NEW BOOKLET: The New Age Path: Finding Soul Enlightenment or Entering Spiritual Blindness?

The New Age Path: Finding Soul Enlightenment or Entering Spiritual Blindness? by Ray Yungen is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet. The booklet is 14 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are available. Our booklets are designed to give away to others or for your own personal use. Below is the content of this new booklet. To order copies of The New Age Path: Finding Soul Enlightenment or Entering Spiritual Blindness? click here.

The New Age Path: Finding Soul Enlightenment or Entering Spiritual Blindness?

By Ray Yungen

After 22 years of research, I fully understand why so many people have embraced metaphysics and why they seek transformation for humanity as a whole. By and large, they have rejected orthodox (old paradigm) Christianity considering it unacceptable but still want to retain spiritual meaning and a Utopian vision in their lives. In addition, they see metaphysics as helpful toward improving the quality of their daily lives, whether it be better health, more loving relationships, inner peace, or guidance for success and prosperity. They would think it the height of ignorance and folly to condemn such seemingly wonderful ways to better the human condition.

It is widely believed in New Age circles that Jesus Christ was Himself a metaphysician of great stature. They quote verses where Jesus proclaims: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21)—meaning a reference to the higher self, they believe; “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)—a reference, they say, to meditation; and “Greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12)—meaning New Agers can have His powers. As far out as this may sound to many Christian readers, New Age adherents are quite sincere in this belief. They firmly argue that reincarnation was originally in the Bible but was taken out at the Council of Nicea so that church and state could better control the common people by fear. Although there are still plenty of skeptics and critics, these beliefs are becoming less offensive and more acceptable all the time.

One of the most common New Age attitudes is that there are many paths to God and that it is wrong to judge or condemn another person’s path because not all people are suited for the same one. New Agers teach that each person should find the path best suited for himself.

To Judge or Not Be Judged

There are two questions to be answered here: Is it right to judge? And do all paths lead to God? Jesus Christ foretold in Matthew 7:22-23:

Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” And then will I profess unto them, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

I find it most interesting that people who were doing “many wonderful works” or miraculous works in His name were, in reality, working “iniquity” or evil. This leads me to believe that a great deception is occurring.

These verses also tell me that all paths do not lead to God and, because they do not, one had better judge which path is correct. Many people, of course, counter with, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” However, taken in context, this verse (Matthew 7:1) is talking about hypocrisy in human behavior and not about withholding critical examination of spiritual teachings. Galatians 1:8 bears out the necessity to evaluate spiritual teaching with proper discernment. Paul warns:

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (emphasis mine)

And 2 John 1:9-11 says:

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. (emphasis mine)

And again in Ephesians 5:11, “. . . have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (emphasis mine).

How may we reprove something if we don’t determine whether or not it fits the bill of “unfruitful works?” In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we read:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect [complete], thoroughly furnished [fully equipped] unto all good works. (emphasis mine)

Familiar Spirits

Noticing the New Age propensity for also quoting Bible verses to support the claims of metaphysics, I have focused in my research on the obvious conflict between the Ancient Wisdom and the God of the Bible that runs from Genesis through Revelation. The continuity of this apparent contrast is undeniable to the point that any New Ager would have to acknowledge that it exists. This contrast and objection is the foundation for any logical Christian opposition to metaphysics. Notice the list of metaphysical arts in Deuteronomy 18:9-12:

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 any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination [a psychic, or an observer of times, meaning festivals connected to nature worship], or an enchanter [one who manipulates people by occult power], or a witch [one who uses occult power]. Or a charmer [hypnotist], or a consulter with familiar spirits [one who receives advice or knowledge from a spirit], or a wizard [one who uses a spirit to do his will], or a necromancer [one who believes he is contacting the dead]. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. (emphasis mine)

The word abomination in verse 12 means “abhorrent” or “disgusting.” Please note the reference to familiar spirits in the following verses from Leviticus. This term is found throughout the Old Testament and has a negative connotation:

And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. (Leviticus 20:6, emphasis mine)

An example of this is a book called Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain, which could be called one of the bibles of the New Age movement (over three million copies have been sold in the US and another three million in thirty translated languages). Gawain explains the basic process of visualization. First comes “relaxing into a deep, quiet meditative state of mind,”1 which is to be done every morning and afternoon. This opens the “channel” for “higher wisdom and guidance to come to you.”2 Gawain then describes the nature of this guidance:

