CHAPTER 3 The Age of Aquarius? Or the Age of the Antichrist?

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.

“That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (II Thessalonians 2:2-3, KjV).

For nearly two thousand years, Christians have cherished the idea of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In each new generation, believers have nourished the hope within their hearts that perhaps they would be alive when Christ returns.

The generation of the Apostle Paul’s time was no exception. Therefore, Paul found it necessary in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians to clarify end-time events for this congregation. He did this so that they would be encouraged to continue to work diligently and wait patiently for the return of Jesus.

Nineteenth-century America was also no exception. The early Adventist movement founded by William Miller experienced the “great disappointments” of 1843 and 1844. That movement was based upon the premise that the “Great Falling Away” or apostasy of Thessalonians had already occurred between the era of Constantine and the Reformation during a 1,260-year period. This “apostasy” would reveal the “Man of Perdition,” whom they believed to be the Catholic pope. Therefore, the Millerites and similar religious movements, which have influenced the Church of God and the Seventh Day Adventist Church of today, lived in confidence that the imminent return of the Lord was near.

Many other Protestant movements similarly believed these prophecies met fulfillment in the Pope of Rome. Yet it seemed clear that the Old Testament prophecies regarding restoration of Israel to the Holy Land remained unfulfilled.

Interpreting this prophecy to mean a “spiritual Israel” rather than political Israel, the Adventists felt that all prophecies were fulfilled except for the “Great Commission” — the command to preach the gospel to all nations. They set themselves to the task of preaching this Adventist gospel of salvation to all, in hopes that this would bring about the imminent return of the Lord — a not unworthy objective!

With the physical and political restoration of Israel to the Holy Land in 1948 and her subsequent land gains in 1967 and 1973, the Adventist excitement quickly spread to other Protestant churches as well as among Roman Catholic prophecy enthusiasts.

Eschatology differences, as well as other doctrinal differences, however, continued to divide Christian denominations, resulting in name-calling on every side. Evangelical Christians of the non-dispensational persuasion fought Evangelicals who were dispensationally oriented. Mainline Protestants looked down on Evangelicals. Baptists took every opportunity to snipe at Charismatics, some of whom, in turn, questioned the salvation of all who failed to obtain the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. The Roman Catholics took nearly every available opportunity to proclaim eternal hell fire for Protestants, while those Protestants, in their turn, proclaimed there would be even greater heat for Catholics.

What nearly every “Christian” name-caller overlooked were the plain and simple biblical specifications of the spirit of antichrist and the fact that a Movement meeting these specifications was growing under their noses and even influencing their churches.

The Apostle John told us:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

“And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (I John 4:1-3, NASB).

From this we know that we may expect the actual antichrist to deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. We would expect him to say, for example, that Jesus was an ordinary man who merely had the “Christ Consciousness” come upon him. This was clarified by John in a later epistle:

‘Tor many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (II John 7, NASB).

Furthermore, the antichrist would actually deny that Jesus was the Christ:

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (I John 2:22, KJV).

Clearly, if we are to be in a position to recognize the true “spirit of antichrist” and antichrist when he actually appears, we must be careful to adhere strictly to scriptural specifications, or face the awesome penalties that the same John outlined in the book of Revelation:

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” {Revelation 22:18-19, KJV).

In this Twentieth Century evidences of this “spirit of antichrist” are everywhere, probably even more than when the Apostle John wrote his letters. Not only is that “spirit” diligently at work among us today, it is quite likely that so is the antichrist himself.

It is the contention of this writer that for the first time since John penned his words, there is a viable movement — the New Age Movement — that truly meets the scriptural requirements for the antichrist and the political movement that will bring him on the world scene.

It is further the position of the writer that this most likely is the great apostasy or “falling away” spoken of by the Apostle Paul and that the antichrist’s appearance could be a very real event in our immediate future.

It is further contended, contrary to past Christian thought, that this Movement has infiltrated all of Christianity, as well as Judaism, sneaking in the side door of our institutions. It has taken the form of Easternization of our churches, successfully permeating even Evangelical denominations. It is blatant among Roman Catholics and mainline Protestant denominations — particularly Episcopalians and United Methodists.

While Christians have been successfully diverted by the enemy into mutual accusations of each other being the “antichrist” or “satanic,” the Old Deceiver himself has moved in the guise of promoting “true ecumenism.” He encourages the fostering of Eastern religious values in first our cultural setting, then our seminaries, by subverting 2,000-year-long Judeo/ Christian doctrinal traditions taught there to an acceptance of “pluralism” and attacks on God’s Word and its translations.

