The New Age Is Not New Adrian Rogers Genesis 10:8 Take Gods word tonight and turn with me please to Genesis chapter 10, Genesis chapter 10. The title of our message tonight is The New Age is not New, The New Age is not New. Genesis chapter 10, and in just a moment, were going to begin reading in verse 8. Before we begin to read, may I tell you that I love the book of Genesis, because the book of Genesis is a seed-bed. What I mean by that is in Genesis you find the seeds of all Bible doctrine and all Bible prophecy. And anything good thats going to happen, or anything bad thats going to happen, you find the seed there in the seed-bed of Genesis. And in the book of Genesis, youre going to find the nucleus, the beginning, the genesis of something that we call today in this age, the New Age movement. Genesis chapter 10 and verse 8. And Cush begot Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Whereof, it is said even, As Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. That is, he was so famous huh, that he was, his name became a proverb in that day and in that age. They just: spoke of him that way. And notice in verse 10, And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. And then, I want you to fast-forward to chapter 11 and verse 1. And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there, and they said one to another, Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Com, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. And let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people are one; they have all one language, and this they have begun to do, and now, nothing will be withheld from them which they have imagined to do. Come let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one anothers speech. So the Lord scattered them from there upon the face of all the earth and they ceased building the city. Therefore the name of it is called Babel because there the Lord did confound the language of all the earth and from there did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Now what do we mean by New Age. Its a term that we hear very much. Its almost becoming as popular as the term born again became after Jimmy Carter became President of the United States. Marylin Ferguson, who is one of the leading protagonist for the New Age movement has written a book called The Aquarian Conspiracy and in that book, I suppose that she as well as anybody tells what the New Age is and Im going to quote from her. She says a leaderless, but powerful network is working to bring about radical change in the United States. Now she says it has no leader, but I would disagree with her. I believe that Satan himself is the leader working behind the scenes. Broader than reform, deeper than revolution, this benign conspiracy, benign means harmless, and there I would disagree with her also. But she does say that it is a conspiracy. This benign conspiracy for a new human agenda has triggered the most rapid cultural realignment in history. She is probably correct when she says that. It is the most rapid cultural realignment that has taken place in history. The great shuttering irrevocable shift is overtaking us. A new mind, the ascendance of a startling new world view. Well, she says its new. But I want to tell you that its not new. At least if Genesis is not new, the new age is one of the moldest things around. Its musty. You see here in the book of Genesis, we find a man whose name was Nimrod and he was the founder of the new age as I will show you. He was a type, a prophecy of the anti-Christ. Now, lets go back and look at the Scripture that I read to you in Genesis chapter 10 here, verses 8 through 10. Youre going to find a man whose name is a very interesting name, Nimrod. Now, today, we call hunters by the name, Nimrod. But the word, Nimrod, literally means rebel, rebel, thats the Bible meaning of the name. You know, in the Bible, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, Bible names had a meaning. And this mans name is very significant, it mans rebel. And he stands for and typifies and prophesies the ultimate rebel thats going to come into the world. Now, just put your bookmark there as Im going to do in this passage, and I want you to go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And I want you to see how Paul describes the anti-Christ that will certainly come. And I want you to see then as we go back to Genesis how this man, Nimrod will typify this anti-Christ. Now, Im reading here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and I begin in verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means. for that day shall not com except there come the failing away first. That means the apostasys coming first. And the man of sin be revealed. Now, the Bible calls this anti-Christ the man of sin. History began with the sin of man, it ends with the man of sin. The man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Jesus is the Son of God. The anti-Christ is the son of perdition, which mans wickedness. Then hes described as one who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God. So that tells you that the word anti means instead of and against. He opposes, that is, hes anti God, hes against God, and he exalteth himself above all that is called God, so hes there as instead of God. And