New Thought—Old Lie
Most people are familiar with or have at least heard of the New Age movement, which is a mish-mash of pseudo-spiritual, pseudo-religious ideas and beliefs that blossomed and came to the forefront in the 1960s and 1970s. Although the New Age Movement is admittedly hard to define and means different things to different people, it would be reasonable to say that it is an eclectic mix of ideas and beliefs taken from various Eastern religions and fused with ideas about a holistic form of divinity that pervades the entire universe and the "spiritual authority" of the self.
Although I came of age
during the heyday of the New Age movement, my scripturally solid Christian
upbringing—although largely ineffective in producing anything resembling
Christ-like character in one particular Midwestern teenage boy, I'm sad to
say—at the very least clued me in to the fact that all this cool New Age stuff
was one big load of malarkey that did little more than deceive innocent,
well-meaning people who were looking for something spiritually satisfying, but
just didn't know where to look.
Which I knew was the
Bible—that dust-covered book I had...somewhere.
I'm happy to report
that, for me personally, the New Age movement has been consigned to the same
trash heap that my bell-bottoms and tie-dyed T-shirts ended up in (plus I know exactly
where that dust-free Bible of mine is).
Recently, however, I
learned a bit more about the source of a few of the New Age movement's
fundamental ideas and beliefs, and that source was a movement whose name I was
not familiar with even though I had read about a few bits and pieces of it. The
source I am speaking of is known as the New Thought movement—and although I was
familiar with a few of its basic tenets, I had never heard it referred to by
that name.
But as I learned more
about the New Thought movement recently, it became clear to me that it was the
source of a number of slithering vipers that have
crawled under the door of today's Church and made a home for themselves,
unbeknownst to many sincere but unaware believers.
What I want to do in
this article is first give you a (mercifully brief) summary of the origins and
development of the New Thought movement just so you have some idea about what
we are dealing with and where it came from. Then I want to go to the Word and
shred the futile attempts to pass off what New Thought pushes as sound biblical
doctrine.
And that's because the
Word of God,
rightly divided, tells us in no
uncertain
terms that such New
Thought beliefs are
absolutely not
sound biblical doctrine.
New thought beliefs are
simply some of the relatively new arrows in Satan's quiver, and he uses them in
his tireless effort to carry out job one:
Blind men's minds to the
truth of the gospel.
The
roots
When most average people
today hear the words "New Age," they typically form mental images of
flaky individuals who believe crystals can heal them, that so-called Star People walk among us, and that they can channel
advanced species of aliens in the Pleiades. As a result, for most average
people the New Age movement is relatively easy to snicker
at and dismiss out of hand.
More importantly, they
see precious little connection between the New Age movement and biblical
Christianity.
As soon as someone
starts spouting off about things New Age, most average people are fully aware
that such "flaky" individuals have no substantive connection with
Christianity or the Bible—they are likely to just smile and think to themselves
that the person they are speaking with is "one of those."
But the New Thought
movement is a horse of a different color. New Thought may have been the source
of a few of the fundamental ideas of New Age—a movement that starkly contrasts
with Christianity, but New Thought is so deeply entrenched within the bowels of
Christianity that it feeds a number of modern
denominations and Church movements. The tentacles of New Thought lie so deeply
buried within parts of today's Church that many believers are unaware of them.
Not only that, but in
many cases it takes a healthy amount of scriptural
discernment to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were, because as we
will see, New Thought beliefs are invariably passed off as more
"enlightened" interpretations of certain passages of Scripture. In
other words:
Unlike the New Age
movement, the New Thought movement is routinely gussied up in the finest
Christian apparel.
And that's a problem,
because as we shall see, I can categorically state the following simple truth
based on the authority of God's Word:
The New Thought movement
is based
on lies—some of which are the same lies
that Satan fed Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Nothing has changed.
Satan doesn't need new lies—he just dresses up his old lies in more modern
apparel to make them more palatable to different generations of people.
But they are just as
deceptive and damning as they ever were.
