Last week I presented some statements from other experts on the dangers of the New Age Movement to give people the sense that I am not the only one who sees it as a major threat to Christians and Jews. The threat that the movement poses to Christians (and Jews) is not just limited to the End Times. Several New Age practices have infiltrated into the Church, and today I share with you to a link to a research website that appears to cover some of this infiltration.
A couple of nights ago I discovered Lighthouse Trails Research (LTR), a website and organization whose operators say is devoted to exposing unbiblical spiritual practices that are becoming increasingly common in the Church. A significant number of these unbiblical spiritual practices can be characterized as New Age spiritual practices.
- One such spiritual practice LTR focuses on is contemplative prayer (or centering prayer), which involves a person positioning their body into a certain stance, emptying their mind, and engaging in repetitive prayer. LTR contends that contemplative prayer is a dangerous and unbiblical spiritual practice that is used by New Agers, followers of eastern religions, and occult practitioners.[1] It seems to be a dangerous practice because it supposedly can bring a person to an altered-state of consciousness (it’s my understanding from reading other people that demon-possession can occur when an individual enters an altered-state of consciousness). LTR accuses several top evangelical leaders and authors promote this seemingly unbiblical and dangerous spiritual practice (for this the website seems to have a lot of prominent enemies).
One of the most recent blog posts supplied by LTR is an article entitled “The ‘Creeping Effect’-The New Age and Evangelical Christianity”. It’s an interesting read about a New Age healing technique called Reiki. Reiki is popular healing technique in the U.S. and has an increasing number of Christian practitioners who are unaware that this technique involves the use of spiritual beings in the healing process.
LTR’s website has a lot of content so I’m still in the process of discovering what else it has to offer. Based on what I’ve seen so far I think it might be worth taking a look at if you have some spare time and want to devote that spare time to attempting to learn more about how New Age spiritual practices have infiltrated the Church. This is not an endorsement of LTR nor can I say I agree with everything on the website since I have not yet seen everything. If someone finds something unbiblical promoted by the website or something troubling about the website let me know. Remember to use discernment when evaluating a new website...
- Again, you can access the website at this: link
Reference
[1] Yungen Ray. “Contemplative Prayer and the Evangelical Church”. 27 Oct. 2009. Last Accessed Dec. 8 2010. http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/contemplativeprayerarticlebyray.pdf