the prefix anti can mean uh against or instead of. And anti-Christ means both. Hes against God, and he is there instead of God. or all that or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. And then the apostle Paul said, Remember you not that when I was yet with you. I told you these things? And then he goes on if youll go down to verse 9 to describe this anti-Christ whos going to be destroyed when Jesus comes. It says, Even him whose coming is after the working oi Satan. That is, hes going to receive his power from the devil; hes going to be energized by Satan. And hes going to have the power to do miracles, because the Bible says he comes with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in then that perish. Those who dont know the Lord Jesus Christ, theyll be deceived, hell be able to make them think that good is bad and bad is good, sweet is sour, sour sweet, up is down, down is up. Hell make you cut your mothers throat with a smile on your face and feel that youve done God a favor. Hes coming with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Now, I could say more about that one, but I want you to see that the Bible says that there is coming such a man onto the stage of world history. And I believe right now that he may be alive waiting in the wings, ready to appear. Because I believe that the rapture of the Church could be at any moment. Now, back to Genesis, if you will, with me. And I want you to see how this man, Nimrod, is a picture of that man who is going to come. First of all, notice in verses 8 and 9 his arrogance. Notice the Bible says, And Cush begat Nimrod and he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Now, again his name means rebel. And when it says he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, that may also mean he was a mighty hunter against the Lord. Here is a one who comes in arrogance against God. Again he typifies the anti-Christ that way. But not only by his arrogance, but I want you to notice his abilities. Notice here in this passage of Scripture verses 8 through 10 that three times hes called mighty. Now I remind you that all Scriptures given by inspiration of God. Nothing in the Bible happens by happenstance. In verse 8 he is called a mighty one. In verse 9, this rebel is called a mighty hunter. In the last part of verse 9 again he is called mighty. He is a picture of Satans superman. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Three times hes called mighty because he is, my dear friend, the imitator of the mighty and the thrice holy God, so hes called mighty, mighty mighty. So you see his arrogance, you see his abilities, and now, I want you to see his authority. Notice again in verse 9. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Well, you say, what did he hunt? Now, when we think of hunters we think of people who hunt animals. Even the ancient rabbis as they studied this passage of Scripture said it wasnt uh, it wasnt animals that this man hunted, it was people. It was the souls of men. He was one who learned how to track down and incarcerate and control and subjugate men by a combination, as were going to see, of force and false-hood. Hes a mighty hunter. Everybody knew about him. They talked about him. Even as they said, Even Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. That would not have impressed hind if held just been out shooting animals in that day. But were going to see that he was a man who had great authority. Notice not only his arrogance, and his abilities, and his authority, but notice his ambition in verse 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Here was a man who wanted to rule. Here was a man who wanted to be a king. He wanted a kin5dcm over which to rule. So does anti-Christ. Do you remember that uh the devil came to Jesus and showed Jesus all of the kingdom of the world and said to Jesus, I will give you these kingdoms if youll do what? Bow down and worship m. Jesus said, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only. But theres coming one who will be a worshiper of Satan, and to whom the kingdoms of this world will be given over, that is the anti-Christ. He will have a kingdom. And the Bible teaches that in the last days, virtually all of the world will worship the beast. And so, here you see what Im going to call the founder of the New Age movement. His name was Nimrod. Now, I want you to see something else. Not only do I want you to see the founder of the New Age movement, but I want you to see what Im going to call the faith of the New Age movement. Because the New Age had its beginning in Genesis 11, youre going to find out what old Nimrod did, and youre going to see here the seed-bed of all false doctrine, all false religion, all iniquity of whatever form it might be. Now, Im reading here again in Genesis chapter 11, And the whole earth was of one language and one speech. Now, so far, nothing wrong with that. But now, notice. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there. Uh oh. Right away we have problems. You say, what, what are the problems? Well, go back to Genesis 9 verse 1. