A New Age Quest 
A wide-eyed Oprah Winfrey nods in agreement with her guest, best-selling New Age author Marianne Williamson, as she describes "the divinity within" from a contemporary Western perspective. On another popular show an articulate Indian named Deepak Chopra tells his amazed host, "Our ancient Vedanta states, ‘the Divine Consciousness is in everything’ (Pantheism) and ‘all is One’ (Monism)." Chopra confidently describes how the ancient yogis and rishis of India made breakthroughs of "Self Realization" only now being discovered by New Agers in the West. Such messages appear frequently on the New York Times best-seller list, getting special reviewerconsideration with the ease that privileged members enter an elite club. Later these same ideas re-surface, powered up in prime-time TV or movie blockbusters. ("The Force" of Star Wars fame is aconcept from Eastern mysticism.) What was once a faint crackling on America’s spiritual Geiger counter is now a deafening noiseas these messages promise the transformation of the human race into an exalted, godlike state—theNew Age. But standing in the way of this total paradigm shift are "the old prejudices and beliefs"from an "outmoded" Christian era, with its dualistic view of God and man, its moral absolutes ofgood and evil, and its promise of reconciliation through a holy mediator. Today’s New Age message is pervasive. And I was among its chosen heralds for a time. My Early Plunge My quest began at age ten when we were liv-ing in London. My father, an American diplomat and a well-thought-out agnostic and hu-manist, was one day leaving for work. I asked him to bring me home a Ouija board. Our housemaid had worked for a famous London medium, and I was fascinated by her tales of the "other side." Attempting to prove that such things were mere superstition, my father brought home a Ouija board that very night, an expensive antique. Strangely, as I played with it, I soon noticed spirit "presences" in my room. A year later I had my first out-of-the-body experience. By age twelve I discovered the concept of reincarnation, then became fascinated with psychic gateways and routes to higher consciousness as I went through my teens. Like my pioneering contemporaries of the sixties, I anticipated today’s New Age wave approaching and felt that my generation would turbocharge the process of "consciousness expansion." Those of us on the mystical frontier had to boost human consciousness up the elevator shaft to its upper limits—until it reached "the ocean of being"—nirvana. It was a challenge that made the Christian church on the corner seem dead, irrelevant and boring, as "unbelieving" pastors muttered platitudes to their sleeping flocks. We saw an obsolete faith that had fallen into the trap of worshipping a God outside of itself, when we knew that "divinity was within." Now my burning purpose, to finish the process of enlightenment, meant going to India, where the mystical tradition was born. I had devoured thousands of pages of the great Indian mystics from Sri Aurobindo, Ramanah Maharshi, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Yogananda, the teachings of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, on back to the ancient Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. Once I graduated from the University of Virginia, I flew straight to India. Landing in India Getting off the plane, I soon became immersed in the vast subcontinent of India. I sought out the land’s top gurus, mystical power spots and ashrams in the hope of finding the ultimate "cosmic catalyst." After six exhausting months of wandering the subcontinent, I plunged into wilderness India. An article in Newsweek featured a modern miracle-worker, Sai Baba, who claimed to be God on earth, an avatar. Baba’s miracles purportedly mirrored those of Christ and baffled India’s top scientists. He drew vast crowds, and his following numbered over 20 million in India alone. Many of the greatest gurus and New Age teachers around the world went to Sai Baba just for his blessing. God on Earth When I met this powerful figure in his blood-red robe, he literally embraced me in a private inter-view. He revealed that he had watched over me since my childhood and had drawn me from halfway around the world—confirming an earlier mystical experience of mine as a "foretaste" from him (a "prasad," a gift). As I moved into Baba’s enchanted realm, I began to see and experience things that seemed to obliterate all Western conceptions of reality. I believed I had finally found the ultimate truth to existence and was under one who was in full "God Consciousness." In less than a year I was helping oversee the Western contingent under Sai Baba, as I quickly entered his inner-circle of disciples. I even joined Baba onstage at his massive ashram, Prasanthi Nilayam, to speak before crowds of thousands. I was a close disciple of great promise, envied by many, but it meant an unwavering walk and passing every "test." I seemed to have an unstoppable faith. Then two elderly Christian missionaries crossed my path. At first I was off-handedly blunt with their "narrow" vision of reality, their "meager" intellectual grasp of the big picture. But Ivan and Winnona Carroll had a depth of character, an invisible source of love that I had never seen before.They were humble, pure and reverent souls. The light within them was very different from the light that was in us And I knew it. The Carrolls had a deep burden for me. Occasionally I went over to their house for a meal or to stay the night. Unknown to me, they had prayer groups all over South India praying for me—not for my enlightenment—but for my salvation. Vectoring Downward After two years in the fast-track under India’s greatest god-man, I descended into unexpected dark-ness. I had out-of-the-body encounters with ancient evil forces and then some very strange and disturbing episodes with Baba himself. All this happened while I was trying to transcend the "false dichotomy" of good and evil to become one with the godhead. I was not just a part of the divine. I had to fully acknowledge that I was God. But a still, quiet voice kept telling me this was the ultimate blasphemy. I was a captive soul in an ancient process of transformation. I began to see that Baba’s outward divinity concealed a demonic presence. The powers of evil in this "higher, more spiritual system" were eating away at my soul—and the only authority on earth that fully explained it—was the Bible. I had fallen into a timeless trap, indeed, the oldest lie in creation: "You shall be like God." Satan’s historic ploy was right there in Genesis chapter 3, where it caused the whole human race to fall. Sin and evil have reigned supreme ever since. Suddenly the reality of Christ that powered those two missionaries came back to hit me with the force of a freight train. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Hope on the Horizon In a hotel room in South India I knelt down in tears. After two years of bondage to a being who claimed to be God on earth, I realized he was no god at all, but one of the false Christs predicted in Matthew 24:24, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles...." Nor was I God, any god, or any part of the divine. I was but a mortal creature, lost in the spiritual night and trapped by sin. I stood in the shadows of eternal banishment from the true God of all creation. And rather than finding the ocean of bliss, I was blindly heading for unthinkable damnation. I acknowledged Christ as the only true God-man ever to walk the earth. I then asked Him to forgive my sins and become my Lord and Savior. Literally in seconds I emerged changed on the most fundamental level of my being. A weight left me that I cannot describe. When my eyes met those of the Carrolls a few days later, we were "one in Christ," and I knew the greatest miracle of all—salvation—had taken place in my life. I have not been the same since. I also realized that I had fallen for the oldest deception in existence—"you shall be as God"—attired as the New Age promise. For more information on the New Age Movement from a Christian perspective, contact the author. About the Author |