Week 33: There's Nothing New About the New Age Movement | May 10, 2026 Sunday School

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

We are going to be talking about the New Age movement.

This is going to be our final look at a world religion and

cult. And as I mentioned to you

before, we could just go on and on and on really forever in this

series. And there had to be a place

where we wanted to kind of take a off ramp, if you will, to be

able to move into the next series and where God would have

us next. And so I do think it's important

that we look at the New Age movement and it is going to be

different than anything else that we have looked at thus far

because everything that we have seen up to this point has been

very clearly defined and very clearly delineated.

Meaning this, when you look at the Mormon church, there's a

Mormon set of doctrines. There is a Mormon hierarchy,

there are numbers, there are ways to account for how many

members there are. And of course I know there are

splinter groups. And we could say this with all

of these world religions and cults, couldn't we?

But whether it's Mormonism, Jehovah Witness, the Church of

Scientology, Unitarianism, the Islamic faith, the Buddhism, all

of these things that we've looked at, there is some sort of

structure of which we can look at.

Find out how many adherence. There are leadership core

beliefs. Such as that but when it comes

to the new age movement, that is not the case.

That the move age movement is more of a philosophy that cuts

across so many different realms. And so because of that, there

really is no real way to know how many people are involved in

the new age movement. What is the leadership of the

new age movement? Where is the new age movement

centrally located? The answer is there are no

answers to any of those because it's more of a philosophy.

It's more of a. A thought process, and I would

say to that many hold to the. New Age movement, without even

realizing they actually hold to New Age thoughts.

And even beyond that, I would say this morning that the New

Age movement is starting to creep into Christian churches as

well. Now, we're not going to really

talk about that here this morning because we'll give you

more of an overview of it, but it's something that we need to

be aware of and understand how insidious it really is.

And you say insidious, what, what do you mean?

The fact that it is a very, very real thing that is infiltrating

all of these different areas as dangerous and people maybe don't

even realize how dangerous it is.

That's right in front of them. And so we'll be looking at this

morning in the title of this lesson is the new age movement.

There's nothing new about it. The new age movement, there's

nothing new about it. Now, if you were to go down

Route 138 towards Stoughton or as a a friend that I had from

Georgia once said, stuffed in, if you were to drive towards

Stoughton on Route 138 on the right hand side, right before

you go into the next town, you will find that there is a gift

shop. There is a Learning Center

called the Women of Wisdom. Now listen, I, I think women

having wisdom is a wonderful thing.

Amen. I am not against it.

Hey, it's Mother's Day, right? I think women are wise.

I think having women having wisdom, it is a great thing.

However, the Women of Wisdom is called This is on their own

website, a unique gift and bookshop, holistic healing

center and sanctuary for spiritual and personal growth.

Now you hear that. In and of itself, there's

nothing necessarily alarming about that in and of itself.

And I would tell you many years ago when the church just

started, I remember there was a lady who is here.

I won't mention her name, She's been gone for many years, but

she told me that she frequented the Women of Wisdom.

She says, oh, pastor, it's really just more of a gift shop

than anything else. I said, well, it doesn't seem

like it labels itself as a gift shop.

I mean, I see there's advertisement for mediums and

for spiritualism that's outside of the Word of God.

It doesn't seem to go pastor. I just go in there and it's a

gift shop. And this is where we as

Christians must be careful because this new Age type

thinking is all around us whether we realize it or not.

So just this last week I went on to the Women of Wisdom website

and I clicked that tab that said about us.

I want to know what they are about and I want you to listen.

I'm going to read this a little bit exhaustively here this

morning, but I want you to hear how at first you might be

nodding your head. You think you know, these are

some pretty good things that are being.

Spoken of some things that maybe are being missed by a different

groups and some things that are. On the hearts of people who are

struggling in certain areas. But the farther we go, with the

deeper we go, we start to see the real fallacy and really the

biblical inaccuracies that are being presented.

So this is from the owner of the Women of Wisdom, says Women of.

Wisdom was born from my desire to learn and grow, to reconnect

with who I am, strengthen my connection to the divine, and I

need to reclaim all the parts of myself that I left behind or

gave away to any number of people in my life.

I'd followed the path that my family roots in society laid out

for me, believing that it. Would bring me happiness

somewhere along the way in the business of being a daughter,

wife, full time mom, corporate executive, PTA.

Member, Girl Scout leader, board member at church, etcetera.

I had lost myself. I was disconnected from myself,

running on autopilot, Though through my healing process, I

discovered that so many women, and men too, it says, had

followed this path and made the same realization.

