In 1967 sociologist Peter Berger, published The Sacred Canopy. He argued that a culture is held together by a number of shared religious notions that form an unquestioned (often unconscious) "sacred" covering that includes common ideas of goodness, beauty and justice. For centuries Western Civilization has lived under the canopy of Christendom. But that canopy now lies in rags on the cultural floor. A new covering floats over our heads.

International travel has helped me see this. I just returned from a trip to Colombia, France and Holland. In Holland we discussed "The New Europe," which is no longer Christian. My lecture, "Neo-Paganism: Step-child of Secular Humanism," suggested that the new Europe will be either Moslem or Pagan. There I met a South African theologian who noticed how much the "native" regime in the "New South Africa" fosters ancestor worship. In France, the students agreed that Cartesian French secular humanism was breathing its last.

Esoteric (hidden) spirituality is going public. The website of The Secret announces "a new era for humankind," kick-started by the sale of two million books and six million DVDs. The Secret, kept since Babylonian times, is now available on Amazon.com. What's the rush?

Money?
The Secret continues a series of best-selling spiritual volumes, from MacLaine's Going Within, to Redfield's "The Celestine Prophecy," to Brown's The DaVinci Code. They have all done very well, thank you. But money is not the only motivation.

Deuteronomy 18:9-12

I would like to begin this morning with a definition of the term occult. I designate anything as belonging to the occult that involves dealings with the world of spirits or of supra-normal forces which (dealings) are not oriented on Jesus as he is revealed in the Bible. With this definition I am assuming the reality of a spirit world and of mysterious supra-normal forces. I am assuming that the church makes a grave mistake when it says that supra-natural phenomena are restricted to another age or that only godly people can work miracles. Such a mistake lays the church open to the power of evil precisely because it refuses to recognize the presence of that power. The definition is also intentionally very broad. I mean to include everything from the most blatant Satan worship to the most commonly accepted use of horoscopes. As examples I would mention seances, necromancy, and all forms of communicating with the dead, PSI, ESP, and all forms of supra-natural psychic phenomena, real magic (as opposed to simple sleight-of-hand tricks), fortune telling, the casting of spells, wearing of charms, the use of ouija boards, astrology, etc., etc. What I would like to show this morning is first, that the Scripture forbids God's people to be involved in these practices, second, why this is so, and third, what our positive alternative should be.