The Personal Testimony of Cathy Fowler.————-

I was a trueblue New Ager for 20 years. Over those years I
had many experiences with spiritual powers — or “forces,” as
they say. And I know they exist and are extremely powerful. If
someone had told me at that time that I was tampering with
Satan’s kingdom, I would have laughed in their face!

In fact, the reason I moved to Sedona, Arizona, was because
it is such a strong metaphysical area and community. Sedona is
advertised widely in metaphysical and occult circles as one of
the few “vortex areas” in the United States. (A “vortex area” is
an area where the veil between this world and the spiritual world
is allegedly very thin, so to speak. New Agers believe there is
a higher concentration of psychic or cosmic energy in such
areas.) I thought I could really find and experience “higher
consciousness” in Sedona. And guess what! I did. But through a
totally unexpected source — the Lord Jesus Christ!

The funny thing is that I grew up attending a Baptist church
and spent the first 18 years of my life going to church at least
three times a week. I was even baptized. But I never had a
personal relationship with Jesus. How do I know? Because I have
one now — and I know I’ve never had this before.

Many Christians ask me how I ever could have left the church
for “New Age” thinking. Didn’t I realize what I was mixed up in?
The answer to that is a big NO! I was always the curious sort and
even when I was very young, I sensed the spiritual side of life.
However, when I asked too many (or “wrong”) questions in Bible
studies or at home — or asked for genuine, credible reasons for
the Christian faith — I was always hushed with blanket answers
like, “Because the Bible says so, that’s why!”; no further
explanations were ever given. What all this really sounded like
to me was, “Shut up and don’t ask questions.”

So I started looking for answers elsewhere. And I thought I
had found answers too — in astrology, eastern religion, yoga,
reincarnation, crystals, channeled information, and meditation.
_I had arrived in the New Age._

As I look back over these years, I can say that channeling is
probably the most dangerous of the New Age practices from my
experience. New Agers take every word that comes out of the
channeler’s mouth as the “New Gospel.” I was no exception to
this.

It took me 20 years to build up a New Age belief system, with
new ideas being added all the time. Would you like to know how
long it took the Lord to knock this belief system down? Just
three months! I was led to books written by Christians about the
New Age movement, and I also had a very close Christian friend
who prayed for me on a regular basis. The books quoted Bible
verses and led me back to God’s Word which I hadn’t looked at a
single time in 20 years.

My Bible was on the bookshelf along with my more than 180 New
Age books. And guess what I found inside it when I opened it up
for the first time? A little daily devotional book opened to a
page entitled, “Test The Spirits.” All those 20 years, the
warning was there waiting for me to see it.

I could go on and on, but let me just wrap this up by saying
that I praise God every day for loving me enough to rescue me —
even though I had turned my back on Him by my involvement in the
occult. How gracious the Lord is! My life has totally changed
since a year ago last summer.

My daughter, who is now 16, was also interested in some of
the occult activities I was involved in and showed some genuine
ESP-type abilities. But now she’s deeply involved in a youth
ministry here which is an extension of the Bible church we now
attend. She has accepted Jesus Christ and can see the evil
deception going on under the guise of the New Age movement.

One last thing. Many church-going Christians either ignore or
are afraid of people involved in the New Age movement. Many
Christians are so wrapped up doing their church activities that
they rarely attempt to tackle the “outside world.” But New Agers
are easier to convert than most people might think. Why? Because
unlike the average person, they already have a strong belief in
the spiritual world; they just don’t realize exactly _what_
spiritual world they are mixed up in.

So please don’t ignore New Agers or laugh at them or give up
on them. Give them one of the many fine books on the New Age
movement written from a Christian perspective as well as a pocket
Bible. Miracles happen every hour of every day through Jesus.

 

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Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute.
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“Rescued from 20 Years in the New Age Movement” (an article from
the Christian Research Newsletter, Volume 2: Number 6, 1989) by
Cathy Fowler.
The editor of the Christian Research Newsletter is Ron
Rhodes.