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto then, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Dont just congregate in one spot. But heres what they did, they found a place in the plain of Shinar, and they settled there. Now, this was disobedience. What they were trying to do was to centralize power. Youre going to find out that theres a biblical principle against the centralization of power. Its contrary to Gods plan. Because of the evil in the hearts of men, a one-world government will always be a disaster. Im going to show you that the New Agers are incurable one-worlders. Uh, they want the centralization of uh of people and power. Of course we know, that theres an old cliche that is certainly old but certainly true that power corrupts and total power totally corrupts. But youre going to find that the New Agers have a running romance with one-world government. And so, you see here first of all, in verses 1 and 2, their disobedience. But then I want you to see their depravity. Begin to read in verse 3 of chapter 11. And they said one to another-now, notice they dont go to God, they dont go to Jehovah, this comes out of their own minds, heres a scheme that they have cooked up-they said one to another, that is, they put their heads together, and they said, Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad from the face of the whole earth. Now, what uh what they were trying to do is to build a civic masterpiece. They were going to build a tower. I call it the high-rise to hell. They were going to build a tower whose top the King James version says may reach unto heaven. They were not that stupid. That isnt what it literally says. If youll look at your Bible, youll say, youll see that theres some italicized letters there if you have a King James like Im reading from, and uh look in verse 4, And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top, now look at the next two words, my reach, those are italicized. That means they were supplied by the translators to make it read more smoothly. But what it literally says is this, And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top unto heaven. That is, the top of this tower was dedicated to heaven, or to the heavens. It was unto heaven, just like you might sing a song unto God. The top of this tower was dedicated to the heavens. It was dedicated to a religion. They werent trying to build a skyscraper to glory. Oh no. But they built a tower, to heaven, a symbol of unity, and the top of that tower was dedicated to the heavens. And they called it Babel. Look again in chapter 10 and verse 10, And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Look again in chapter 11 and verse 9, And therefore the name of it is called Babel. Now, what does Babel mean? Babel means, the gate to God, the gate to God. Anything that has the ending, el E L, thats the Hebrew name for God, one of the Hebrew names for God, El. We see it in many ways, for example, uh theres a Hebrew name which means the house of God. Who knows what it is? Bethel, the house of God. Or theres one that means prince with God. What is that? Israel. Jacob was named Israel, which means prince with God. Theres one that mans God with us, Immanuel,. The el means God. You see, now here they take the word Babel, Babel, and they mean, gate to God. Now, we know theres only one way to God, one gate to God, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Later, the nam Babel came to mean confusion. And what it means totally now is confusion about the way to God. And thats what happened right here, is confusion is brought into the world about the way to God. Now, learn this. The devil is not against religion. The devil is into religion up to his ears. He damns far more people by false religion than he ever does by atheism. And so what he says is here, Im going to show you the gate to God. Heres a tower, heres a one-world organization dedicated to the heavens. Now, what does that mean? What did they do up there? Well, this is the beginning of the ancient practice of astrology. This is what they did, they had the astrological charts and signs on the top of these towers in Babylon called, these towers were called ziggarats, not cigarettes, but zigarats, and on the top they had their astrological platforms, and their astrological observatories where they would study the stars and make their charts. Archaeologists have found the zodiacs on top of these ancient towers. Now, look with me for example. You see, where do we get the name Babylon from? Well, we get the name Babylon from Babel. And Babylon, Babylon is the is the hellish city. You see, in all Scripture, there are two great symbolic cities. One is Jerusalem, the holy city, and the other is Babylon, the hellish city. And Babel, or Babylon is the cradle and the grave, as were going to see. And thank God, the grave also. Of all false worship, idolatry, and apostasy Now, keep that in mind and look with me in Isaiah chapter 47, just, lets go to the book of Isaiah. And I want you to see a development that cam from what were studying right now, because all youre seeing now is the is the uh beginning of this city and the beginning of the worship. But lets go and look and see how it it comes down and out. Uh Isaiah chapter 47, and begin with me in verse 12. God now is bringing his judgment and his anger against Babylon which is the outgrowth of Babel, and heres what God says to then. Stand now with thine enchantments. And by the way, everything Im going to read to you is encapsulated in the New Age movement. Stand now with thine enchantment, enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries in which thou hast labored from thy youth, that is, all the way back to Nimrod, if so be that thou mayest be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Now, what God is doing is taunting then. Hes saying, See if your New Age movement is going to save you. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up and save thee from those things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be like the stubble the fire shall burn then. They shall not deliver themselves form the power of the flame. There shall not be a coal to warm at, not a fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast labored even thy merchants from thy youth, they shall wander everyone to his quarter and none shall save thee. Now, what God is doing here, God is saying that the Babylonian religion that carne out of this event in Genesis so long ago, that developed full-blown into the city-state of Babylon, is absolutely powerless against the judgment of almighty God. Now, what is happening here is they set up their astrological platform. He talks here, in this passage, about the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators. I hope theres none of this congregation, or none who are listening to me by radio who are so foolish as to dabble with astrology. Dont think that thats just some light-hearted uh thing. Dont thing thats just some game. Do you know what God calls it? God calls it an abomination. Did you know that? Put in your margin Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 9 through 12. And heres what God warned when the Jews coming uh out of Egypt were getting ready to go into Canaan and into this area that is influenced by Babylon. He says this in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 9 and through 12. When thou art com into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the nation of those nations. Now, God calls it abomination. And then listen to what he says. There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or daughter pass through the fire, or useth divination. Do you know what divination is? Thats going to a fortune teller, or trying to have somebody tell your fortune, by a ouija board at a slumber party, girls, or anything else. God says, Dont let anybody be found who does that. Or an enchanter, thats somebody who casts a spell. Or a witch, thats somebody who practices the occult and magic. Or a charmer, thats somebody who puts you into a trance. Or a consultor with mediums thats channeling. Or a wizard, a male witch. Or a necromancer thats somebody who tries to contact the dead, seances. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord. Did you see that? All that do these things are an abomination to the Lord. And because thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Actually, what is what was practiced uh in uh in uh Babel so long ago is the seed-bed of all occult, de demonic and apostate religion. But, dear friend, what were seeing here in these last days is a revival of an old thing that is now called the New Age. Now, God prophesies that theres going to be a revival of what happened in Babel so long ago. Remember that I told you that Babel is both the cradle and the grave of the occult? Go with me to Revelation chapter 17 here for just for a moment now. Lets get into the New Testament and look with me at the story of Beauty and the Beast. Heres a Babylonian beauty and a Babylonian beast, in Revelation chapter 17. John the apostle now is looking out into the future. John the apostle is looking into the days that are yet to come, and he says, And there one of the seven angels which had the seven bowls, or vials, and talked with me saying, Come here and I will show unto the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters. Now, the church, the true church, is called what? A bride. Now, the devills imitation, therefore, is called a harlot. Just as you have the holy city, Jerusalem, and the hellish city, Babylon, just as you have the true Christ, Jesus, and the anti-Christ, the beast, you have to have the true bride, the church, and then you have the false bride, the great harlot. God said, John, Im going to show something, come here, and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters. Now, the many waters as we see other places in the book of the Revelation represents people and nations and tongues and languages. With whom the kings of the earth hath committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth hath been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and bedecked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. Now, remember that God said that all that do this are an abomination to me. And uh and by the way, dear friend, false religion is called spiritual fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon, Mystery Babylon. Now, what you saw in the book of Genesis, you see in full fruition in the book of the Revelation. on her forehead is a name written. God says, Ill tell you who this Babylonian beauty is, Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abandnations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great wonder. Alright, so what you have here is a uh is a is a woman and