But where do the root
beliefs and ideas of New Thought come from? This is a complex question that
covers roughly three centuries, but I'm going to do my best to breeze through
this quickly and just hit the main ideas.
First, several of the
key people:
Emanuel
Swedenborg
Many would agree that
the original progenitor of the ideas that culminated in the New Thought
movement would be Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772).
Swedenborg was a Swedish
polymath who experienced a "spiritual awakening" in 1744, after which
he believed the Lord had given him freedom to visit heaven and hell anytime he
pleased and speak with angels and demons.
Not sure about you, but
that right there is a flashing warning light for me.
Swedenborg was convinced
that the spiritual world was more real than the visible world we live in, and
that everything in the visible world had a
correspondence in the spiritual world—although the physical world was a cruder
version of the spiritual domain. He saw the Bible as an esoteric work in which
words were symbols of higher truths that only the most enlightened minds (such
as his) could understand. He also believed that heaven and hell were simply
states of mind, not literal places. (Oh, but he still had permission to
"visit" them anytime he wanted. Oooh-kay.)
The key point is that it
was Swedenborg's work that stimulated a number of
others to mine similar veins of thought concerning the supposed relationships
between the mind, the physical world, and the spiritual world.
Anton Mesmer
Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) was greatly
influenced by Swedenborg's work, and he believed there existed a natural process
of energy transference between animate and inanimate objects that he called
"animal magnetism." Mesmer believed that manipulation of this natural
energy transference could bring about healing of the body, and such techniques
eventually became known as hypnosis or mesmerism (hence the word
"mesmerize").
The point is that Mesmer did much to advance
the theoretical relationships between the mind, the physical or visible world,
and the spiritual or invisible world that Swedenborg had developed.
Phineas Quimby
Phineas Quimby (1802–1866) was a follower of
Mesmer who further developed these ideas about the relationship between the
mind, the physical world, and the spiritual world into the form that people
today most closely associate with the New Thought movement.
Quimby was a self-proclaimed healer who
believed that illness originated in the mind, and as a result physical
illnesses could be overcome by right thinking (aka the "Truth").
According to Quimby, if wrong thinking in the mind can be corrected, then one
can be can be cured of illnesses and other problems.
Quimby continued to be influenced by others
who had been influenced by Swedenborg and Mesmer, and
ultimately came to believe that healing is a product of inner belief, that God
is in fact man's "true nature," and that the source of all healing is
a science known as "Christ."
In the late the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these early notions of New Thought began to take on deeper spiritual overtones, and they inevitably began to slither into Christianity. Here are a few of those snakes:
Arguably the most fundamental tenet of New Thought is that man is God, or at least part of God or the "Divine Nature," and that man can reach a state of "divine consciousness" or "Christ consciousness" when he finally becomes fully aware of this. (Note that the New Age movement shares a similar belief in this regard.)
Jesus is the "Son of God" only in the sense that we are all God's children. In reality, He was a man who realized his divine nature (as should we).
The fundamental biblical teaching that salvation from sin comes through faith in Christ's work of atonement on the cross is rejected, and replaced with the concept that union with the Divine Mind is what will bring health, wealth, and happiness. That's "salvation."
Rather than sin, man's problem is wrong thinking—that's "sin," and it's what causes illness. The Bible should be interpreted in an allegorical manner, as well as through the lens of New Thought beliefs. The idea of "salvation" is in reality a process of birthing a new consciousness that will lead to an awareness of the divine nature that we all possess naturally.
Note that New Thought doesn't deny God or Jesus—it simply redefines them, and this is seen in three major New Thought churches that exist today: the Church of Christ, Scientist (or Christian Science Church), the Unity School of Christianity (or the Unity Church), and the Church of Religious Science.
As some of these vipers began to slither under the door of the Church, they began to appeal to many people who perhaps had been turned off by the old-fashioned, comparatively quaint "Come to Jesus" message the Church had been preaching for two thousand years.
This was something better and deeper. This was hip and cool. This wasn't about being a sinner—it was about being a winner.
