Jesus ascended to a place of distinction to live among the Masters of the Spiritual Hierarchy—Buddha and Krishna.  Jesus promised that the essence of God would be revealed from time to time, and thus New Agers look for the imminent appearing of a World Teacher who will, as Jesus did, illustrate the divine human potential.  In this way, New Age theology prepares the world for the coming of the False Prophet and the Antichrist.

Pagans claim such a religion of Self-realization—a belief that will be championed by the Antichrist—is older than Christianity. 

That’s true. 

The gospel according to the New Age Movement—a gospel of “becoming god”— is as old as the fall of man. It began when the serpent said to the woman “ye shall be as gods” (Gen. 3:5), and it will zenith during the reign of the Tribulation god-king.  The New Age movement provides the perfect creed for implementing such an end-time religion.  It unifies the religions of the world.  It consecrates the forces of nature.  It provides for human divinity, and it is vogue, post modern, and politically correct.  

Tal Brooke—former New Age disciple of Hindu holy man, Sai Baba, confirms that “the New Age movement, and its progeny, Gaia, are spiritually correct for a new world order.  Christianity is not.” 

Thus, history repeats itself, and the ancient Egyptian gospel of men becoming “gods” is fashionable again!  

Consequently, New Age celebrities such as Shirley MacLaine represent themselves as “I AM that I AM” at human potential symposiums around the world, and the Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, describes God in terms of “a constant and holy spiritual presence in all people, all life, and all things” [emphasis added].  Ex president’s wife, Hillary Clinton, channels the spirits of the dead, and members of the House of Representatives warn Congress of “increasing evidence of a government-sponsored religion in America...[a] cloudy mixture of New Age mysticism, Native American folklore and primitive earth worship.”

For many years Christians wondered how the Antichrist would deceive the earth’s masses.  How does one convince millions of people, especially in countries where Christianity exists, to exchange their souls for temporary earthly benefits?  Then the New Age Movement came along with its focus on human-potential and self-empowerment and successfully drew many Christians away from Christ-exalting doctrines.  Old-fashioned gospel preaching was replaced with positive thinking, self-realization, and pop psychology, and mystical experiences which tantalize the flesh were sanctioned as “the last great revival.” As a result, celebrity preachers advance sermons focusing on “the inner self,” and Sunday morning services begin with shouts of “Are you ready for God to do great things!?”  The implication that God will meet with believers and grant their many requests is touted as dynamic Christianity.  The days of unconditional Christian devotion are threatened as contemporary congregations expect God to “manifest” Himself and please the whims of the audience.  Although Jesus warned of an “evil and adulterous generation [that] seeketh after a sign,” physical and mystical “thrills” have become the benchmark of many popular Christian gathering places.  The result is a growing superficiality among some Christians who are preoccupied with mysticism and “me-ism.”

As a businessman and ministry leader I’ve tasted the bitter results of the “new age” segment of Christianity.  Too often these believers fall, flop, quiver, shake, and gyrate on Sunday, but can’t get out of bed and go to work Monday morning.  Among such employees, I’ve found insignificant character differences between religious groups, and “Christians” have been just as likely as non-believers to lie, cheat, and steal at my place of business.  Perhaps I’ve been unlucky, or maybe, as I believe the case to be, twenty years of popular New Age metaphysical focusing on “self” has so impacted this generation that many “Christians” are willing to dilute their character to acquire what pleases them.  

Either way, an inward-focusing generation of “religious people” willing to trade their soul for whatever makes them happy is exactly what is necessary for the appearance of Antichrist. “You can stamp my hand if you’l give me what I want” is the required attitude. While many Christians and New Age devotees are sincere, giving people, the lasting result of the New Age Movement is nevertheless demonic, self-absorbed, and paves the way for the coming of paganism’s preeminent materialization—the god-king of the Great Tribulation.’

© 2004 RaidersNewsUpdate.com 

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