Unmasking the Counterfeit: The NAR, New Age, and the Enneagram Deception
Is the Enneagram just a harmless personality test, or a gateway to New Age mysticism? Discover the disturbing link between the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), occult numerology, and the false gospel of self-transformation taking over the modern church.
Walk into almost any contemporary church bookstore, youth room, or leadership seminar today, and you are likely to see a familiar nine-pointed geometric shape staring back at you. It’s the Enneagram.
Marketed as a harmless personality tool—a Christianized version of the Myers-Briggs assessment—the Enneagram has exploded in popularity across the Western church. Prominent Christian influencers, pastors, and ministries frequently use it to help believers discover their "true selves" and navigate their spiritual walks.
But beneath its modern, psychological packaging lies a deeply concerning reality. The rapid adoption of the Enneagram is not an accident; it represents a major theological bridge between New Age mysticism and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). What is being sold as a tool for spiritual growth is, in reality, a trojan horse of spiritual deception.
1. The Occultic Roots of the Enneagram
To understand why the Enneagram is so dangerous, we have to look past the modern Christian books and examine its true origins. Despite claims by some authors that the tool can be traced back to the ancient Desert Fathers, historical and textual evidence completely refutes this.
The modern Enneagram is a product of 20th-century occultism and New Age philosophy:
- George Gurdjieff: A Russian mystic and spiritual teacher who introduced the geometric symbol to the West, using it to teach esoteric, cosmic laws.
- Oscar Ichazo: A Bolivian occultist who attached specific ego-fixations to the symbol. Ichazo claimed to have received this information from a spirit guide named "Metatron."
- Claudio Naranjo: A Chilean psychiatrist who developed the modern nine personality types. Naranjo openly admitted in a filmed interview that he did not use scientific methodology to discover these types; instead, he received them through automatic writing—a form of demonic channeling strictly forbidden in Scripture (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).
When a church adopts the Enneagram, they aren't just adopting a secular personality test; they are adopting a tool explicitly birthed from divination and spiritism.
Discover why the Enneagram of Personality contradicts the Bible
2. The NAR and the "Spiritual Plunder" Theology
Why has the New Apostolic Reformation—a fast-growing movement characterized by an emphasis on modern-day apostles, prophets, and extra-biblical revelations—embraced a New Age tool so enthusiastically?
The answer lies in a specific theological concept popular within NAR circles often referred to as "Spiritual Plunder." This ideology argues that Satan cannot create anything original; he can only counterfeit or steal what belongs to God. Therefore, NAR leaders argue that practices currently found in the New Age movement (like energy healing, dream interpretation, and the Enneagram) actually originated with God and were "stolen" by the devil. Under this logic, Christians have a duty to "plunder the enemy," reclaim these occult practices, and "baptize" them for Christian use.
This is a profound and dangerous theological error. Scripture never tells believers to redeem pagan practices or strip the occult of its demonic context. Instead, God commands His church to have nothing to do with them:
"Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them... and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way." — Deuteronomy 12:30-31
The Esoteric Math: The Enneagram and Occult Numerology
To the untrained eye, the Enneagram looks like a modern psychological pie chart. But to its founders, the symbol was a complex map of occult numerology and esoteric math. It was never designed to categorize personality types; it was built to map the "hidden laws" of the universe through numbers.
The geometry of the Enneagram is entirely based on two specific mathematical and numerological concepts popularized by mystic George Gurdjieff: The Law of Three and The Law of Seven.
1. The Law of Three (The Triangle)
At the center of the Enneagram is an equilateral triangle connecting the numbers 3, 6, and 9. In occult numerology, three is considered a number of divine completion, but not in the biblical sense. Gurdjieff taught that every phenomenon in the universe is the result of three forces: affirming (positive), denying (negative), and reconciling (neutral).
Instead of relying on the personal God of scripture, this numerological triangle teaches a form of cosmic mechanics—that spiritual evolution happens by balancing these hidden, impersonal forces within yourself.
2. The Law of Seven (The Hexad)
The remaining numbers on the wheel (1, 4, 2, 8, 5, 7) are connected by a continuous, irregular six-pointed shape called the hexad. This shape is derived from a specific numerological fraction: dividing the number 1 by the "perfect" number 7.
1 \div 7 = 0.142857142857...