As opposed to some pathetic loser sobbing at an altar, that is. And the result? No prizes for zeroing in on this one:
The result was a quasi-Christian belief system that, while passing itself off as being "Christian," in many ways took the focus off a holy God's grace and mercy expressed to sinful man and placed that focus on "divine" man and the power of his mind to achieve health, wealth, happiness, and success as a result of his own "right thinking."
This encroachment of the New Thought movement into Christianity is an example of a process called syncretism, or the merging of two belief systems in a manner that asserts an underlying unity between them and allows for the development of a different, more inclusive set of beliefs.
And as we will see, in this particular case, that resulting set of beliefs is a lie from the father of lies that has and will continue to damn countless legions of sincere, well-meaning people to an eternity of separation from the holy God they fancy they are part of by nature.
And no amount of "right thinking"
will ever save them from that fate.
Unless, of course, you define "right
thinking" as turning from your "wrong thinking" and realizing
that instead of being a part of God, you are a sinner separated
from God and trusting in His Son's work of atonement to be forgiven of sin and
reconciled to Him for eternity.
New Thought fallacies
As always, we need to go the Word. We need to
examine some of the principles of this quasi-Christian belief system that
masquerades as Christianity under the spotlight of God's Word, which was meant
to be read, studied, and understood as literally as common sense and context
allow by all believers, rather than being regarded as an esoteric
book of mysteries that must be interpreted allegorically and that can only be
understood by an enlightened few.
So, what I'm going to do here is look at a
few of the basic principles of the New Thought version (or perversion)
of Christianity and hold them up next to Scripture to show you clearly how and
why they simply don't line up with the Bible (you know, that esoteric book of
mysteries that must be interpreted allegorically and that can only be
understood by an enlightened few—a requirement that I guarantee would exclude
yours truly).
1. Believe and receive.
One fundamental principle of New Thought teaches that right thinking is the key to everything good and positive. If our thinking is right, it will enable health, wealth, and success to materialize in our lives. In other words, our minds have power over our physical circumstances.
One way to frame this is by saying that if we want something (and we ask with the right thinking), we will certainly receive it. Those who preach the New Thought gospel will frequently go to the following passage to back this up:
20As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. 21Peter, remembering, said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away." [This is a picture of Israel's lack of faith.] 22Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. [That is, don't follow Israel's example.] 23For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and doesn't doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening, he shall have whatever he says. 24Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them." [This is the verse they focus on.]
(Mark 11:20–24 / emphasis & [comments] added)
"Yeah...whatever you want, just 'believe and receive.' That's the ticket!"
The problem is that New Thought proponents, just as many others who teach some aberration of biblical doctrine, take individual verses out of their scriptural context and wave them around with a morphed meaning, as if the Bible were a book of sayings that could be yanked out of context and given meanings that contradict not only the context of the given passage, but other clear passages of Scripture that reveal their error to anyone with enough sense to study them in a clear-headed, unbiased manner.
Notice that in verse 22 Jesus tells them to "have faith in God." That's the entire point. Put your complete faith and trust in your omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Heavenly Father. New Thought proponents use such verses to teach people to have faith in themselves and their own ability to muster the appropriate "right thinking." As a result of this divine downsizing, they essentially treat God as a cosmic vending machine for whatever their right-thinking hearts desire.
After all, their reasoning goes, everything depends on our right thinking, not a personal, loving Heavenly Father who has promised to provide for our needs and seeks our ultimate best...and whose written Word urges us to have complete, consummate faith in Him.
Notice also something important about the word "ask" used in verse 2:
It is being used in the context of prayer.
And what,
pray tell, is prayer, exactly? Here's a hint: It's not rattling
off your latest wish list and expecting God to deliver the goods.
Prayer
isn't a process of
bending His will to ours.
Prayer
is a process of
bending our will to His.
The
very essence of prayer is submission to God's will—just as Jesus models
for His disciples in the Lord's Prayer:
10Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven.
(Matthew
6:10 / emphasis added)
As we submit to God's
will, His desires increasingly become our desires, and as this
happens what we pray for increasingly aligns with His will for our lives. This
is key, because it rips New Thought teaching inside out.
