We have been warned by Jesus: “And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.” Matthew 24:11 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.” Matthew 7:15
God’s true church of believers is being attacked by the enemy both from outside and from within. Like Rodney King during the LA riots, we hear people plead, “Can’t we all just get along?” My knee-jerk reaction is, “Yes, of course I want to get along.” But then I am told that in order to “get along” I must accept that everyone else’s lifestyle and beliefs are just as valid as my own. If my lifestyle and beliefs are no better than anyone else’s, why bother with them at all? That is exactly the enemy’s goal. He wants to replace the gospel of Jesus Christ with a social gospel that ignores Jesus’ deity and sacrifice while concentrating on social justice and the concerns of men. He wants to replace Abba Father with a generic god who can be accessed by anyone through any religion, but for what purpose? Such a god cannot provide love, grace, forgiveness, salvation, healing, comfort and peace and neither could Ishtar, Baal and every other false god of the past.
New Age Christianity is neither new nor Christian. I listened to a song on one of my oldest CD’s recently that describes and then counters its doctrines, “They say there is no right or wrong, it’s all in how you see and the only debt we owe is to each other. You won’t need to be forgiven if you do the best you can. You’ll be justified if you just love your brother. But you can’t love your brother if you don’t know the Father and you can’t know the Father if you don’t know His Son. The Bible says there is no other, if you search you will discover you can’t really love your brother if you don’t know the Father’s Son. True love comes from up above, by grace the price is free. God so loves us that He sent His Son to die for you and me.”
One of the more recent incarnations of the new age movement is called the Emerging Church. One of the leaders is Brian McLaren who is the pastor of a large church in Maryland that challenges almost everything about evangelical Christianity. He has authored many bestselling books including A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith. One of those questions is, “Who is Jesus and why is he important?” (If you have to ask that question, can you really call yourself a Christian?) Another of his books is Why Did Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha Cross the Road? (Even the title implies they are equal and going in the same direction.) Another of his bestsellers is “We Make the Road by Walking”. (We are in control – not God?) I’m sure you get the idea by now. What bothers me most about all of this is the term bestseller. That indicates many people have bought and read those books and have been persuaded and misled by them. What a great reason for us to read and study God’s bestseller instead and then put it into practice in our lives.
What got me started on this topic was when one of my Face Book friends shared this post: “True religion has a universal quality. It does not find fault with other religions. Forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, brotherhood and the feeling of oneness are the signs of true religion.” My comment on that post: “That is exactly why I don’t belong to a religion, I belong to Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the life. No one comes to God except through Him. Muhammad, Buddha and other religious leaders are dead, but Jesus is alive. If pointing that out is finding fault with other religions, so be it. If a building was on fire and I discovered the only way out, I wouldn’t condemn others for not knowing, I would do my best to lead everyone to safety. That is why I share my faith, not to condemn others but to save them.”