Have we Really Been Fair to Satan?

June 11th, 2011

He Does Such Swell Stuff for People

Remember the chapter in Luke where Jesus sat the disciples down and had them do yoga? He said, “I know it comes from a Satanic religion, but it really makes you flexible, and it’s okay, as long as you don’t pray to demons.”

Wait…he didn’t do that? Are you sure?

I had a Facebook discussion this week about yoga. A friend asked if it was okay for a Christian to do it, and of course, I said it was not. And I pointed out that it was very strange, seeing Christians argue over HOW MUCH of a Satanic religion it was okay to adopt.

Yoga is a religious practice. It’s part of Hinduism. Look it up. The postures were created as offerings to demon “gods” worshiped by Hindus. And if you get beyond the stretching and sitting, they’ll teach you Satanic mysticism, including things like meditation.

Christians will try to tell you that Hindu meditation is okay, because the Bible tells us to meditate. Unfortunately, they have not looked up “meditate” in a concordance. Two Old Testament terms translated as “meditate” mean to murmur or to concentrate, presumably on God’s word.

Here; take a look at a yoga expert’s explanation of meditation:

In the yogic context, meditation, or dhyana, is defined more specifically as a state of pure consciousness. It is the seventh stage, or limb, of the yogic path and follows dharana, the art of concentration. Dhyana in turn precedes samadhi, the state of final liberation or enlightenment, the last step in Patanjali’s eight-limbed system. These three limbs—dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (ecstasy)—are inextricably linked and collectively referred to as samyama, the inner practice, or subtle discipline, of the yogic path.

Right, right. Totally harmless. Nothing there to alarm a Christian. We all recall Jesus telling us how we needed to stretch our way to final liberation and achieve the last step in Patanjali’s eight-limbed system.

Are we dense, or what? HELLO? This is idolatry and mysticism. How could it be any more clear? What will it take? Do they have to give you an “I Heart Satan” T-shirt when you sign up, in order to get the message through your skull?

I am really fed up with wordly and/or Satanic (same thing) practices worming their way into the church. I am sick of “life coaches,” large group awareness training (i.e. cults), positive thinking, yoga, motivational speakers, positive visualization, and self-help gurus.

None of this stuff has anything to do with Jesus.

Here is one of the fundamental truths of Christianity. People try to fix their own lives without God, and they fail. They suffer, so they turn to Jesus. That’s how it works. You don’t turn to Jesus and then fix your life without God’s help.

People need to stop making excuses for God. That’s one of the problems here. People become Christians, and God doesn’t make their lives perfect overnight, and they hear bad teachings which don’t pan out (thousand-dollar seed gift, commanding the angels, etc.), and they try to come up with explanations, in order to preserve what little faith they have. One of the explanations is this, even if it’s never spoken expressly: “You have to work and find solutions to your problems and make things happen, and then you give God credit because he allowed you to succeed.”

People give up on God’s help, so they try yoga, self-esteem building, Dale Carnegie, and other worldly, ineffective nonsense. It works in the short term, so they run around telling people God blessed them. Worst of all, they tell people it proves God helps those who helps themselves, which is a huge lie not found in the Bible. God helps those who admit they can’t help themselves.

Here’s another truth: Christianity isn’t about making life perfect. The poor will always be with us, according to Jesus. Disease will always be with us. We will not get everything we want in life. People will die in accidents. Good people will not do well in business. Babies will be born deformed. The purpose of becoming a Christian isn’t to make your life perfect, although it may get very, very, VERY good.

Why do I point this out? Because many Christians think that any type of success pleases God. If yoga makes you healthier, it must be okay with God. If LGAT (large group awareness training, like EST and the Landmark Forum) cults help people succeed in business, they must please God. If you give money to poor people and help them temporarily, it must please God.

