Voices of the New Age – Part 1

By: Carl Teichrib; ©2003

Carl Teichrib begins a new series in which he presents the teachings of the New Age Movement through the words of “new age” authors and teachers.

Voices of the New Age: Thoughts on God

[Author’s Note: This is the first in a multipart series on New Age philosophies, taken directly from New Age authors and key figures. All italics and capitals in quotes are found in the originals.]

For many Christians, the New Age movement is a confusing and perplexing phenomena. One question of particular concern is simply, what does the New Age teach?

Answers to this question are as varied as the New Age movement itself; which embraces Tarot cards, astrology, divination, mysticism, channeling, UFO sub-cultures, earth-based worship, numerous rites and rituals, occultism and secret orders, symbols and talismans, eastern religions and spiritual pluralism, and so much more. For the Christian researcher, trying to grasp the full meaning and context of just one of these many manifestations can be an enormous task. For the average person who “just wants to know what’s going on,” the New Age movement can be a quagmire of contradictory information, obscure concepts, and out-right bizarreness.

Sometimes, when faced with this mountain of disturbing information, the best way to grasp what the New Age movement teaches is simply to listen to what New Age leaders and authors are saying. Then, when examined through a Biblical lens, these New Age “teachings” quickly reveal themselves for what they are; anti-Biblical spiritual approaches which advocate the realization of “personal divinity”—in other words, you are “god.”

Consider the following statements,

“Nothing can touch me but the direct action of God and God is my Omnipotent Self. I can do all things through the Strength of the Christ I AM. I AM STRENGTH!” —John Randolph Price, The Planetary Commission (The Quartus Foundation, 1984), p. 133.

“…if I sent Jesus, then I would send Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna, and all of my great revolutionaries. Then what would happen? Is Jesus really my son, any more than the others—or for that matter, any more than every guy and gal is my son and daughter? You are all my children. And “Christ” means Universal Consciousness. You are all the Christ for whom you seek.” —channeled through Allen Michael, GOD—Unlimited Ultimate Mind— Speaks (Starmast Publications, 1982), p. 15.

“Take now your stand at My side, and let us together prove that Man is God, that there is nothing which is other than God.” —channeled through Benjamin Crème, Messages from Maitreya the Christ (Tara Press, 1980), p. 59.

“In the name of the beloved mighty victorious Presence of God, I AM in me, Holy Christ Selves of all mankind, all great powers and legions of light…”—Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Great White Brotherhood (Summit University Press, 1987), p. 205.

“To be or not to be a Christ; that is the decision each soul on this planet must make.” — John Davis and Naomi Rice, Messiah and the Second Coming (Coptic Press, 1982), p. 36.

“Man is not to be compelled; he is to be free. He is not a slave, but a God in the making…”—Annie Besant, Esoteric Christianity (The Theosophical Publishing House, 1901/ 1982), p. 220.

“…in order to become a divine, fully conscious god, —aye, even the highest—the Spiritual primeval INTELLIGENCES must pass through the human stage. And when we say human, this does not apply merely to our terrestrial humanity, but to the mortals that inhabit any world…”—Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Volume 1 (Theosophical University Press, 1988), p. 106.

“The universal God is one, yet he is more than one; all things are God; all things are one.” —The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ (De Vorss, 1907/1982), ch. 28:4.

“It is far more important that men should strive to become Christs than that they should believe that Jesus was Christ…Jesus is no less Divine because all men may reach the same Divine perfection.” —J.D. Buck, Mystic Masonry (Regan Publishing Company, 1925), p. 62.

David Spangler, a long-time leading figure in the New Age movement, expressed this same type of thinking in terms that could—within certain circles—be dangerously consid­ered “Christian,”

“That is what the New Age movement is all about: to make God our Beloved, to answer his invitation to marriage and creative partnership with him, to be one with him, to be perfect even as our ‘Father in heaven’.” (Reflections on the Christ, p. 30)

Henry C. Clausen, who was the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite ofFreemasonry, wrote similar words in his Masonic-inspired book, Emergence of the Mystical.

“Our Scottish Rite inspires the spirit that sets men free—it speaks to our Initiates with the golden pen of poetry and the sacred fire of drama—it speaks to the world with the inspired soul of humanity—it reveals the Divine Order within man himself….” (p. 8)

“And so, in every age and every time, man yearns to travel beyond the material, to grasp the supersensual, to touch the divine. Edwin Arlington Robinson was a most perceptive poet. He once wrote that the world is a vast kindergarten, peopled with millions of bewildered infants all trying to spell the word ‘God,’ but with the wrong blocks. The Scottish Rite teaches its members how to spell ‘God’ with the right blocks. That truly is the great relevance of Scottish Rite Masonry in the modern world. We teach our initiates there are available for the mind of man vast spiritual forces, vital spiritual powers.

Similarly, we in the Scottish Rite can find in our inner selves a refuge from external distractions and evils…. Put your trust in your own inherent capacities.

Buddha attained his own enlightenment and said to his followers: ‘Be a lamp unto your own feet; do not seek outside yourself’.” (pp. 76-77)

Not surprisingly, Clausen’s words fairly parallel Manly P. Hall’s teachings. Hall, who was one of the most important Masonic philosophers of the 20th century and founder of the Philosophical Research Society, clearly taught that man was progressing to godhood.

“Man is a god in the making, and as in the mystic myths of Egypt, on the potter’s wheel he is being molded. When his light shines out to lift and preserve all things, he receives the triple crown of godhood, and joins that throng of Master Masons who, in their robes of Blue and Gold, are seeking to dispel the darkness of night with the triple light of the Masonic Lodge.” (The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, p. 92)

The Bible also contains a passage in which the reader discovers this same spiritual concept—that is, of man becoming a deity. This passage is found in Genesis, the third chapter. In the first part of Genesis three, the Serpent approaches Eve with a promise that sounds strikingly similar to the quotes found in this article.

“And the women said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die”.’

“And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’.” (2-5)

Notice the two-fold lie:

1. You will not die—immortality.
2. You will be as God—divinity.

The result of Eve believing this lie and acting upon it was sin and death. However, the gift of God is a personal reversal of the affects of this lie—providing salvation and freedom from sin and its eternal consequences of death and separation. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Sadly, many have embraced the serpent’s old lie as retold by the voices of the New Age movement. Pray that they would recognize this deception and turn to the “way, the truth, and the life,” which is found only in the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. (John 14:6)

(Carl Teichrib is a researcher and writer on world religious and political trends.)

 

 

Read Part 2