Paganism in the Spotlight

Western cultures adopt a worldview that is not friendly to Christianity. The pagan version is being applied to all of existence to science, law, education, politics, sexuality, ecology, and ethics. All must be frugal to prove the subjective paranormal grill of a sort of cultic vision of human beings we are seeing evidence of it all around Renewing Your Mind, Dr. Peter Jones is with us this week to she was the dominant views that are driving modern culture explains that the Swiss psychologist Carl Newman was key in the development of a so-called new spirituality worldview that is exploded in popularity you and promoted a pagan philosophy that stress the joining of opposites dust blurring the lines between right and listen more. The spirituality about which I spoke which essentially is represented as a sort of hidden esoteric tradition. I believe comes to the surface openly in the 60s and represents the, the fulfillment of Young's vision of a society liberated to practice pagan spirituality. That's the basic argument that I'm proposing to you. Some of us watch things happen then we saw all of a sudden this outbreak of the most bizarre kind of spirituality. We never had the fall when you have Shirley McClain out on a limb announcing I am God, and we had to wonder when this limb would break and we would come back to our senses but we discovered that what she was representing was what was called the new age movement.

Don't ever use that phrase ever again because the progressives don't use it either, but some we were introduced via that amazingly beautiful song. The age of Aquarius into a notion of the change of the times that something very profound and strange was happening. This indeed was the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

Incidentally, young in his writings was a popularizer of the notion of the age of Aquarius, so there's nothing left to chance. Here the age of Aquarius is that moment in the zodiac whole system where the age of Pisces which stood for the fish is now superseded by the age of Aquarius. The age of the goddess want to bring up all of the spiritual drink. And by the way. Young was known as the father of the New Age movement as well as being called the father of neo-Gnosticism in the psychologist of the 21st century. Just so that you know that when I may reference the young that I wasn't going out on sorry out on a limb. Yes with showing the client, but I think there's something to be said for finding him at the center of things, but as a matter of fact, the 60s was but the dawning of the age of Aquarius as that song says that Dylan asked us what time was it and he said the times were a change in know as I say all generations see the change of times but I think this was a very different kind of change that was this extraordinary catastrophic change as that feminist historian spoke of Dylan was announcing a radical departure from everything that the West is known in the past or something seemingly brand-new. David Horovitz and Peter collier who were Marxist students. Leaders of the STS in Berkeley in the 60s who finally went back on all of that stuff and wrote the book destructive generation about the 60s revolution understood that that the heart of the revolution was not simply drugs and sex but it was also the destruction of Western civilization. If you want to hear this man. He's an amazing person David Horowitz. You can find them. Google him. He has incredible insights as to what is happening right now. He's a Jewish agnostic. By the way, but what we were actually seeing in the 60s I believe was a pagan revival ex-Roman Catholic union Gnostic by the name of Mark Gaffney describes this time as a serendipitous confluence of events. That is to say an unforeseen but delightful turn of events where you have the decline of Christianity and the growth of these ultimate spiritualities and so many spiritualities got their start here in the 60s, a pantheistic spiritual revival took place just run through a few of them.

The American Indian vision quest.

The a Catholic radical. The Ayurvedic medicine checkers Eastern meditation of all kinds can call which a soul travel things sweet Hare Krishna, Mandela's mantras reincarnation shamanism Sufism tai chi 10 prism I Ching dimension just a few in these for many people become dominant notions in the identification of spirituality in the once Christian West.

That's why I said earlier, many people now but turning away from secular humanism in this saying was spiritual but not religious what they mean by that is, you see that they are looking for a notion of spirituality freed from the doubts of secular humanism, but totally eliminating the notion of religion, in particular the Christian religion, which is not to be found within. But as a revelation from the outside so the New Age has lost into the age of interfaith religion where everything is good, but you don't already affirm this world has shrunk in his dawning on us that humanity is one with one psyche that should prompt Christians for the sake of charity to set a good example and acknowledge that though there is only one truth that speaks in many tongues. That's the message now. You often hear is it not as one truth put it speaks in many tongues. This is where we must situate the so-called interfaith movement. You've obviously come across in your own church is where you been asked to participate in some kind of a drive for homeless people because there's an interfaith group here. While some of that is homeless, obviously, but the driving ideology behind interfaith is this notion of the coming of pagan spirituality. A Christian eco-feminist theologian by the name of Heather Eaton argues that the Christian faith must now exhibit an openness to reinterpretations in the light of the myriad religious tradition and a willingness to be transformed by the into religious dialogue receive your move in that direction and then after all what you thought about Christianity has to change radically. And so modern religious person needs to encounter many religious perspectives and be transformed by the process terribly seductive right and if you don't do that you're an old fogey you're stuck in some kind of historical ravine and you are not showing that your open to the future, which by the way, is turning back to the past but in the old pagan religion so don't buy that kind of argumentation and the US to see the future of Christianity is just one religious option among many, and so we find ourselves in the beginning of this 21st century where the marginal 60 spirituality has become mainstream weight, we thought that the new age therapies from the West Coast for the last as long as bell bottom pants and the hula hoop and actually that is going mainstream federal phrase. I just already cited in spiritual but not religious receipt shows that it is going mainstream.