Existing wasn't enough. Doing what was expected by

others and me didn't bring fulfillment.

So I set to the task of remembering who I was, what

dreams I had once had and given up on What did I want to be when

I grew up? I wanted to make a difference in

the world. Offer as I was blessed to have

offered to me the opportunity and gift of healing to others.

To provide a safe sanctuary for those wanting to begin their

path, explore themselves and expand their perceptions.

Gain the knowledge to build a fulfilling life, then to truly

dare to open the heart, let go of fear and heal the past.

Connect to the Divine and to love oneself and others.

Choosing to live with compassion.

And finally to integrate this knowledge and compassion into

life's everyday experiences. Bringing wisdom and peace to

live the greatest adventure. Daring to make all their dreams

come true. And so, in 1996, Women Wisdom

was born. The store provides a beautiful

place to find all the tools to facilitate the healing and

reflects the beauty within all of us.

Our classes are broad, ranging from many perspectives on a

large variety of topics because learning is an ongoing part of

change and growth. We have mediums and psychic

readings to provide messages, insight, guidance, and support.

And of course, we have holistic healing treatments to assist you

in resolving any obstacles to live an amazing life.

People often ask why her name is Women of Wisdom to remind us of

what we so often forget, that wisdom is something that we have

within. And if and when we make the time

to connect to our hearts, desire our truth to our greater selves,

to connect to our divinity, then anything, everything is

possible. You know, isn't amazing how it

starts with maybe the heart's desire of someone who is not

saved, that they feel life is unfulfilling, that they feel

that all the things that they were.

Supposed to do. We're supposed to.

Bring them joy and happiness. And then they find that that is

not the case. And friend, that's what life is

before. We know Jesus Christ is our

Savior, that you keep reaching, that you keep trying to find,

You keep trying to search for that hole in your heart that

only Jesus Christ can fill. And so they present a problem

that is real, of course mentioned towards women, but

also towards men as well, That there is this God sized hole in

your heart that can only be filled by Jesus Christ.

But their answer is much different.

That the answer is not outside of yourself.

That the answer is actually within yourself.

That the problems of life don't come from yourself because of

sin, but rather the problem is you have not properly connected

with divinity. That there is no God

necessarily. There might be some life force

or all. The universe is God and God is

the universe, but really you yourself are a God.

And this is what the New Age movement propagates and teaches.

And there are places like the Women of Wisdom right up the

road. There are 1900 numbers.

If those are still around, I don't think Miss Cleo is still

around anymore. But whether it would be Miss

Cleo or mediums or horoscopes or any of those things that somehow

take the sun, moon and stars and all that is in the universe and

all that is divine and help. You find the divinity within

friend. This is.

Everywhere. This is part of the American

culture. It has become so much a part of

the American culture. I'll be honest with you, I don't

think we often even realize it's around.

In fact, I was listening to a preacher just this week.

I was doing some research on the New Age movement, not just only

through the. Books that I have, but also

listening to some teaching on it as well.

And, and he said there was a little bit within Christianity

and emphasis. On the New Age movement, maybe

2025 years ago, but not so much anymore.

And he says the reason he explains to people is because

really, in many ways, the New Age movement has won.

That is so integrated within our society, within entertainment,

all these things that we don't often even realize it's around.

Just like you don't go around every day saying, boy, isn't

this oxygen great? Isn't this air wonderful?

You just know it's there because, well, it's there and

you don't think about it very much.

And in many ways, the New Age movement has integrated itself

so much in so many ways that we don't.

Often see it for what it is, and I would say even for myself, not

that I would buy into it lock, stock and barrel, but the idea

is that it is so insidious again that it hides itself, but yet so

dangerous that you don't even realize where it's lurking.

And again, there are churches that are.

Ushering this in with open arms because of the talk of the.

Divinity, because of the talk of that.

We've heard this before, the champion within you, all of

these types of things, where did they come from?

Well, they come from not the Word of God, but rather this

very real philosophy that's completely counter to the Word

of God. It's sacrilegious teaching that

is wrapped up in an empowering and appealing cloak that the

problem is you don't trust yourself enough.

Now I know the problem is I trust myself too much.

We're going to preach this morning on the Good Shepherd,

the Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.

The problem in my life most of the time is this.

I don't listen to Good Shepherd enough.

He's trying to lead me in right pass and I don't pay.

Attention, the problem is not that I have neglected the divine

spark within me. The problem is quite the

opposite. And so here is where we are this

morning. New age movement.

