And Jesus said to the

When Jesus spo=
ke these words to Simon and Andrew, He essentially made it clear that it wa=
sn=E2=80=99t His desire to conform His message to their lifestyle, but to i=
nstruct them to adjust their lives to His message. He didn=E2=80=99t promis=
e them worldly riches, but assured them that their lives would be enriched =
with power to be useful to God in ways they couldn=E2=80=99t be without fol=
lowing Him. Thus, Jesus taught them that life isn=E2=80=99t about seeking t=
o fulfill selfish pursuits; it=E2=80=99s about making ourselves fully avail=
able to God=E2=80=94to be used according to His purposes for us.

When Simon and=
Andrew were called by Jesus, they didn=E2=80=99t know Him personally, yet =
they knew enough to realize that He had something they were in desperate ne=
ed of. Most people would be reluctant to follow someone they knew so little=
about, but these men didn=E2=80=99t hesitate to go with Jesus. They were w=
illing to walk away from everything in order to be with Him. Nothing was mo=
re important to them at that moment than to obey Jesus=E2=80=99 voice. Henc=
e, they followed Him =E2=80=9Cimmediately=E2=80=9D (v.18).

We must be wil=
ling to respond to Jesus in the same way. Nothing should take His place in =
our lives. Nothing should be regarded as more important than doing what He =
says. We must cling to Jesus=E2=80=99 words like glue.

=
Has the New Age Movement
infiltrated your church?

By Nathan Jones
Evangelist & Web Minister

Dr. David Reagan and I were delighted to have as our guest on this week’s&n=
bsp;Christ in Prophecy Warren Smith, the author of the book The Light That Was Dark. This fasci=
nating book tells Warren’s touching story of how, in his search for a Savio=
r, he got sidetracked into the occultic darkness of the New Age Movement. F=
rom his many years of experience under that influence, Warren now has dedic=
ated his life to warning Christians about the dangers of the New Age and he=
lp us recognize how we can avoid these satanic influences from creeping int=
o our churches.

Basic Characteristics

Dr. Reagan: Warren, tell us, what are some of the basic charact=
eristics of the New Age Movement?

Warren Smith: In 2 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul talks about=
the simplicity in Christ. There is a simplicity in deception as well. So,=
it’s really important that people don’t get confused.

There are so many different aspects of the deception of the New Age, what i=
s now being called the New Spirituality, and even the New Worldview. New Wo=
rld Religion was the phrase used for a while, but a New Worldview is easier=
for people to remember.

Christians are b=
eing guided into this New Worldview thinking they will help the world come =
to peace. But, remember that in Daniel 8 we are told that the A=
ntichrist is going to have a wonderful deception. He literally will destroy=
“wonderfully,” for by peace he shall destroy many.

All these deceptive end times teachings are heading up to where the world i=
s going to be told to get in line, and “atonement” will be a word that will=
be used. But, those of us who were in the New Age understand that it is “a=
t-one-ment”, not atonement, so much as “at-one-ment.” In other words, the N=
ew Age teaches that we are all one because God is in everyone and everythin=
g. And, when we recognize our oneness, we can all come together and help ac=
hieve world peace. Some Christian leaders are even buying into this by having material=
s that bring this oneness and this god-in-everything teaching into the Chur=
ch.

Dr. Reagan: Let’s dwell a little bit longer here on the fundame=
ntal characteristics of the Movement. You boiled it all down to that the fu=
ndamental teaching of the New Age is God that He is in everything and is in=
us. That’s what Shirley MacLaine was doing when she stood on the seashore =
and yelled, “I am god, I am god, I am god!”

Warren Smith: She was the one who put that teaching forward bac=
k in 1987 on television. She may have become the butt of late night jokes, =
like in David Letterman’s jokes, but she’s the one primarily responsible fo=
r outing that teaching and getting the conversation going. That’s the big w=
ord these days =E2=80=94 conversation. “Let’s have a conversation,” which r=
eally means, “Let’s see what we can do to compromise. Let’s get it all on t=
he table and see what we can come up with.” That’s the idea that we can all=
move forward.

The year Shirley MacLaine started off teaching that we are all gods, that w=
as in 1987, and that was the same year that Marilyn Ferguson the author of&=
nbsp;The Aquarian Conspiracy was on the Oprah Winfrey Show, on =
an episode entitled “The New Age Movement.” Back in 1980, Marilyn Ferguson =
wrote her book The Aquarian Conspiracy and in that book sh=
e said that basically we have a great idea, a great heretical idea, of God within and =
God is in everything. She said basically, “We are not going to =
be able to pull this off right away, but over time if it is widely publiciz=
ed we will be able to have our way.” I mean, it was an outrageous thing to =
claim!

Actually, a lot of New Age leaders today are very upset that Ferguson used =
the word “conspiracy” in the title of her book, because it actually plays i=
nto the reality that there truly is a conspiracy, and the conspiracy is to =
get this great heretical idea that God indwells His creation and that God i=
s in everyone and everything. She was trying to be cute.

The Shack

Nathan Jones: For awhile there, almost every church was preachi=
ng from and every Christian bookstore was carrying The Shack.

Warren Smith: The Shack was a very popular book, no=
t only in the Christian world, but it was actually at the top of the New Ag=
e bestseller list as well.

