Western Civilization and the Rise of Occultism
------Dr. Gary North
1. The Rise of occultism takes place at the end of civilizations, and temporary outbreaks of occultism mark significant changes within the development of any given civilization.
2. Western civilization has experienced several outbreaks of occultism in the past, but has always suppressed them. Therefore, it has survived and flourished.
3. Western rationalism, which is now officially and self-consciously atheistic, is no longer able to maintain its resistance to occultism. This was also true during the Renaissance.
4. Humanism shares numerous presuppositions with traditional occultism. Thus, a significant and growing number of humanists have begun to drift into occult practices. They call themselves New Age humanists.
5. Christianity, not atheism, was the original philosophy which created Western science and technology. Thus, as the West has become increasingly atheistic and Darwinian, it has become vulnerable to anti-rational social philosophies and practices.
6. As New Age humanism becomes more widely believed, especially in tax-supported schools, the fruits of Western Civilization will be lost, and waves of violence and occultism will result: the “religion of revolution.” (One historical example was Nazism, an occult social philosophy.)
7. The one alternative to occultism that can preserve both freedom and scientific progress is orthodox Christianity. If Christianity does not revive, and revive soon, then Western Civilization will be overrun by barbarians, both domestic and international.
8. Both Christianity and New Age humanism have a vision of a coming earthly millennium. Each group has representatives who offer rival views of what this millennium will look like, but the two basic viewpoints are incompatible.
9. The most significant doctrine which divides Christianity from all
forms of humanism is the doctrine of sovereignty. Is God sovereign,
or is man (the species) sovereign?