Notice also that the
word "believe" in Mark 11:24 above
emphasizes the idea of believing and trusting in God, not just
believing that you're gonna receive all the good
stuff you want.
Big difference.
The bottom line is that
the New Thought Jesus, rather than being God's only begotten Son who came to
earth as God in the flesh to carry out the plan of redemption, is an
enlightened man who understands the secret spiritual laws behind formulas that
enable people to get the health, wealth, and success they desire. New Thought
effectively renders God inferior to the things you want—He's essentially just a
vehicle through which you can obtain them.
The
end result is that the things you
desire effectively become your god.
(Don't look now, but
this is idolatry.)
2. As
you think in your heart, so are you.
Another verse that the
New Thought folks enjoy tearing from its context and using to teach the same
fundamental concept as in no. 1 (in other words, that whatever we think and
affirm will manifest itself in our lives or be drawn to us) is found in the
book of Psalms:
7For as he thinks in his
heart, so is he:
(Proverb 23:7a AKJV)
So if we think and affirm
ourselves as the proud owner of a new camper van, someone with a clean bill of
health prior to next week's checkup, or someone who has received a promotion in
their department at work, our thinking and affirmation has the power to draw
those things to our lives and make them become reality.
Same old tune and
two-step: believe and receive.
It's just that this time
a different passage of Scripture is twisted out of context in
order to support it:
6Eat you not the bread of
him that has an evil eye, neither desire you his
dainty meats:
7For as he thinks in his
heart, so is he: [Takes on a noticeably different meaning in
context, doesn't it? In other words, if a man thinks in a hypocritical manner
in his heart, then he is indeed a hypocrite.] Eat and drink, said
he to you; but his heart is not with you. [The
psalmist isn't telling us how to think what we want into reality—he's
denouncing hypocritical behavior in people!]
8The morsel which you
have eaten shall you vomit up, and lose your sweet
words.
(Proverbs 23:6–8 AKJV / emphasis
& [comments] added)
Any believer who has a
clear understanding of this passage should run—not walk—from the New
Thought movement! This psalm doesn't do what New Thought wants people to
believe it does: Rather than giving us a formula to get the things we desire,
it openly and strongly condemns selfish, hypocritical behavior and warns us to
steer clear of such people.
3.
The kingdom is within you.
Another common New
Thought abuse of Scripture comes in the way they treat something Jesus said to
the Pharisees in the Gospel of Luke:
21...for behold, God's
Kingdom is within you. [So look within
yourself and get in touch with your "inner divinity," and the sky's
the limit!]
(Luke 17:21b / emphasis
& [comments] added)
"Well, that's
great! The kingdom of God is inside me, so all I have
to do is get into some right thinking and find God's divinity that's
already in me!"
First of all, be aware that this
verse is also translated along the lines of "the kingdom of God is in your
midst / among you / here with you," which would seem to lean in a
different direction—and that "different direction" better reflects
Christ's actual meaning here.
Once again, it's vital
to consider the context, so let's step back and see if we can get a feel for
what that context is:
20Being asked by the Pharisees when God's Kingdom would come, he answered them, "God’s Kingdom doesn't come with observation; 21neither will they say, 'Look, here!' or, 'Look, there!' for behold, God's Kingdom is within you [in your midst / among you / here with you]."
22He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23They will tell you, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Don't go away or follow after them, 24for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky, so will the Son of Man be in his day. [Jesus is clearly speaking of the Second Coming here, when He will return to finally establish His kingdom on earth.] 25But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation." [Even though Christ legitimately offered the Jews their kingdom, He knew they would reject it and that it would be another two millennia before He would return to establish that kingdom.]
(Luke 21:20–25 / emphasis
& [comments] added)
As you read this whole
passage, it should be patently obvious that Jesus is not telling
the Pharisees that everyone has God's kingdom dwelling deep inside them and
thus has an "inner divinity," and so we can find God or His kingdom
within ourselves in some mystical way.
