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The story in the Garden involves man’s desire to be “like gods” through gaining hidden knowledge and the downslope to lack of faith and disobedience that ultimately ensues from acting upon this desire.

 

Deuteronomy 29:29 - "The hidden things belong to Yahweh our God, but the revealed things belong to us to know and to our children forever…"  Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

Humankind hasn’t learned this lesson by any stretch of the imagination. The lure and pervasiveness of the New Age Movement and teachings in our society today is a witness to this statement.

 

The “New Age Movement” is not a single organization. The term refers to a large number of autonomous groups and individuals. There are hundreds of groups and secular and religious leaders in North America that could be described as New Age. 

 

The New Thought Movement, Spiritualism, and the Theosophical Society first introduced New Age beliefs and practices to America in the 1800s. These ideologies gained popularity during the counterculture of the mid-sixties and early seventies.

 

The origin of New Age teachings (a hodgepodge of buddhism, hinduism, yoga, meditation, Tibetan Tantric tradition, Kabbalah, Tarot, numerology, alchemy, gnostic teachings, etc.) can be traced to Gnosticism - a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD. Gnosis in Greek means “experiential knowledge”. 

 

The Seven Tenets of the New Age Movement

1. Pantheism - God (god/goddess) is All and All is God (god/goddess).

2. Monism - All is One. 

3. You are God, and must discover your divinity.

4. Good and evil do not exist, therefore, there are no absolutes in morality.

5. Separate the historical person of Jesus from the Christ Spirit (or, Christ Consciousness). 

6. Reincarnation & Karma - An endless cycle of deaths and rebirths to mend your karma.

7. A New Age of enlightenment and transformation is coming.

 

Ten Fundamental "Truths" of the New Age Movement

New Age teachings hinge on a few fundamental “truths” across the board. Here is a short description of these “truths” and how they come to life through the snake’s interaction with Eve in the Garden. The Deceiver has been at work since the very beginning:

 

Genesis 3:1-7 - "1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God indeed say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, 3 but from the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’.” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die. 5 For God knows that on the day you both eat from it, then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, then she took from its fruit and she ate. And she gave it also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed together fig leaves and they made for themselves coverings." Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

New Age “Truth” #1: 

There is a mysterious or secret knowledge reserved for those with true understanding, leading to the “salvation of the soul”. The goal is to free the spirit from its embodied prison, and the only key to unlock the prison doors is that mysterious knowledge.

Snake teaching: the snake implied existence of a mysterious knowledge that only the gods possess; he also implied that it is the “key” to liberating man from the prison of being mere human to the freeing state of being “like gods”. 

 

New Age “Truth” #2: 

Truth can only be known through personal experience. Real gnosis comes from the conscious experience of the truth of life, death, and all the mysteries that surround us.

Snake teaching: the snake implied that personal experience - eating the forbidden fruit - is the way to accessing that mysterious knowledge.

 

New Age “Truth” #3: 

There is no absolute right or wrong, good or bad, you’ve only been conditioned to believe something is wrong. There is no divine standard of human thought and behavior. Absolute, unrestrained freedom should reign, with no restrictions enforced and nothing declared “off limits”.

Snake teaching: the snake most definitely implied that truth is NOT absolute; he planted a seed of doubt in Yahweh’s truth with one little word - “surely”; he also craftily promoted unrestrained freedom with no restrictions and nothing declared “off limits” including the Tree of Life.

 

New Age “Truth” #4: 

Self-realization is the key to the knowledge of everything that exists. We can only acquire this kind of state on our own, by our own efforts, and in our own experience.

Snake teaching: the snake implied that eating the forbidden fruit (self effort, self experience) will unlock access to both self actualization and divine knowledge - "your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods, knowing good and evil".

 

New Age “Truth” #5: 

The consciousness (a form of active, awakened perception) - when awakened - can perceive other dimensions. It is here that real Gnosis begins to bloom in the mind and heart, revealing the truth to the soul.

Snake teaching: the snake assured that their “eyes will be opened” (awareness) and then they will have access to divine dimensions. 

