The move towards One World Religion/New Spirituality: Part 1 (General Introduction)
Introduction and our prophetic Mandate
The articles within the 'New World Order' part of our Resource Hub have been written to make readers aware of the global trends which have shaped, and are shaping, our world. All have their part to play in the formation of the one world government and religion which will emerge at the end of the age.
The third of the overarching global trends that we monitor relates to the drive toward One World Religion.
Our prophetic Mandate is to call eschatological communities into being, and through this series of articles we seek to raise awareness amongst Christians of this developing and advanced trend, to prepare the Church for what is coming. The days ahead will be extremely challenging for every true believer and its vitally important that believers are not ignorant about what's coming, or deceived as to its nature.
It is claimed that a New World Order and a 'planetary consciousness' is developing. A number of trends support this view, not least the growing call for:
* Global disarmament
* One world government (global governance)
* A return to paganism
* Environmental extremism
* Socialism and communism
* Religious persecution in the name of 'tolerance' and combating 'hate'
To assure its success, the New World Order requires a One World Religion and its proponents are already at work. Globalist theologian Lloyd Geering in his book 'The World to Come,' says:
If the global society emerges, it will require humanity to develop a new consciousness and a new form of spirituality . . . If the human species is not to self-destruct it must develop into a global society which will find cohesion in what may be called a global human culture. The challenges which lie ahead cannot be overcome by any one person or group working on their own but only by the human species working as a whole
In 1996 the United Nations published a 420 page report: ‘Our Global Neighbourhood’, which outlined a plan for global governance. By 1996 the term ‘global governance’ had replaced ‘New World Order’ in such communications. The thesis advocated not just global governance, but also One World Religion. Vera Alder, a teacher in esoteric knowledge says in her book ‘When Humanity Comes’:
There is actually a Plan and a Purpose behind all creation. World unity is the goal towards which evolution is moving. The world plan includes: A World Organisation, a World Economy, a World Religion.
As radical liberal theologians were declaring the death of God and the Bible in the 60s, others were announcing the return of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome. Today's Postmodern theologians declare that religion is not in decline, but simply in a process of reformation. As in ancient Rome social and religious forces are working together. Western capitalism is partnering with Eastern meditation.
With the rebirth of pagan goddess worship and Christianity in decline, or at least being re-imagined, here at Christian Spectrum we believe that we're set to see the great apostasy (Christians turning away from the true faith) spoken about by Jesus (Matt 24:12) and the coming political, economic and religious system under the control of the Antichrist (Rev 13).
How do we share the Gospel?
As the global culture becomes more pagan and Western culture shakes off its Christian heritage, Christians are marginalised and they lose confidence and retreat from the public square. As a result, some are now asking the question: How should we share the Gospel in a Postmodern, post-Christian, post-national and increasingly global situation?
In answering this question some are proposing that we change the Gospel message and embrace a new unifying religion for the sake of the planet. See series of articles on the Emerging Church/New Spirituality. Many see the extreme liberal wing of the Postmodern Emergent Church as the precursor to the 'religion of tolerance' that will cause many within the Church to fall away and ultimately to embrace the One World Religion under the Antichrist.
Mick Bickle (International House of Prayer: Kansas) in his ‘Omega Course’ notes, says:
The rise of false christs and prophets will help establish alliances between all the false religions which include the occult, New Age, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and liberal ‘Christianity’ with a commitment to moral tolerance that paves the way for a one world religion.
The Bible is clear concerning the direction the world will take. Whilst in this article we will focus on the religious system, we need to understand that it is developing in tandem with the political and economic systems and all three will ultimately emerge as one entity.
The essence of the emerging One World Religion (the New Spirituality) is that ‘all roads lead to God,’ and that all so-called gods are equally valid, each having a part of the truth. Religious pluralism and syncretism (merging of religious practices) and Universalism (everybody is saved in the end) are its tenets.
Also implicit is the notion that One World Religion provides an answer to religious conflict, whilst supporting globalisation, the new world order and our efforts to save the planet. Whilst Postmodernism shuns meta-narratives (over-arching worldviews), intellectual elites, mystics, the liberal Emerging Church, New Agers and neo-pagans are eagerly pursuing a coherent worldview to save the planet.
Driving the agenda
In his book ‘One or Two’, Peter Jones says:
. . . thousands of progressives in academics, the media and politics, along with the liberal church leaders are joining to produce a pagan cosmology to repair our deconstructed world.
Religious evolution, they claim, is coming of age. The so-called New Spirituality is now very much on the agenda. It’s driven by Postmodern, liberal, religious and ideologically driven individuals and groups within the intelligentsia, who consider themselves to be the ruling elite, progressive, open-minded and intellectually and spiritually enlightened.
For the One World Religion to become a reality, religion has to become an essential part of life for everyone and whilst Christianity is being ousted, false religions have taken a hold and are now being accepted by people who would not previously have professed to be religious in any way. It's now trendy to be ‘spiritual.' More and more people say: 'I’m not religious, but I am spiritual'.