That’s crazy. God’s kingdom is not of this world. Suffering is part of his plan. Very often, “fixing” a problem by worldly means is the worst thing you can do. It’s not okay to practice demonic Hindu methods just because it makes your back feel good. It’s not okay to achieve success through cult training; in all likelihood, you’re just dodging something God wants you to go through. It’s not okay to let self-help gurus train you to be aggressive and conceited; God says to be humble and rely on him.

When you help yourself by means God never wanted for you, God takes his hands off and stops blessing you until you face-plant.

When the king of Israel turned to the Egyptians to fight his enemies, instead of turning to God, he was cursed and rebuked for it. He trusted man instead of God, and he got slapped down. Somehow, we think we’re different. We think we can get exactly what WE choose, through any means we want, instead of waiting to find out what God wants for us. We get earthly success through carnal means, and then we claim we’re blessed. Then God’s fire comes and burns it up, and we’re back at square one.

Why not take the straight path? If you’re a knowledgeable Christian, what excuse do you have for wasting time on this nonsense? Isn’t it better to lack for a while and then get a real blessing than to take what you want by force and then pretend God gave it to you?

I am reminded of the story about the little boy who prayed for a new bike and didn’t receive it. Finally, he stole a bike and prayed for forgiveness.

This is why liberalism is such a problem in the church. We aren’t content with God’s time-consuming ways. It’s not enough to have him work inside us individually and improve us one at a time. We think God’s kingdom is of this world. We have to have peace, love, unity, prosperity, and free puppies and kitties for everyone, NOW! NOW! NOW! So we don’t wait for God’s way. We say homosexuality is wonderful. We say socialism is God’s way, even though it isn’t mentioned once in the Bible. We support gun control, even though the Bible calls Jehovah “the God of armies” and Jesus ordered his disciples to carry swords. We say Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and other Satanic diversions are “other valid paths” to God. We adopt any worldly or occult practice that seems to work, and we call it good, because GOD WOULDN’T WANT TO DEPRIVE HIS PEOPLE OF ANYTHING.

What a load. Shame on us.

When Job’s children died and his wealth disappeared and he was covered with pus-oozing boils, did he join a yoga class? Did he start watching Oprah? Did he join a cult and take part in a humiliating seminar in a hotel ballroom? No. He said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” He thought he could defend himself before God, and he was wrong, but he didn’t turn to a swami to solve his problems.

God blesses people here on earth, especially if they give alms (Psalm 41), but that’s not his primary purpose. You may not get everything you want. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to try to get your stuff from the devil or from man. Remember Abraham? He had the opportunity to become rich by accepting goods from the King of Sodom, and he said, “I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.”

Christians need to learn this: you don’t judge the righteousness of an act by its positive earthly result. You judge it by the Holy Spirit and scripture. That which seems to bless you is not necessarily good, and it may be a great evil.

Satan shoves this filth into the church in order to take away people’s longing for God. He says, “See? You don’t need to wait for supernatural help. Get what you want on your own. This is what God really wants. Surely you didn’t think he was going to give you things for nothing! You don’t deserve it! God wants you to earn things!” Meanwhile, the Bible tells us over and over that God gives us what we don’t deserve, and that he paid virtually the entire price. It tells us that trying to save yourself is proud and rebellious.

When I first resumed going to church, I put up with a lot. I reminded myself that I was under the authority of other people, and that God had put them over me. I told myself I had to be patient, and that when they seemed to screw up, there would be blessings in going along with it. I felt it was rebellious and divisive to speak up.

Now I’ve modified that a little. I believe you give people reasonable slack, and then you stand up for God and open the mouth God gave you. I was not reborn to serve clergymen. I was reborn to serve the one who made them from sand and salt and water.

Some people claim the church is divided because rebellious people split off in order to get their own way. That’s a distortion straight from hell. The church is divided because churches become corrupt, and sometimes good people have to leave in order to serve God. Sure, some people are rebellious and divisive. But that’s not the whole story. How long do you serve a church that mixes paganism with Christianity? How long do you stay in a church which teaches that the Holy Spirit’s manifestations are demonic? How long do you serve a church that has a gay pastor who teaches with his husband in the first row? Do you seriously think God expects us to eat filth forever? Of course not.

