A personal note....

I was sad to hear of Ray Yungen's passing, he said many useful words on subjects rarely mentioned.

This short article gives a taste of this along with my own personal experience.

Subject: From the Lighthouse Blog Biblical Christianity – The Biggest Obstacle to the New Age

This is from a writer and blogger I have followed to some extent, who just this week passed on to be with the Lord.

Perhaps we can all agree that the New Age stuff is bad news, some see it's base concept..see bold below, as reaching into many of the False Religions....take Mormonism as an example...they teach that you can become a god, and even get your own planet to rule and populate, yes it's true, or eastern religion and the mysteries of many gods or perfectionist. We generally, put New Age into a box, that limits it to just the bizarre crystal worshippers, but the underlying concepts often creep into all Religions. One concern is whether or not it is true that they have been merged into The Church. The book would be an interesting read, even if only to disagree. The closer we stick to Biblical Christianity the safer we are, but then the world has been swaying from God's Word from the beginning, i.e. The garden.

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Or read about how Paul, Peter and John speak to the influx of false teaching into the church from the beginning.....or the waves of gnostic, Arianism, or pelagic teaching that comes forward, in the early centuries.

The challenge is to see what really counters Biblical Christianity through the ages, into the Reformation and Counter Reformation, up to all which is muddying the waters of the Church today.

As Eve saw....sometimes things look good, but then we shouldn't take it in...

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

To be direct, the closest I ever came personally to the New Age stuff was when one of the VP's at Digital Equipment, was getting everyone on the West Coast involved and trained on Visualization Techniques, we even had extensive workshops in Finance of all places to learn to apply  these principles at work, I was do convinced of it's validity at the time, I even over viewed the basic concepts in a Sunday School Class I was involved with. Sigh......no one ever challenged me, and luckily, it was short lived. If you Google New Age Visualization or the more specific term The Law of Attraction, you will get too much to read about how this is in the church. All this was maybe 25 years ago, for me, and I've done my own departing from this and of a number of other things since then.

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=21625

Biblical Christianity – The Biggest Obstacle to the New Age

By Ray Yungen 

The New Age and Christianity definitely clash on the answer to the question of human imperfection. The former—the New Age—espouses the doctrine of becoming self-realized and united with the universe, which New Agers see as God but in reality is the realm of familiar spirits. On the other hand, the Gospel that Christians embrace offers salvation to humanity through grace (unmerited favor). Romans 3:24 boldly states: “. . . being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” In Romans 6:23, we read: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This gift is not earned or given as a reward for earnest or good intentions as Scripture clearly states:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

This Scripture that tackles the issue of pride sharply distinguishes all of man’s religions from Christianity. Religion persuades us that man is innately good and, therefore, can earn his way to heaven through human perfectibility or, better yet, through the realization of his own divinity. Christianity emphatically states the opposite view that man needs to humbly recognize his own sinfulness and fallibility, and consequently needs salvation through grace.

The Holy Spirit, through the Scripture, convicts the sinner of his sinful and lost condition and then presents to the despairing and repentant man God’s solution–salvation through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Cross: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7) and then:

[I]f you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

Salvation is entirely a gift of grace bestowed on whoever believes in Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross as both God and man. Consequently, we must receive Him as Lord and Savior, understanding that it is by grace and grace alone that we are made acceptable in Christ before a holy God. Justification is God’s gift to the believer. This saving faith, also a demonstration of God’s grace, is more than an intellectual belief in Jesus’ death on the Cross but involves committing and entrusting one’s life to Jesus as both Lord and Savior–Christ’s going to the Cross was a finished work, and we as believers are now complete in Him. Nothing else can be added to this. How totally opposite from New Age thinking is God’s plan of salvation!

It all comes down to the preaching of the higher self versus the preaching of the Cross. New Agers may say God is synonymous with a person’s higher self, and the experience of God can only be discovered by way of meditation. However, the Christian admits his or her sinfulness before a Holy God and remembers he is saved only by the grace and mercy of God through the sacrificial shedding of Christ’s blood for his sins.

The message of Jesus Christ reaches out to the lost human race with the love of God who sacrificed His only begotten Son for the Swami Muktanandas of the world. The Bible teaches that man has an inherently rebellious and ungodly nature (which is evident), and his ways are naturally self-centered and evil in the sight of God. The Bible teaches that God is not indifferent to us. The sacrifice of Christ for the ungodly to reconcile us to God reveals the Lord’s love toward Man.

This explains why Christianity must be steadfast on these issues. If a belief system does not teach the preaching of the Cross, then it is not “the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18). If other ways are correct, “then Christ died in vain,” rendering His shed blood unnecessary and immaterial (Galatians 2:21).

Because of this conflict, we can safely say that Christianity is the most formidable obstacle to the New Age, standing like a bulwark against this tidal wave of meditation teachers and practical mystics. But, incredibly, many of the most successful practical mystics are appearing from within Christianity itself. Ironically, instead of stemming the momentum of New Age spirituality, it is our own churches that may very well be the decisive catalysts to propel this movement into prominence. Certain spiritual practices have become entrenched in our churches that, like an iceberg, seem beautiful and impressive on the surface but in reality will cause severe damage and compromise of truth. (from A Time of Departing, pp.24-26)