Hating the Lie

I’ve recently had a heated conversation with someone I love and respect but with whom I have some disagreement. The issue concerns our attitude toward those who are living a life which is non-Christian but who believe they are sincere seekers after God (or more accurately, their own spiritual fulfillment). Specifically our disagreement centered on those who are from the so-called NewAge Movement and who embrace a syncretistic mixture of beliefs and practices which essentially (in my opinion) amounts to a self-centered preoccupation with their own feelings of emotional and physical comfort, well-being and pleasure.

The person I was discussing this with maintains that we must be generous to those people we know are not living as born-again Christians and that we must not be judgemental or condemning in our dealings with them nor in our attitudes toward them. This, I think, is reasonable, right and even loving as far as it goes. The trouble is, I don’t think it goes far enough.

(I liken the situation to the spread of drugs and the consequent increase in drug addiction among those for whom it would not have been a problem had not they be given the opportunity to experiment, and as a past believer and practitioner of the NewAge culture and world-view I think I speak with a modicum of authority here.)

The spread of NewAge beliefs and philosophies is damaging to those that Christianity terms as the lost; those who have not yet received the benefit of Christ’s saving grace. As Christians we are to spread the truth as revealed to us in Scripture and this means that we are sometimes to separate ourselves from the ungodly, not associating with them at all but also to oppose them as the promulgators of a horrific lie. We are to hate the lie, just as God does. And what is the essential lie of the NewAgers (and their less mystically, more “scientifically” oriented cousins, the Secular Humanists)? It is nothing more than a variation of the lie spoken first in the Garden of Eden by that old deceiver, Satan, “The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”’ The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Gen. 3:2-5).

The so-called truth of the New Age is really the original lie of the Old Age. The lie is, in effect, saying that human beings are at the centre of the universe (and in a strangely paradoxical way I actually agree, but we’ll save that discussion for another time). We are “co-creators” with God and essentially are “little gods.” The lie says “I’m OK and You’re OK.” It says that old age and disease are unnatural and can and should be eradicated (And again, I’m in qualified agreement here too, but for vastly different reasons.). It says that we are the masters of our destiny and our world; that we are perfectible in and of ourselves and that we have the entire necessary spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical qualities needed to recreate our own Garden of Eden, wrought (of course) in our own image. It goes on to proclaim a focus, even a preoccupation, with life lived here and now, on earth. And if the more spiritually sensitive among the NewAgers and Secular Humanists give any thought to eternal destiny, they would have to admit to a kind of universal salvation in which there is no penalty for wrong; no price to be paid for all the evil ever done (since in the world-view of the NewAgers and Secular Humanists, we are the measure of all things, therefore to admit of ultimate evil is to be forced to admit the logical absurdity of positing ourselves as the perfection of all that is, since to admit evil is to deny the NewAger and Secular Humanist world-view altogether and to give agreement with the Christian world-view. Hence these deluded people are caught on the inescapable horns of an eternal dilemma). This is the lie we must hate. And quite frankly, we must also (lovingly) hate the perpetrators of this lie as being deceived deceivers; those who have been caught in the lie themselves and who, as Eve did to Adam, pass on the lie to unsuspecting others.

If our love and devotion to God and the Truth of His Word are operative in our lives; if we truly know ourselves to be, and are able to proclaim ourselves as, God’s chosen children then we have a spiritual duty to oppose the lie as well as the liars; not for any sense of justice, to exact vengeance, or to enter into judgment. No. We must oppose the lie because it is just that, a lie; the worst of all lies because it so offends God’s goodness, compassion, loving-kindness and sacrificial love not to mention His truth, righteousness, justice and sovereignty. (It is also something to be opposed because rational common sense tells us this attitude is just plain wrong. We see that every time we pick up a newspaper, watch a television program—take your pick—or read a book on human history.)

Paul had much to say about this lie and these liars “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Rom. 1:18-25). He goes on to quote from the OT “as it is written, ‘there is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for god; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one’” (Rom. 3:10-12).

In these words Paul sums up an essential difference between the NewAger and the Christian and that is that the NewAger likes to believe he is actually moving toward God in his search for “spiritual wholeness” through such agencies as Tarot, Holistic paradigms, chanting, various forms of body control and manipulation and so on. What is really happening, according to Paul and the entire corpus of Scripture, is that he is making himself and his own life into an idol and at the same time is in fact running away from God just as did Jonah in the story from the OT.

By placing himself as both the subject and object of creation and existence, he is denying that place to God and so is denying God’s sovereignty over all things as their creator and sustainer. How can a Christian not be righteously offended by such an affront to God?

And what then are we to do? I think, for myself, and for others too I would hope, I must always seek ways to deny the lie, to show it up for what it is; to do so with a burning hatred against all that offends God, but at the same time maintaining my compassion and love for those who are not only caught in the lie themselves but also attempt to catch others so that they all fall into the ditch together. Ezekiel speaks to us (at least I feel convicted by his words) very clearly in this regard: “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. When I say to the wicked, `You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself” (Eze. 3:17-20).

We fight the lie because the lie is an affront to God. But we also fight the lie and proclaim the truth because we are afraid. Of what are we afraid? For me, I am afraid that if I do not take every opportunity to share the Good News and to act as one who is willing to stand in the gap and oppose the lie, then I will risk hearing those awful words delivered to Ezekiel and never hearing the only words that I long to hear. Oh, I have assurance of faith. I believe with all my heart that I am saved. But when I get to heaven and come before the Bridegroom and Steward of the Banquet, I will not want to hear Him say to me “Go down, take your seat with the luke-warm and with those who had forgotten their first love as sojourners and strangers on the earth.” Rather, I long to hear Him say, “Come up, take your seat among the overcomers and welcome in to the joy of your Lord, good and faithful servant.” These are the only words I long to hear. May it be so.

Soli Deo Gloria.