New Age

What is the New Age?

The New Age movement is a compilation of pagan beliefs and practices. The word “pagan” refers to any spiritual system that deviates from the Biblical Scriptures.

But with the New Age, you don’t just have a set of pagan beliefs and practices.

In fact, it is a sort of “catch-all” that combines Buddhism, Hinduism, and mysticism. The New Age includes practices such as crystal healing (using stones), Reiki, astrology, meditation, and yoga.

Among the common doctrines of the New Age, you will find reincarnation, the belief that humans are inherently divine by nature, and the idea that all paths lead to God.

The ultimate goal of the New Age is to reach a state of “enlightenment” or “spiritual awakening.”

The idea behind this movement is that the ego, the “personal self,” the “self,” is merely an illusion: there is only God. God is everything, and everything is God. The New Age is promoted by some of the most influential people in our society. It is not uncommon to hear public figures such as Russell Brand, Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres, or Oprah Winfrey speak about and teach on this topic. It cannot be stressed enough, but on a purely personal level, the goal of the New Age is to reach a state in which we fully realize that we are God. For all these personalities, we must attain this state of spiritual awakening regarding our true, deep nature. The primary motivation of every New Ager is to reach the state of consciousness they call “Christ Consciousness.”

On the surface, it sounds good, doesn’t it? So what’s the problem? The dangerous aspect of the New Age lies in the lie it spreads, as it is a false spiritual system. Some of the best-selling books of all time are explicitly New Age and occult.

Some key numbers:

• 40% of Americans say they meditate at least once a week.
  36 million Americans practice yoga.
  The crystal industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry.
  Psychic services (card readings, astrology, etc.) make up a 2-billion-dollar industry.
• 27% of the American population say they identify as “spiritual but not religious.”
• There are dozens of New Age beliefs. If we combine all New Age beliefs, 90 to 95% of Americans agree with them.
• These numbers speak for themselves: the New Age is no longer limited to a handful of “hippies” on the fringes of society—quite the opposite. It infiltrates every corner of our culture and now dominates the vast majority of Western thought.

Steven Bancarz completely immersed himself in the New Age, seeking truth and the meaning of life. He was earning between $40,000 and $50,000 per month. He became extremely wealthy through the New Age—here is his testimony.

Steven’s Lucid Dream

In a lucid dream, you are—as the name suggests—in a dream state, but unlike a regular dream, you are fully aware that you are dreaming. You are completely conscious of your dream and aware that it is indeed a dream.

Steven recounts:

« In my dream, I felt like I was being ‘pulled out of my body’ by an entity that appeared in front of me. We were hovering together in the air. It had red skin, a red cloak, and black markings on its face. It was looking at me, about 20 feet away, and I could see a third eye between its two eyes (the third eye is a symbol of spiritual power). It opened its third eye toward me, and at that moment, I was plunged into a state of disorientation and darkness for 3 or 4 seconds. »

When I finally came back to myself (I came out of this dream), I realized that I was levitating about 4 feet above my body… in my room. This entity had the power to pull me out of my body. I sat up, looked around, and thought: “Oh my God, I’m outside of my body…” I spent the next 5 minutes struggling to get back inside my body. But I couldn’t. I had no control over it. The New Age had sold me the idea that I was “sovereign,” the “master of everything.” You know, according to the New Age, your intentions protect you, your affirmations protect you—but I can tell you, no… no, they don’t.

In reality, you are in another arena—an arena whose rules you don’t control, whose codes you don’t know in the slightest. It is the arena of “the enemy of your soul” (referring to Satan). And from that moment on, you play by his rules. Twice, I was pulled out of my body by these entities—against my will.

Paradoxically, this experience made me feel spiritually superior, as if I was one step ahead of Christians, ahead of ordinary people. I had these entities giving me secret spiritual knowledge, this power—and that was no small thing.

Steven’s Family Background

ChatGPT a dit :

To give you a bit more background about myself, I was raised in a Christian family, and something came along that cracked the foundation of the teaching my parents had passed down to me.

What really pulled me away from the biblical worldview, what made me drift away from Christianity, was—like for many others who are fascinated by the topic—the subject of extraterrestrials.

This subject might mean very little to you, but know that around the world, and especially in the United States, the community of “UFO enthusiasts” is quite large.

If the topic of aliens and UFOs wasn’t taken very seriously a few years ago, that’s no longer the case today. The laughter has been replaced by questions, fascination, and even fears.

