Nuggets from Occult Invasion—New Thought: Forerunner of the New Age Movement

Christian Science is part of the New Thought movement that developed during the last half of the nineteenth century. Phineas P. Quimby (1802-18660, whose “studies in mesmerism [early hypnotism], Spiritism and kindred phenomena…laid the basis for a new structure in the world of thought…was regarded as the founder of the [New Thought] movement.” New Thought’s basic teaching is (like that of Hinduism) that everything is in the mind. We create our own world of good or evil, of health or sickness, of prosperity or want by our thoughts. The practice of hypnosis, which Quimby pioneered in America, seemed to demonstrate this. Mary Baker Eddy was one of the early patients he “healed” and her new interpretation of the Bible was actually based upon Quimby’s teachings—a fact which she refused to admit.

New Thought was the forerunner of today’s New Age, which has popularized the same delusion under new labels. New Thought was forced out of mainstream Christianity and became the basis for a number of cults, which include (in addition to Christian Science) Unity School of Christianity and The Church of Religious Science (Science of Mind). Like Unity founders Myrtle and Charles Fillmore, Ernest Holmes patterned his Science of Mind on the same attractive delusion: “Man, by thinking, can bring into his experience whatsoever he desires….” In a proud prophecy that has come to pass, Holmes declared, “We have launched a Movement which, in the next 100 years, will be the great new religious impulsion of modern times…[destined] to envelope the world….”

Among today’s well-known advocates of Science of Mind are actor Robert Stack and singer Della Reese. This “spiritual philosophy for the New Age” offers a “specific method by which anyone…may relate consciously to the Creative Life Force [“God”] of the universe…for the purpose of achieving whatever constructive objective is desired…. Health, abundance, security, love, peace, and happiness are…within the immediate grasp of all who apply…principles…which the Science of Mind explains.” Having reduced God to a Universal Principle that can be utilized according to scientific laws, the creature has become the Creator!