So many people are now claiming to be spiritual because we are all convinced of what Joan was telling us that the divine reins within us and that because of thought in the psyches and control then fantasies are morally justified and brings us psychological health. That brings us the completion of ourselves and indeed hopefully the health of the planet.

All this is intertwined in this vision you see in other words, broken Humpty Dumpty of contemporary Western humanity, broken by the demise of secular humanism deconstructed by postmodernism needs a new organizing call in all in the Western universities today philosophy is in ruins because postmodernism says secular humanism doesn't work. So what you do.

What's the new call. It's found actually not in the rational, but in the irrational. See that flip you don't find it in Lagos but in my thoughts with us not in word but in myth that's how we will put the world back together again save these folks, but not just in terms of personal healing. This is a massive moment.

And that's why I'm taking my time to open it up to you because it's not simply for personal healing.

This vision of the world. The pagan vision is being applied to all of existence to science, law, education, politics, sexuality, ecology, and ethics.

All must be filtered through the subjective paranormal grill of a sort of cultic vision of human beings. That's the future. I believe that's on the way you talk about you know spiritual combat. This is where were going and I do feel that we need to be for a long in order to be able to stand against the whole reinterpretation of existence is now being done obviously for the sake of the planet where reinventing the human says so. Thomas Berry Fay Martin Young June philosophy from Australia explains this organizing call principal quote ages destined to discover the divine as a dimension of the human you see that and explicitly characterizes his thorough oneness notion that the essential project of Young's new humanism. So this redefinition of the human you see is really the fulfillment of what Joan was looking for a new humanity, who on earth ever thought that this would be what we would see the beginning of the 21st century in Christian America. Based upon this notion of God. You see that I described to you which was Young's notion of Abril access half man, half beast God higher than both the Christian God and the devil combining all the opposites of the low fashion but for some union. Australian scholar David TC actually gives a little modern twist letters agree that the old image of God is dead and buried. The image of a supernatural deity who has objective existence without believing that the more right if you're normal human being. These days, that is a human invention that education and science can no longer sustain today only sentimentalists, fundamentalists and unthinking people like you want to return to that antiquated image we need to discover God and knew here's the radical character of this new spirituality.

You see, it's not content to let people go off in the corner and meditate on themselves. Now we must impose this new vision of existence upon everybody. This will be the dominant worldview. The process is good news for unrepentant sinners. Billy Graham used to say this is good news. God loves the sinner and I love to send that was Billy Graham's funny line and you can be taken further. Now you see because the good news is even more encouraging sinners, God and Watson anyway. Last week, the presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The client that sin is no longer an operative notion in the modern world. This is the presiding of the Episcopal Church. We are in detention folks when we get to that stage that we can just dismiss out of hand on the fundamental notions of biblical truth, but that's where we are.

The British sociologist Christopher Partridge is a wonderful love sociologist I think is a Christian's book is entitled re-enchantment of the West.

The re-enchantment of the West Christopher Partridge in 2004 made a timely observation about this phenomenon. Many are now convinced that the contemporary world has much to learn from pre-marking and primal cultures. That's a fancy way of saying paganism.

This is of course what he saw talking about which I described to you as the new humanism while when I stood in Boston in 1964 and began to breathe in this amazing reality of our Christian America. I never dreamt that in 2014 that I would look out and see and read what I'm reading today. I've already mentioned that this certain Jewish sociologist Philip Goldberg in his book the American Veda from Emerson and the Beatles to yoga and meditation how Indian spirituality, change the West is now telling us that Americans become Hindu were all Hindus. Nelson Newsweek in 2009 large numbers of Americans are espousing this worldview of Hinduism talking about mentors and one dollars in avatars and, and all these terms and practicing yoga in the schools and mindfulness, which is a Buddhist form of meditation in the schools out in California just fought a court battle and lost.