The inner guide is known by many different names, such as your counselor, spirit guide, imaginary friend, or master. It is a higher part of yourself, which can come to you in many different forms, but usually comes in the form of a person or being whom you can talk to and relate to as a wise and loving friend.3

Your guide is there for you to call on anytime you need or want extra guidance, wisdom, knowledge, support, creative inspiration, love or companionship. Many people who have established a relationship with their guide meet them every day in their meditation.4

What Shakti Gawain is talking about is the same thing spoken of in Deuteronomy 18—familiar spirits. The so-called higher self is nothing more than a familiar spirit out to manipulate those people who open themselves to it. It has been common in Christian circles to speak of them as demons. The word demon comes from the Greek term deamonion, which literally means spirit guide. Familiar spirits make contact while the person’s mind is in neutral (usually done through meditation) and try to establish a strong connection; the result is control of the person by the spirit. The core of New Age spirituality is that the higher self (i.e., familiar spirit) is supposed to be the guiding principle in every area of one’s life—period! That is why in Ephesians 6:12, the apostle Paul warns us:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (emphasis mine)

He is saying there are non-human powers (forces) that are in opposition to God. The nature of this is apparent to anyone who takes a close look at metaphysics with this verse in mind. After a certain point, influence and guidance from the familiar spirit progresses to outright possession. This, I believe, is the kundalini effect. One New Age proponent explains it the following way:

Before, kundalini had seemed like a fable to me, fascinating and appealing, but as improbable in its way as God talking to Moses through a burning bush or Jesus raising the dead. But now I was sometimes aware, toward the end of the third stage of Dynamic Meditation, of something moving as elusively as neon up my spine, flashing like lightning in my limbs. . . . When, in the fifth and final stage, I danced, I now sensed myself moved by a force more powerful, more inventive, than any I could consciously summon.5

I believe that the occultist Alice Bailey’s “Tibetan” are familiar spirits. I also believe they are revealing their plan of operation in their writings. The intent of these beings can be seen by what the following metaphysical practitioners convey:

It is all there—just look for it. Seek the immortal, eternal Spirit that dwells within you—the “I am presence,” containing all that was, is, or ever shall be. . . . The whole of life will become more meaningful as you live from the center within. Remember that you are Gods in the Making.6

It is not necessary to “have faith” in any power outside of yourself.7

The Angel of Light

Who do you think would want you to believe something like that? Who would want you to believe that God does not exist outside of yourself—that you don’t need to have faith in anything external. New Age writer/philosopher David Spangler reveals who in his book Reflections on the Christ when he writes:

Some being has to take these energies into his consciousness and substance and channel them as it were to those other beings who must receive them, in this case humanity. The being who chose to embody these energies and to be in essence the angel of man’s inner evolution is the being we know as Lucifer.8

He lays out the entire program behind the New Age movement in the following explanation:

He [Lucifer] comes to make us aware of our power within, to draw to ourselves experience. He comes to make us aware of the power of creative manifestation which we wield. When you are working with the laws of manifestation you are in essence manifesting a Luciferic principle.9

Even if Spangler had not written these words, the link between Lucifer and the New Age movement would still be evident to Christians from reading 2 Corinthians 11:13-15:

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. (emphasis mine)

For this deception to be effective, he would have to come as an “angel of light.” To judge a belief system as being satanic, one should compare how close it comes to Satan’s own statements about himself. God is asking him, “How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” (Isaiah. 14:12). Then He reminds Satan of his own words when he challenged God:

For thou [Satan] hast said in thine heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Isaiah 14:13-14, emphasis added)

Then later, when Satan deceived Eve in the Garden, he said:

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5, emphasis mine)

Without a doubt, the New Age movement fits that bill.