The Pharisees had asked
Jesus in verse 20 when the anticipated kingdom would arrive, and Jesus is
referring to the fact that it is He, the Messiah, who would bring the
kingdom—and when He did, that kingdom would not come with observable signs.
Jesus alluded to the
kingdom numerous times, and made no secret of the fact
that it was He who had come to offer it. For example, earlier in Luke's Gospel
the Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan, and
Jesus puts it to them about as directly as it can be put:
19But if I cast out demons
by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore
they will be your judges. 20But if I by God's finger cast out
demons, then God's Kingdom has come to you. [Jesus' statement could
scarcely be any clearer: He, as the Messiah, had come to offer them the
promised kingdom.]
(Luke 11:19–20 / emphasis
& [comments] added)
Jesus not only made it
100 percent clear that He had come to offer Israel the kingdom God had promised
His people, but also that the kingdom was present in His ministry that was
fully empowered by the Holy Spirit, a fact that was made evident in the miracles
He performed.
Just like the prophet
said: Be aware of the fact that Jesus didn't
just perform any old miracles—He repeatedly performed the exact miracles
that Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would perform: He made the blind see,
the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the mute speak (Isa. 35:5–6). And speaking of
mute, this left the Pharisees speechless—except to pathetically and inexcusably
accuse Him of doing it through the power of Satan after witnessing such
miracles with their own eyes. (By the way, that's the definition of
blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, so if you know any one
who is worried they have committed that unforgivable sin, tell 'em to relax...they couldn't have.)
And it was precisely
this Spirit-empowered ministry that Israel's religious leaders were scoffing at
and denigrating in the vilest manner possible when they attributed Christ's
miracles to Satan...which goes a long way in explaining why Jesus told them
that the tax collectors and the prostitutes would enter the kingdom before they
ever would (Matt. 21:28–32).
So when New Thought folks
say Jesus is telling us we have a divine nature within us that we can tap into
to get whatever we want, they are twisting these important points about the
kingdom and its relationship to Christ's earthly ministry, thus revealing how
blind they are to the truth of Scripture.
4.
Seek ye first...
The primary thrust of
the New Thought movement is the seeking of wealth and other forms of material
gain. But someone should remind New Thought adherents that this contradicts the
words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount when He told His listeners to seek
God's kingdom above all else, because God would provide them with the material
things they needed:
31Therefore don't be
anxious, saying, "What will we eat?,"
"What will we drink?" or, "With what
will we be clothed?" 32For the Gentiles seek after all
these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But
seek first God's Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be
given to you as well.
(Matthew 6:31–33 / emphasis
added)
Here and in numerous
other places in Scripture we are told to "seek first God's kingdom,"
rather than make material things our priority and treat God as our cosmic
vending machine.
5.
Working all things together for good.
One primary aspect of the New Thought movement has always been the idea
of tapping into our inner divine selves and using the resulting right thinking
to attain the health and material gain we desire. So, if we are experiencing
health problems or financial difficulties or any other type of trial or
tribulation in our lives, the attitude is that we're obviously not doing
something right—perhaps we need to dig a bit deeper into our inner divine
selves and straighten out our thinking, which clearly isn't as right as it
should be.
Of course, that begs the question: How does this aspect of the New
Thought belief system stack up to Scripture?
This is a question that troubles many believers, not just those
influenced by New Thought principles. One hard truth that all believers must
come face to face with is the reality that being a born-again believer in the
gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't make us immune to the trials and tribulations
that we experience in our lives here in this fallen world in which we live.
In fact, they serve a purpose.
There are a number of passages of Scripture that
speak to this, and Paul wrote his fair share of them. For example, as Paul
famously encourages the believers in Rome, he tells them...
28We know that all things [that includes the bad stuff] work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son [that's God's ultimate purpose in all this], that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
(Romans 8:28–29 / emphasis & [comments] added)
Well, let's see..."all things" means all things, and "all
things" include the trials and tribulations that we all experience in our
lives on a routine basis. That means these trials and tribulations are things
that God uses to effect His purpose for our lives and
ultimately bring about our greater good, as well as conforming us to the image of Christ (v. 29).
