HOW’S YOUR KARMA?
An Exploration of the Danger of New Age Mysticism in American Society
Based upon the teaching of Isaiah 1:10-18
Stephen H. Becker, M.Div.
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church—Elk Grove, CA
November 4, 2007—23rd Sunday After Pentecost
A few months ago I did something that really upset my son Stephen. He and some friends from school had a new found fascination with a popular group of kids’ toys: Pokemon. He had Pokemon for his Game Boy and Pokemon cards. It all looked innocent enough until somebody shared with me the dark side of Pokemon, the evil spells and incantation side of these popular childrens’ toys. Now I’m going to preach on Pokemon tonight, but I want to use the history of Israel, especially as we find it in Isaiah, to take a look at how adamantly God warns of the dangers of pagan or non-Christian teachings in a Christian home or a Christian way of life. God wants to be first in our lives. Not because He is envious. But because He knows when we put Him first, Satan and his teachings will fall by the way-side. So let’s open with prayer…
As I said, I took Pokemon out of my house because I learned that it taught things that were absolutely contrary to my Christian faith. Most people, when I tell them about this, either laugh at me or simply tell me that they think that I am (pause) over reacting. But am I? You see, we live in a world full of false religions that ultimately lead away from the God of Israel…false religions whose teachings have managed to become so commonplace, that we don’t even notice that they have become common, or notice that they have crept into our daily lives. (pause) Don’t think so? Well, how many times you heard people tell you that you shouldn’t do this or that because of the bad karma this deed might result in? Or how many times have you heard someone say that in their “next” life, they’d like to come back as this or that? (pause) How’s your aura? Is mine glowing? And, if I read the stars right, we are all definitely on the brink of the age of Aquarius, and since I am a Virgo, the stars definitely are telling me something different about my life that for the rest of you who aren’t a Virgo. Does all this sound familiar?
Wicca and witchcraft are so common in our society that Harry Potter movies are regularly #1 at the box-office. Reincarnation, karma, aura, bad—or good vibrations…how about the crystals that some people believe bring good luck or special spiritual healing…all of this is (pause) is what we call “New Age” spirituality or “New Age” thinking. It’s so commonplace, that as I said, many people told me I was over-reacting to Pokemon, when I learned that Pokemon meant “pocket monster,” and it conditions the child who plays the game into accepting the occult as a normal part of their childhood. And it’s not just Pokemon, but tarot cards, eastern-meditation, channeling or focusing your energy, connecting with your higher consciousness. Whatever we call it, it is non-Christian teaching (pause) that is un-Christian teaching based upon worshipping something or someone other than God. It was such an issue during Isaiah’s time that God sent these same pagans who Israel had been worshipping to conquer them as a lesson about Who it is that we should be worshipping!
So what I’d like to do is take about two or three minutes and give you a brief history lesson from Isaiah chapter one. It will help you to put into perspective why it is that God goes out of His way to warn the Israelites, and us as believers, to stay away from pagan gods. God warned them about this sin time and again. Here in Isaiah chapter one, Israel had just come back from being exiled, after having been conquered by these Assyrians. God had repeatedly warned them not to mix with any of the beliefs of other religions; but they ignored Him. For example, God told Israel in Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me.” And then in verse 5, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” Yet Israel kept doing it again and again. Here in Isaiah chapter one, we see the aftermath of this invasion. The Lord confronted his people with their rebellion and sin and issued them an ultimatum. In verse two God tells them, “Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.”
God accused Israel of breaking the covenant with Him and most especially for worshipping other gods and for embracing the pagan religions surrounding them instead of worship God alone. And so as they came back out of exile, many of them had learned their lesson, but had now gone to the extreme opposite end of paganism. They were so worried about fulfilling the letter of the law, that worshipping God ended up being basically something you did out of habit, because you had to, not because you loved the Lord. For some of them, it got so bad that they were neglecting the poor in favor of mechanically obeying the rules; that’s called legalism and it remained a big problem in Israel right up to Jesus’ time. And then, sadly, we see how later in verses 21 and 31 some of them started to turn back to idolatry and worshipping pagan gods, here in this case worshipping fertility gods. So here in our passage from Isaiah chapter one verses 10 through 18, God is dealing with these people, who in the past had been lost in paganism, and now were equally as lost in legalism. What God wants them to know is that He wants them to worship Him because they love Him, because of who He is to them and what He has done for them. And when they do, their sins will be forgiven.
