It feels as if our world drastically changed, and no one was prepared for it. Our culture has turned its back on Christianity, and the hole it left behind was filled with New Ageism while making the occult and paganism attractive through Hollywood. TV series like “American Horror Story” and “Supernatural” have glorified witches and demons, leaving a younger generation in awe of that lifestyle.

Tattoo and music artist Kat Von D shared a clip of her baptism, and it was received with love by some and a lot of criticism by others. Kat Von D is part of that generation that was swept up by New Ageism because she had questions about Christianity that her loved ones were not equipped to answer.

In 2020, she posted a picture to her Instagram of a pile of books, and among the pile were books about witchcraft. In her caption, she explained that she was throwing the books out because she was reevaluating her lifestyle and found that the books no longer served her. Like her baptism video, she faced much love and criticism. Some who are actively engaged in the New Age lifestyle became offended, while some Christians accused her of being a “fake” Christian.

Kat Von D is not the first person with a large following to turn to Christianity to make sense of what is happening in our current world. Celebrities like Justin Bieber and BIac Chyna also made headlines about their conversion to Christianity.

In her interview with Christian podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey, she discusses her change as “deprogramming.” In a sense, it is a journey of deprogramming because our current culture is unknowingly very entrenched in New Age practices and in the romanticizing of the occult. If you are familiar with New Age practices, you will easily recognize how often they are found in our everyday life.

For some who have never strayed from their Christian worldview, it is hard to understand why so many turn to the occult. It seems obvious that the occult lifestyle is not a good one.

New Ageism, witchcraft, and the occult are attractive for many reasons. First, these lifestyles let you customize your worldview. For example, one can take practices from Wicca, Satanism, Santeria, etc. and mold them into one’s own unique way of practicing spirituality. There is no one way or one truth.

Many who practice these religions like the sense of control it gives them. New Ageism allows one to believe he or she is in control of everything. From meditation to spells, you control your own destiny. You control your energy, and you can control others through energy.

The most attractive belief of this religion is that you are your own god. You don’t have to rely on a higher being to dictate your destiny because you are the higher being.

Many who have left this lifestyle and converted to Christianity say that the further you pursue the occult, the emptier you feel. This emptiness is what leads them back to Christ and His truth.

It will be important for Christians to understand the lifestyle that those who were involved in the occult are leaving. It will be even more important for Christians to learn to embrace these individuals who want to come back to Christ but feel as if they don’t belong in the church because of their former lifestyle.