Awakening to Enlightenment
Awakening to Enlightenment
by
Ann Sullivan
Colossians 2: 2-9
(Living New Testament) “This is what I have asked of God for you: that you will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love, and that you will have the rich experience of knowing Christ with real certainty and clear understanding. For God’s secret plan, now at last made known, is Christ Himself. In Him lie hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am saying this because I am afraid that someone may fool you with smooth talk.
“And this I say, least any man should beguile you with enticing words.” (King James)
“For though I am away from you in body, yet I am with you in spirit, delighted at the …steadfastness of your faith in Christ, (that leading of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness) (Amplified). “And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him, too, for each days problems; live in vital union with Him” (Living New Testament). “Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving (King James). “Don’t let others spoil your faith and joy with their philosophies, their wrong and shallow answers built on men’s thoughts and ideas, instead of on what Christ has said” (Living New Testament).
“For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (King James).
The New Age movement is spreading rapidly. Some Christians are getting involved with the New Age movement because of motivational speakers who are of the New Age persuasion. The New Age speaker gives principles of life that do work. Confucius has wise sayings. Because of the interesting illustrations and scriptures the New Age person uses some Christians think that the New Age person is talking about the Christian God. Then people take the bait that tastes good and feels good.
II Timothy 4: 3-4
“For the time is coming when (people) will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but having ears itching (for something pleasing and gratifying), they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold” (Amplified). “They won’t listen to what the Bible says but will blithely follow their own misguided ideas” (Living New Testament).
One of the New Age beliefs is that man has the divine in him. When one thinks of the divine they think of the Supreme Being. The New Age god is what they call the Energy Force. Some New Age people call their god the field of intention. Everyone and everything is connected making up their unity (the great Oneness of Being) or what they call god. As Christians we know that the Trinity (God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit) is the one true God. Man was created by God. Man is not a part of God. The New Age person confuses the saying that God is everywhere to God is in all things. They say that all religions are talking about the same God with a different name. They take whatever they like out of different religions. I have heard that the only difference in Hinduism and the New Age movement is that Hinduism is world denying while the New Age movement is world affirming. The New Age way disconnects one from the real source of life which comes from Jesus Christ. The New age person does talk about Jesus and His sayings. They put Jesus in among many wise teachers. Jesus is not only the one who shows the way; Jesus is the way.
Acts 4: 12
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (King James).
John 14: 6
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (King James).
New Age people do not believe that humanity is cut off from God because of sin. They believe that one just needs to get rid of the ego. They take the power of positive thinking to the extent that one has the unlimited power to make happen whatever they think. This is a belief that leads to drawing from oneself for everything. This ultimate potential that they give to an individual can lead to self worship. They teach that one needs to empty the mind to discover the divinity within. This emptying of the mind is called transidental meditation. The New Age meditation is not praying in the Holy Spirit through Jesus to God the Father.
Luke 11: 23-26
“He who is not with Me--siding and believing with me- is against Me, and he who does not gather with me (engage in My interest), scatters (Amplified). “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (King James).
II Corinthians 4: 4
“Satan, who is the god of this world, has made him blind, unable to see the glorious light of the Gospel that is shining upon him, or to understand the amazing message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is God.”
One may think that when the New Age speaker talks about the spirit that they are talking about the Holy Spirit. The New Age person believes that everyone has the spirit within them. The New Age person even speaks of a Christ consciousness. Human beings have a body, mind and spirit. But the spirit that the New Age person is talking about is neither the human spirit or the Holy Spirit. They claim that Jesus Christ discovered the god within when He said that He is the “I Am“. As Christians we know that the “I Am” of the Bible is The One and only God. Jesus said that He is God. The spirit they are talking about is what they call the energy force. As Christians we know that we have to be adopted into the kingdom of God through accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. When one has given their lives to Jesus, then the Holy Spirit comes into the individual. We have to pray that the Holy Spirit will give us the strength to face life’s problems. The New Age God is not the one true God of the Trinity.
Isaiah 55: 8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Who or what is your god? The New Age god can be any god they want it to be. Some call it the energy source. The New Age person believes in an energy force that filters into a person, and when a person dies the spirit will be reabsorbed back into the ultimate one. Jesus died to save us from destruction. Jesus is alive giving Christians new life for eternity. If you really want enlightenment to a higher awakening of knowledge, study the scriptures in the Bible.
Romans 1: 25
“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
John 14:6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, by by me."
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. In Colossians 2: 2-8 how does one know the secret?
2. In Colossians 2: 2-8 how does Paul say a Christian may be fooled?
3. In Colossians 2: 2-8 who are we to put our trust in.
4. What is the god that the New Age person is talking about?
5. II Timothy 4:: 3-4 says that time is coming when people will not tolerate what?
6. In II Timothy 4: 3-4 what do the people have ears itching for?
7. What do you think the word divine means?
8. What are some of the names used when New Age people talk about their source?
9. How is unity in Christ different than the unity the New Age people talk about?
10. Some New Age people believe that all religions lead to what?
11. How do you think the New Age beliefs are like Hinduism and Buddhism?
The Buddhist calls the highest degree of God-consciousness Nirvana.
12. How would you think a New Age person would interpret the saying that we are in the image of
God? How would a Christian say we are made in the image of God?
13. What is it that the New Age person believes we should be saved from?
14. Do you believe that Jesus is the only way to be saved?
15. How is the Christian praying different than the New Age meditation?
16. In Luke 11: 23-26 what does it say can happen to one who empties his mind?
17. II Corinthians 4: 4 says that ____________is the god of this world.
18. How is the spirit that the New Age person talks about different than the Holy Spirit?
19. Who is the “I Am” of the Bible?
20. What does the New Age person believe your thoughts can do?
21. In Isaiah 55: 8-9 what does it say about God’s thoughts?
22. What does Jesus save us from?
23. What does the New Age person believe will happen to a person when they die?
24. How is the Christian New Birth different than the New Age personal transformation?