There's nothing new about it. How old is it?

Well, Deuteronomy 18, let's go ahead and start there.

We'll begin in verse #9 where God has some very stark words

about some of the very things that we just read about a few

moments ago. Now remember, Deuteronomy is the

second telling of the law. Moses is preparing the people to

go into the Promised Land, preparing them for the people

they were about to meet. And he's explaining why these

people really are going to have to be eradicated from the

Promised Land. And so look what it says in

verse #9 When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God

giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do.

After the abominations of those nations.

There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son

or his daughter to pass through the fire.

And I'll stop right there for just a moment.

That that literally there were those of the Amorites and the

Hittites, and all the tights that were there in the land,

that as human sacrifice were taking their children and

sacrificing them upon the altar. And so God starts by saying

this. You do not need to learn after

them. This is why they're being

removed from the promised land. The closer proximity they were

to them, the more they became like them.

And this is important for us to listen.

The closer we are to something, the more become, the more we

will become like it if we're not careful.

Now again, do we need to be around the world so we can win

the world? Absolutely.

First Corinthians 5, you'll remember Paul says if you want

to be away from the world, you'll have to leave this earth.

If you want to be away from the world.

We're around it all the time. But there's a difference between

trying to. Influence the world and allowing

the world to influence you, and so God practically.

Speaking says there's some problems and the very first one

is this the sacrificing of children upon the altar?

By the way, this isn't my message, but if Erica is still

sacrificing children upon the altar today, when you consider

the fact of what? Abortion is and women shouting

their abortions and proclaiming how wonderful abortion is.

That's an abomination before an almighty God.

A. Sin that this country will have

to pay for someday. I do believe and it says as it

continues, not just that anyone that maketh a son or.

Daughter, to pass through the fire, or that useth divination.

Now what is divination? To be able to divine that which

is beyond what we know. Or an observer, or times, or an

enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consultor with

familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer literally

speaking to those on the other side.

For all that do these things are what an abomination under the

Lord. And because of these

abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before

thee. For thou or thou shalt be

perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations with thou

shalt possess hearken unto observers of times, and the

diviners. But As for thee, the Lord thy

God hath not suffered thee to do so.

Now what is it saying here? This is what these people are

doing. I'm not going into a deep dive

on each of these because this is not for us to be.

Able to go through Deuteronomy 18 and to be able to go through

each. Which of these?

I think we could and draw some very real and radical parallels

to some things we see today. But the idea is more of an

overview that these things that the Amorites and the Hittites

and all of these people that were of the land, the things

that God said, these are abominations, are things that

the world is grasping with open arms today.

And that we, even in our freedom in Christ, if we're not careful,

can maybe grab on to some of these things as well that work

themselves into Christian teachings, into podcasts, into

popular books. And we have to be able to be

very spiritually perceptive to be able to understand these

things. They in those in the land, those

who were abominable, they were searching for an answer through

the dead. They were searching for an

answer through spells, and they were searching for answers

through everything. Can we put it this way?

They were looking for answers for everything but God.

Anything but God was the answer to their problems.

But verse 15 says this, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee

a prophet from the midst of thee, and thy brethren like unto

me, unto him shall ye hearken. And we see from the previous

verses the other nations listen to the wrong voices.

Can we put it this way that the other nations were listening to

the wrong voices? But what is God saying to them?

You need to listen to me, the voice of the prophet, the

capital P there. Who's that talking of it?

That is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ and that they were to

listen to God and to God alone. When?

They listen to God. They did so well.

When they listen to all these other things, boy, it was just

problem after problem after problem.

Deuteronomy 2929 says this. The secret things belong unto

the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong

unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the

words of this law you. Know there's some things in the

Bible I wish we knew that just don't happen to be in the Bible.

You know? Probably for me, highest on the

list is what Jesus was like when he was a child.

You know, we see him at his birth, then we see him at age

12, then we see him as he starts his earthly ministry.

I don't know about you, but I wish the Bible just had a whole

book about stories of Jesus childhood.

I would love that. I would love to be able to read

what he was like and. And to know how different he was

from the other children and what that experience would have been

like. But you know.

There are things like that, and maybe a multitude of other

things that you all are thinking about this morning as well that

the Bible does not make us Privy to.

And you know why? Because here's the answer.

The secret thing is belong to the Lord Lord.

There's some things God has not revealed to us in his infinite

wisdom. We can't question the fact that

God has not revealed certain things was God is not wrong

because he did not reveal to us what Jesus childhood was like.

