New Age practices in the body of Christ

[jb]

There is no "fine" yoga; it is a worship practice of a non-Christian belief system. Stretching is legitimate, but yoga, even under a different name, is not.

Fully agree here...

Yoga is the gateway to the occult!

Even in the very basic steps, you are introduced to "directing prana."

And yet it is practised by many Christians!

 

[Locoponydirtman]

Racism: like "black" or "white" churches.; typically in the south.

Have you ever been in the south? I dont think so. Down here we live very integrated lives, a vast difference from what i found when i lived for a year in Chicago. I was so glad to get back south when i left that hateful place.
I always think, everytime someone calls "racist" and then points south, that person is absolutely ignorant. Down here you better be ready to deal with folks from another race on a daily basis. My Lutheran church, which is quite rare in the south has members that are Black. Polynesian, Native American, Caucasian, and Anglos. Its very rare to go into a church down here and there not be a mix of races, particularly as you put it so crassly, "black and white".

 

[ResidentAlien]

I lived in Tulsa, OK for a few years (Word of Faith central). You can't live there without coming into contact with Word of Faith at some point. Rhema (spoken word) Bible College finds its home in Broken Arrow, OK, a suburb of Tulsa.

The main tenant of WoF is positive confession or prayer declaration. The idea is that God spoke all things into existence by the power of a force called faith; and since we are made in the image of God in Christ (little gods) we also can create our own reality through the spoken word. There are multiple problems with this, not the least of which is the idea that God created all things through the force of faith.

This idea of creating your own reality doesn't come from God's word but from "New Thought." Kenneth Hagin, the guy who popularized WoF in Christianity, was influenced by E. W. Kenyon, among others. Hagin plagiarized many of Kenyon's works and this has been thoroughly documented. In Kenyon's day, the term wasn't New Age but New Thought, and he was definitely into it.

Positive confession became one of the main ingredients in New Age philosophy in the form of positive affirmations. In the '90s some of the biggest names in the New Age movement—Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer and Stuart Wilde—became millionaires selling books and tapes on it.

In many ways, WoF has become mainstream and a lot of people don't even realize they've been sold a bill of goods. Typically, the prosperity gospel goes hand-in-hand with WoF. Some of the names of WoF preachers are:

Kenneth Hagin Sr.
Kenneth Hagin Jr.
Joyce Meyer
Andrew Wommack
Joel and Victoria Osteen
T. L. Osborn
Kenneth Copeland
Benny Hinn
TD Jakes
Creflo Dollar
Jesse Duplantis
Paul Crouch
Myles Munroe
Rodney Howard-Brown

These are some of the more recognizable names but there are many, many more.

 

[proutled]

hello .good morning. the only true power is Jesus, for we are over comers by the blood. the blood of the lamb of GOD, we are made in the image of God, we all need to read and study the bible, and apply it in our lives, we are to do what Jesus tells us, Matthew mark Luke and John,, thew the POWER of the holy spirit, not self, it is Gods holy spirit that heals. it is Gods holy spirit that fills us with he's love, every day, being a Christion is having a relationship with Jesus, my sheep know my voice,

 

[ResidentAlien]

Something that seems very concerning to me is the practice known as "extracting the precious from the worthless." Essentially the idea goes something like this: For every truth there is a satanic counterfeit. Our job as believers is to delve into the counterfeit and get back for Christianity those things which Satan has stolen. I've heard this idea quite a bit right here in this forum. Probably the most straightforward and clear description of this idea is found in Experiencing the Heavenly Realm by Judy Franklin and Ellyn Davis. This book has a Forward by Kris Vallotton and contributions by Bob Jones, Bill Johnson, Jonathan Welton, Ray Hughes, Cal Pierce, Dan McCollam, Larry Randolph, Beni Johnson, and David Van Koevering. It's beyond my scope to cover all these in detail, but I can say all of them are connected to the New Apostolic Reformation in one way or another.

Davis, in her section on "The Coming Golden Age," writes:

In 2006, through God’s inexplicable sense of humor, I found myself with an empty nest and a job offer in Sedona, AZ, the global epicenter of New Age thought and practice. By then I had experienced most of what charismatic Christianity had to offer—miracles, prophecy, healing, deep revelation, transformative experiences of the presence of the Holy Spirit, excellent Bible teaching [note Bible teaching is given last place, RA]—and I had been involved in at least five modern-day moves of God in the church.​

​

I moved to Sedona fully prepared to discount everything I saw and heard as coming from a source other than the God I knew and loved. But, as a scientist, I was intrigued by what I found there. I saw healings and mystical experiences and revelations to rival anything I had seen or experienced in the church. I encountered an understanding of the natural world and how it interacted with the spiritual that I had sensed but had never been taught in any of my science classes.​

​

It wasn’t that I wanted to become a New Ager, I just wanted to find out if maybe they had uncovered some truths the church hadn’t. The strange thing was, much of what I saw and heard embodied biblical principles and could be backed up by Scripture.​

​

When I was a little girl, I was so determined to discover the truth about everything that my father would tell his friends: “Ellyn’s the kind of person who if you gave her a mountain of horse manure she’d spend all day shoveling through it saying, ‘There’s got to be a pony in here somewhere.’ ”​

​

Well, I “shoveled a lot of manure” while I was in Sedona, and actually found some ponies. Of course, I found a lot of other things too—things that clearly could be attributed to too many drugs or the demonic realm or the fact that con artists discovered they could make mega-bucks by becoming New Age gurus. But that didn’t discourage me because I knew that mounds of “manure” usually go with the territory when a lot of money and prestige are at stake (remember, I had been in the ministry and in business for a long, long time).​