a beast. Notice in verse uh 7. And the angel said unto me, Why dost thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carried her which had the seven heads and the ten horns. So, heres a woman riding upon a beast, a Babylonian mother and a Babylonian monster. Now, she may be a beauty outwardly, but beneath her smiles, her heart is as black as pitch, and her hands drip red with blood, because she is the mother of all false religion. And she has a cup in her hand, and she has been brewing and intoxicating wine for over 6,000 years. It all began right back here in the book of Genesis. Now, go back to Genesis chapter 11. Im talking to you about these people in Genesis chapter 11. And though we took a little Bible trip, weve come right back where we were Ive talked to you about their disobedience. God said, Fill the earth; they settled down. I talked to you about their depravity. They said, Were going to build us a tower dedicated to the heavens, and this was the beginning of astrology, this was the beginning of the zodiac, this was the beginning of the worship of the stars. By the way, dear friend, the purpose of the stars is to declare the glory of God and not the destiny of man. Do you know what astrology means? Astra means stars. Astrology means the word of the stars. Never let the word of the stars replace the word of God. Now, you see not only their disobedience, not only their depravity, but I want you to see their defiance. Go back now and look in verses 3 and 4, Im in Genesis chapter 11. And they said one to another, Come, let us-underscore that, let us make brick and uh and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Come, let us-underscore that-build us-underscore that-a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. And let us-underscore that make us a nanie, lest we be scattered abroad. Six times, us, us, us, us, us, six is the number of man. Sometimes they say they, we, us. Its religious humanism with man at the center and at the circumference. They dont take God into consideration. This is not built upon divine revelation or the Word of God. As if, it is as if they had prayed, our brothers upon the earth, hallowed be our name, our kingdom come, our will be done. Now, how does this, how does this uh New Age movement work out in our day and in our age? Are your children affected by it? Norman Geisler, who is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary has done some work in this area. And hes pointed out some things I want to share with you. I want you to listen to these words, For my ally is the force, and a powerful ally it is. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Lundnous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the force around you, here between you and me, between the rock and everywhere, yes, even the land. Huh, sounds like something ole Buddha nlight say. But that was Yoda, the Jedi master, in Star Wars. Many of your children sat and watched. You see these same kind of things coming through in movies like uh Poltergeist and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or the Dark Crystal, or Solar Babies. Many of you last year saw actress Shirley Maclaine com one television, prime time, and do something based on her best-selling books,out on a Limb, and Dancing in the Light. All of this was New Age-ism and the occult come full bloom. Many of you when you were back in the 60s listened to the Beatles. And uh, not a few of you were enamored, you baby boomers were enamored with the Beatles. Ex-Beatle, George Harrison, in 1993 was interviewed, and he got a little frank, and he talked about their best-selling record, My Sweet Lord, and he said, and I quote, I wanted to sneak up on the audience a bit by gradually changing the background chant of Hallelujah to Hare Krishna. After awhile,. Harrison claims, they are lulled into a sense of false security. Thats his words. So the kids hear a a record called My Sweet Lord, and it begins Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Krishna. And this eastern mysticism is being put into their minds before they knew what happened. Many businessmen today are going to business seminars uh, theyre studying uh success merchants like Napoleon Hill and Og Mandino and Clerment Stone and Earl Nightingale and others whove been influenced by New Age-ism, according to Norman Geisler. Business seminars like uh Werner Earhards est, or E S T. Now, they dont call it that anymore. They call it Forum. Well, if you ever a read a Magazine on an airplane as I do many times, youll find something called Silva Mind Control. Or another thing called Eckanar, Eckankar, or another called Personal Dynamics, Inc., or another called Investment in Excellence. And all of these things, when you look into them, are a form of New Age-ism, according to those who have studied them. But the frightening thing is this, that in our schools while Christianity is virtually outlawed, youre going to find out that in the school systems in many places in America there is a form of New Age-ism that conies right into the school system. Yoga, meditation, imaginary guides, exploration of inner space. Let me read you something I clipped the other day. Someone in Alabama wrote, you know we think of Alabama as being part of the Bible Belt, but uh, this person talked about what