You should try not to offend people, but you also have a duty to let people know when they’re in trouble, and that is more important than getting along with others. Through Ezekiel, God told us we would be guilty of the blood of sinners we did not warn.

Every prophet offended the church. A whole slew of them were martyred. If you haven’t made anyone in the church angry, you’re doing something wrong. Jeremiah, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Stephen were better servants of God than our modern Pastor Feelgoods. I know I’ll annoy people eventually, but when they pit themselves against God, what choice do I have?

I will wait on the Holy Spirit, and I will open my mouth when I have to. If some people don’t like me, so be it. They are not my judges.

6 Responses to “Have we Really Been Fair to Satan?”

  1. Heather Says:

    This is so very insightful. Agree totally about yoga.

  2. Aaron's cc: Says:

    Re est… I can speak as an ex-insider. Detoxed via the gift of a brief relationship with an Orthodox Jewish girl who broke up with me after about a month because I had no clue about the Sabbath she cared so much about. Had to ask myself whether, given that I spent about a dozen hours a year in actively being Jewish (a few hours, each, at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, and two Passover seders), whether it was worth not just going with the trend and chucking those… Instead, I decided I needed to at least examine the fundamentals of what I was going to abandon. While my initial steps were flawed (kept kosher, not the sabbath), I eventually realized I needed to be able to read the sources in their original and planned to spend a couple of years in Israel.
    .
    Well, you’ve written about that and the positive effects on both of us.
    .
    OK, except that I’ve had to give up pork.
    .
    Back to enjoying the recent arrival of daughter #3 who just returned from 2 years at seminary in Jerusalem.

  3. Ed Bonderenka Says:

    I haven’t found the perfect church yet. If I had, they wouldn’t let me in, right?.
    I’ve often wondered whether I’m defective in that I’ve been in so many churches (kicked out of a few for pointing out what you just have).
    Certainly, if I had a church resume, someone would have to look at it and say that it looks suspect. I must not be a good sheep.
    But I’ve been at this last church (a small one) for over ten years now, and I’ll take a smaller intimate group (Assemblies preferably) over a large impersonal church any day.
    Thanks for having the impetus to write about the things you do.
    It’s an encouragement and edifying.

  4. Lee Says:

    A better story would be, “A kid prayed for a new bike and didn’t receive it, so he went and mowed yards for money until he could afford to buy his own bike.”

    “The Lord helps those who helps themselves” isn’t in the Bible anywhere, but it’s good advice nonetheless.

  5. Verity Kindle Says:

    Dismissing Catholics for idolatry and apostasy in one sweeping statement? Steve, I’ve read your blog since the way back in the “Hog on Ice” days and I’ve always enjoyed your reasoned arguments about Christianity and the things you’ve studied. You’ve never been one to make sweeping statements without something to back it up. I understand that you were working up to a larger point, but if you’re going to slam Catholics, at least lay out your thought on it. To be more specific, you said that Catholics worship a mere woman. Catholics have never worshiped Mary, the mother of Christ. That has never been a part of Catholic teaching or practice and I look forward to the opportunity to read what you have studied that proves otherwise. Secondly, dismissing Mary as a mere woman is to dismiss her importance in the life of Christ, both during His childhood and when He began His ministry. Whether you believe that she has a special significance in Biblical history or not, she deserves more respect than that, if only as a historical figure who had a profound impact on Jesus’ life. What historical figure doesn’t have a mother? Is there one human on the planet who was not influenced by his or her mother?

  6. greg zywicki Says:

    “But great teacher, what’s Samadhi?”

    “Nothing at all. What’s samadhi with you?”
    ……

    “Namaste…’

    “is it Namas Day already? Seems like just yesterday it was flag day.”