Something made it to my awareness recently via a post that was shared to me by my wife that appeared on her Facebook feed.  It was just some random inspirational quote that took me aback because of a similarity to writings I've only shared with her about one of the ways I have reconciled my Christian faith with science.  I consider it one of my pearls that I feel wise to keep secret to follow Jesus as quoted in Matthew 7:6, in Do not give dogs what is sacred and do not throw pearls to pigs; if you do, they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.  She recognized the similarity and felt compelled to see what I thought.  Honestly, I was a little freaked out and didn't know at first how to derive its Goodness or Evilness, despite my ancestors in Eden having eaten from that apple tree.

I will not give the quote here, for fear of someone using their deductive reasoning to pilfer out one of my pearls into the open, but I can say that it came from a sub-feed on Facebook containing a whole bunch of "new-age" spirituality messaging.  I set it aside for further contemplation and by the time my imagination had worked on it in the background almost certainly with divine help, I attempted to rediscover the quote to check what it said again against my surfacing intuition.  Of course, like a lot of social media feeds it was not rediscoverable and Lynn scrolled through a huge dose of unrelated, but similar spiritual messaging in that feed before I implored her to stop and give up.

What I've begun to conclude over the last 5-10 years is that we are all not that clever and probably dangerously predictable.  Its apparent that some of these new-agey metaphysics are tapped into similar things that I feel I've become more sensitive to.   The quote's uncanny specificity at first seems like a profound truth but only after contemplation I realized it was one of the most dangerous misunderstandings of God's truth I've come across.   I really believe the misunderstanding from the quote's author sets him/her up for nothing less dire than what many would liken as demonic possession.  Now having groked it more fully, I feel like God has given me new spiritual armor and even applied some divine shine one of those hidden pearls I keep for understanding Him.  It drew me closer.  It did its job.

As one scrolls these feeds full of metaphysics and new-age spiritualism, you either settle into an interpretation of them as uncovering hidden truths in the style we know as synonymous to the Occult, or, like me, you realize its all pretty sad and almost comically obvious the naivity which these people sharing actually have. When it comes down to it, the modern spiritual guru is no match for the ancient ones.  

Think what you may of ancient civilizations, but if you find yourself looking down on them realize you may be channeling vanity and pride of the current age of man you find yourself in, likely because you like technology and safety.  Those people long ago did not have all the distractions in the modern world designed to keep you numb, stupid, blind, and deaf to things spiritual.  I firmly believe living a simpler, more natural, less industrial lifestyle refines the spiritual senses and that was done a lot more in the past than the present.  Those ancestors of ours are the fathers of your fathers spanning for hundreds of generations and even before Jesus came, the commandment to honor your mothers and fathers was already well understood. Respect for elders has been embedded in culture as common sense since time immemorial, so if only for a brief moment, consider they may have worked these things out way before the modern gurus.  I suggest its only necessary to go back to about 2026 years ago and listen to the one infinitely perfect human we already know the name of.

One of the ways these "feeds" make their motives clear is the complete lack of any concept of Jesus.   I can only imagine as soon as some new "guru" might be inspired to speak of God or Jesus, they get persecuted and removed from the metaphysics feed and told to leave and go instead to the Christian ones where they will be more welcome.  The message is clear: "new age" spirituality is supposedly not compatible and not welcome alongside Christianity, in which its centuries of refinement looks like rigidity and closeminded-ness to them.   They'll likely profess its just not limited to, implying they have a grander and broader scope which is the exact opposite.  If the faith is not changing like they prefer, its wrong or irrelevant.  Christians will be told to go back to the bubble where they are harmless to the world and only surrounded with people who already understand them.  i.e. go back to the churches and stay away from the soul searchers roaming Facebook or college campuses in obvious need of help.

Another vibe I get from these metaphysics feeds is similar to children telling ghost stories around a camp fire.  Everybody hears one, says "OOooooh!" in a scary voice and then they look around at each smiling and giggling and secretly wondering if what they speak of may be more than just entertainment.   Its not.  And it will push you further along lines that are not healthy for you.  The mental power that is unlocked in humans when embracing Christianity is capable of creating a state of mind so profound it can remove even the fear of death, which is quite a thing.   This is a power thats been there for centuries in Christianity and religious texts are full of examples that aren't just stories, but true history.  You may have even witnessed it yourself in somebody terminally ill.  One of the apostles of Jesus was facing certain execution in the morning, yet he slept the through the night before like a baby (sorry I don't recall the exact verses for this one).  Do you honestly think this is something modern spirituality could ever replicate?  I doubt it.  I know I wouldn't be able to, but thats because I am weak and my faith is imperfect, but aspiring to it I find noble and worthy of a lifetime of effort.  

My hope is that for those engaging in these Reddit forums, Facebook groups, or "alternative" spiritualities that there are some that recognize the whole thing as another Jesus undercover sneak-op.  While everyone else pretends to "wake up" their third eye,  incorporate the "self" from other dimensions, sing songs around campfire effigys holding hands and beckoning for spirits to reveal themselves to you, or whatever other nonsense suggests itself as a potential modern equal to Christianity realize you are not meant to actually believe them.  Their exposure into your lives may have been placed there so that you could recognize His way at the point on your path you were destined to.   The ideas you thought were your own were only temporary surrogates to contain your spirituality in stasis so you will be able to recognize the real truth when it comes to you later in life.  I believe it is more tragic to deny that spirituality has any legitimacy whatsoever in the human condition than to hold it in stasis with spiritual puberty blockers.  If we all believe in nothing for too many generations in a row, I fear we won't recognize the Earth organism we evolve into as truly "conscious", relatable and worthy of inheriting our planet.   Our ancestors may already think that of us.  Perhaps this deevolution will show up in mental health first, or weird things like autism rates, ADHD, or decaying language/math aptitude like the movie "Idiocracy" or a morality that becomes "subjective" and changes for the worse in each new generation.  If this begins to happen, everything will still all be returned to God but boy will those parents be surprised when it starts to happen.   We might even reach an era where the children end up saving the souls of the spiritually barren adults– an inversion of what God intends.

So, as I continue to find those lost and floating souls blissfully unaware of how perfectly they accidentally glorify Him in their poems, stories, or other inspired works, I can't help but feel compelled to evangelize in the hopes that the energy they begin channeling can be supercharged for Good before it is permanently bottled or harnessed for the devil's purposes.  The adversary hates Jesus more than any human is capable, so be suspicious wherever His presence is missing or unwelcome.   Not only may you be missing a free source of peace, joy, and inspiration in your life, your soul may also depend on it.