Satan's At It Again!

I find it fascinating that the lies being promulgated by the so-called new spirituality (including Oprah Winfrey and the plethora of new age types she touts on her show) are the very same lies Satan used to deceive Eve in Chapter 3 of Genesis.

A recent dvd on the New Spirituality from Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend is a terrific introduction to a topic that has fascinated me since my own pre-Christian days as a new age seeker of knowledge.

I just love the fact that God provides an end run around Satan right off the bat in Genesis 3, something I hadn’t fully realized until listening to Brannon.

After Satan’s opening gambit to cast doubt on the entire word of God (“yea, has God said...?), there are 4 main lies he uses.

First he tells Eve she will not die (verse 4). This is the same lie that we find in reincarnation and everything associated with it.

Satan then assures Eve that her ‘eyes will be opened’ (verse 5). This is a form of esotericism which is another way of saying you need to enter your own inner sanctum, your own mind and will in order to find truth. Transcendental Meditation is one way people try to do this. The rapidly growing Emergent Church pushes something called ‘contemplative prayer’ which is merely Transcendental Meditation in disguise. Any practice where you ‘empty your mind’ is dangerous -- who knows what might accept your invitation to walk right in and make itself at home (as Jesus pointed out in his story in Matthew 12 where the original demon returns after having been cast out to find the place swept clean so he calls in his buddies and they all take up residence)! As for ‘Christian’ yoga, it isn’t simply exercise, it’s a spiritual discipline that prepares its followers for supernatural connection with unholy spirits. Check it out in YOGA AND THE BODY OF CHRIST by Dave Hunt. Walking the labyrinth is another such practice where you follow a giant maze laid out on the floor and supposedly by the time you reach the center you will have encountered God. These are all non-Biblical, non-Christian ways to get yourself in trouble by accidentally contacting demons. Thanks, but no thanks.

Third lie -- Satan promises Eve she will be like God (verse 5). Today this is known as humanism which puts man at the top of the heap and able to do all the things God can. You’re told you need to love yourself (as if we don’t already) and find the Christ within you. The huge phenomenon of The Secret says you only have to think about and visualize what you want and it’s yours. Many tele-evangelists use the same tactic to get money from people. The ‘name it and claim it’ crowd, otherwise known as the prosperity gospel is a lie. If you can’t preach it around the world, if other cultures can’t identify with it, then it’s not the gospel.

Fourth, Satan promised Eve she would know ‘good and evil’ (verse 5) which is another name for moral relativism. You decide what’s right. At the end of Judges, it says that ‘every man did that which was right in his own eyes.’ (Judges 21:25). This kind of thinking leads to pluralism, i.e. all beliefs are equal and all roads lead to God. Oprah herself insists there can’t be only one way to God. Too bad the Bible disagrees with her. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and there are only two families in this world -- the family of God and the family of Satan.

Satan only has one tool to lead us astray -- lies and everything connected with them. Sure these lies and deceptions can be a powerful lure, but they’re also one note and easily spotted once you have the truth, although not so easily conquered.

The new spirituality isn’t new at all, it’s just a rehashing of Satan’s original deception. Guess you can’t teach an old dog (Satan) new tricks.