Honestly, I think a lot of people would just focus on those

stories and really miss the reality of who Jesus was.

And so probably it's a great blessing that we don't have that

for that very reason or could be another reason.

All I know is it's a blessing we don't have it because if we

needed it, God would have given it to us.

And since we don't have it, that means we, well, don't need it.

And the secret things belong to the Lord.

Now here's what the New Age movement says.

Now catch this this morning. The New Age movement says there

are secret things, and I'll give you a way.

To learn them. There are things that you don't

know and there is the way to find them out.

There is a divinity who has real teachings, but he hasn't given

us everything. And so you will be able to

channel your own way to be able to learn all of these very, very

important things. Now, who was someone who fell

into the trap of this? Well, we're not going to go

there this morning, but you could turn later to First Samuel

28 and you'll find that Saul took all those people who were

in the land that we just read about in Deuteronomy chapter 18.

Deuteronomy 18 · chapter mention

And what? Did he do?

He removed them. He completely removed him

because that was what God had told him to do.

And so we told Israel to do. And so he came to a point

sometime in his reign, where he had purged the land of all these

people. But there was one witch who

remained in a place called Endor.

And when Samuel, or rather Saul, could not hear from God.

Now, why couldn't he hear from God?

Well. Because God had shut the windows

of heaven, if you would, from him, Because he was unrepentant

of his sin. And God in his benevolence was

not answering. Because that quietness from the

Lord should have caused Saul to say, whoa, I'm far from God.

I need to get right with God. Instead he said, I need to know

what's going on. The Philistines are breathing

down my neck. I don't know what David's up to

right now. I'm in real trouble.

I can't hear from God. So what did he do?

He found the one witch that still remained, and what did she

do in her own way, channeled from the other side?

There's a lot of questions about how that took place.

I believe that the Lord supernaturally allowed this to

take place. There are questions of whether

Samuel was actually Samuel or not.

I don't know, but I should could argue probably this morning

either way. But I do know it wasn't as much

about the power of this woman as God was trying to make a very

graphic illustration to to Saul to show him how far he had

gotten away from God. Because even this woman seemed

very surprised at what took place.

She was as surprised as anyone. But what did Saul?

Do he needed an answer from the other side how to move ahead?

Does that sound a lot like what's going on today in a lot

of ways? Oh, I can't do anything without

reading my horoscope. There are people who really

believe that we laugh at that. But there were people who would

not in in a day not that long ago, would get the newspaper.

Not because they wanted to see what was going on in the op eds

in the front page, and not because they want to see what

the scores were for the Sox or the Celtics or the Pats.

But because they had to turn that horoscope to know how do I

get about my day. They needed word from the stars

to be able to know how to move. And this is prevalent within our

society today. It still is.

Whether it's channeling or mediums, they're out there and

they're everywhere. I can tell you even just.

Over in here in Easton, there's two different places with

psychics and Mansfield, right on Main Street.

There are two different places that I know of, of which you can

receive types of readings. And that's just within these two

towns here, 50,000 people, four different places where it can be

spoken of. You say, well Pastor, a lot of

that's just a bunch of hokum and it's a bunch of junk.

There's nothing real to it. And I will say there's a lot of

con men out there that are trying to be able to pretend, as

I've said before, you know, you know, you did you did you have a

mother? You know, it's like, well, yes,

it's now that you mentioned it, yes, I did.

You know, did you know someone that started with the letter R

by any chance? Name, first name, last name,

middle name, anything. You know, there's a lot of that

that's out there. But is there some very real

occultism that is also out there?

You better believe it. And as believers, we must

understand it, acknowledge it, and when we see it, have no part

in it. And Samuel, Saul rather, was

exactly the opposite. The New Age movement has much to

do with the divine, but it has nothing to do with the God of

the Bible. And this is important, has much

to do with the divine, but it has nothing to do with the God

of the Bible. It's everywhere in Hollywood.

I know that's a surprise to everyone here today.

But the fact that Hollywood peddles it to such a level is

something that should be important for us to recognize

because whether we like it or not.

Hollywood shapes a lot of cultural thinking.

Should it be that way? No.

But the fact of the matter is that every election, who is the

one that wants to speak up and influence us on who to vote for?

It's those who are in Hollywood, those who are in sports, but

really those in Hollywood who lie for a living.

I mean, that's what acting is. I'm not saying that the acting

is not is there's, you know, good reasons to act and there's

not necessarily everything that's acting is bad by any

stretch. But say these people now all of

a sudden say, because I can act, because I can do it.