According to Peter Jones, in his book ’One or Two,’ Western culture, has been hijacked by a spiritual ideology that he calls Neo-Paganism (new-paganism) or as we would say New Spirituality. Whilst horoscopes, fortune-tellers, Halloween and Harry Potter are the closest most people get to paganism, John Frame in the foreword to the book ‘On Global Wizardry,’ reminds us of a sobering truth:
Few realise that this new paganism is an historical and worldwide movement of enormous cultural power, one that has sought for centuries, and still seeks, to dominate our world.
In essence, the emerging One World Religion/New Spirituality is a reappearance and networking of ancient forms of spirituality, including aspects of the following:
The mystery religions; esoteric (hidden and mysterious); the occult (hidden); religious paganism (local religions); pre-Christian goddess worship; shamanism (ways of communicating with the spirit world); animism (non-living objects have a life force); witchcraft; Eastern mysticism (Buddhism, Hinduism, yoga and so on); ancient Gnosticism (secret knowledge); Desert Fathers; Catholic mysticism; New Age practices; religious syncretism (merging of religious practices); secret societies and inter-spirituality (interfaith).
The New Spirituality movement is an alignment of all that’s opposed to the will of God. It's vehemently opposed to the Christian faith. Frame, in the foreword to the book ‘On Global Wizardry,’ says:
These movements are parallel to one another, even congruent. So they form a single movement in effect. They work together, drawing on one another for support and inspiration, affirming one another, while they unite in opposing biblical Christianity. The resulting movement is, then, a work of Satan seeking to confront Christianity head-on. Whilst this paganism is imprecise it is in effect the sum of every unrelated non-Christian religion.
According to Dr Peter Jones in his book ‘Spirit Wars’:
It is vitally important to see beyond the external diversity and subtle distinctions to the inner coherence of paganism which is known as Monism.
In essence Monism claims that the universe is a mass of undifferentiated, related energy. God is not distinct and outside the universe, he is the universe. The Creator/creature distinction has been eradicated.
The New Spirituality mixture of beliefs and practices, it should be said, not only impacts the liberal Emerging Church, but every sphere of society - government, education, health-care, media, business, ecology, religion, law-making, globalisation, interfaith religion, psychology, sociology, science, arts, entertainment, sports etc.
Peter Jones in his book 'Spirit Wars,' says:
Gone is the skeptical liberal re-interpretation of the Gospel in terms of social involvement or Marxist theory. New liberalism has discovered a spirituality that will save the planet and fulfill the goals of an aspiring humanity. The liberal vision of an inclusive egalitarian culture of the future - 'America as it was meant to be!' - conceives of a new world where the distinctions between the sexes, between right and wrong, between true and false are blurred, where Satan is but the creation of wild-eyed fundamentalists, where tolerance for all - except orthodox Christianity - is the highest good.
This is not dry theory. The new liberals teach our children in schools and universities, influence the media by claiming to speak for the Church and for the best interest of the planet, and take positions of political leadership in our very religious country. And now they have spiritual power to back them up.
Western society generally is rejecting Judaeo-Christian values and worldview. Just as secular humanism has questioned the presuppositions of orthodox evangelical Christianity so does neo-paganism. Some would argue that neo-paganism has largely replaced secular humanism as the dominant ideology of our time. In any event Judaeo-Christian values are caught in a pincer movement and increasingly excluded from the public square.
Whilst the liberal Emerging Church, the resurgence of ancient forms of mystical spirituality/religious paganism and the shift from Modernism to Postmodernism are distinct and separate entities which have enjoyed parallel development for a number of years (decades in fact), there has nevertheless been a great deal of cross fertilisation and merging of ideas and practices.
No one speaks for the emerging One world Religion/New Spirituality movement as a whole and no one speaks for anyone else within the movement. It can mean many different things to those within it and there’s no headquarters you can call up to request information. For more on the history and development of the New Spirituality see Part 2 of this series.
