The Rise of the Spiritual: Why Secularism Is Collapsing, Magic Is Returning, Fringe Beliefs Are Spreading-and God's Kingdom Offers Our Only True Hope

From bestselling author and cultural expert Mark Sayers

Something has changed. We were told that the future would be secular, that we would move away from religion, towards reason and science. Yet, the spiritual is making a comeback. From TikTok occult influencers to CEOs championing psychedelics, government officials pursuing aliens, to the rise of artificial intelligence cults, the fringe is now mainstream. We find ourselves in a grey zone, in between secularism and religion—the place of magic.

Magic has always existed, sometimes hidden, sometimes obvious, returning like the seasons. The structures that have supported secularism are crumbling. We are approaching a post-secular era. As this happens, magic will only grow in influence.

The Rise of the Spiritual offers a lens for understanding our times by tracing the influence of magic across Scripture, history, and contemporary culture. Magic seeks hidden powers to make the impossible possible. Yet such a quest always falters. Mark Sayers contrasts the influence of magic within contemporary culture with the only true source of hope and meaning—the Kingdom of God.

Part I – Magic and the Spell of Secularism shows how magic is a constant feature of human culture. The Scriptures tell the story of a holy rebellion against regimes of magic which trapped humans in cycles of fear, anxiety, and control. The rise of Christianity led to the decline of magic's power.

Part II – From Merlin to AI. How Magic Returned and Created the Modern Age examines how magic was smuggled back into the Christian West, becoming one of the sources of the modern world. Magic was a sometimes hidden, yet always powerful influence, from the medieval myth of the magician Merlin, all the way to the rise of artificial intelligence.

Part III – The Promise of the Kingdom of God in a Post-Secular Age explores secularism’s materialist worldview, the growing longing for transcendence, and how the cross disarms and destabilizes every worldly order of enchantment and control, revealing their ultimate futility apart from Christ.

Readers discover how Christ reveals the true mystery of God, reconciling heaven and earth through sacrificial love. You’ll discover how true re-enchantment is not found in utopian technologies or occult visions, but in the Kingdom life of discipleship, worship, and community where Christ dwells.

Jesus Christ is the answer to the spiritual longings of a post-secular age. Join Mark on a journey to understand our times—and respond to the greatest evangelistic opportunity of our lifetimes.