The “Wiles” of Satan

Ephesians 6:11 warns: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (emphasis mine). The word wiles in this verse translates ingenious trap or snare. In order for a trap to be effective, proper bait is needed—something that is alluring, that looks and feels valid. For example, let’s take the case of the energy healing technique, Reiki. The average Reiki practitioner would think it outrageous and ridiculous that someone would even suggest that Reiki is linked to Satan. One Reiki practitioner offered this comment on the positive nature of Reiki:

During a Reiki treatment, you can expect to feel any number of sensations; warmth, coolness, tingling, deep relaxation, or at times you may not feel anything discernible. Sessions usually last one hour, and afterward you will feel calm and relaxed. You will sleep better and have a general sense of well-being.10

Does this sound like something that is satanic? Most people would not only say no but would feel that something of this nature probably would have to come from God. In The Reiki Factor, Reiki master Barbara Ray says:

Reiki has reemerged as a transformative tool for energy balancing, for natural healing, for wholing, and for creating peace, joy, love, and, ultimately, for achieving higher consciousness and enlightenment.11

Enlightenment is the same as self-realization, especially in the context of a metaphysical practice. When a Christian hears someone claim to be God, he immediately should recognize the pronouncements of Satan, “Ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5) and “I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14). Hear this closely. He said, I will be like the most High (God) . . . I will be like God.

In view of this, the only logical conclusion is that the power behind Reiki is satanic. The key is not to think in terms of how the popular culture sees Satan, but rather how the inspired writers of the Bible portrayed Satan—a master deceiver and counterfeiter of the truth. He is one who comes as “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) to offer mankind godhood (i.e., you are divine and the master of your own destiny).

The sad thing about all this is that these experiences are so real and convincing. People experiencing the superconscious testify that deep meditative states are incomparably beautiful and rapturous. They experience intense light flooding them, and have a sense of omnipotent power and infinite wisdom. In this timeless state, they experience an ecstasy compared to nothing they have ever known before. They feel a sense of unity with all of life and are convinced of their own immortality. Such experiences keep them returning for more. One is not going to believe he or she is God if one doesn’t feel like God.

The late New Age leader Peter Caddy related an incident in which a group of Christians confronted him and tried, as he put it, to save my soul. He told them to come back and talk to him when they’ve had the same wonderful mystical experiences he has had. The point he was trying to make was that these naive Christians had no idea what the metaphysical life is all about and if they did, they would want what he had rather than trying to convert him to their way of thinking.

Feelings such as this are common in New Age circles and have hooked many over the past twenty years. They feel something this great has to be of God. A similar account is related in Acts 8:9-11:

But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. (emphasis mine)

In the Greek, the word bewitched means to amaze or astound. Sorcery means using the power of familiar spirits. What this man was doing had to have appeared good, otherwise the people would not have felt that “this man is the great power of God.” The truth of the matter is, he wasn’t of God; it just appeared that way.

In light of all this, it is easy to see why the coming of the Christian Gospel to Ephesus, that bastion of the Ancient Wisdom, had such a dramatic effect:

And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. (Acts 19:18-19, emphasis mine)

The word curious is translated from a Greek word meaning magical. The magical or metaphysical arts went out the door when the Gospel of Christ came in. The two were not only incompatible, but totally opposite as the following account reveals:

And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, 0 full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? (Acts 13:5-10, emphasis mine)

A Distinct Division

If you feel (as many New Agers do) that Jesus’ real teachings were suppressed and distorted, then consider this: Jesus was a good Jew who strictly adhered to what we now call the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, as we have seen, contact with familiar spirits (spirit guides) was strictly forbidden. King Saul is a prime example of what happened to those who ignored this restriction:

So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; And inquired not of the Lord: therefore He slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13-14, emphasis mine)

Also in Judaism, there was a distinct division between God and man as the following verses indicate:

Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am He: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. (Isaiah 43:10-12, emphasis mine)

Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. (Isaiah 44:24, emphasis mine; also see Isaiah 46:9)

In view of this, Jesus could not have been a purveyor of the Ancient Wisdom and a devout Jew as well. In the Jewish religion, there is one Creator/Sustainer and man is not Him. God created man to worship and give glory to Him. This view remains the basis for the Christian view of God.

Jesus’ claim to divinity was based on His Messiahship, a uniquely Jewish concept, not compatible with the Ancient Wisdom teachings of human divinity. He told the Samaritan woman “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

To those who have embraced metaphysics as the truth of the universe and the way of salvation, let me say this: I know you are sincere. I know metaphysics makes you feel good about yourself. I know you have rejected old-paradigm Christianity as unsuitable. But please give serious consideration to Jeremiah 10:6,11:

Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, 0 Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. . . . Thus shall ye say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. (emphasis mine)

The Folly of the Ages

In 2 Corinthians 1:9, the apostle Paul says:

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.

The verse does not say we should trust in ourselves who are God—it says we should not trust in ourselves but trust in God. God is a personal Being, not the Universe, not a spirit guide, and most certainly not humanity.