People will claim, “Well, but Jesus is in there.” But, what a lot of people=
don’t understand is that from what I think was on page 112, the Jesus of&n=
bsp;The Shack said, “God who is the ground of all being dwells =
in and around and through all things.” Then, if you look carefully at the b=
ook when the word “Creation” is brought up, a capital “C” is used. Those of=
us from the New Age know that when you see creation with a capital “C”, it=
means that God indwells His creation.

Dr. Reagan: That is very different from what the Bible teaches.=
God is not indwelling His creation, right?

Warren Smith: No. Psalm 39:5 tells us, “Verily, every m=
an at his best state is altogether vanity.” Or, in John 2:24-25, J=
esus said referring to Jesus, “He did not commit himself to men bec=
ause he knew what was in men.” Now, why would that be said if God =
is in man? Why wouldn’t He be emphasizing that? Instead, Jesus was actually=
saying to the effect, “Watch out! Men amongst themselves can be very dange=
rous.” That is what Jesus was teaching. So, no, God is not within each person.

Deceptive Teachers

Dr. Reagan: Oprah Winfrey, she has been sort of a high priestes=
s of this whole New Age Movement, with one New Age writer and speaker after=
another being paraded on her program. Would you quickly mention some other=
New Age names from the secular world that people might recognize that they=
should be aware of?

Warren Smith: Sure. Oprah had M. Scott Peck on her program back=
in the early 90’s. A lot of people don’t realize, though Scott Peck descri=
bed himself as a Christian, he is really more of kind of like an emerging c=
ontemplative New Age Christian, because in his book he said, “God is within=
everybody.” He actually laid out a plan when he said, “We’re in crisis!” T=
hat’s also what The Aquarian Conspiracysaid to the effect, “We =
are in crisis and we need to have a new way of looking at things. We need a=
new worldview.”

What Peck b=
asically said was, “Our salvation lies in community.” He didn’t say “in Jes=
us Christ,” but in community. He said that due to the duress of=
these times, we need to change some of our rules; and yes, that includes t=
he Church. So, he too was introducing this idea of God-in-all.

I wrote an article years ago about M. Scott Peck and the Community of the C=
osmic Christ. Starting off the article, there was a big quote by Peck sayin=
g that the mystical prophet who is bringing forth this idea of sort of a qu=
antum leap into a new level of understanding was the Catholic Jesuit priest=
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He was the father of the New Age Movement. The=
titleThe Aquarian Conspiracy was taken by Chardin. Chardin sai=
d, “This soul must be a conspiracy of individuals.” And Chardin’s teachings=
are simply this =E2=80=94 that God is in every atom.

Nathan Jones: That rather sounds like Star Wars which is panthe=
ism, right?

Warren Smith: May the force be with you! Yes, this force is God=
penetrating His creation, but that He comes in various ways.

Other New Age teachers are Deepak Chopra, Betty Eadie and Shirley MacLaine.=

Dr. Oz

Warren Smith: Mehmet Oz, of the Dr. Oz fame, was for five years=
featured on Oprah Winfrey. Now he has his own program. Dr. Oz is probably one of the =
more dangerous, and I say that carefully, occultists out there.&nbsp=
;He has endorsed a book by a psychic by the name of Ainslie MacLeod. The bo=
ok is called The Instruction. Dr. Oz has a front cover endorsem=
ent. In that book the psychic refers to spirit guides 175 times, with 40 be=
fore you get to chapter one. He talks about past lives. He encourages the r=
eader to get into meditation and to contact their spirit guides.

Dr. Oz has also =
brought forward transcendental meditation,which Oz says he does. Thi=
s is known as reiki, which is a very dangerous sort of body treatment that =
includes spirit guides. The reiki practitioners make it very clear that spi=
rit guides are involved in that process.

Dr. Reagan: But these people are so nice, loving, and so smooth=
.

Warren Smith: In my days when I was a social worker and also in=
the New Age, some people thought I was kind of nice. But, as you know, nic=
eness doesn’t have much to do with it. We have some pastors out there who seem pretty =
nice, but they are bringing a lot of this New Age teaching into their churc=
hes.

Dr. Reagan: In fact, the Antichrist is going to be very nice.

Warren Smith: Back to Dr. Oz, he teaches New Age through holist=
ic health. One well known pastor actually said that if you try to change yo=
ur diet you’ll have to be careful, because you could end up changing your w=
orldview. That very well could happen. With Dr. Oz, one well known Christia=
n pastor has actually brought him into his church to teach his congregation=
how to be healthy!

Lord Maitreya

Nathan Jones: Speaking of the Antichrist, you always hear in th=
e New Age Movement of this Lord Maitreya. Can you explain a little to me if=
he is supposed to be the Antichrist, or as New Agers believe, he is the Me=
ssiah of the New Age Movement?

Warren Smith: Benjamin Creme was like Maitreya’s John the Bapti=
st. In 1982, there was a full page ad in newspapers all around the world sa=
ying, “The Christ is here, and he is waiting to be called forth.” Benjamin =
Creme was on coast to coast radio probably four or five times over the last=
decade saying the very same thing. He was saying that Maitreya is still wa=
iting to be called forth. A lot of people have just dismissed it as a bad j=
oke.

What I show in my book is that what Maitreya teaches is absolutely consiste=
nt with A Course in Miracles, with New Age Leader Barbara Marx =
Hubbard’s teachings, with Neale Donald Walsch’sConversations With God, and with everything that Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra and Dr. Oz are tea=
ching.

It’s all the same bottom line =E2=80=94 New Age teachings.

Watch the full intervie=
w with Warren Smith!