Beyond Prediction is, I take it, an example of the kind of evangelism the authors recommend. It uses a New Age tool – the Tarot – in order to bring New Agers to see the spiritual truth about Christ. It is written straightforwardly as a serious book about Tarot, explaining the truths to be found there – truths that ultimately point to Christ.
In one sense, this is no different from using any familiar illustration to help people understand Christ. Just as the Hanged Man card evokes the universal myth of the dying and resurrected hero, so we must grasp that we cannot have a risen powerful life without first dying to self. There are many such ways in which New Age ideas can be used to turn the conversation towards Christ, for (as the first book points out) most New Agers are seeking things like meaning, ultimate truth, an escape from materialism and so on.
As one who was converted out of a New Age background, I am drawn to this evangelistic approach yet worried by it. It is quite true that a Christian approach that had simply been condemnatory would have turned me right off. No doubt this is the same for any kind of evangelism. A ministry to rugby players that condemned all sport as the work of the devil is misguided.
However I fear that these books just go too far. For me, these books would take me back to those things from which I had escaped. The last thing I needed as a seeker or new convert was to be encouraged to find meaning in tarot, or meditation, or visions. These things were so much part of my non-Christian world it is highly unlikely I would have found any spiritual help in them.
To speak to New Agers one must speak a certain language. It is a language that believes in the power of overwhelming transcendent experiences, and understands that a penchant for the more mysterious part of life – or for Indian clothing and silver jewellery – is not in itself evil. Christians who have absorbed a very different culture may unwittingly approach New Agers in exactly the wrong way – a way that comes across as judgemental, meaningless and very dull.
However I would not recommend this book to my Christian friends trying to evangelise New Agers, nor to my New Age friends. Intentionally or not, it presents Christianity as merely another form of mysticism, not a radically different and wondrous welcome to the reality of God through the saving work of his son. Many New Age questions are answered in Christ. But Christ is far greater than merely the most truthful among many wisdoms.