So in verse 10, Isaiah calls Israel “Sodom and Gomorrah.” Now he wasn’t literally talking to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, as even to Isaiah, those events were long ago, but rather, he was calling Israel “Sodom and Gomorrah” in order to shock them into hearing his words. It’s like calling them a bad name. It’s just like in Matthew 16:23, where Jesus called his disciple Peter by the name of Satan to get Peter’s attention. So once Isaiah has Israel’s attention, God asks in verse 11, “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” And then he goes on in verses 12 and 13, “when you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear (pause) your evil assemblies.” Wow, that’s some pretty strong talk from an Almighty God to His own people. Yes, they were coming to church, but who were they really worshipping in their lives? It was like God saying, “in the past, you forgot all about me and were worshipping trees and spirits. Now your worship of me is like a robot. You do it out of habit. So, God tells them, He is “weary of bearing them.” It is time for their sincere repentance.
And so in verse 16 God emphatically says “wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!” What God is saying here is worship ME, (pause) for who I am to you. Repent of your sin. “Learn to do right!” See friends, God’s righteousness is different. There is no righteousness anywhere because we are corrupted by sin. The Bible teaches that nothing good can come from mankind (pause) because of our sin. Paul tells us in Romans 5:6 that we are in fact un-godly. Scripture tells us that on our own, we are lost, exactly the opposite of what this New Age stuff tells us. But Scripture also tells us about Jesus Christ. It’s amazing how Isaiah lived 700 years before Jesus was born and yet gives us what I think is the clearest Old Testament prophecy regarding Jesus Christ as the Suffering Servant we find anywhere in the Old Testament, in the Jewish Bible. Scripture tells us that everything we need to be saved is a completed fact in Jesus, meaning He’s already done everything we need to be healed of our sin. That’s what God wants us to consider, not karma or tree-worship, or reincarnation or Pokemon or anything where we try to do it ourselves. God calls us, here in verse 18 of our reading to listen to Him, to focus our lives upon Him, and to understand His Way of redeeming us—God’s way of redeeming us. He says, “Come now, let us reason together…Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Where we are all unrighteous, sinful, full of evil and ungodly, Jesus Christ, my friends, was given to die for us so that those who believe in Him can receive His righteousness. As we pronounce here in Church, after we profess our sins, “In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for you and for His sake, God forgives you all of your sins.” It’s like Isaiah is saying, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow” because of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. `
Friends, only the Bible has the message of the salvation we find in Jesus, that we find in His Grace. Grace is the forgiveness of sins that God gives freely to His people. Grace is the undeserved kindness of God. Grace is getting the blessings we do not deserve. See, only Christianity has the message of free forgiveness of sins. Only in Christianity do we find a real, living God. One who has walked the earth. One who suffered, died and then raised Himself to life again—all because of us. Every other religious system on earth has some form of salvation dependent totally or, at least, in part on what the believers do.
So what of these New Age teachings? Yes, they are obviously false and go directly against what Scripture teaches us. So am I over-reacting with taking Pokemon from my son? Am I over-reacting in warning you about allowing people to talk to you about karma? I realize that most of you here tonight are firm, committed Christians who know God’s truth from the false teachings. But still, the Bible, here in Isaiah, but in many other places in Scripture as well is clear that we should steer away from the false teachings of this world. In fact, I would say that the Bible opposes almost every one the tenets of the New Age Movement and all of the eastern mysticism that our society has made commonplace.
So as Christians, not only should we avoid these un-Christian, non-Christian teachings, but rather we are commanded by God to keep them from our kids. Instead of focusing our “energy into a better awareness,” why not focus our prayers on the Almighty God of Israel, our creator and our redeemer? Jesus taught that if we love Him, we will obey His commandments, to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our mind. And to love our neighbors as God loves us and as we love ourselves. You see, loving God with all of your heart, mind and soul necessarily EXCLUDES loving or even considering a teaching that falls outside of the love of God. Through the love of God, false pagan beliefs will be foreign to us. Through His love, serving Him and our fellow man will be a natural part our lives; and in doing so, we will realize the truth in Jesus’ words when He said, “Because I live, you also will live.”
My friends in Christ, let’s together help one another to focus on Jesus Christ, to help one another to live in Christ and turn away from the false teachings that Satan has put into place in his ugly attempt at leading us away from eternal life. So next time someone asks you about your karma… answer them back with “who cares!? How is YOUR relationship (pause) with Jesus Christ?” Amen.
Now may the true faith…
Sources
Book of Isaiah
Chishold, Robert B. Handbook of the Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002-2005, pages 13-25.
Kaufmann, Yehezkel and C.W. Efroymson, “The Babylonian Captivity and Deutero-Isaiah: Creative Redemption in Deutero-Isaiah.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 41 (1973): pp. 597-599.
