Rick Warren Daniel Plan News - Dr. Oz Hypnotizes America

By Justin Edwards

As was announced on Friday, February 4th, Dr. Oz hosted British hypnotist Paul McKenna on his Dr.  Oz Show Monday. From Friday's announcement:

Hypnosis for weight loss with Paul McKenna - Hypnosis has profound powers that can help you. On Monday, Feb. 7, Dr. Oz is unlocking its powers to show viewers how to use hypnosis to combat overeating. With hypnotist Paul McKenna, Dr. Oz will explain how hypnosis works, whether anyone can be hypnotized and why it can help in losing weight.

Yes, this is the same Dr. Oz who hosted pantheist New Ager Deepak Chopra on his show a few weeks ago, and it's the same Dr. Oz who has been embraced, along with New Age Drs. Amen and Hyman, by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church to promote and implement Warren's so-called "Daniel Plan".  What's more, and quite sadly and disturbing enough, this is the same Rick Warren who has been endorsed, promoted, praised, and welcomed as a biblical pastor who "at root...is theological and doctrinal and sound" by none other than Dr. John Piper (article here).

The question must be asked of Saddleback Church - is there any among you who has an ounce, no, a gram of discernment, to see that this Trojan Horse of New Age and mystical deception has entered your courts? Can you not see that your pastor, so-called "America's pastor", has opened this door of contemplative spirituality and Eastern meditative mysticism (CSM) into your church? Please, do yourself a favor - do your family a favor - and research what is happening here. Check out the three links above to see why your pastor is leading you down the path of ecumenical destruction. Unless he separates himself from the works of Belial, we have no choice but to believe he is of Belial. Years of Warren's pragmatic, moralistic, man-centered messages; flirtations with CSM; interfaith fellowship; and ecumenical compromise have led him and your church to this moment.

It is time for you to wake up and smell the incense.

Under no circumstances should Christians ever be hypnotized, yet, Rick Warren has partnered with "America's Doctor" who promotes and endorses this mind-altering pagan practice. Gotquestions provides an excellent list for why hypnotism is problematic for Christians. I've summed the article as follows:

1) Through hypnosis, we transfer the ability to control ourselves to someone else, which is contrary to the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:21 that gives us self-control by His power.

2) We are to yield ourselves to God and He alone. It is His power alone, once we yield ourselves to His will, that helps us overcome sin (Romans 6:12-13). Hypnosis causes us to yield ourselves to someone else (or something else).

3) Hypnosis leads people into an altered state of consciousness, thus making the mind susceptible to outside influence, which may not be restricted to the hypnotist. Scripture tells us to be self-controlled and alert because Satan prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). We are not able to be watchful if our minds have been swept away by hypnosis.

4) Hypnosis, just like CSM and Eastern religious meditative practices (Hinduism and Buddhism), causes one to look at self, or their inner self, to find the solution. Taken to the extreme, which is where CSM always leads, it causes us to find the inner light within us, or the god within us, or that perfect state that is immune to sin within us. Essentially, this leads to the idea that God is within us all, regardless of whether one is a Christian (pantheism). Scripture, on the other hand, teaches us to look to Christ alone (Hebrews 12:2), for the answers do not lie within us (Romans 7:18) and our only solution is found in Christ (Romans 8:2).

5) As mentioned, hypnosis is shared by mystical and religious systems, including the occult, New Age transcendental meditation, Hindu (yoga) and Buddhist meditation, and contemplative spirituality. All of these are linked to spiritual darkness and the Christian must flee from such idol worship of self.

Even so, Rick Warren has yoked himself with this New Age practitioner, Dr. Oz.

I hesitate to post the following video from the Dr. Oz Show, which is available on his website. I trust that you will only view this video with extreme caution, capable of distracting your mind from the intended hypnosis. This is posted for informational purposes only. Do not watch this without praying first, and if you do not believe you are capable of resisting the hypnosis, then please skip to the transcript below.