You need to listen what I think about politics or even what I

think about God himself. I'll give you some examples.

Harrison Ford once had a wide-ranging interview.

When the conversation turned to God, Harrison Ford indicated

that he appreciated the advice of Paul Tillich, who said, if

you have. Trouble with the word.

God. Then take whatever is central

and most meaningful in your life and call that God.

Harrison Ford went on to say. I don't have any religious

construct, but I think nature and God are the same thing.

And with all due respect to Harrison Ford, nature and God

are not the same thing. You'll hear a lot about God is

the. Universe and the universe is

God. There's only one problem.

With that, before the universe was God, and this is a real

misnomer of that which is taught in.

The new age movement of along with many other things in the

1997 movie Out on a Limb, Shirley MacLaine is standing on

a seashore facing the ocean. Her arms are outstretched.

She shouts at the surf. I am God.

I, I am God now I wasn't aware of this and I actually went on

to YouTube and wasted 5 minutes of my life watching this clip

from this movie of her literally grappling with this thought

about the universe and what it was.

And finally she got to the place where she did stretch out her

arms and she yelled I am God. The music starts to swell.

Isn't this a wonderful and touching moment?

And the answer is no, it's blasphemous that you are God.

We can be quite confident that this is not the God of the

Bible. Bette Midler recorded a song in

1990s which you probably are aware of from a distance.

One of the lines of the song says God is watching us, God is

watching us. God is watching us from a

distance. The notion there is this idea,

which they call process theology, that God sets the

world in motion and completely removes himself from it.

He's just watching at a distance and is not even capable of

intervening in any way. Again, this is far from.

The God of the Bible, who loves us with an everlasting love,

knows the number of hairs on our heads, intervenes in our lives

in the affairs of people with regularity.

So many. Thoughts about who God is, but

yet not the thoughts and the truth of the Bible.

So what are some common characteristics of the New Age

movement? All right, So what are some

common characteristics of the new?

I missed those slides. I'll tell you of the new age

movement. Well.

There are some core beliefs of New Agers, including monism,

which means that all is 1, Pantheism, which means all is

God. And mysticism, which is the

experience of oneness with divine monism all is 1

pantheism, all is God and mysticism, the experience of

oneness with the divine and all three of.

These thought process have logical fallacies, not even

including. The fact that they are patently

unbiblical, meaning this, that we could argue against these

things really without even using the Bible because just logically

they do not make sense in and of themselves.

Well, God is everything. And so that's why I don't eat

meat. People say it.

Now, listen, if you're a vegan this morning and that's what you

want to do because you think it's better for you, go for it.

I mean, I'm going to eat a hamburger.

I don't know about anybody else, but I like a hamburger and a

steak. But I will say if you just want

to do that because a health thing, then there's nothing

wrong with that. But there are people who

literally because of the New Age movement.

Thoughts. Why can't because of the

sacredness of all life. Well, the answer is well, but do

you cut your grass? Because that's sacred too.

What do the cows eat? Well, that's sacred too, if you

could. Go so far.

Do you understand again now is is life precious?

Absolutely it is as has, but God's also given us dominion

over this world as well to be able to as Adam did before the

fall, to dress and keep the garden.

Work is not a curse. Adam was given this job before

the curse came. But we find that this these are

the thoughts that are out there today.

Now along with those, there's a lot of secondary

characteristics. And I would say if there's a

word that you could use to explain the new age.

Movement and new Agers in general.

It will be this eclectic, eclectic.

Now, we usually use the word eclectic when you say someone

has maybe an eclectic clothing style.

You know, they dress in a certain way and a little bit of

here, a little bit of there. You know, you go in someone's

home, maybe they've decorated it in an eclectic way.

They don't really lean into one way of decorating.

It's this room is this, this room is that.

Sometimes it's a bunch of different mishmash of stuff all

in the same room. You know, that could be

eclectic. But when I say that New Agers

are eclectic, what I'm saying is this.

They take a little bit of hearing what they believe, a

little bit in there, what they believe.

By the way, many New Agers will take biblical thoughts in and of

themselves. The problem is they divorce them

from the context and the truth of the rest of the Bible.

And so it'll take a little bit here, a little bit there, a

little bit of the Far Eastern religions, a little bit of the

Bible, a little bit of Jesus Christ, a little bit of Vishnu,

a little bit of a, of a medium and put it all together.

And they have created their own way of thinking.

The problem with this is, well, who is God?

