PRAYER AND POLITICS

According a poll made in the Netherlands showed that around 25% of the people interviewed admitted to be involved with new spiritualities. The same poll showed that another 25% admitted to be Christian, whatever the denomination.

 

Islam, often seen as a big threat in Europe by Christian, was only at 6% and most of them are immigrants from Islamic countries. But if we take a look on the 25% involved in new spiritualities, we notice that most of the people are old stock European who has left the old Christian tradition. So the natural question would be: why so?

 

I then started reading a book called: “Jesus and the gods of the new age” (Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson). This book addresses on new spiritualities such as Yoga, Feng Shui, Qabalah, etc. I then noticed that people who are attracted by these new spiritualities are often compelled with questions such as:

 

• How can I be the best person I can possibly be?

• Where do I find release from my brokenness?

• Where do I find peace?

 

It is quite striking to notice that all these questions find actually their perfect answers in the word of God. So why Christians seem to struggle to answer these questions? Moreover, why are we so easily tempted to have a judgmental attitude towards these seekers of new spiritualities? Of course, I’m sure some manage to answer these questions in a way that brings hope rather than guilt. But I have to admit for myself that it has not exactly been my case. And I can also easily say that I’m not the only one.

 

We all know that the devil doesn’t create anything. He rather takes what God creates and seek to spoil it, make it appear good and real so to deceive the human nature. For example, pornography is an expression of the sexual relationship created by God but taken out of the context of marriage. The more I read the book, the more I discovered that these new spiritualities are also an expression of some good things that God created but spoiled by the enemy so that it would bring people to be worshipping what God created rather than the creator of all things.

 

These new spiritualities are often an answer to legitimate longings of supernatural manifestation. It is a sort of reaction against rationalism that has dictated our society since the French revolution.

 

The Anglican bishop Tony Palmer once said that fear means False Evidence Appearing Real. We are often unable to answer this new reality because the church has somehow accepted through the last centuries the dominance of rationalism, by letting the message being diluted by it. New spiritualities can be seen as a threat to the church but can also be seen rather as a challenge to recover the fullness of the gospel, giving space to the supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

 

Cédric Placentino

March 18, 2014