The significant increase in documentaries made on the subject reflects this growing interest, although it still doesn’t escape some mocking laughs—or nervous ones, for others.

That being said, and to return to my story, I couldn’t reconcile these alien phenomena with Christianity.

I remember watching a show on the History Channel, still airing to this day, called “Ancient Aliens.”

It presents so-called evidence suggesting that our “cosmic brothers and sisters” left space to visit humanity.

At the time, I didn’t know this, but even secular researchers believe these are “interdimensional entities,” not “extraterrestrial beings.”

In other words, they believe these “beings” are of spiritual origin.

I had never heard about that—I genuinely thought the New Age had the answer to this topic.

I simply couldn’t reconcile these UFO stories with the account of Genesis (the first book of the Bible).

On which day would God have created the aliens? Did Jesus have to go to every planet that harbors life? I just couldn’t reconcile those two worlds.

In reality, there are many resources that address these topics, but I wasn’t aware of them. So I found myself alone, facing this endless flood of questions.

I eventually came to the conclusion that the Bible didn’t align with the evidence I had in hand, and therefore it couldn’t be true—or at best, only partially true.

The Bible says something important on this matter: “My people perish for lack of knowledge.”

And that is exactly what happened to me.

When I received my first paychecks, I bought a sports car in cash.

I remember looking at my father, who was standing next to the passenger-side window. I rolled down the window and quoted one of the most well-known Bible verses to him:

“Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you as well.”

New Age teachings say that the kingdom is this mystical state of consciousness, and I was helping people reach it myself. I truly believed I was serving the kingdom of God.

To be clear, I thought all this wealth was God’s blessing on my life—a reward for what I was accomplishing.

Jesus says that whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.

In Ephesians 5:8, it does not say:

“Before, there was a little darkness in you, and now you are light,” but it says that we were darkness.

And… I was darkness: the thoughts and intentions of my heart were continually evil. I was addicted to drugs, violent, lustful, full of carnal desire. I was greedy and depressed—I was extremely broken and depraved.

I wasn’t just spiritually sick—I was spiritually dead.

But on the outside, I was living the dream.

The Bible says: “Be sure your sins will be exposed before everyone.”

And my secret sins began to catch up with me. I reached a point where I truly had to start confessing the sin I had been suppressing and hiding from the people in my life. I decided to admit my faults to them.

It was the first time I really looked at myself in the mirror and accepted my condition. I truly was a slave to sin—I was totally depraved and twisted on the inside. I was broken, deeply broken.

And my mother, a Christian who had never stopped praying for me, said: “Are you ready to give your life to the Lord now?”

And yes, I agreed.

In fact, I had these intuitions about Jesus, but I constantly suppressed them while I was in the New Age.

This intuition can be explained by the fact that within the New Age, teachers are constantly talking about Jesus (not Buddha or anyone else, but specifically Jesus).

They always have new theories about Jesus’ ministry, and that was always a red flag for me.

In the New Age, I had a soft spot for Jesus, so I spoke to Him:

“OK, if you are real, I want more of you. I want you as you truly are. I no longer want to fit you into this New Age framework.”

A few weeks passed, and nothing much changed in my life—until I decided to confess another string of sins. Sins worse than the first ones.

At that moment, I truly felt completely stripped of everything. No strength left, nothing good in me. I was a wreck…

I realized I was not worthy to be my own lord.

I went out to the back balcony of my house—that stupid 4,000-square-foot house I was living in.

I fell at the feet of the Master of the Universe and began to cry.

It was the first time I truly repented. I had a real conviction.

I hadn’t just wronged people—I had sinned against a holy God, and I wept before Him. I apologized to Him, reaching out my hand.

I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I gave Him everything, everything I had.

At that very moment, I felt His presence. I sensed His presence appearing on the horizon. It engulfed me. It filled me.

It was a personal presence that authenticated itself.

In the heart of that presence, I knew it was the Jesus of the New Testament—the Jesus I had been suppressing.

I could only say one thing:

“Jesus is Lord—it’s THAT simple.” He is the Son of God.

I had made things so complicated. I had made things so complex, when in reality, they are truly simple:

JESUS IS LORD

What began to unfold before my eyes—and broke me—was the way the Lord showed me how creation responds to His presence when He is there. What started to appear before my eyes—and broke me—was that the Lord showed me how creation responds to His presence when He is there.

I could hear and sense in my mind that the sounds of nature—the crickets, the rustling leaves, and the wind—were glorifying Him.

