Hal A Peno said in post #56:
For years I've been asking people to show me where they find this 'new age religion" . . .
The idea that the future Antichrist's one-world religion will be New Age is mistaken. For his religion will instead be Gnosticism.
Gnosticism is an ancient religious movement which says everything material is inherently evil, while only that which is pure spirit can be good. Gnosticism teaches all humans used to be pure spirit and dwelling in bliss from all eternity in a purely-spiritual heaven, called the "Pleroma", until by some mishap humanity fell into the material universe and became trapped in fleshly bodies. Gnosticism reviles YHWH, the God of Biblical Christians, and the Creator of the material universe and of all fleshly bodies, as an evil, subordinate deity, a "Demiurge", who is keeping humans imprisoned and suffering in fleshly bodies and in the material universe.
Gnosticism became one of the main enemies of the early Church, and it will become the greatest enemy of the Church during the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. For the Antichrist will be a Gnostic. He will teach the Gnostic/antichrist lie that Christ isn't in the flesh (1 John 4:3). And the Antichrist, like the Gnostics, will utterly revile YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36). The Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") will instead bring the world into the conscious and open worship of Lucifer (Satan, the dragon) and himself (Revelation 13:4,8, Revelation 12:9).
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Gnosticism has some core teachings in common with Buddhism and Hinduism:
1. The material realm is unreal and evil. (Both Buddhism and Gnosticism got this mistaken idea, originally called "Maya", from Hinduism.)
2. People must strive to escape the material realm completely, and enter a state which is wholly non-physical (Parinirvana in Buddhism, the Pleroma in Gnosticism). Buddhism and Gnosticism got this mistaken idea, originally called "Brahman", from Hinduism.
3. The way for people to get free from their imprisonment within the material realm is through their minds attaining a certain level of enlightenment (Nirvana in Buddhism, Gnosis in Gnosticism). Buddhism and Gnosticism got this mistaken idea, originally called "Moksha", from Hinduism.
4. The way for their minds to attain this certain level of enlightenment is through following the way of the Serpent (one legend of Buddhism says the Buddha was given the true Buddhism by the King of the Serpents; and in Gnosticism, Gnosis comes from the Christ/the Serpent). Both Buddhism and Gnosticism got this mistaken idea of the enlightening serpent, originally called "Kundalini", from Hinduism. (Regarding the serpent in Genesis 3, Gnostics see him as the good guy, while they see YHWH as the bad guy.)
The Bible contradicts each of the 4 points above:
1. The material realm is real, and was created by YHWH God as something very good (Genesis 1:31). God himself is in the flesh (John 1:1,14, Luke 24:39) and remains wholly without sin (Hebrews 4:15). So there's nothing evil about matter in itself.
2. People must strive to attain to a resurrection (Philippians 3:11) in an immortal human body of flesh and bones like the immortal human body of flesh and bones which Jesus Christ obtained at His resurrection on the 3rd day after His death (Luke 24:39,46; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4,21-23,51-53, Philippians 3:21, Romans 8:23-25), and in which He will remain forever as Christians' fully-human mediator/high priest (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 2:16-17, Hebrews 7:24-26). His tomb is empty (Matthew 28:6), and at His Second Coming, He will show the scars of the Crucifixion on His body (Zechariah 13:6, Zechariah 12:10-14).
3. Resurrected people who have been truly enlightened/illuminated (Ephesians 1:18, Hebrews 10:32) by Jesus Christ (John 14:6-7, John 8:32, John 3:36) will remain in the material realm (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29), ultimately living on a New Earth with God (Revelation 21:1-4).
4. The Serpent, Satan/Lucifer, is the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9).
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Gnosticism is different than New Age.
New Age is a modern spiritual movement which says everything is One and we're all God, we just need to realize it. This mistaken idea comes from "Advaita (Non-duality)" Vedanta Hinduism, by way of Theosophy (the founder of which used the term "New Age" in her book "The Secret Doctrine" in 1888). Unlike Gnostics, New Age adherents don't think the material realm is evil per se. They don't want to escape this physical life, or stop "reincarnating", but want to create their own amazing destinies within this physical universe (whether during their lives on this planet, or after being reincarnated on some other planets), or in some other, spiritual universes, by employing their own, innate powers as God. They believe all they have to do is think the right things, and because (as they say) "Thought Creates", whatever they think will materialize, eventually. They think they can override physical reality as God, create their own reality around themselves, and make it whatever they want.
Also, for New Age adherents ultimately nothing is evil: There's no such thing as sin, for everything is God. Even people who seem evil are just working through some lessons. They will eventually become tired of toying with that which is merely delaying them from manifesting themselves as the wonderful God they are. New Age adherents believe everyone and everything in the universe is working together, whether they consciously realize it or not, to move everything forward, to ultimately bring the entire universe (and even the entire universe of universes) into a wonderful, perfect destiny for everyone and everything. This sounds good, but it's a Satanic pipe dream, so people will feel no need to fear the eternal suffering of hell (Luke 12:5, Matthew 25:41,46, Revelation 20:10,15, Revelation 14:10-11, Mark 9:45-46), feel no need to repent from their sins (Luke 13:3) and believe in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the only begotten (only-born) Son of God (John 14:6, John 3:16,36, Acts 4:12), and His suffering and dying on the Cross for our sins, and His rising physically from the dead on the 3rd day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Matthew 26:28, Romans 3:25-26).