New Spirituality: Neo-Paganism
There are a number of core beliefs in the emerging One World Religion/New Spirituality, which the Postmodern worldview supports:
* It’s anti-Christian
* It’s mystical; experience is everything, just as with Postmodernism
* It believes that each of the world’s religious traditions shares a single universal truth. It believes that the divine has manifested itself through many deities in different places and at different times. So no one deity can express the totality of the divine
* It holds to the view that all religions are attempts by the Occult Brotherhood to help humanity in evolving to greater perfection
* It aims to create a spirituality that is inclusive and pluralistic (all religions are valid)
* It draws on both Eastern and Western mystical, spiritual and supernatural traditions and infuses them with influences from self help, motivational psychology and holistic health – Reiki healing (occult or ghost energy), yoga (based on the Chakra system drawing on Kundalini or Serpent Power). For more on Mysticism see Part 5 of the series Emerging Church/New Spirituality
* It's both Pantheistic and Panentheistic - the divine is present in nature and in each one of us. The divine is everywhere and in everyone. Indeed, everything and everyone is divine
* The divine is both male and female - the god and goddess, although the divine is beyond limitations of gender
* The Pagan Ethic (also called the Wiccan Rede) is followed: ‘If it harm none, do what you will.’ This means a pagan cannot cause harm to anyone or anything, including themselves or nature. Other than that they’re free to do anything
The change to the Postmodern worldview around the middle of the last century presented the New Age pagans with a wonderful opportunity. Spiritual darkness is increasing and becoming more sophisticated and the strongholds that the enemy is using are deeply rooted in the actions of past generations. As Christians we do not fully understand the spiritual dimension as well as we ought. George Otis Jnr in his book ‘The Twilight Labyrinth,’ says:
Strongholds are born whenever individuals, societies and cultures welcome evil powers into their midst . . . The enemy gains dominion over human systems - political, economic and religious . . .Despite the countervailing influence of Judaeo-Christian values, dark powers have managed to secure a foothold in Europe and America.
In just one generation, Judaeo-Christian Western culture has become an incubator of revived paganism. Peter Jones in his book ‘One or Two,’ says:
Neo-pagans are the darling of a variety of movements. They lead the way in the ‘green’ movement, in systems of wealth distribution, in planetary programmes for social justice, in solutions to supposedly man-made global warming, in interfaith conferences, in the normalisation of all sexual expressions and in the promotion of globalist theories through the United Nations (UN).
The New Spirituality is changing the spiritual landscape of the Western world and society is being conditioned to accept this false spirituality that rejects the Gospel. In his book ‘Spirit Wars,’ he says:
This revolution penetrates every home and soul, redefining sexuality, spirituality, God, religion and revelation. The new world order turns everything we have known on its head - good becomes evil, homosexuality the preferred sexual expression and the traditional family a minority structure.
Today, a programme of mystical spirituality, social justice, interfaith and world peace is proposed as the answer to all man’s ills. Many with immense power and wealth, empowered by the New Spirituality, believe that an earthly, planetary Utopia is just around the corner.
Involvement of the liberal Emerging Church
So why would the liberal Emerging Church want to be identified with the New Spirituality? And why would the New Spirituality be ready to accept the liberal Emerging Church within its fold, bearing in mind it’s opposed to biblical Christianity?
The liberal Emerging Church, on which we focussed in the series of articles Emerging Church/New Spirituality, has bought into the Postmodern way of relating to the world. Because it’s also willing to compromise and change the Gospel - both its message and practice – to suit the Postmodern culture, it finds a warm welcome at the emerging New Spirituality’s ‘conversation.’
Whilst the liberal Emerging Church likes to think of itself as a key spiritual player in the New Spirituality, in reality it’s only a small fish in a large pagan pond. The New Spirituality is set on becoming a global religion embracing all religions and none, under the Antichrist. Every religion and ideology will serve Lucifer at the end of the age. The goal of the emerging One World Religion/New Spirituality fits perfectly with biblical prophecy:
Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?’ . . . He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name . . . All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world (Rev 13:4-8 part).
Jesus warns us in Mathews Gospel that many false prophets will rise and lead many astray at the end of the age:
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved (Matt 24:10-14).
Whilst the liberal Emerging Church prides itself on its pioneering spirit, in reality, the truth is that it has simply swallowed the enemy’s deception. It has left the one true Church and embraced a new humanistic and pagan agenda. It has exchanged the truth for a lie.
By way of an example, Brian McLaren the acknowledged leader of the Emerging Church is associated with futuristic groups that worship the earth and reject its Creator. He was a featured speaker at the Walter H. Capps Centre, a group devoted to the challenges of pluralism.
Other featured speakers included: Elaine Pagels (a Gnostic); Mary Tucker (a Buddhist); Starhawk (a witch); Peter Russell (a New Age guru); and Diana Eck (lesbian Professor of Religion at Harvard). When given the opportunity to share the Gospel this is what he said:
* The Church’s difficulties are self-imposed; we have the gospel all wrong and need to modify it
* We should avoid mentioning sin, the cross or personal salvation, since these terms don’t sit well today
* Christians should drop their concern with personal survival in the afterlife, to focus on helping the poor and saving the environment
Whilst the liberal Emerging Church presents the biggest challenge to biblical evangelical Christianity for decades, and we shouldn’t underestimate the harm it can do, nevertheless it reflects a somewhat pathetic image if you compare it to the vibrant Church of Jesus Christ which down through the ages has and will continue to robustly defend the truth of the Gospel – refusing to embrace the ideas and practices of either Postmodernism or the New Spirituality.
This mixture of beliefs and practices, it should be said, not only impacts the liberal Emerging Church, but every sphere of society - government, education, health-care, media, business, ecology, religion, law-making, globalisation, interfaith religion, psychology, sociology, science, arts, entertainment, sports etc