In other words, God uses the trials and tribulations in our lives to produce godly character in us, and that makes it possible for us to...
3...rejoice in our sufferings,
knowing that suffering produces perseverance; 4and
perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5and
hope doesn't disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. [If you ask me, this doesn't sound all that New-Thoughtish, does it?]
(Romans 5:3b–5 / emphasis & [comments] added)
Once again, New Thought beliefs and principles stand in stark contrast to
Scripture, which invariably expose them as the self-centered, shortsighted
shibboleths they are.
Blab it
and grab it
I would be remiss if I failed to touch on what
is easily the most successful (not to mention profitable) manifestation of the
New Thought movement.
As you may have already guessed, one of the most successful movements
that was spawned by the encroachment of New Thought ideas and beliefs into the
Church is the prosperity gospel, also commonly known as the Word of Faith
movement (and frequently referred to by its critics as "name it and claim
it" or "blab it and grab it").
In 2006, a poll in Time magazine reported that 17 percent of
American Christians identified with a church or movement that preached some
species of the prosperity gospel. A few of the big names in the prosperity
gospel arena that have virtually become household words in the United States
include Kenneth Hagin, Jim Bakker, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer,
Creflo Dollar, T.D. Jakes, Robert Tilton, Joel Osteen, and Paula White—whom I
might add is currently President Trump's "spiritual adviser." (And forgive
me if I left out your favorite.)
Although most of these people and others who preach some species of the
prosperity gospel have different takes on various details and aspects of what
they claim Scripture teaches, the roots of their teaching are invariably based
on New Thought beliefs and principles that have found a home in the Church
since the early twentieth century.
And please...I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here. I used to
really enjoy listening to some of these people (several decades ago), and I've actually supported a couple of these ministries in years
past. So I'm not trying to come across as the Big
Meanie or Mr. Know-It-All here. But there is one point about the prosperity
gospel that I feel compelled to mention.
One thing the vast majority of these ministries
invariably do is automatically link their financial success with God's
blessing. Opulence equals God's approval, pure and simple. They assume that if
they rake in big bucks from donations, that means God approves of them and
their teaching and as a result is busy showering them with well-deserved
blessings.
I'll just say it straight out: This is a grave error.
Not to mention a dead giveaway you are dealing with the prosperity
gospel. No? Well, why don't we ask the disciples who preached the gospel in the
streets of Jerusalem two thousand years ago:
"OK, so you guys had no big money coming in from donations, no real
financial prosperity to speak of...so your ministry must not have had God's
blessing or approval, right?"
I'll let Luke answer that one for us:
40...Summoning the apostles, they beat
them [i.e. whipped or flogged them] and commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus,
and let them go. 41They therefore departed from the
presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer
dishonor for Jesus' name.
(Acts 5:40b–41 / emphasis & [comments] added)
Not sure about you, but getting whipped isn't
exactly my idea of prosperity.
Look, all I can do is urge you to be discriminating
in the teachers you listen to, and don't hesitate to
leave off with ones you find to be suspect in some
scripturally significant way.
It's too late in the game to be misled by teaching that is attractive and
alluring, but not fully and solidly grounded in the plain text of Scripture.
MAGA and the power of positive thinking
One of the best-known
and most successful versions of New Thought came in the teaching of Normal
Vincent Peale, author of the classic and perennially popular book The Power
of Positive Thinking (1952).
Peale was convinced that
belief in a higher power was essential for success, and that such a belief
could cast out feelings of hate or fear, physical
illness, and any species of weakness or defeat. Not only that, but it would
strengthen and refresh your life with health, happiness, and success.
It should be mentioned,
however, that Peale's teaching was controversial and he had his share of
critics. A number of ministers spoke out against what
they saw as a cult that corrupted Christianity and the message of the gospel.
One thing many people
aren't aware of, however, is that Peale was the minister of Marble Collegiate College in Manhattan
from 1932 until he retired in 1984, and this was the church Donald Trump's
family attended when he was a boy. Trump speaks glowingly of Peale,
and was clearly influenced by his teaching. For Trump, faith is about
being a winner, and he tends to add an extensive degree of nationalism and
American exceptionalism to Peale's teaching.
