New Age Christianity (Updated)

New Age Christianity

Vanity, Vanity

I thought in my heart,

“Come now, I will test you to find out what is spiritually good.”

I tried cheering myself with Holy laughter, and embraced the folly of being drunk in the spirit, my mind still guiding me with wisdom.

I undertook great projects: I built church buildings and sowed to reap in the vineyards of religion.

I attempted to apply the fruit of the Spirit and transferred reservoirs of spiritual power to help the church flourish.

I made myself a student of tradition and ritual and led others in the same way.

I amassed great spiritual experience and sacrificed family and friends to know my god.

I acquired titles and prestige among the religious.

I joined in with worshipers, with men and women singers, and a choir of prophetic intercessors.

I denied myself nothing my spiritual eyes could see; I refused my heart no spiritual power.

My heart took delight in all my Christian work, and this was the reward for all my labor.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve; everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his Christian neighbor and this too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Of all things most grievous to me, Jesus did not have to be present for any of this.

Can anybody tell me how to get back home?

New age philosophy attempts to either bring people into spiritual realms or invite spiritual realms into people. The desired result is to become enlightened and self-empowered. Yet at the foundation of this practice is a trust in humanities strength and creations many resources. Basically man’s goal here is to add spiritual meaning to all his natural endeavors.

Now we maybe able to sympathize; having once lost oneness with God in the garden left man empty and void of spiritual fellowship. In the beginning God’s glory encompassed man and it offered him a suitable spiritual covering.

Could it be that man is looking for that spiritual embrace once again?

The thought is not far from unreasonable, after all the Old Testament was also replete with examples of spiritually equipped saints proclaiming the wonders of our God and King.

• Elijah ran ahead of the chariot 1 Kings 18:46,

• Joshua defeating the giants Joshua 14:1–15,

• David’s 30 fighting men 2 Samuel 23:8–38,

• Samson’s source of strength Judges 14:19.

Yet if such remarkable feats were never documented humanity would still crave a familiar ethereal presence. It is simply that the triune nature of man seeks for fulfillment in physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual ways. The pervading goal then for humanity has been to embrace all things that can fill the senses: enter the Serpent.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

As Adam and Eve stood before the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil a world empire was being born that day. Prior to this moment God reigned over His creation unimpeded by darkness. Yet the Devil found away to usurp God’s authority by deceiving mankind. A binding contract was being offered that would test the fiber of man’s human fortitude.

Genesis 2:15-17

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 3:1-5

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

The Contract

Genesis 3:4“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Adam and Eve made a choice in that moment to follow the counsel of the Devil and it was now signed, sealed and delivered. What ever God once granted to Adam in the form of a stewardship was now placed under the Devil’s control. A verse in Luke shows us how broad this take-over truly was.

Luke 4:5-7 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”