By the way against yoga being taught in schools so you can say that this vision of paganism is winning and being applied even in the schools these days, and that Sam advised the says Goldberg is the fundamental notion which means not to. And so we are slowing down. You see, this one is ideology that everything is one which successfully eliminates God, it was separate right you want to go to separate well he doesn't exist anymore. Everything is one and this is the way we will build the world from now on, and so we get plenty of time to the Dalai Lama to teachers about peace, and other things the teachers how we can discover Eastern spiritual pacifism.

As I mentioned we have yoga in the schools in Canada. It's the Buddhist mind the program and we practice sugar, the White House, as does the power couple Bill and Hillary Clinton for what produce this so massive turn to the east. Honestly, I believe that young is powerfully involved, but at the same time something took place in 1893 at the palm of the world's religions.

I attended the Palmer world's religions. 100 years later.

By the way, I just missed the which is an amazing experience. I might have time to tell you about that. But in 1893.

The original one. There was the meeting of 4000 basically liberal Christians and they wanted to look out on the world, but they invited a Hindu girl by the name of Vivekananda who thought about the God within and yoga and blew away many of these people in attendance and a number of Americans were deeply influenced by this man, including by the way, you call Young himself was fascinated by Eastern mysticism he declared in 1932 we have conquered the East politically but now the spirit of the East is really and to spark us Latin for at the door. So, our present culture is following Young's fascination with. Guess what yoga with Hindu spirituality and actually Young predicted that the West would produce a yoga based on Christianity and all these predictions are coming true.

How odd number of people doing yoga now is phenomenal.

15,000 sites advertise yoga programs in New York alone, 15,000 if this was Bible studies. We say this is a Christian revival right. Rather, it's a new form of spirituality young in the 50s predicted, we are only at the threshold of a new spiritual e-book believe that the theories about the unconscious for ushering in the new age of the Paraclete, the end of the Christian era, the coming of the age of Aquarius, Young's protection of the new Pentecost has caught on brother Wayne Teasdale, ole monk and teacher of interest, spirituality combines the traditions of Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism and calls this time in which we now living in into spiritual age, but Barbara Marx Hubbard, who was a progressive list. A leader of this movement talks about a new Pentecost way back in the middle of the 20th century. Young's dismantling of the tourist worldview and think about God and the world produced a spiritual one is him and this is had massive repercussions in today's world again. I like the sites Partridge there is some evidence to suggest the rising tide of spirituality. This was in 2004, 37, is producing a re-enchantment of the world by Gnostic Hindu spirituality. The shift in the West means that the center of spiritual gravity is moving away from Judeo-Christian theology to and eclecticism of what he calls Oracle to the nice weather talk about the occult, a Dutch historian of religions talks about the profound transformation of religion in the West away from traditional Christianity to what he calls magic and then finally a brilliant pagan philosopher by the name of Richard Thomas says we are living in one of those rare ages. The rings for through great stress and struggle a genuinely fundamental transformation in the underlying assumptions and principles of cultural worldview. He talks about the coming of the great synthesis so we have people now describing the present day is the fourth great awakening the great emergence the great shift the new Pentecost.

The whole system will have a makeover. A totalizing one is civilization is in preparation. Some Christians mesmerized by all this and believe that only good days are ahead. Failing to understand. It seems to me the influences that produce this culture and this optimism in our time. We need to seriously study the sources of this material and ring the gospel to bear upon as a serious warning today from Dr. Peter Jones and you're listening to Renewing Your Mind, Dr. Joan series only to religions is a wake-up call. As he explains that there are fundamental religious convictions driving modern culture and are antithetical to biblical Christianity.

We likely to have the series. There are 12 messages onto DVDs you learn about Carl Young's influence on modern culture West will gain new insight into articulating a biblical worldview.

In today's anti-Christian climate so request only to religions when you contact us today with a donation of any amount you can reach us by phone at 800-435-4343. You can also make a request online@renewingyourmind.org Dr. RC Sproul establish this ministry 50 years ago to clearly proclaim God's word.

We do that in several areas of study including theology, worldview and culture, church history, biblical studies and Christian living by God sustaining grace. This teaching, fellowship is work to unfold the riches of Scripture and would you give a donation of any amount today. We will say thank you by sending you Dr. Joan series only to religions again. Her phone number is 800-435-4343 and or web address Renewing Your Mind.org tomorrow, will wrap up Dr. Joan series and here's a preview the worship of creation rather than the worship of the Creator is for that reason, ultimately, that we have sexual perversion. It's the overturning receipt of the image of God and man, which is part of the apostasy of paganism in order to dethrone God from his place in the world. I hope you join us tomorrow for Renewing Your Mind