In other words:
Trump's Christianity
blends positive thinking with patriotism.
This link between Christianity and nationalism that is characteristic of Trump's thinking was put on full display at his inauguration, where his spiritual adviser and prosperity gospel preacher Paula White said in her invocation:
"We recognize that
every good and every perfect gift comes from you and the United States of
America is your gift, for which we proclaim gratitude."
I don't know whether to get on my knees and pray and stand up and salute.
Make America Godly
Again: If you've read very many of my articles, you know I support
President Trump. But I certainly don't worship him or view him as our nation's
savior in some overblown, unscriptural manner the way I know some people do. Is
he a born-again believer? I don't know. It's not outside the realm of
possibility, but there are times when I have my doubts. But it is not mine to
say—I shouldn't have to tell you that only God looks upon the heart. I do,
however, believe God is using Trump as a tool to help bring about the scenario
that will set the stage for the attack of Gog-Magog and the ensuing
Tribulation. But my intro line above was tongue in cheek: Trump isn't going to
Make America Godly Again—only Christ can do that, and He will when He returns
to establish His kingdom.
The oldest lie of all
As I said earlier, the
New Thought movement is based on lies, and one of the foundational New Thought
principles is a dressed-up version of the same lie Satan used on Eve in the
Garden of Eden:
1Now the serpent was more
subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to
the woman, Yes, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [Step one: Make Eve question what God has said]
2And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit
of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit of the tree
which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither
shall you touch it, lest you die. [Step
two: Get us to add to what God has said.] 4And the
serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die: [Step three: Refute what God has said.]
5For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. [Step four: Lure us into disobeying what God has
said.] 6And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave
also to her husband with her; and he did eat. [...a-n-d
we take the bait.] 7And the
eyes of them both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
(Genesis
3:1–7 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)
"Then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil." In Satan's statement to Eve, we find
one of the most fundamental, overarching principles of New Thought:
True human selfhood is divine, and that means
we have the potential within us to be like
God.
But God's Word exposes Satan's lie for what it is:
The world's oldest lie from
the world's oldest liar.
Human selfhood is not divine—far from it. We have been
spiritually separated from a loving God ever since Adam and Eve sinned and Adam
began passing that fallen nature on to all his human descendants...and we
remain that way until we (a) believe in God and in His promise of a coming
Redeemer (pre-Calvary), or (b) believe in faith in that Redeemer's work of
atonement and as a result are eternally reconciled to God (post-Calvary).
Also, don't forget that the curse of sin and death that Adam brought upon
the world affected not only all of his human
descendants, but the earth as well. Death and decay were introduced into our
perfect world, and we became susceptible to all manner of sickness and disease
and physical ailments as our now very mortal bodies inevitably wear out.
There is no escaping this curse: No amount of right thinking, positive
thinking, or any kind of thinking can overcome this curse. Our hope is
not in our ability to tap into some mysterious "divine" ability to
overcome and eliminate sickness, disease, trials, and tribulations from our
lives:
Our only true hope is in God's promise
of redemption that He provided through
the atoning work of His Son Jesus Christ.
But Satan continues to sell these lies to people who don't know or refuse to accept this truth. These lies have worked ever since the Garden of Eden—Satan just keeps them polished with a fresh coat of the latest pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo to make them come across as something new and hip and so much more spiritual than all that old-fashioned "Jesus Saves" schlock.
So,
if you have ever been influenced to some degree by any of the precepts of the
New Thought movement the way I was many years ago, I pray that you will
carefully examine these ideas through the lens of Scripture and that you will
come to see the error that lies lurking behind them.
As
you do, I pray you would deposit those ideas in the
nearest trash heap where they belong.
And
while you're there, you're welcome to try on my old bell-bottoms and tie-dyed
T-shirts if you want.
From Greg Lauer @ A Little Strength—JUL '25
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