40 The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow

Christian seminary students are now widely and commonly told that to truly worship God, we must “do theology” instead of “parroting old theology written for another age, another continent, and another culture.” They are told that such “doing of theology” could well include finding Christ in the Bhagavad Gita, the Koran, the Vedas, the Upanishads and a variety of other Eastern, Hindu-based scriptures. They are told they may do honor to our Lord by calling him “Buddha,” “Shiva,” “Tao,” “The Great Spirit” and by other pagan monikers.

This Movement has further infiltrated our society as well as our churches by using vehicles such as Holistic Health Centers, Montessori schools, Waldorf education, Transcendental Meditation (TM), mind-control courses, hunger projects. Whole Earth catalogs, many health food stores and vegetarian restaurants, disarmament campaigns, and nearly every other social cause, including animal liberation!

Make no mistake about it! The New Age Movement is a religion complete with its own Bibles, prayers and mantras, Vatican City/Jerusalem equivalents, priests and gurus, born-again experiences (they call it “rebirthing”), spiritual laws and commandments, psychics and “prophets” and nearly every other indicia of a religion.

Their version of the Ten Commandments is fascinating to say the least. They claim there is no such thing as murder or adultery. If one is murdered it is either happening because he wanted it to happen or because his bad “karma” was being worked out for him.

While their theology is obfuscated in deliberate gobbledy-gook, it is not complicated. A Christian may read the main tenets in the third chapter of the book of Genesis. Basically they involve (1) an attack on the authority of God’s Word; (2) a denial that one will die (reincarnation); (3) a claim that man can be as a god himself; and (4) a deification of Lucifer and other demonic entities (the Masters of Wisdom theorv).

The universal proclamation of the Movement is that man is God and “Man created God in his own image.” The Movement worships pagan deities from Pan to Buddha and Shiva. They even worship Lucifer himself.

The political goals of the Movement include a mandatory New World Religion, establishment of a “universal credit card” system, establishment of a World Food Authority, World Health Authority, World Water Authority, etc.; establishment of a universal tax and a universal draft which is truly universal — everybody is eligible, worldwide!

The Movement is not new. Neither is it a passing fad. Sadly, most of its participants are innocently involved. Many are under the influence of sophisticated forms of mind control.

The Mein Kampfs of the Movement are numerous and becoming daily less subtle about its intentions. Disciples of the Movement speak proudly of having received a “vision of light.” Many openly speak of their planned welcome for the antichrist or “New Age Christ.”

As was indicated earlier the Movement was even bold enough to run full-page newspaper ads proclaiming “THE CHRIST IS NOW HERE.” They openly deny that Jesus is the Christ and instead proclaim the deity of a “Maitreya the Christ” and that Jesus is his disciple! They openly worship a “God of Force” and “forces.” Characterized by common mystical experiences, many of their number possess a plethora of psychic powers enabling them to indeed show “great signs and wonders” ranging from astral travel to psychic predictions.

Many among their number encourage the internal undermining of nations and they proudly proclaim the “subversiveness” of their Movement as if such a designation were a badge of honor. While they call for the division of large federated nation states such as Canada and the United States, at the same time they call for institution of a Planetary Guidance System or other form of world government. While they promote simple life-styles, at the same time they call for

the interconnection of the entire world by incrediblysophisticated computers with snooping capacities that are Orwellian in scope.

It is a Movement that meets the test of prophecy as well as the tests of Hitler’s National Socialism (Nazism). It is a Movement that has seen the deception of many — including many of its own who participate for the finest of motives.

Clearly, if we have such a movement that meets the biblical specifications of the antichrist, existing simultaneously in history with the fulfillment of other end-time prophecies such as those regarding the restoration of Israel, then Christians and indeed not just Christians, but all who seek the truth and have concerns for our future, should take a very careful look at that Movement.

The succeeding chapters will give you considerable information about this Movement necessary to assist you and your friends and family from being unwittingly sucked into Satan’s master plan. Because of the limited size of this first edition, everything relevant about the Movement will not be included.

For example, I have had many requests to compile a listing of organizations. There is no need for me to do so because the New Agers have done an excellent job of this themselves. A limited bibliography is included that lists some of the recommended reference works for this purpose.

Above all, I commend to you the words of Jesus Christ in Luke 21:29-36:

“Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;

“When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.

“So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

“Verily I say unto you. This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

“For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”