Notice how the sequence 1-4-2-8-5-7 repeats infinitely. In New Age mysticism, this is known as the "Law of Seven," which supposedly represents the hidden blueprint of movement and transformation in the cosmos. In Enneagram teaching, this is used to dictate how your personality "disintegrates" or "integrates" under stress. Your spiritual growth is literally mapped out by an occult division trick.
Why Numerology Conflicts with Scripture
Numerology is the belief in a divine or mystical relationship between a number and coinciding events or character traits. It is a foundational pillar of the New Age, Babylonian mystery schools, and the Kabbalah.
The Bible frequently uses numbers symbolically (like 7 for completion or 40 for testing), but it never commands believers to use mathematical grids to decode human nature, predict behavior, or achieve spiritual enlightenment. Using numbers to unlock hidden spiritual truths about yourself or the cosmos is a form of divination.
When the church uses the Enneagram, it isn't just using a test; it is participating in a system that tries to replace the voice of the Holy Spirit with the esoteric laws of numerology.
3. The False Gospel of Self-Transformation
Beyond its occultic history, the core philosophy of the Enneagram presents a direct assault on the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
| The True Gospel | The Enneagram Gospel |
| The Core Problem: Man is dead in trespasses and sins, hopelessly separated from a holy God (Ephesians 2:1). | The Core Problem: Man has suffered a childhood trauma that caused him to forget his "divine essence" and live in an artificial "ego." |
| The Solution: Repentance from sin and faith in the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 5:8). | The Solution: Developing deep self-awareness, recognizing your "type," and climbing the levels of integration back to your true self. |
| The Focus: Looking outward to Christ and dying to self (Luke 9:23). | The Focus: Looking inward to the self to discover inherent divinity. |
Popularized in Christian circles by authors heavily influenced by New Age universalism (such as Richard Rohr), the Enneagram teaches that salvation and spiritual maturity come from self-knowledge, not Christ-knowledge. It trades the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit for an esoteric roadmap to self-actualization.
4. Why the Deception is Succeeding
The enemy rarely attacks the church with an obvious front-line assault; he creeps in through subtle compromise. The Enneagram is highly seductive because it uses a psychological veneer. It tells people exactly what they want to hear: it validates their flaws as "coping mechanisms," flatters their egos, and keeps the focus entirely on them.
When combined with the NAR’s appetite for subjective spiritual experiences, mysticism, and emotional highs over biblical literacy, the church becomes completely defenseless against this brand of syncretism—the blending of holy truth with pagan falsehood.
Enneagram Deception & The NAR: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the connection between the Enneagram and the New Age?
While often marketed as a personality test, the modern Enneagram was developed in the 20th century by occultists Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo. Naranjo openly admitted that the personality types were derived through automatic writing (a form of channeling), linking its core methodology directly to New Age mysticism and spiritism rather than psychological science.
Why is the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) promoting the Enneagram?
Many leaders within the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) subscribe to a theology known as "Spiritual Plunder." This ideology claims that practices currently utilized by the New Age—such as the Enneagram—originally belonged to God and were stolen by the enemy. NAR ministries attempt to "plunder" and Christianize these tools, ignoring biblical warnings against syncretism.
Is the Enneagram rooted in numerology?
Yes. The geometric structure of the Enneagram relies on esoteric mathematical concepts popularized by mystic George Gurdjieff, specifically the "Law of Three" (the inner triangle) and the "Law of Seven" (the repeating fraction sequence 1-4-2-8-5-7). In occult philosophy, these numbers map out cosmic laws and human evolution, which functions as a form of divination.
Can a Christian use the Enneagram purely as a personality test?
While many Christians use it innocently, the Enneagram’s core framework teaches that human defects are mere "ego fixations" and that spiritual growth comes from discovering your "divine essence." This focus on self-actualization fundamentally contradicts the biblical Gospel of repentance, cross-bearing, and relying on the Holy Spirit for transformation.
A Call to Biblical Discernment
We live in an age where the Apostle Paul's warning to the Colossians has never been more relevant.
"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." — Colossians 2:8
The Word of God is entirely sufficient to diagnose the human heart and provide everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We do not need to dig into the broken cisterns of New Age mysticism or rely on channeled information to understand who we are.
If we want to know who we truly are, we must look to the One who created us. Our true identity is not found in a number on a nine-pointed occultic star—it is found solely in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is time for the church to put down the Enneagram and pick back up the Bible.
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