About a year ago someone asked me: "What exactly is this New Age that we keep hearing about?" I suggested that they go into the nearest Walden bookstore and look over what is smorgasbord of New Age beliefs. If you have ever looked over such a selection, you would quickly realize the incredible diversity of opinion gathered together under the New Age umbrella. Recently I was able to find a brief survey book of the subject and now I can outline a little more carefully six general principles which have some common ground amongst humanistic and occultic New Agers.

First of all is a concept taken from Eastern religions. According to this first principle: "God is impersonal and not separate or distinct from creation." This principle of paganism sees God as merely an impersonal "it". The God of heaven an earth is thus reduced to nothing more than an energy, a force or "the aggregate consciousness of all living things."

The second precept of the New Agers is that "humanity, like all creation, shares the essential being of God and is therefore divine." Those people who buy into this concept are sympathetic to the views of the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull which was popular about fifteen years ago. His school of perfection teaches that like Jesus, every human can learn to be divine.

The third profound principle suggests that "all of humanity's crises rise from ignorance of divinity and oneness with all things." Believers in this credo would borrow a page from the Army's recruitment posters: "Be all you can be!" At one meeting at school we were advised to develop a more positive mental attitude about education. If only we would believe that our students could be neurosurgeons, then they could be. If only we could be awakened and transformed why humanity could be perfected and immortalized.

A fourth precept builds on the third to inform us that "humanity's only need is the awareness of divinity". We are told that we may and must choose the direction of our future evolution. Let us hope that these people do not gain control of the government funded exploration of the human genome. By the end of this century biomedical scientists hope to have all of our chromosomes mapped so that we know hope to prevent disease and even plan the next generation.

The fifth transformation is committed to "any of a myriad of techniques that can be applied to the body, mind, and/or spirit." This concept is loose enough that the Nazi doctors could have applied for funding their prison camp experiments. Some of our current crop of doctors believe that the Nazi records of "experiments" should at least should be studied for any profitable uses. One author suggests that like the German psychologists of the twenties and Russian psychologists of the eighties we ought to be prepared to use a wide array of "psychotechnologies".

The last of these principles of travesty involves "a global transformation that is realized by personal transformation. This transformation is based on a tale called 'The Hundredth Monkey'". According to this theory once a hundred monkeys learned to wash their food, then all of the monkeys would do likewise! This lesson is applied to the global transformation of humankind!

New Age promoters are using the media to make all of humanity one. Once their critical mass in ignorance is achieved they believe that a unified world peace will be achieved once for all. Pity anyone, especially Christians who might get in their way! One New Age feminist who was even considered for Walter Mondale's vice-presidential running mate publicly stated that Christians who got in the way of progress should be locked up.

Now, this is probably the longest sermon introduction I have used in a long time. It is only too brief, please be advised that we haven't even touched on such modern pagan concepts as crystals, extraterrestrials, karma, reincarnation or spirit guides. As Christians our main concern should be what the real God of heaven has to say about people who consider themselves divine. For that word from the Lord we turn to our text today in Ezekiel.

One of the interesting things about Ezekiel's prophecies is the careful dating. This chapter was written in the sixth century before Christ. The destruction of Tyre followed before too many years had passed. The King and city of Tyre have much in common with the New Agers in our midst today. The key verse is the second two-thirds of verse two: "In the pride of your heart you say, 'I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.' But you are a man and not a god though you think you are wise as a god."

Therefore God would move foreigners to wreck judgment and vengeance in His divine Name. The doom of Tyre and Tyre's genius was to be twofold. Nebuchadnezzar was allowed to besiege and destroy the coastal suburbs of Tyre. About two-hundred and fifty years later, Alexander the Great finished the job. Neither Nebuchadnezzar nor Alexander's navies could make headway against the Naval pride of the Tyre. So in fulfillment of Ezekiel 26: 13-14 Alexander's army cast every piece of rock, stone and rubble from the coastal ruins into the sea. In the process they built a mile long causeway out to the island redoubt of Tyre, broke in and utterly destroyed the proud trade town.

This we know from history, we also know that these Phoenicians kings had developed a world wide trade and at one time had befriended David and Solomon. The ships of Tyre sailed to Carthage, Spain, the coasts of Africa and even the New World two and a half millennia before Columbus. In the last five years we have found a ruined city at the head waters of the Amazon. On the wall of the city was found the coat of Arms of the Tyrean kings. In Nebraska we have found the ruins of a Carthaginian fort and trading post. English mines are known to have sent tin south in Phonecian ships.

The prosperity of this monopoly in trade enriched Tyre, the king and his citizens. This prosperity in time corrupted and depraved the rulers and people. Like many of our modern economic managers, the people of Tyre actually believed their prosperity came from their own genius. Several commentators agree in their analysis of the essential problem in Tyre. You see, these Tyreans worshiped not the old pagan gods, but the commercial genius and success gained under the rule of her commerce kings. This is the very same commercial emphasis of the New Agers today. My commentator on the New Age suggests that "Entrepreneurs appear to have the most to gain from the New Age Movement."

Like the frantic Amway conventions, many New Age mavins and gurus become downright giddy when they contemplate their ill gotten profits. Even as the New Agers imitate the commercial success of Tyre and by their un"godly" wisdom create means of profit they begin to believe more firmly in the self-righteousness of their mythical cause. Tyre only preceded Rome in its self-conceit. Just like modern New York, Tyre and Rome were self proclaimed "Caput mundi". Translated from the Latin, that means "Big Apple".

As we can see from these chapters twenty-six to twenty-eight, the God of heaven will not forever tolerate such claptrap and nonsense! In verses six to nine of our text we read: "Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god, I am going to bring foreigners against you ... They will bring you down to the pit ...You will be but a man, not a god."

The poet Ruskin tells us that "the true religion of a community does not live in the venerable institutions to which it yields a formal and conventional deference, but in the objects which inspire its most eager ambitions, the ideals which govern its standard of worth, in those things wherein it finds the ultimate ground of its confidence and the reward of its work."

Where is the confidence of modern man? Is it not in prosperity and profit? And will not most people vote for leaders who promise to restore that portion of the American Dream. Well may we appreciate that the Tyrean tentacles of their "old" New Age reach far and wide in our own time. Just knowing these smogaborgesque enemies may help us to avoid being fattened for the destruction to which they are going. May we like Ezekiel and the ancient saints turn our hearts to our God and may His Spirit teach us to trust in the eternal rewards of our Lord Jesus Christ even as we learn to put aside the false prosperity of the emerging New Age paganism. Amen.