All of nature was crying out to Him, and I perceived this in my spirit.

I needed this because, until then, I believed that nature was God, and that I was God.

At that precise moment, He showed me that nature itself recognizes His presence and knows who He is.

I thought, “If nature itself recognizes that Jesus is Lord, who am I to deny Him?”

After that, I went back into my house. I was filled with His Spirit, and I had all these light bulbs going off in my head:

They showed me that the New Age movement was a demonic deception, strategically designed to keep people away from the experience of the new birth that I had just undergone.

From that day on, I didn’t write a single article in favor of the New Age. I quit my job overnight, sold my house and my car, and made an apology video—apologizing to my audience, telling them that I was now a born-again Christian, and sharing my entire testimony with them.

After this experience, I began to face demonic attacks—I had inner fears and nightmares. Objects in my house moved on their own. I felt like there was a demonic “infection” in the atmosphere of my home.

The Spirit of God began to show me why I was oppressed despite having made a covenant with Him: these beings had a legal right to access my house because of certain items there.

So I decided to build a big bonfire and… I gathered all those objects and burned them—trinkets, jewelry, clothes, idols—I threw it all away.

As soon as I did that, there was an instant spiritual breakthrough.

When I was in Jesus’ presence, I knew I had found the answer to my questions: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What is the meaning of life?”

I knew I had come into contact with the ultimate truth, the highest truth there is.

There was no more searching to do—I just had to grow in this truth.

I remember looking at my bookshelf, and for the first time, I felt peace.

I felt a lasting peace—the kind I never found in the New Age.

The Spirit of truth Himself, Jesus, was living in me.

I knew this was the greatest truth one could attain: the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In the presence of God, I felt crushed and shaped like a diamond.

There was only one thing I wanted: to bow down before Him.

Absolutely nothing in the New Age ever made me want to bow down to anything… and that’s because your spirit knows when you are in the presence of the living God.

Conversely, it knows when you are not.

And I had never been—until that moment.

The Church and the New Age

Regarding New Age practices infiltrating the Church, this can be explained by the fact that the New Age is widespread in our culture and finds loopholes to enter the Church. Here are a few examples:

• Contemplative prayer: There is a difference between praying contemplatively and “Contemplative Prayer” as a specific practice. In the latter, you choose a kind of mantra—like a single word—and you repeat it in your mind, again and again and again. At the heart of this practice, there is no vertical connection established between you and God. You are simply trying to make the chosen word change your consciousness to dissolve your personal perception of yourself and reach what is called “pure consciousness” or “unity consciousness” in order to achieve oneness with God.
• Ouija boards: Usually, the Ouija board is supposed to allow people to contact their deceased loved ones. But this time, it’s your guardian angel you’re contacting. Doing this is extremely dangerous: the Bible says that Satan can appear as an angel of light, so how can you be sure you’re not contacting Satan when you do these things?
• The practice of yoga: This is a controversial topic, but yoga is, by definition, rooted in Hinduism. If you want to do stretching exercises, see a physical therapist, a chiropractor, or contact a personal trainer. Scientific studies have shown that these exercises are just as effective as yoga for relieving back pain. What’s truly frightening—and hard to believe—is that many of these poses actually bear the names of Hindu gods. Be aware that when you hold these postures, you are supposed to invoke the character, properties, and essence of those gods. The Bible says something very clear about this: “Flee from idolatry.”
• “Christ Consciousness”: This is a core doctrine of the New Age that promotes the idea that humans are intrinsically connected to God by nature—we just don’t realize it. New Age teachers will tell you not only that Jesus was the Christ, but also that you too can be the Christ. This is frightening, because before His death, Jesus warned His disciples that in the end times, many would come saying, “I am the Christ,” and they would deceive many. So, was Jesus referring to the dozen sects that eventually dissolved, whose leaders claimed to be the “reincarnation of Christ,” or was He referring to the millions of New Age practitioners who literally believe they are Christ?

I too thought I was God—but there is only one God, the one who bears the true name of Christ. That One is Jesus.

He is not you, He is not me.

He is the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end.

He is the One whose coming was foretold thousands of years before His birth, and the One who will return soon in glory.

So, will you be among those who await His coming, or among those who will be caught off guard on the day of His return?

• Matthew 24:40-41:
  « Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other left. »
• Proverbs 14:12 says: « There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. »(Note: The verse you mentioned corresponds to Proverbs 14:12 in most English Bibles.)