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Why is the church not in
the forefront of health and nutrition? Somehow we have the misguided
notion that health, holistic medicine, nutrition, fasting for physical
healing, and environmental issues are evil because they have been
embraced by the New Age Movement. Yet we must ask an even more sobering
question. Why is the New Age Movement in the forefront of this fields?
When the church becomes
ineffective in an area of Christ's ministry, it creates a spiritual
vacuum. Satan gladly fills that vacuum, not because of His concern for
health, but to set up legal authority in peoples' lives. It's the oldest
trick in the book—create a major crisis, then as a knight in shining
armor, rescue the world from the crisis. This is exactly what Satan will
do in the form of the Antichrist.
When the Antichrist comes
onto the scene, he will be politically correct, ecologically and health
conscious. He will bring world peace, religious unity, and feed the
hungry. He will come as an Angel of Light. In all the problems he has
spawned within society, he will present himself as being the solution.
Millions of people all
over the world are looking to the New Age Movement for spiritual
direction, acceptance and love. Many have come out of organized
religion, dismayed and discouraged. Religion could not soothe the
spiritual ache in man's soul. The New Age Movement would make them feel
like part of a family. The success and growth of the New Age Movement is
a direct result of the church's inability to fulfill the ministry of
Christ. Jesus touched the leper, the social outcast. He healed the
brokenhearted with words of love, hope and acceptance, unlike the
Pharisees who would only point, judge and cloister themselves behind the
garb of religiosity.
The church has become
terrified of the New Age Movement. Many books have been written by
Christian leaders warning of their seductive teaching. We are told not
to associate with such evil people for fear that we may become deceived.
Fear is worn like a shield of protection, causing us to become
completely ineffective in letting the love of Christ shine to a hungry
people. Is our faith so fragile that we must hide behind church doors
where we feel comfortable in familiar surroundings? Jesus says go
into all the world, not run away from it. The rampant growth of
the New Age Movement in North America is the offspring of our own
spiritual apathy. Instead of judging people from the New Age Movement,
Jehovah's Witnesses, or Mormons, we are to fearlessly reach out with the
love of Jesus and touch their lives.
New Age Faith
What is the difference between
the New Age Movement and True Christianity?
I am seeking a Christ
consciousness within. New Agers
pray to God, believe in angels, meditate, read the Bible, and even go to
church on Sundays. They are intensely conscious of spirituality and
believe in life after death. They believe in goodness and kindness,
unity and faith, love and generosity. They are active in the community,
and often display deep compassion.
It is the cross of Christ
that separates Christianity from any other faith. It establishes our
spiritual condition before God. The cross shouts of a world that is
hopelessly lost. We are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph
2:1). God is unreachable, completely holy and is incapable of having a
friendship with us.
God is Spirit Man is spiritually dead
God is Holy Man is sin
The gulf that separates God and man cannot be bridged by meditation,
prayer, spiritual awakening, channeling, encounter groups, crystal
therapy, centering, or harmonic convergence. As much as we may feel
spiritually connected, it is an illusion because to God, ...all our
righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isa 64:6). Soulish at best, our
spiritual strivings are no more spiritual than a plastic Jesus in a
manger at Christmas.
There is no one
righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who
seeks God. All have turned away, they together become worthless; there
is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit The poison of vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift
to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace
they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
...Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by
observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of
sin...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3: 10–18, 20, 23
This description is from
God's vantage point. Sin is spiritual cancer. It has no creative force
of its own. It twists and perverts and is viciously contagious. It is
passed on from father to son and mother to daughter. It leads to self–dependence
and pride, which are forms of self–worship. This type of insanity
leaves the mind wide open to a subjective, created, reality which is
unable to comprehend the things of God. In spite of how much God loves
us, He cannot compromise His Holiness. Sin cannot go unpunished. That is
a spiritual law as much as the three laws of thermodynamics which govern
the physical realm.
Dear friend, you are
spiritual when God proclaims you spiritual, not when you feel spiritual.
A friendship with God is on His terms, not yours. Seeking to feel
spiritual through any avenue other than the cross is meaningless,
meaningless a chasing after the wind (Ecc 1:1).
It is only when we
understand our spiritual condition that we can cry with a broken heart, I
am desperately lost, I need a Savior.
...the law requires
that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding
of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22). This was no mystery to
an Israelite. For thousands of years, the law required that animal
sacrifices be performed for the forgiveness of sins. A lamb without
blemish would be taken to the priest. The lamb would then be slaughtered
and its blood would be poured out over the altar. But, it is
...impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Heb
10:4). The sacrifice of animals was unable to clear the conscience
of the worshiper. But Christ, the Lamb of God, has appeared once for all
at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Just as man is destined
to die once, and after that face judgment so Christ was sacrificed
once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second
time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting
for him.
Hebrews 9:26–28
Jesus hung between heaven
and earth, naked and alone, bearing all our shame and guilt. There is
one path to God, through His Son Jesus Christ. It is not a path that
leads up to heaven, but a path that leads down to earth from heaven. It
is here that we find the fundamental difference between Christianity and
all other religions, cults and belief systems. Mans' efforts to reach up
to God are futile. True Christianity is God reaching down to an
impossibly lost world through His Son, Jesus. It makes no difference how
fancy your church is, how long you meditate and fast in prayer. It makes
no difference to God how much humanitarian work you do in this world.
Nothing can purchase the mercy of God. It is only through faith in His
Son, and in the finished work of the cross that we may receive access to
the Father.
The Salvation taught in
the Scriptures is dogmatic and uncompromising. The Gospel proclaims that
there are only two types of people in this world. Those who have
accepted the gift of God's Son and receive eternal life, and those who
have rejected Him and are eternally condemned.
If you are not sure of
your eternal position before God, you can be. God loves you more than
you can possibly understand. He knows you by name. He knows how many
hairs are upon your head. If you were the only person on this earth, He
would have sent His Son to die for you. He has a storehouse of blessing
that He wants to pour out upon you. Come as you are. Accept His gift by
repenting from your self–dependence and honestly cry out from your
heart, Oh God, I see my sinfulness. I need a Savior. I open my heart
and ask you to come in. I give myself to you.
Through this prayer, you
can be absolutely assured of your position before God. You are forgiven
and made clean by the blood of Christ. You are dressed in His
righteousness and Holiness. You have been made as if you had never
sinned. Your hopeless past is behind you, and your future is filled with
hope and blessing. And you also were included in Christ when you
heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation. Having believed,
you are marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a
deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who
are God's possession—to the praise of his glory (Eph 1:13–14).
He will lead and comfort you. He is your Seal, your Guarantee. When you
die, you will be with God forever. Not because of how good you are or
how faithful you are, or how much you pray, but because of the faithful
love of your Father.
If you have just made
Jesus, Lord, we want to encourage and support you. Call us or write
us.
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