Well, they are, because they have become the arbiter of

truth, but that goes along with what they believe, that they are

the ultimate authority. And this is a very, very

dangerous way of thinking. They consult holy books like the

Bible, the Hindu Vedas. But also feel free to consult

psychics and Chandlers, whose revelations from spirit guides

are considered just as authoritative as what you would

find in. The Word of God, they have no

hesitation and consulting astrologers, others who practice

the occultic arts of necromancy, palm readings, ball gazing,

tarot cards and the like. As I've mentioned before, you

know I have a program. The Church has a program,

Liberty Home, that runs on Easton Community Access

Television every week. And I'm thankful that we've had

that platform. To be able to do that now over

100 episodes on ecat over the last three years.

I'm thankful for that. But there's also someone who has

a program called Whispers from the Other Side and she can speak

to those in her mind that are on the other side.

And she has gone to great lengths.

I've watched some of parts of her shows.

I can't say I've sat down for a whole 30 minutes and watched it,

but gone through and watched certain parts of it where she

has said, well, I can hear somebody saying this and

somebody saying that. Did you have someone in your

life whose name was this? And the person will be across

from and say no, no, it's I'll be honest with you, I'm almost.

Embarrassed for her? Even though I know she's being

exposed as someone who is untruthful.

But I'm almost thinking, wow, you put yourself out on a limb

there and you weren't even close.

And they won't even say, well, you know, some, you know,

somebody like that. No, they would say, no, I don't

know what you're talking about and should say, oh, well, you

know, that voice is fading away now.

There's another voice that's coming in and it's just we we

look at that and it's just so plain and obvious.

But there are people out there who are absolutely grasping for

something. I'll share this with you.

I was talking with my wife this morning because, you know, my

mom passed away about, you know, 12 years ago now and, you know,

Mother's Day today. And I was, you know, going to

pick a card out for for Diane. And just I was thinking, you

know, boy, I miss picking out a card for my mom.

I'll be honest with you. You know, she died when I was 31

years old. And the way that life works,

that's, that's pretty young, all things considered.

And so I miss him. I miss her, you know, I, I, I,

I'm glad I still have some tapes where I can listen to her voice,

you know, VHS tapes. I just don't have a VHS, you

know, VCR, but I have VHS tapes. So I know I can listen to them

at some point. But I'm thankful to have them.

But I also know this, I have the Lord and she does too.

And in the midst of that, I know I will see you again, that I

have that hope. But think about someone who

doesn't have that hope and they're desperate.

They've no in their mind because of their belief system.

Either they won't believe, they won't hear them or see them

again, or they just hope and not the kind of hope that we have,

which is a sure expectancy, the hope of hey, flipping a coin

kind of hope. And I hope I get the what I call

when it's up in the air. I get it.

I get the desperation. But the fact of the matter is

that desperation does not excuse the fact that it is patently

unbiblical and dangerous to be involved in such a thing.

There's a reason that God gave such a very clear rebuke to

these things that we're Speaking of here this morning.

So what are some of the common thoughts of the New Ages?

We've given you some of them already.

They believe that personal transformation takes place

typically. When a human recognizes his or

her. Witness with all things in the

universe, I am one. With the universe, the universe

and I are one. These are mantras, if you will,

of those who are New Agers. Now, secondly, they're

planetary. Transformation, they believe,

takes place when a critical mass of human beings come into this

same awareness. That's why World Peace for many

is such an important thing. Now.

I believe in World Peace in the sense that I don't want the

world to be at war. I don't want the world to be

burning down. I don't like seeing what we see

out in the world today and the evil that is surrounding us.

I don't like it, I don't applaud it.

I don't say, hey, this is the way it ought to be.

It ought to grieve our hearts. And I'm afraid sometimes we just

get used to it because we're so surrounded by it.

But there are people who are very real into the World Peace

movement, believing that is enough.

People touch the spark of divinity within them.

It will truly bring World Peace to the entire planet, and this

is a fallacy to be able to consider that.

But that's why they would be at the same time so peaceful in

some ways, but so emphatic that we don't believe.

Like they do. Because we're the ones keeping

the planet down. Our teaching is the one that's

keeping World Peace from really happy.

That's why there are certain elements that believe that we as

Bible believe in Christians are the real problem of society

because we are the ones that are hindering true World Peace come

coming from with our absolute truth that we believe.

How dare that we would believe in absolute truth.

Now most new Agers are open to meditation as well.

Now here's the thing, is meditation good?

Well, yes, it's good as long as it's well, biblical.

