REINVENTING JESUS CHRIST: THE NEW GOSPEL
by Warren Smith
When I began writing Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel in August 2001, I obviously had no idea that the tragic events of September 11, 2001 were about to take place. Because my book was to be a much needed update on the false Christ of the New Age Movement, I watched in amazement as key New Age leaders suddenly appeared on primetime television providing spiritual commentary regarding September 11th. Most viewers had no idea that these spiritual “experts” were really New Age leaders, and that their seemingly positive comments actually cloaked a New Age spiritual agenda—a Peace Plan founded upon cleverly repackaged New Age teachings. These reinvented New Age teachings were now being described as the “New Gospel” of a “New Spirituality.”
New Age leaders were all over the media after September 11th with their synchronized sound bites and spiritual analyses, emphatically declaring that terrorism is not to be defined by what people do, but by what they believe. They argued that terrorism is a spiritual problem that requires a spiritual solution. And while this statement is not untrue, their spiritual solution—a New Age Peace Plan—was no solution at all. For hidden away within this Peace Plan, and buried beneath all of their positive exhortations for love and peace and oneness, was another plan—a plan that was unknown—even to many of them. It was a plan to eliminate biblical Christianity and all of its followers. The New Age/New Gospel Peace Plan promised peace and safety to those who went along with their plan, but persecution and death to all who opposed it. And while this “selection process” was never publicly discussed on Oprah, Larry King Live, or Good Morning America, it was clearly documented in their New Age writings.
Widely introduced in the media after September 11th, the New Age Peace Plan was a definite sign of the times. The New Age Movement and its reinvented “Christ” hadn’t gone away; the leaders were moving full speed ahead. What had only been a theoretical New Age threat prior to September 11th was now a very real New Age threat—and it was coming right at the church.
Observing what was going on at the time, I tried to faithfully convey what I was learning about the New Age/New Spirituality and the emerging Peace Plan. The first edition of this book exposed the false New Age “Christ” behind the New Age Peace Plan. It also uncovered some of the key New Age leaders who have popularized his teachings in the world. I carefully documented how this New Age “Christ” and all of these New Age leaders were now on the same page and saying the same things. I explained how this dedicated group of New Age leaders had formed a single unified organization—the Global Renaissance Alliance—to push their Peace Plan forward.
Reinventing Jesus Christ also described how this New Age/New Gospel Peace Plan was purposefully designed to deceive the world and the church. My original book asked some hard but necessary questions concerning church leadership. Why had so many church leaders become strangely silent about spiritual deception and the New Age movement? Why were these same church leaders starting to sound more and more like their New Age counterparts? Were they being seduced by the very teachings they should have been exposing and renouncing? Had they somehow been blinded to what was really going on? Were they actually falling for the New Age Peace Plan and the New Spirituality? Were they unwittingly walking the church into a spiritual trap?
In October 2002, just four months after Reinventing Jesus Christ was first published, Rick Warren published his bestselling book The Purpose-Driven Life. What became apparent to me, after reading his book, was that he seemed to be leading the church into the very trap I had just warned about in my book. Deeply troubled by many of the things this popular pastor was teaching and alluding to—including his own “P.E.A.C.E. Plan”— I wrote Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose-Driven Church. It was published in August 2004.
Reinventing Jesus Christwas written and published before I had ever heard of Rick Warren or his “Purpose-Driven” movement. It was based on what I was observing in the New Age movement during the fall of 2001. It was a simple but straightforward warning to the church about the deceptive purposes and plans of the New Age “Christ.” But to this day, most Christian leaders still continue to ignore the spiritual deception that is in their midst. As a result, the New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality has accelerated its move into the church.
In this online presentation of Reinventing Jesus Christ I have also included new updated material at the end of each chapter. Much has happened in the last four years. If Reinventing Jesus Christ is read prayerfully and carefully, one should be able to understand how a very real false Christ is effectively convincing the world and the church into accepting his New Age Peace Plan and his New Gospel/New Spirituality. Hopefully, by understanding the deception, the reader will be better equipped to stand fast against it.
Warren Smith
July 2006
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