Without doing a full-blown examination of New Age spiritualism, I've constructed a summary table of the key tenets of New Age occultism, as compared to Word Faith and Evangelical Charismatic. Watch for the similarities and differences.

My summary of these three worldviews is to steer clear of both New Age and Word Faith ways of thinking, because both of them are occult in origin, but one in different words. They are both so different to the Bible, it's not funny. (Again, this is not to say that those believers in the Word Faith churches are all occult. What I am saying is let's take captive these thoughts that are demonically inspired, and remove them from our teaching. We can be deceived and still remain in Christ. But let's discern this and turn away from it.)

How have I reached this conclusion? 

By examination of the history of Word Faith belief

D. R. McConnell researched how and where these beliefs came from and discovered they were rooted not in Kenneth Hagin, but from his predecessor E. W. Kenyon. Kenyon deliberately syncretised his Christian faith with his understanding of metaphysical cults because he was concerned about his own ineffectiveness and how people were being attracted and wooed by those cults.

By examination of their interpretation of Scripture

When looking at each individual verse or passage used to support their beliefs, I was quite confused for some time as to where their interpretations were coming from. But once I understood the New Age connection, it all started to make sense. If there was anything that a New Age person was saying, a Scripture was inevitably found to support that idea, and it was then taught. There is no systematic approach, because systematically looking at all the passages on any one topic will inevitably dismantle this eisegetic (from the outside in) approach. The key way of backing up what they say is by the experiences they have, which is, by the way, an examination of the fruit--something Jesus said is a way to discern true from false. But we now know to test the fruit after the hype has finished, for example the next day. (See also 03: 9 tests.)

By examination of their beliefs in comparison to New Age beliefs

It was extraordinary to me to see just how similar New Age beliefs were like the Law of Attraction to what the Word Faith preachers were saying. They were basically one to one correlations. I have never heard any attempt whatsoever to differentiate what they believe with what New Age teachers believe. There is either no discernment on this, or, a recognition that the New Agers have latched onto something godly. I call it what it is: pure Word Faith teaching is New Age occultism.

By examination of their results and techniques in comparison to hypnotism

Nader Mikhaiel first noted the striking similarities between Word Faith and hypnotism in his book Slaying in the Spirit: the telling wonder. Now correlation does not equal causation, but, having seen what happens first-hand over a number of years, I can see how preachers have developed their techniques towards something very close to hypnotism. Previously I might have said people were getting carried away, but now I can see there is power behind it. We desperately need discernment to stay well clear of this. 

By examination of worldviews

One of the keys to understanding where all this teaching comes from is to examine the root beliefs. Root beliefs are those on which everything else stands. Unlocking their understanding of metaphysics (literally 'beyond the physical', meaning spiritual and the relationship between physical and spiritual) was key. Also helpful was David Noebel's book on Understanding the Times, where he unpacks what he calls "Cosmic Humanism", otherwise known as New Age. And it's to that area of metaphysics that we'll now turn our attention to.