was going on in their school there, and heres a parent who investigated. He found out that in a school district the educators were using a program for kids in kindergarten through the 6th grade, and Apple program, and heres the title of it, Peace Harmony Awareness, a relaxation program for children. And heres the purpose of the program, to help children deal effectively with everyday stress so they will be able to enjoy more satisfying and creative lives. Sounds good, doesnt it? Alright, and so here the little kids are going to learn peace, harmony, and awareness. All the program is laced uh, the program is laced with meditation exercises uh with zen, and New Age content. For example, youll find this statement in that program for these children. Listen to it. Children would interesting to know that the yoga can slow down their heart rates appreciably. These are new ideas for the western world, and people are learning that they have more control over their bodies than was ever dreamed of before. See, see this is yogi mysticism thats being into the kinds of little kids, kindergarten through the 6th grades, biofeedback. Uh, I suppose the most reprehensible program is the one that was called Program 11. The title of it, The Secret Place. And Im quoting, and here is the purpose which has as its it which has as its major concept, Every person has inner wisdom that can be developed with patience. Learning to trust and use that inner knowing adds to self-confidence. Now, how do you get this inner wisdom? Well, these little kids were told uh they were guided through guided imagery and imagination to an all-wise inner guide. Now, you think about that, theres an all-wise guide in you, kids. You know what they call the inner guide? Mister rabbit. Isnt that sweet? And theyre cur, they are encouraged to ask this trustworthy and enlighten enlightened one for the answer to any question. Now, in a another curriculum is for gifted children. And use a major textbook being used is Growing Up Gifted, by Barbara Clark. And anyone can see that shes a thoroughly convinced devotee to the New Age movement, and she talks about what she calls integrative education. Now, I want you to listen to what she called for. She calls for the development of transcendence. This would be the level of interconnectedness, the state of oneness with the universe that would include and use all human functioning at its highest actualization. She frequently states that the thoughts of the east and the west are coming together in a ,climate of acceptance. Shes talking about western religion and eastern mysticism coming together in a climate of acceptance. Coming together can be seen as the central theme of this book, the model on which its structure is based. Now, this is a public textbook. But coming together is the central them. Come now, let us build us a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, lest we be scattered abroad. Tb bring together in a global awareness. Now, she goes on to say, and Im quoting, in this book lifestyles and belief systems change. Teaching children your parents may have been Christians and Bible thumpers but listen. Lifestyles and belief systems change. Dichotomies no longer exist. That is this is right and that is is wrong. Thats a dichotomy. Thats just a high high-sounding phrase be see saying you cant have a right and a wrong. Dichotomies no longer exist, and time and space have another dimension. Reality is seen as an outward projection of internal thoughts, fears, and expectations. Energy is the connector, the center, the basis for matter and consciousness forms reality. Consciousness fornis reality. No, dear friend, God is the center. God forms reality. Western pragmtists will join eastern mystics. The more we are discovering, the more we can validate the ancient wisdom that have come to us from Chinese, Hindu, Egyptian, and other age-old teachings. Shes right. All the way back till to old Nimrod. You see, its a coming together, a synchretism of all of these things. Now, let me tell you what the New Agers believe, and its as old as Babylon. But let me just give you some of their theology. And so, I want you to get this. First of all, uh what does uh a New Ager want? He wants global unity. All of them are going to talk about holistic this or global unity. They want a global unity thats going to unite man with man, thats the social utopia. Then they want a unity that uh unites man with nature, thats ecological uniformity. And then man with God, thats divine union. And so, theyre going to bring about a religion, a synthesis, a synchretism of man with man, man with nature, man with God. Sounds pretty good, doesnt it? Thats what the devil told Eve in the beginning, Youll be like God. Now, to the New Ager, they dont believe in a personal God. They are inspired by the spirit of Nimrod who himself wanted to be God and wanted to be worshiped. God is not the heavenly Father. God is impersonal energy, the Force. Theres nothing that is not called God. Theologians call this view of God pantheism. And uh thats the view of the New Agers, God is all, and all is God, and God is in everything. Now, uh then, what do they think of man? Well, man, if hes a part of everything, and God is everything, then man is a part of God, and God is a part of man. Thats the