And what do we often say that everything that God has, it's

good and right and pure. Satan has a cheap copy, a cheap

imitation of and that is certainly true with meditation.

What is biblical meditation? Well, Psalm one 19148 is a good

example. Might prevent the night watches

that I might meditate in thy word.

Real meditation is meditating upon the word of God.

This is what we are to do. We ought to meditate every

single day. Now again, that doesn't mean

that you can get cross legged on the floor.

Some of us, you get cross legged, you might need someone

to help you get uncross legged. All right, So I'm not saying

that you need to do that. That's not what we find in the

Bible. But the idea is that when we

read our Bible, we don't just read it and discard it for the

rest of the day, that we ought to ruminate on the Word of God,

just like my preacher brother Turner used to say.

It's like a cow chewing the cud. You know, you chew on it, and

then what do they do? Well, they kind of spit it out,

but they chew it again and they spit it out.

I know it's gross, but it's not so great.

But the idea is that cow is extracted everything.

Every possible nutrient. That's why their bodies work in

that way. And when we read the word of

God, we ought to extract every. Nutrient we possibly can

throughout the day. That's biblical meditation.

Well, I'm going to take a a verse that I read in my Bible

reading today. I'm going to write it down on my

phone. I'm going to look at it, you

know, every hour or something like that.

I'm just going to write it down, put it on a sticky note, put it

in my car so I can meditate on it again.

Not, you know, humming or humming or anything like that.

It is literally just I'm going to take the word of God.

I'm going to ponder and meditate on it because really we're going

to meditate on something today. Your mind ponders something

during the day and not always healthy things.

And So what do we need to do? We need to meditate on the Word

of God. But the eastern form of

meditation is when one goes into a trance like state and seeks to

attain a sense of oneness with all things.

You see, when we meditate biblically, what do we do?

We fill our mind with thoughts of the Lord, but Eastern

meditation is this. Empty yourself of everything so

that you can be filled with that which is evil.

Whether they realize it or not, that is exactly what it is.

Emptying the mind. Directing energies within the

body allows the balancing of vital energies which is used to

promote spiritual and physical healing.

I'm going to say something might not be popular here today, but

it is very true that even yoga itself, as it was taught, was

all about directing energies and those types of things.

Now you say. Pastor So if I do those

stretches, you're saying it's evil?

I'm not. Stretches themselves are not

evil. All right, you want to do the

downward dog, help yourself. All right, I don't understand

anything about it. I don't know.

But here's what I do know that there's a difference between

stretching because it's good for your body and getting involved

in Eastern meditation, of which yoga is.

I wouldn't be part of a yoga group for a lot of reasons, but

the main reason would be this would be I don't want to be

involved in what could be considered a type of new age

worship where I am emptying myself.

And again, there will be people. I know there are Christians who

would. Scream at me right now.

You are crazy for thinking that. You think the stretches are

going to are going to cause your mind I.

Didn't say anything about the stretches.

Nothing wrong with stretching before I run, you know I do.

I stretch. It's probably good for me.

You know what I don't do? I don't empty my mind while I

stretch and try to focus my mind on that which is unseemly from

the Word of God. This is what I'm talking about,

it being so prevalent in society today.

Your energy, your chakra, good vibes.

These are the kind of things that are spoken of and even

sometimes we repeat. I'm not even thinking about the

fact. Well, what are good vibrations?

So I think that's a song. Well, it was, but it's more than

that. The idea is the very vibrations

of the human energy and the human spirit as people are often

talking about it and listen. I understand why I'm saying this

to some people. I'd sound like a crank right

now, like you're crazy. But the Bible warns us there's

some very clear things that are out there that we need to avoid

and we need to be cautious not to be scared of.

I'm not scared of yoga. I don't drive past the 18 yoga

studios here in Easton because I think that's how many we have

here in Easton. I don't drive past them and I'm

fearful. I don't walk past one and I'm

afraid for my life or afraid that I would be tempted to go in

and stretch and all of a sudden become a new ager.

But I will tell you this, I do recognize what it is, whether

everyone else does or not. And I'm not saying everyone who

does it is doing these things. I'm not saying everyone who

practices yoga is a new ager. I am saying they're involved in

something. They may not even realize

they're involved in the 1st place.

That's the important part is I'm not making an accusation of

someone's life choices because they're in there, but whether

they realize it or not, they're involving themselves in

something that is much different than maybe they even think that

it is in the 1st place. So we mentioned a few moments

ago that the New Age movement is not new.

