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By David F. Dawes
A WELL known apologist has set himself a formidable
task: to refute spiritual teachings being promoted by one of the
world’s most popular media personalities.
American writer Richard Abanes is the author of books
such as The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter, Narnia and The
Lord of the Rings.
His latest book tackles A
New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose – the best seller by Vancouver writer Eckhart Tolle,
who recently gained major international exposure through Oprah
Winfrey’s extensive TV promotion.
Abanes told BCCN his purpose in writing A New
Earth, An Old Deception was to point out
Tolle “is, doctrinally speaking, not teaching anything new.
“His ideas go back to Hinduism – and the
mid-19th century, the beginning of the New Age. It is what the New Age has
been teaching for decades: pantheism, and the idea that there is no sin; all is an illusion
of the mind, and the only reality is the metaphysical stuff under the
surface.”
Like many New Agers, Abanes said, when Tolle uses the
term God, “he does not mean God as an external being. He teaches that
God is an impersonal life essence that permeates the universe.
“He believes Christ is just another teacher of
truth – and that Jesus gradually came to understand his own divinity.
When he says ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,’ according
to Tolle, Jesus is saying he was that, just as we are that.”
Tolle, Abanes said, “is packaging New Age
teaching in a very attractive manner. He’s promising his readers
answers to their felt needs; they truly want the world to be a better
place. He’s saying you can escape suffering – pain, anguish and
stress. You can have joy.”
Not all of Tolle’s teachings, Abanes maintained,
are problematic. “Some things he says have some insightful
practicality: teachings about letting the past go, and staying in the Now.
In some ways, these are good ideas.”
Tolle, he added, has valid concerns about things such
as war, crime, fear and panic.
Indeed, Abanes noted, Tolle as a person seems
“very endearing and sincere.”
However, from a Christian perspective: “His
teachings do not lead people to God. Spiritually, he’s leading people
to themselves – into their inner selves. He is providing temporary
pop psychology fixes. No long lasting true peace – unlike what you
would get from the true God.”
Abanes also expressed concerns about Tolle’s
chief promoter.
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“Words cannot describe the level of influence and
power Oprah Winfrey wields.
“Eckhart Tolle has been raised to a level of
popularity which would not have happened otherwise. She has become the most
powerful peddler of New Age ideas in the world. She is now beginning to get
into the occult by doing past-life regressions on TV.”
He referred to a video clip he found particularly
disturbing, in which Winfrey said she once used to believe Christ came to
die on the cross. “I get chills when I watch that.”
However, some Christians, he maintained, are
over-reacting.
Responding to YouTube videos labeling Winfrey “an
anti-Christ,” Abanes said: “We have to be very careful with how
we throw around the term ‘anti-Christ.’ If we mean teachings
that are against Christ, then absolutely, these teachings are anti-Christ.
But I don’t think she or Tolle are the Anti-Christ.”
Nevertheless, Abanes said, the charismatic pair are
“disseminating New Age teachings on an unprecedented level. These
teachings are confusing new Christians; and there is an underlying
anti-Christian message, which is raising anger and prejudice against
Christians.”
Consequently, he asserted, “I think that right
now we need to step up and take a stand against this.”
January 2009
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