reason when the New Age evangelist, Shirley Mclain, got on television, she said, I am God, I am God. And she went on to say, The tragedy of the human race is that we uh was that we have forgotten that we were each divine. There was another woman named Eve who bought into the same thing. Now, what is salvation to a New Ager? Uh it is it is the realization of your divine origin and nature. You see, to a New Ager salvation is knowledge. And, so therefore, it follows that what man needs to be saved from is not ignorance, I mean, not sin but ignorance. He believes in a pantheistic universe, and hes working toward the time till all good and evil, right or wrong, all opposites are united into one all-embracing cosmic force just like the Force in Star Wars. Now, who is Jesus Christ to a New Ager? He will talk about Jesus Christ, but he doesnt believe in the Jesus that you believe in. As a matter of fact, he will separate Jesus and Christ. He will say uh, Yes uh huh, Jesus existed, and Jesus had the spirit of Christ. But they would also go on to say that Krishna had the spirit of Christ, and Buddha was Christ, and Jesus was Christ. And its a mesh-mash of all kinds of Babylonian baloney. But it all comes together. Now, let me let me I Ive got to uh some how wrap this up, and Ive got more literally than I can say .to you, but I want to give you some buzz words, some things to think about that just to put up your antenna if you can and uh just to get ready for some things. I want you to listen for these things. Now, if you hear these things, youre going to know probably its a par-t of the New Age conspiracy. Uh, think of words like this, Aquarian, or Aquarian conspiracy, new consciousness, new orientalism, cosmic humanism, mystical humanism, humn potential movement, holistic health movement. Let me give you some buzz words. Awakening, enlightenment, centering, consciousness, cosmic energy, force of life, global village, holistic, human potential, self-actualization, networking, planetary vision, spaceship earth, synergistic, transcendental, transformational, trans-personal. Now, everybody who uses these words, of course, is not a New Ager. Many times we pass these things on and sometimes they fit what were trying to say, but it its a buzz word, just uh listen for it. What are some of the symbols? Youll see these symbols on buildings. Youll see these symbols on automobiles, on bumper stickers. Youll see people wearing them around their neck. The rainbow. Any of you an automobile going around with a little rainbow, even a little air freshener, a little rainbow. Now, the rainbow, of course is a symbol of a covenant of God. But the New Agers have taken over the rainbow. Heres one that ought to interest us here, the pyramid, the triangle, an eye in a triangle, Pegasus, thats the winged horse, concentric circles, rays of light, the swastika, the yen and yang, thats that circle with looks like two tadpoles on the inside, the goats head, a pentagram, or the number 666, or the unicorn. All of these are symbols that are used in one way or another in the New Age movement. If you hear somebody speak of God as an impersonal force or an impersonal entity, if hes identified with the world or with energy, youve probably stumbled into New Age ground. And all of the movements that deal basically with human potential are New Age. And were seeing a plethora of movies and other things that have come out, songs, lectures, literature, business seminars which claim that human beings possess unlimited potential, sorcery, that is, any kind of romancing or uh interfacing with a uh with the occult, with witchcraft, black magic, seances, ouija boards, or even visualizing, as many of these success motivation courses tell you to do, to visualize it so you may have it. Dear friend, if your vision is not form God, it may be occult. Human goodness, all New Agers believe in human goodness. When they speak of Christ consciousness rather than Jesus beware. Every tongue that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. Its the spirit of anti-Christ. Any feeling that any movement that that bases its a its truth, its ideas on feeling and human feeling. For example, they asked Shirley Maclaine, who by the way as I told you this morning, in her lectures, the last time I read, I read in Money Magazine, about her lecture circuit, and one of the editors from Money Magazine went over to uh one of the writers, and sat in, and said, there were 500 people who had flown in $300 dollars a head to hear her lecture, and she was going just like this from lecture to lecture, and she uh was bringing in uh millions of dollars. But uh, they asked her, How why do you believe in reincarnation? And she said because she felt it was true. Now, dear friend, there are spirits, demon spirits, the Bible calls them lying spirits, doctrines of demons, you test everything by the Word of God. Ill tell you another great appeal of the New Age is world unity. The New Age movement believes in the unity of all religions and the eventual cooperation of all governments. Therefore, theyre a strong force behind the world peace and ecumenical movements, and many good Bible-believing people find themselves holding hands with New Agers, looking for, trying to find world peace, and all theyre doing is building a platform for the anti-Christ. Pathetic, isnt it? Well, one last thing. Go back to Genesis chapter 11. Ive talked to you about the founder of the New Age, his name was Nimrod. Ive talked to you about the faith of the New Age. Let me just talk to you about the failure of the New Age. Look if you will now in Genesis chapter 11 and verse 7, and see what happened. Uh and uh verse 6. And the Lord said Behold the people are one, and they all have one language. And this they began to do, now nothing will be withheld from them which they have imagined to do. Come, let us go down. Who was God talking to? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost were talking together. Come, let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one anothers speech. So the Lord scattered then abroad from uh there upon the face of the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel. Because the Lord did there confound their language. Now, this gate to heaven was really the highway to hell. And what God did was to bring judgment. I want you to see first of all God said, Let us go down. This Babylonian religion in our last day is going to be ended the same way when God steps out of heaven, when the Lord Jesus cows again, as I preached this morning, when the triune God says, Let us go down. And what God is going to do is to throw all of it into confusion. As he threw it into confusion so long ago, hes going to throw it into confusion in our day. In that day, he brought confusion by confounding their speech. can you imagine what it would have been like building that tower, and one man says, Hand me a brick. He says, What did you say? He said, What did you say? He said, What did you say? What did you say? What did you say? Ha, it must have been funny to be there as they did not understand. You know, the Bible says, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. Im sure he was that day as they were there trying to have unity. of course, we know that theres no real unity without the Lord Jesus. And the ecumenical movement and the United Nations and all of the rest of it is a surface unity without the Lord Jesus Christ. o there was the coming, the confusion, and then the collapse. Uh, so the Bible says in verses 8 and 9, So the Lord scattered abroad from upon the face of the earth, and they ceased building the city. It was left a colossal ruin. Why? Ill tell you why. Except the Lord build the house, the workman worketh but in vain. Ill tell you, theres only one thing thats going to last, my dear friend, and its the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, the kingdom of anti-Christ is going to crumble, and the New Agers are going to sit and weep among the ruins of their crumbled tower of blunders. One last Scripture, turn to Revelation chapter 18 and see how Verse 22 says its going to happen. Revelation chapter 18. Now, remember in chapter 17 we saw that Babylonian beast carrying that Babylonian harlot. But now what John sees is something better than that. And after these things, I saw another angel came down from heaven having great power, and the earth was made bright with his glory, and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. That tower is coming down, my dear friend. And is became the habitation of demons and the hole of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven saying-and hes saying it to you, now, I want you to listen Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins,and that ye receive not of her plagues. Did you hear that? Came out of her. Have nothing to do with Babylonian religion. Have nothing to do with the occult. Have nothing to do with the New Age. And because of that, notice what happens in Revelation 19 verse 1. And after these things I heard a great voice of many people in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great harlot which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And they said, Hallelujah, and her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four and twenty living creatures came down and worshiped God that sat upon the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne saying, Praise our God all ye his servants, and you that fear him both great, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of mighty peals of thunder saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. And, my dear friend, Youve got Christ and anti-Christ. Youve got Babylon and the New Jerusalem. You have the great whore and the pure bride. You have life and death. Dont be sucked in by the New Age movement. Lets bow in prayer. Father God, I pray that youll take this long and tedious passage and Lord, as people think about it, I pray, God, that you will simplify it in their minds. And then, dear God, I pray that you will burn it into their hearts and into their consciousness. And help us, dear Lord, that well not become paranoid, but that well be wise. Help us, Lord, to live and teach and love, and to witness. And we know, dear Lord, that uh the best way to deal with error is not to try to stamp it out, but to preach truth. Lord, we know that the dark cant stand when the light comes. So Lord, help us to share the Lord Jesus. For we pray in his wonderful name. Ame
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 07:26:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015