When Steven Bancarz traded his New Age propaganda for a full gospel message, his newfound faith cost him his job, house, income and reputation among fans of his popular mystic website—but he says it has all been worth it.
Bancarz grew up in a Christian home, but extraterrestrials and mysticism captured his heart in high school. Eventually, he turned his back on Jesus and engaged in New Age practices, from tarot card reading to astral projection. Soon he rose up as an influential New Age social-media celebrity.
Yet Bancarz could not ignore Jesus. Christ’s ability to save people from the brink of death set Him apart from the rest. He remembers thinking, “OK, there’s something unique and different and special and pure and holy about Jesus.”
Although Bancarz wasn’t quite ready to shutter his New Age website, he could not ignore God relentlessly tugging at his heart until he finally caved in and started seeking the one true God. He read the Gospels until he reached a point of utter brokenness.
“I went outside on my back balcony of my stupid house … and when I did this, I felt the atmosphere around me start to change,” Bancarz says. “And I could feel in the air that there was something holy and pure around me. And it was also personal, and I knew in that moment that I was in the presence of Jesus.”
Bancarz is proud to say he follows Christ now. He is a student of Scripture and was water baptized in the spring. Now, he uses his YouTube channel to spread the truth of Christ to people trapped in the same New Age deception he once preached. In a recent video, he signed off with a message to his followers: “God is a personal being who loves you and sees you and has a purpose for you and has a will for you. It’s His promise to you that if you seek Him diligently and sincerely that He will reveal Himself to you.”
Bancarz is living proof of that. —Taylor Berglund
