Stories about the decline of Christianity in the Western world have dominated headlines for decades. A secularizing society, however, appears to be a fertile breeding ground for the return of deities which were once worshiped before the successful spread of the gospel.
Attention toward paganism and heathenism, which generally reference the ethnic polytheistic religions that predated Christianity in Europe, has indeed soared in recent years as fewer residents of Western nations direct their worship toward the God of the Bible. There are more than two million adherents to paganism, the modern neopagan syncretic religion called Wicca, and other New Age practices in the United States. Asatru, the practice which centers on the invocation of Norse deities such as Thor and Odin, is currently the fastest-growing religion in Iceland and the largest non-Christian religion on the island nation, even as virtually zero young Icelanders believe that God created the heavens and the earth.
New Age practices have also recently advanced through WitchTok, a community on social media platform TikTok in which influencers detail their use of crystals and other occult practices, and various conventions throughout the Western world in which adherents of the movement gather. Cultural figures such as Joe Rogan have meanwhile detailed their interest in psychedelic drugs, users of which report disturbing encounters with spiritual beings, even as lawmakers in states such as California and Oregon promote their decriminalization.
Many followers of pagan religions insist that their spiritual experiences are real. Doreen Virtue, a former bestselling New Age author who became a Christian after reading the Bible, warned that those who seek to summon ancient deities may in fact find themselves successful.
“Invoking old pagan gods and goddesses is a spiritually dangerous practice, as you’re likely to unintentionally invite fallen angels who will pretend to answer your wishes, but it’s a Trojan horse trick to get people to follow the demons instead of God,” she said in an interview with The Daily Wire.
Virtue repented of her sins and placed her faith in Jesus Christ after she read the description of fortune-telling, divination, necromancy, and other occult practices as an abomination to God in the book of Deuteronomy. She had previously attempted to invoke Hindu, Buddhist, Celtic, African, and Native American deities, as well as other “ascended masters” in the New Age movement, during her more than two decades as a prominent spiritual teacher who conducted workshops around the world.
“Before I was saved, I visited ‘goddess temples’ in the United States and the United Kingdom in attempts to receive special personal revelation messages from them,” she said. “I went to a sweat lodge in Sedona to try to invoke a Native American goddess who intrigued me. I didn’t realize it at the time, but those invocations were inviting demons into my life.”
Virtue received “messages” from the deities who insisted that the Bible had been corrupted. “As the apostle John taught, this was the spirit of the antichrist,” she noted. “As a result, my personal life was in constant turmoil because I followed the terrible guidance from those demons who were masquerading as deities. I was always trying to find answers, fulfillment, and peace. Yet we can only find those through Jesus.”
Virtue, who appeared on shows such as Oprah and Good Morning America to promote her work, describes the New Age movement as a “spiritual buffet” in which one can “choose your own personal blend of worship like going to a salad bar.” She added that the eclectic practices enable a “spiritual narcissism” and a “self-obsessive focus on your needs, wants, and feelings” which mimic the deception offered by Satan in the book of Genesis.
“The New Age elevates your self-esteem and continually tells you how wonderful you are. You are encouraged to use positive affirmations and tell yourself ‘I am loveable,’ ‘I am a good person,’ and ‘I am successful in all that I do,’ for example,” she commented. “There’s also this craving for secret or hidden wisdom, similar to what the Serpent promised Eve. The New Age and paganism falsely promise that you will get answers that no one else has access to. This appeals to a prideful sense of being special because you have access to so-called hidden secret wisdom. Of course, the only source of wisdom is God and His Word.”
Ignorance of the Bible among professing American Christians, according to Virtue, allows man-centered teaching and spiritual practices derived from paganism to gain footholds in churches. She contended that yoga, contemplative prayer practices like Lectio Divina, and other spiritual acts are irredeemably linked to traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
“It grieves me to see professing Christians being unknowingly involved with New Age practices. Some professing Christians argue that they have Christian liberty and freedom to do whatever they want, but that is antinomianism,” she said. “I would love to see more watchmen on the wall in churches, confronting these Trojan horse pagan practices.”
Virtue also cautioned against the use of psychedelic drugs; she has interviewed many Christians who formerly used the substances while seeking to access the spiritual realm. “I think that people get into psychedelic drugs for the same reason they get into New Age spirituality,” she said. “They are looking for answers, peace, health, and love. The false New Age teachers lure vulnerable people in by giving them false hope and false promises.”
Virtue said that Christianity, unlike the pagan practices which are becoming popular in the Western world, offers true promises found in the Bible.