 

New Age “Truth” #6: 

Gnosis is universal which means that it is compatible with all religions and all mystical traditions, because in essence they are all founded upon the science of Gnosis anyway. It does not matter what one believes, or where one comes from. One can be devoutly religious or deeply independent, yet acquire the personal experience of that which exists beyond the physical senses. This “truth” is also related to another one stating that all religions are expressions of the One True Universal Religion. 

Snake teaching: the snake never blatantly denied the existence or supremacy of Yahweh; instead, he planted a seed of doubt in the heart of man regarding the integrity of Yahweh, distorted Yahweh’s instructions, and nonchalantly grouped Yahweh with all other gods.

 

New Age “Truth” #7: 

We must stop assuming that we know ANYTHING. For the one who is brave enough to face their own self-deception (i.e. believing in anything other than the seven tenets of New Agers) and embarks on the quest to acquire experiential self-knowledge, the reality of gnosis is quick to be seen.

Snake teaching: the snake dismissed the fear of breaking Yahweh’s instructions as nonsense (“you shall not surely die”); he implied that they shouldn’t assume they understood the instructions in the first place - “Did God indeed say?” and “God knows that on the day…”; the snake also implied that man’s fear of the consequences of disobedience is just an illusion or self-deception. Moreover, the snake promised an immediate gnosis - “on the day you both eat from it, then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods.”

 

New Age “Truth” #8: 

We must open our hearts and minds, and listen. And then, with maturity and internal silence (i.e. meditation), we will be told, from inside, what we must do in order to continue onward in our process to achieve self-realization.

Snake teaching: the snake is a master of luring and 'planting seeds'. Through his crafty words, he awakened an internal dialogue in Eve that culminated in a desire for self-realization - "the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise..." Once the snake planted that little seed of doubt and awakened a desire to realize more than what was inherited to her by Yahweh, she stumbled face forward into disobedience, ultimately aligning herself with false teachings rather than with the Word of Yahweh. 

 

New Age “Truth” #9: 

Everything that exists is One. All distinctions (including your sense of being distinct from everyone and everything else) are really illusions.

Note: contrary to this “truth”, our story clearly emphasizes the uniqueness and distinctiveness of the characters - Yahweh, the snake, Adam and Eve; they all exist separately from each other; they are all unique and distinct; in fact, not only the characters are separate and distinct, there is also a hierarchy in creation as is abundantly apparent in these verses (as well as in the entire Bible).

 

New Age “Truth” #10: 

The end destination of gnosis is arriving at genuine inner tranquility through which we reach the final understanding that we are all gods.

Snake teaching: the ultimate promise of the snake was and always is that man can become “like gods”; if man follows his false teachings...

 

The True Source of Your Internal Dialogue

If you are a Christian and are about to fall for and incorporate the Snake’s teachings (New Age / Gnosticism) into your faith and practice, please reflect on the following:

 

2 Timothy 2:13 - "If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful—he cannot deny himself.

Yah will never contradict His Word. If what you think Yah has laid on your heart doesn’t line up with Yah’s Word, He is not the source of what you are seeking to do. It must be consistent with the commands and principles found in the Bible as well as the character and ways of Yah as described in His Word." Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

John 10:4-5 - "Whenever he sends out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. And they will never follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.

If we are not regularly spending time with Yah in His Word, we better not trust our perceptions of what we think He has laid on our hearts. Yeshua said His sheep know His voice so well that they can differentiate His voice from others. How are we going to get to know His voice above all, including our own, if we do not spend time with Him in His Word?" Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

Hebrews 5:14 - "But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have trained their faculties for the distinguishing of both good and evil.

Discernment comes through the “constant use” of Yah’s Word, chewing on the meat of what we read. A casual and inconsistent approach to Yah’s Word that stays on the surface will not bring the spiritual maturity needed to differentiate between what Yah has laid on our hearts and what our own feelings, desires, or thought processes dictate." Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

NOTE: New Age groups and practices rarely identify themselves as New Age. Their beliefs and occult practices identify them. Check this blog - New Age Apologetics - to learn more about these New Age teachings and the Biblical response to them.