Richard Abanes - A New Earth, an Old Deception: Awakening to the Dangers of Eckhart Tolles #1 Bestseller

PRAISE FORA New Earth, An Old Deception

Using compassionate arguments, inescapable logic, and a skillful presentation of biblical truth, Abanes has put together an insightful, fair-minded, and cogent refutation of Eckhart Tolles teachings.

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast

Richard does an excellent job researching, reviewing, and writing for us an important expos of this dangerous deception. Fueled by the high-powered marketing machine of Oprah Winfrey, Tolles claims are bound to travel far and wide. In the spirit of Paul the Apostles warning to take heed lest you fall, A New Earth, An Old Deception equips the believer with solid answers for those who may be confused by Tolles claims.

Tom Stipe, Senior Pastor, Crossroads Church of Denver

Richard Abanes offers an irenic, yet piercing, analysis of Eckhart Tolle, and in doing so exposes another New Age guru. Abanes carefully explains the origins and elements of Tolles ideas and helps us understand how to minister to those drawn into yet another eastern mystical attempt to escape from the self and the world.

H. Wayne House, Distinguished Research Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Faith Evangelical Seminary

Richard Abanes clearly shows the differences between the gospel of self and the Gospel of Jesus Christ by dismantling popular New Age teachings point by point. A New Earth, An Old Deception is a much-needed Christian response to deception.

J. Mark Martin, Senior Pastor, Calvary Community Church, Phoenix, Arizona

A
NEW EARTH

A New Earth, An Old Deception
Copyright 2008
Richard Abanes

Cover design by Paul Higdon

Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Published by Bethany House Publishers
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Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Ebook edition created 2010

Ebook corrections 04.18.2016 (VBN)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this book

ISBN 978-1-4412-0313-7

TO

MY ONLINE BROTHERS AND SISTERS
at Phoenix Preacher Blog, phoenixpreacher.com,
a place where I frequently hang out
for healing, fellowship, and spiritual growth
thank you, my friends, for all of your
love, prayers, and encouragement.
Michael, youre the best.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RICHARD ABANES is a bestselling and award-winning author of twenty books, specializing in the area of cults, the occult, world religions, and pop culture. His most popular titles include The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code; One Nation Under Gods; and Harry Potter, Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings. Hes written for most major Christian magazines and in 1997 received The Myers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights in North America for his outstanding work on intolerance. That same year he also received the Evangelical Press Associations Higher Goals in Christian Journalism award for his articles on non-Christian faiths that appeared in Moody magazine. He has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV programs including The 700 Club, Hard Copy, MSNBC, FOX News, and CNN.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A HEARTFELT THANKS goes to Greg Johnson for believing in me and encouraging me to do this project. Deep gratitude also belongs to Bethany House, especially Kyle Duncan, for recognizing the need for a such a book. Finally, I must mention my friend Doug Fields, a great guy, loving pastor, and gifted teacher of Gods Word, whose faith in my work and ministry has been a source of great comfort and renewed strength.

CONTENTS

[A]ll of you have joined us in this global community to talk about what I believe is one of the most important subjectsand presented by one of the most important books of our timeA New Earth: Awakening to Your Lifes Purpose.

OPRAH WINFREY

ON MARCH 3, 2008, Oprah Winfrey hosted a unique online class in cyberspace that reached 500,000 people in more than 139 countries. The interactive webcast, which featured spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle and his mega-bestseller A New Earth: Awakening to Your Lifes Purpose, ended up making headlines as one of the largest single online events in the history of the Internet.

But this was only the beginning. The momentous event kicked off a ten-week, Oprah-hosted study of A New Earth and its importance to everyones spiritualitya quest for enlightenment in a virtual classroom where seekers worldwide could ask questions via email, telephone, and Skype connections. As Oprah commented with unbridled enthusiasm during her first evenings class: I dont think theres anything more important than awakening and also knowing what your purpose is.

The seminar was a resounding success. By week five, the number of online students watching it had risen to one million, and more than ten million copies of the previous webcasts had been downloaded by fans of both Oprah and Eckhart. It was a remarkable achievement that once more demonstrated the talk show hosts giftedness in the areas of entertainment, public relations, and media resourcefulness.

Even prior to the event, A New Earth had already skyrocketed in sales. Oprahs recommendation of the volume, coupled with her listing of it as a selection for Oprahs Book Club, sent Tolles self-help guide to the #1 spot at

Who is Eckhart Tolle? What is his background? When did he become a spiritual teacher? And why does he feel his message is so important for the world? These are the questions that must be answered if one is going to understand the hype now surrounding the soft-spoken, likeable, and seemingly enlightened man who is reaching untold millions of truth-seekers through his books, lectures, and appearances with Oprah.

Tollea Cambridge-educated scholarwas born in 1948 as Ulrich Tolle, and raised by his father in Spain from about age 13 until he moved to England in his early 20s.

Then, not long after turning twenty-nine, Tolle woke up in the early hours one morning with a feeling of absolute dread. Tolle was ready to die:

I just cant live with myself any longer, its so painful. And that thought repeated itself a few times. And then suddenly, something happened inside me and I looked at the thought. I became aware of the thought and I said, I cannot live with myself. Thats strange, so there must be I and there must be myself [who I cannot live with]. Am I one or two? I seem to be two. Because if I cant live with myself, there must be two of me here. And [I] said, If thats the case, then who is the self that I cannot live with? And who am I?

Then, instead of killing himself, Tolle experienced the unexpected. His mind stopped and he was drawn into a vortex of energy. Intense fear gripped him, and his whole body started shaking as he heard the words resist nothing. He felt himself sucked into a void and passed outto date, unable to recall what happened during the hours that followed. He awakened the next morning filled with an odd peace.