Five Common New Age Beliefs in the Christian Church

5 Common New Age Beliefs in the Church & What Christians Should Know About Them

Over the past few decades the New Age movements have been popular outside the Christian church. But with the influx of poor discipleship over the last 30-40 years, we are seeing a revival of bad theology mixing with the Christian teachings many of us get Sunday after Sunday. Some churches are worse than others. Other churches have this bad teaching come in through small groups and home groups.

Now if you are not familiar with what is popularly called the New Age movements, it includes a wide array of ideologies which promote a self-spirituality with goas of personal growth, evolution (both physical and spiritual) and a connection to the Universe. You may hear people giving credit or praise to the universe for the hopes of their good fortunes. Some will also teach that all roads or religious ideas are true, and thereby pushing one’s thinking to a kind of spirituality that is far apart from Jesus Christ. Lastly there is the promotion of the belief that you can create whatever life you desire by simply connecting with your ancestors or spirit guides through all kinds of spiritual practices. If you think this sounds kind of crazy, you’re right. But there are people out there that believe this kind of stuff and they take it very seriously like you take your Christian faith.  

So what I would like to do in this post is share with you five common New Age beliefs that have infiltrated the Christian church. If you are a former adherent of any New Age practice, you will most likely be able to identify these. If you one that embraces these and have no history in the new age spiritualities, then lend me your reading this. Know that those who have come out of the new age find it rather perplexing that there are churches that they find themselves looking for biblical teacing embracing such syncretistic practices.

This is why I want to share five common New Age beliefs that have flooded into the church. We need to be aware of these teachings so that we can recognize them and avoid them at all costs. 

1. Law of Attraction

This one is probably the most popular. This is the belief that if we think positively and have faith, we will get whatever we desire from God. The Law of Attraction was popular with Rhonda Byrne’s book and movie, “The Secret” and it is based on the idea that “like attracts like.” Teachers of the Law of Attraction will often tell you to believe, imagine, or visualize what you want from God and He will make it true for you. The problem is that the God you are asking this from may not be the God of the Bible.

As believers we ought to remember that our full reward is in heaven. Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t want you to think I am saying that God doesn’t grant our wishes or desires. We still have to be mindful that when we desire things (especially earthly treasures), we ought to ask for His will to be done, not our our own will. We should be surrendering completely to the plan God has laid out for us and seek to live a life that glorifies Him, not ourselves. We are called to trust and love God above all, not the things of the world. (see 1 John 2:15)

2. The popular mantra, “Follow your heart”

The next New Age belief that has bled into the hearts and minds of people in the church is this idea or belief that we should follow our feelings; and that our emotions are indicators of truth and guidance. While our feelings and emotions are very real, they are not the final test for truth. In fact, this is a foreign idea that is not found in the Scriptures. People are often told to do what feels right to them. That sounds good, but we are told in the Proverbs that trusting in our own minds is foolish,

“Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered” (28:26) 

Other versions read, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” We know that the heart is “deceitfully wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9) Although our feelings are valuable to our human experience, they should not serve as our compass. Rather, we are told that those who live according to the Spirit should set their minds of things of the Spirit, not things of the flesh. The danger of following our hearts is that the enemy can use our emotions to confuse, distract, and lead us astray from God’s will, causing us to sin because something “feels” good. 

3. We are little gods

This belief was popularized by false teachers like Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, and Oprah Winfrey and those that follow their lead. The idea is that because we are children of God, we are also little gods and can obtain anything we please because we are also divine in nature. We see this in the church when individuals focus on serving self and their desire for money, fame, and material wealth. They present the idea that Jesus died so we can have all we want here on earth. While this may sound good to itching ears, the Bible consistently teaches us we are stewards of all that we have been given by the Lord. And we are know that God owns all the cattle on a thousand hills. We also know that it rains on the just and unjust alike. It is true, that God is holy, righteous, omnipresent and omniscient, and because we are finite human beings, we cannot be gods, because man is fallen apart from Christ, and full of sin. We can only be redeemed and made blameless before God, through the substitutionary death of Christ for our sins, and not our own innate divinity. 

Oneness

The next one is knowing as oneness. Oneness is the idea that we can become righteous or one with God by being sinless, not by faith alone. The Bible teaches that sanctification is a process and there isn’t a destination that we arrive at here on earth. We don’t become “one” or perfect in God until we are united with him in heaven. However, we are called to obey God by renewing our minds daily and repenting when we fall short. The word of God is very clear:

 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.   1 JOHN 1:8-10 ESV

Remember, we are not called to be perfect. Instead we are called to become more like Christ daily by loving God and our neighbor. 

All roads lead to heaven 

This is the teaching that one can believe in Jesus and practice other faiths. They believe that there are many spiritual or religious paths to God and heaven. When we read the Gospel of Matthew, we see that Jesus is very clear that we must enter through the narrow gate to receive salvation. The wide gate leads to destruction. (Matthew 7:13) The only path to heaven is through Jesus Christ himself. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one can come to God except through him. (John 14:6) 

After all the darkness and deception I have experienced in my life, one thing I can attest to is that the mighty and powerful name of Jesus is the name above all names. If there’s anything you take from this, I pray you take away that when we lean on our own understanding and look to ourselves as a truth meter, we only end up in deception. While it’s good to look to pastors, teachers, and influencers for spiritual growth and support, may we never forget that we have the Holy Spirit within us. He is the giver of all knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. May we never forget to test every spirit to see if it is from God. Finally, may we never forget the gift of our Holy Bible. When we know the word for ourselves, we cannot be easily deceived since we are anchored in God’s truth, not man’s opinions. 

We must never forget the warning words of the Apostle Paul:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
2 TIMOTHY 4:3 ESV

There is no need to look to the world for truth or guidance. Our Father has provided us with everything we need to know to live a righteous and God-honoring life. Keep your eyes and heart fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.