Apostolic Faith Youth - The Study - World Religions: New Age

Key Person or Founder, Date, Location

Jesus Christ.
Founded about A.D. 30-33, in the Judean Province of Palestine (Israel today), under the Roman Empire.

Based on Eastern Mystics, Hinduism, and paganism. Popularized in part by actress Shirley Maclaine, 1980's-90's. Beliefs vary.

Key Writings

The Bible, written originally in Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament), and Greek (New Testament)

No holy book. Use selected Bible passages; I Ching; Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist writings; and Native American beliefs. Writing on astrology, mysticism, and magic.

Who is God?

The one God is Triune (one God in three Persons, not three gods): Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Often the title "God" designates the first Person, God the Father. He created the universe out of nothing. He is eternal, changeless, holy, loving, and perfect.

Everything and everyone is God. God is an impersonal force or principle, not a person. People have unlimited inner power and need to discover it.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is God, the second Person of the Trinity. As God the Son, He has always existed and was never created. He is fully God and fully man (the two natures joined, not mixed). As the second Person of the Trinity, He is coequal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. In becoming man, He was begotten through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus is the only way to the Father, salvation, and eternal life. He died on a cross according to God's plan, as full sacrifice and payment for our sins. He rose from the dead on the third day, spiritually and physically immortal. For the next 40 days, He was seen by more than 500 eyewitnesses. His wounds were touched and He ate meals. He physically ascended to Heaven. Jesus will come again visibly and physically at the end of the world to establish God's kingdom and judge the world.

Jesus is not the one true God. He is not a savior, but a spiritual model, and guru, and is now an "ascended master." He was a New Ager who tapped into divine power in the same way that anyone can. Many believe he went east to India or Tibet and learned mystical truths. He did not rise physically, but "rose" into a higher spiritual realm.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force or energy field. He comforts, grieves, reproves, convicts, guides, teaches, and fills Christians. He is not the Father, not the Son, Jesus Christ.

Sometimes a psychic force. Man is divine and can experience psychic phenomena such as contacting unearthly beings.

How to Be Saved

Salvation is by God's grace, not by an individual's good works. Salvation must be received by faith. People must believe in their heart that Jesus died for their sins and physically rose again, which is the assurance of forgiveness and resurrection of the body. This is God's loving plan to forgive sinful people.

Need to offset bad karma with good karma. Can tap into supernatural power through meditation, self-awareness, TM, and "spirit guides." Use terms such as "reborn" for this new self-awareness.

What Happens After Death

Believers go to be with Jesus. After death, all people await the final judgment. Both saved and lost people will be resurrected. Those who are saved live with Jesus in Heaven. Those who are lost suffer the torment of eternal separation from God (Hell). Jesus' bodily resurrection guarantees believers that they, too, will be resurrected and receive new immortal bodies.

Human reincarnations occur until person reaches oneness with God. No eternal life as a resurrected person. No literal heaven or hell.

Other Beliefs or Practices

Group worship, usually in churches. No secret rites. Baptism and Lord's Supper (Communion). Active voluntary missionary efforts. Aid to those in need: the poor, widows, orphans, and downtrodden. Christians believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah promised to Israel in the Old Testament (Tanakh). Jesus said His followers would be known by their love for one another.

Can include yoga, meditation, visualization, astrology, channeling, hypnosis, trances, tarot card readings, and contact with spirits. Use of crystals to get in harmony with God (Energy), for psychic healing, for contact with spirits, and for developing higher consciousness, or other psychic powers. Strive for world unity and peace, and holistic health.