And I'm not going to be able to finish this today, but we'll get

where we're going here this morning as the best that we can.

There are a number of factors that contribute to the

emergence, or I would even say re emergence of the new age

movement in the United States. And a lot of it goes back to

here in the very Boston area. Many of you are familiar with

Walden Pond. How many of you ever been over

there before? I have the very center of

Transcendental Meditation, the idea of to go out and become one

with nature. It was a.

Rejection of biblical theology and rather going out and being

one with nature. Now again, there are parts of

that that are very understandable.

In the sense that you think of how commercial this world is,

you think of how much of A rat race it is.

And certainly in the 1800s it was.

It was in its own way. I'm not saying that it is like

it is today, but there was commercialism back then just as

well and to be able to get away. And draw close to God could

certainly be appealing in its own way.

There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself.

But when it's not tethered to the Word of God, what?

Happens. Well, I'm going to go out there

and I will be one with the sticks.

I'm be one with the dirt and be one with the trees and be one

with the water, and I'll be one with the divine that was within

me. This becomes very, very

problematic. Transcendentalism emphasizes

intuition as a means of ascertaining.

Truth, it holds it. All religions contain divine

truth and affirm that the goal of religion is to obtain

conscious union. With the divine, such ideas help

set the stage for the eventual emergence of the New Age

movement revival, the cultism that took place in the late 19th

century. The Theosophical Society in

1875. The Anthro.

Philosophical Society, 1912. The Arcane School, 1923.

And this one's the most scary of all.

The IM movement. Think about that.

The IM movement in 1930s, that's all part of occultism and which

has merged with, and it's really been part and parcel with the

New Age movement. And we don't have to go into the

individual groups themselves. I could tell you did a little

bit of research on the Theosophical Society and I did

enough looking to know this stuff isn't good.

And this stuff has more to do with the devil than it does have

to do with God Almighty. And it's the kind of stuff that

we as Bible believing Christians should stay away from.

But where does this all come from?

And we can even look at the fact that it stems from around 2nd

century. Gnosticism.

What is Gnosticism? Gnosticism comes from the Greek

word gnosis, which means knowledge, and it was purported

to offer otherwise hidden truth. As the indispensable key to

human salvation that you have to find that which is hidden to

truly unlock. The key to your salvation.

Gnosticism with its secret knowledge is long gone, but a

revival of certain Gnostic ideas.

Neo Gnosticism occurred around the same time.

Here's some of the ideas of Gnosticism.

Man has a start spark of divine with him.

Man is ignorant of his divinity and Jesus came as a way shower

to bring enlightenment to humankind.

Now there are so many problems with that that we can't diagnose

in the next minute and 1/2 that we have here.

We'll look at it the next time we are together.

That man is a spark of divine within.

Man is ignorant of his divinity now.

Here. Here's the thing that is so

puzzling and there's so many things, and This is why I talk

about the logical fallacies that we can just debunk these things

just by using pure logic, let alone the word of God.

But I go back and we'll end here with Shirley MacLaine on the

beach. And I know that it is fiction,

but at the same time, I truly believe from looking at some of

the things of the way that she looks at life, that this was as

much her own philosophy as it was her acting.

There. In this scene, I am God.

My only question would be, if you just came to the realization

that you were God, how much God are you?

If you just realized that you are God, are you really God?

I go back to Isaiah 14, don't turn there, but I go back to

Satan, who also had. God like thoughts.

I will be like the most high. I will, I will, I will, I will.

Of course we say he has an eye problem because of all those

eyes that are there that chapter, but The funny thing is

the very fact that he said I will become was the damning

quote that showed that he was not God.

The fact that he said he would become God showed he wasn't.

The fact that someone could realize they are God is the very

evidence of the fact you are not if it just took you being out in

the beach with your toes in the sand.

And the salt spray in your face. To realize that you are God, you

aren't God, and that's the problem.

One of the many problems with the New age movement.

Now we get back together. Next week, Brother Davis will be

doing Sunday school. Next week I will be here.

Our family, Lord willing, will be here.

We flying back Saturday night. As far as I know, we're not

flying on Spirit Airlines, so we should be here next Sunday.

But he'll be teaching Sunday school the fall.

And we will look more at the New Age movement and more, many more

of its fallacies, how we contradicted biblically beyond

what we've looked at so far, and even some hints and helps so

that you can identify even in Christian literature and in

Christian teaching. So I hope it's been a help to

you this morning. Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected] or you can visit us this Sunday at 800

Washington St. in Easton, MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.