The reason the New Age is wrong is that it takes devotion, trust, and glory away from the One who created us and gives it to man and the rebellious familiar spirits who deceive man into self-glorification. An analogy of this would be that of an artist’s canvas or paint—rather than the artist taking credit for the painting, the canvas or paint takes the credit.

That is why the Gentile nations were separated from the true God. They were the metaphysicians of old (the Mystery Schools) “who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served [honored] the creature [man] more than the Creator [God], who is blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 1:25, emphasis mine).

This folly was due to the same error that millions are making right now. They turned to the realm of familiar spirits for guidance, just as people are doing today.

There is one account in particular that brings out what I want to convey. It is found in Acts 16:16-19:

And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination [familiar spirit] met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying [psychic predictions]: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, “These men are the servants of the most high God, Which shew unto us the way of salvation.” And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, “I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out the same hour. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace and unto the rulers. (emphasis mine)

These verses above show four things that are critical to understanding the nature and aim of the New Age movement:

1. The spirit was the source of her power, not some latent faculty inherent in the human makeup. When it went, her ability was gone.
2. The spirit was accurate to a high degree. Otherwise she would not have brought her masters “much gain.” You don’t become a success with a poor showing.
3. Paul and the spirit were not on the same side. This is quite evident by the fact that he cast it out of her.
4. Most important of all, the spirit tried to identify itself with God. When it followed Paul and Silas, it was saying the truth, “These men show us the way of salvation.” By doing this, the spirit could continue its practice of deceiving all concerned and perhaps later undo what Paul’s ministry had accomplished.

These spirits are doing the same thing today. This girl, no doubt, believed that it was her inner divinity giving her the information that was so effective in aiding the community. The truth of the matter is, when you say you have connected with your inner divinity and that you are God, sadly, you have joined the ranks of those who, “Professing themselves to be wise [knowing the truth], they became fools [absurd], and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man” (Romans 1:22-23, emphasis mine).

Swami Muktananda was one of the most admired and respected New Age leaders during the 1970s and early 1980s. He was thought by many to be the virtual embodiment of the God-realized master. He told His disciples:

Kneel to your own self. Honor and worship your own Being. Chant the mantra always going on within you. Meditate on your own self. God dwells within you as you.12

When Muktananda died in 1982, one of his closest followers revealed that his master “ended as a feeble-minded, sadistic tyrant luring devout little girls to his bed every night with promises of grace and self-realization.”13 Without realizing he was echoing the truth of the verses just quoted, he concluded:

There is no absolute assurance that enlightenment necessitates the moral virtue of a person. There is no guarantee against the weakness of anger, lust, and greed in the human soul. The enlightened are on an equal footing with the ignorant in the struggle against their own evil.14

It is very clear that the metaphysical explosion that our society is currently immersed in is a continuation of what Leviticus 19:31 warned against:

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards [metaphysicians], to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. (emphasis mine)

On this basis alone, Christians have a duty to challenge the validity of the New Age message that we are God.

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Endnotes:

1. Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization (San Rafael, CA: Whatever Publishing, 1978), p. 14.
2. Ibid., p. 56.
3. Ibid., p. 91.
4. Ibid., p. 93.
5. James S. Gordon, The Golden Guru (Lexington, MN: The Stephen Greene Press, 1988), p. 8.
6. Donald Yott, Man and Metaphysics (New York, NY: Sam Weiser, Inc., 1980), p. 103.
7. Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization, op. cit., p. 15.
8. David Spangler, Reflections on the Christ (Findhorn Foundation, second edition, 1978, 2nd edition), p. 36.
9. Ibid., p. 41.
10. Jennifer Thebodeau, “What Happens During a Reiki Treatment?” (Mountain Sky Reiki, Osaka, Japan, https://web.archive.org/web/20090601212840/http://www.mountainskyreiki.com/reikitreatments.htm).
11. Barbara Ray, Ph.D., The Reiki Factor (Smithtown, NY: Exposition Press, Inc., 1983), p. 12.
12. David Eastman, “Kundalini Demystified” (Yoga Journal, September/October 1985), p. 43.
13. “Baba Beleaguered” (Yoga Journal, July/August 1985), p. 30, (reprinted from CoEvolution Quarterly Winter 1983).
14. Stan Trout, excerpts from an open letter (Yoga Journal, July/August 1985), p. 30.