Question:

Mr. Zavala. I have noticed that on television, radio, and in the newspaper, there is a great deal of talk about healing through acupuncture, dowsing, iridology, reflexology, aromatherapy, astrology, crystal therapy, Feng shui, and many other such things.

Can you tell me whether that is true and where those ideas come from? For there are many people who, in their need, turn to them, and not always with very good results.

Answer:

Of course we can. We can share with you a few fundamental ideas about all of that, and thank you for calling us, since the answer will be useful to you and to many people who wish to learn about these subjects.

1.- The New Age: A modern religious “tutti-frutti” with a veneer of Christianity.

Everything you mentioned, together with karma, Gnosticism, esotericism, horoscopes, witchcraft, dreams, energy, chakras, Tarot reading, etc., combined with Eastern religions, forms part of a current or way of thinking called the New Age.

This is neither a sect nor a religion, but a series of jumbled doctrines in which there is a little of everything. It is like a religious, philosophical, and pseudo-scientific “tutti-frutti”: an authentic mixture of Eastern religions, spiritism, astrology, divination, reincarnation, alternative medicines, etc. All of this with a scientific appearance and varnished with Christianity.

It is this Christian veneer that confuses so many, for in the New Age it is common to hear talk of angels, of God, of the Virgin, of spirituality, and sometimes even of the saints—all of it, of course, used and manipulated to suit their beliefs. Walter Mercado even goes so far as to say in his sign-off: “May God bless you all abundantly…,” without realizing that for them all of this has a rather pagan meaning.

Unfortunately, many Catholics have fallen into their nets without realizing it. So strong and so subtle is their publicity that it has even managed to slip its ideas into some “Catholic” formation institutes.

It is not unusual to come across some Catholic leaders of scant identity in the faith who come out with some of the nonsense promoted by the New Age, which has very little to do with Christianity. That is why the Pope and various Catholic bodies have published guidelines regarding this pseudo-religious phenomenon.

2.- The New Age: A pseudo-religious salad that is fashionable today and makes for good business.

In the middle of the last century, the resurgence of esoteric sects (occultism) and their promotion through writings served as a springboard to bring onto the scene beliefs as ancient as witchcraft, spiritism, Gnosticism…

In 1870, Alice Bailey, with her Theosophical Society and her theory that we were about to enter a new Age of Aquarius—in which there would be a kind of worldwide religiosity that would bring true happiness to mankind—gave these ideas a further boost.

What they and others meant is that Pisces (Christianity—the “fish” was from the very beginning a symbol of our faith) ought now to come to an end. Then Aquarius—they, of course—would be the promoters of a new age for humanity.

Thinkers who followed these beliefs kept promoting and spreading their ideas. By the middle of the 20th century, around 1950, society was in some way already weary of the excessive rationalism that had prevailed in recent times, and this was like a “breeding ground” that favored its rapid expansion.

Soon their ideas found an echo in other groups. In this way they became interwoven with other similar ideologies, whose main characteristic is a religious relativism disguised as science and wearing the appearance of novelty.

The rest was merely a matter of the media accepting it so that it would become the fashion. Nowadays sorcerers, charlatans, and company appear daily on radio, in the press, and on television as though it were the finest thing and true spirituality.

There is no way around it: today we live in the culture of the professionals of deceit and the artists of the “swindle,” who, with a smile and a television ad, are able to turn charlatanism into an entire profession and an empire, selling false hopes. Be on your guard and do not let yourself be deceived.

3.- The New Age Compared with the Bible.

One of the books least mentioned among the followers of the New Age is the Bible. The reason they avoid it is that the Word of God demolishes and condemns most of their beliefs. Let us see:

New Age The Bible
A.- Human beings are god A.- This is the very idea that Satan spoke to Adam and Eve: “You shall be as gods” Gen 3:4-5
B.- Reincarnation is popular among those of the New Age B.- The Bible says: “Man dies but once, and after this the judgment.” Heb 9:27
C.- Spiritism is a belief very common within the New Age C.- The Bible is very clear in condemning those who practice consulting the dead (spiritism). Deut 18:9,14; Is 8:19-22
D.- New Age propaganda is full of diviners and fortune-tellers. D.- The Bible rejects all of this most forcefully—superstitions, astrology. Is 47:10-15; Lev 19:26-31

4.- The Church’s Teaching on the “New Age.”

“It is necessary to determine carefully the exact content of the Christian faith and to discover what departs from it. There is no equivalence between the New Age and being a Christian.”

Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium

“The fantasy of the New Age promising happiness will always be just that—merely a fantasy, one that has succeeded in sowing confusion in the hearts of many of the faithful.”

Norberto Rivera, Cardinal of Mexico

“New Age ideas sometimes make their way into preaching, catechesis, and retreats, and so come to influence even practicing Catholics, who are perhaps unaware of the incompatibility of those ideas with the faith of the Church.”

John Paul II, to the North American bishops

Thank you for writing to us, and do not let yourself be deceived by every wind of doctrine. Not for nothing did Jesus Christ Our Lord say:

“Be wise as serpents and simple as doves.”Mt 10:16

Author: Martín Zavala, M.P.D.

Source: Defiendetufe.org