​

I was familiar with the principles that “whenever you see a counterfeit, it means a real exists” and that “a lie just proves the existence of a truth,” so I decided to investigate what was going on and bring my scientific background and my faith in Jesus Christ into the mix of my search for truth. I decided to examine New Age thought and practice for anything “precious” that might be “extracted” from the​

worthless.​

​

At that time, I could not find a single Christian leader who shared a similar interest in finding out if there were truths hidden in the New Age. Now we are beginning to hear more and more revelation that is in line with what New Agers have been saying all along and we are hearing more and more teaching about Christians “taking back truths” from the New Age that really belong to citizens of the Kingdom of God.​

In other words she had "experienced most of what charismatic Christianity had to offer" and was bored. She says a lot of what she saw and heard from the New Age embodied "biblical principles"; no doubt. However, Biblical principles do not equal Biblical truth. Instead of going directly to God's word she went to New Agers under the pretext of "taking back" Biblical truths from them. My question is: Why didn't she simply set out to expose them instead of importing their counterfeits into the body of Christ?

 

[ResidentAlien]

Correction: The book above should've been The Physics of Heaven by Judy Franklin and Beni Johnson (Bill Johnson's late wife). Ellyn Davis contributed to this book and I got them mixed up.

 

[Snacker]

No bibles in churches today, people are on their phones.

I met a seminarian who boasted that there was only one Bible in her church, and that was upfront with the pastor.

 

[RaceRunner]

I do not believe it is possible for New Age practices to take part in the Body of Christ.

Which denominations can prove they are in the Body of Christ?

 

[proutled]

you can tell who is who, by the fruit that they bare, fruit of the spirit love. peace. joy, or strife ,flesh self ,

 

[FollowingtheWay]

you can tell who is who, by the fruit that they bare, fruit of the spirit love. peace. joy, or strife ,flesh self ,

right on! It’s even a Jesus teaching

“By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭16‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 

[proutled]

Hello. Good morning, we must be like Jesus,

 

[ResidentAlien]

you can tell who is who, by the fruit that they bare, fruit of the spirit love. peace. joy, or strife ,flesh self ,

You can't tell who is who by fruit alone. That's part of it, but many non-Christians bear fruit of the spirit; or at least what passes for it. There are many tests and fruit is only one of them.

 

[FollowingtheWay]

Hello. Good morning, we must be like Jesus,

Good morning and yes absolutely I believe one should always keep Jesus teachings at focus in our lives and as the Word says as we abide in Him we can have faith that we will bear His fruit in our lives.

 

[proutled]

YES do I here a witness , Amen,

 

[Mem]

There's nothing new under the sun. The current understanding of the Nephilim, for example, is deeply rooted in mysticism and asserts that they are fallen angels who took the form of man. Meanwhile, the real Nephilim have been among us all along, and some are even quite short, and running amok. Therefore, here comes the world's destruction by fire since the warning of water only proved to be unheeded.

 

[proutled]

You can't tell who is who by fruit alone. That's part of it, but many non-Christians bear fruit of the spirit; or at least what passes for it. There are many tests and fruit is only one of them.

thats ware you must have Decernment, and wisdom, and when people speak about Jesus or religion make sure that every thing must line up with the word of God,

 

[2ndTimeIsTheCharm]

You can't tell who is who by fruit alone. That's part of it, but many non-Christians bear fruit of the spirit; or at least what passes for it. There are many tests and fruit is only one of them.

Please tell us what the other tests are.

❧

 

[Aaron56]

Have you ever been in the south? I dont think so. Down here we live very integrated lives, a vast difference from what i found when i lived for a year in Chicago. I was so glad to get back south when i left that hateful place.
I always think, everytime someone calls "racist" and then points south, that person is absolutely ignorant. Down here you better be ready to deal with folks from another race on a daily basis. My Lutheran church, which is quite rare in the south has members that are Black. Polynesian, Native American, Caucasian, and Anglos. Its very rare to go into a church down here and there not be a mix of races, particularly as you put it so crassly, "black and white".

Should have waited for the answer to your first question. Would have saved you some time. I'm far from ignorant and I'm wise enough not to use only anecdotal experience to prove my point. You can look up Pew Research statistics on racial integration of churches in the U.S. on your own.

Furthermore, it is not simply a black-white issue, although it typically is in the states. Many "national" churches won't extend memberships to believers who are not citizens of said nation. Racism is the only reason but, certainly, there are a lot of reason for racism.

 

[Locoponydirtman]

Should have waited for the answer to your first question. Would have saved you some time. I'm far from ignorant and I'm wise enough not to use only anecdotal experience to prove my point. You can look up Pew Research statistics on racial integration of churches in the U.S. on your own.

Furthermore, it is not simply a black-white issue, although it typically is in the states. Many "national" churches won't extend memberships to believers who are not citizens of said nation. Racism is the only reason but, certainly, there are a lot of reason for racism.

Yes yes, im sure you are wise enough to pay heed to a heathen 3rd party political biased propaganda machine rather than imperical observation.

 

[Dino246]

Please tell us what the other tests are.

❧

Consistency with the word of God is the primary one. That's referenced in the old testament as a test for 'prophets' in Isaiah 8:20:

19 When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

Obviously, the next test is whether they are pointing you to God/Jesus or to another "source". This is referenced in Deuteronomy 13:1-2 and elsewhere...

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.