Paul Mckenna Hypnosis: Supercharge Your Metabolism

(Click to view - embed code not working)

Partial Transcipt beginning at about the 2:55 mark:

...as you relax my voice will go with you , and you might hear it in many different ways, and you don't even have to think about it, just let the focus sink deeper and deeper towards your own inner stillness, and you can notice words, and you can notice noticing words, and you can notice noticing your body can relax, and your mind can relax, and your mind has become very sensitive to my suggestions that help you most, your breathing carries on all by itself, your mind carries on all by itself, and you can watch it wonder away, your experience, your understanding, your awareness can just detach and slow down. Relax the muscles around your eyes again, relax your jaw, ease off the muscles in your neck, and let your shoulders drop, and with each out breath, let them drop a little more until all the tension is released, as you free your mind to concentrate on success, you build up the energy to take action. Every day you'll do something to move yourself toward your ideal weight, every day you'll take action, your unconscious mind will remind you you have the energy you need ready and waiting, you just stop to work and the energy will become available, you'll become more and more responsive to your situations and the people you work with, every day you'll understand more and more and respond more to the situations and the people around you, you'll become more flexible and adaptable so you can continue to work towards your ideal weight whatever happens around you. Everyday , your tenacity will increase, you can keep going, persevering, achieving, working, and pressing on so that every day you achieve something. And very soon, it will be time to awaken, and before you awaken, I'd like you to reinforce every positive thought you've ever had about yourself. And as you become awake, you can feel the wish to be active, you can find your self enjoying that. We all know we can day dream, we can all sleep, and we can all wake up, although we don't consciously know how we can wake up, yet we do, and you can awake now...

I am not an expert on the New Age or hypnotism, but I do know this is nothing short of self-worshiping idolatry. It is focused on man and his inner self, instead of Jesus Christ and what He has done and will do in the life of the born again believer. Instead of looking to the Lord Jesus Christ and His transforming power, hypnosis looks to what man can do for himself (just like all forms of meditation). This, of course, lines up perfectly with Rick Warren's Pelagian, moralistic tendencies for behavior modification. Warren believes that one can just change the way they think in order to change their behavior and their life. Scripture, on the other hand, tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), which is achieved by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit through the objective reading of the Word of God and through prayer. What's more, McKenna seeks to open your mind to his influence, which he clearly states will help you the most. Sounds a lot like a certain garden serpent, yes?

To those who follow, support, endorse, and/or are taught under the ministry of Rick Warren, how much more evidence do you need? How much longer will you travel down this road of destruction, and how much longer will you expose your family to this pagan idolatry? How much longer will you, purpose-driven pastor, continue to lead your flock into the darkness alongside Rick Warren? I call for you to repent and separate yourself from any and all associations with Rick Warren.

How much longer will you reject this warning?

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? - 2 Corinthians 6:14-15

To be sure you know where to go next in your research, please see these links:

Dr. Oz and Deepak Chopra

Rick Warren's Daniel Plan, New Age, Mysticism, and More

Rick Warren Introduces "The Devil Plan"

Rick Warren knowingly exposes Saddleback congregants to New Age mysticism through The Daniel Plan

Personal Report on Saddleback Church Health and Fitness Seminar

A Look at Rick Warren's New Age Health Plan

What Is Contemplative Prayer and Mysticism?

What is "Christian Mysticism"?

What Is Soaking Prayer?

Rick Warren's Daniel Plan, New Age, Mystyicism, Dr. Oz, and More

By Justin Edwards

This is a must read special report from Lighthouse Trails Research regarding Rick Warren's new Daniel Plan for his Saddleback Church. It may be the most clear evidence to date of the direction Warren is leading his followers into contemplative spirituality and mysticism (CSM). If you are a supporter of Rick Warren or attend his church, I implore you to prayerfully consider what is being presented to you here. He is opening the door to a tsunami of deception for all who follow him and his models. Will you continue to blindly follow this man, or test him against the Word of God like the Bereans?

Special Report: Rick Warrenʼs New Health and Wellness Initiative Could Have Profound Repercussions on Many

By Lighthouse Trails Research

(HT: to Joe Schimmel for providing photos and video at his Cup of Joe blog)


Just ten days after Lighthouse Trails posted its last and most important article of 2010, Rick Warrenʼs “Apologetics” Weekend Should Apologize for Representing “Another Gospel,”we must issue this Special Report regarding a year-long event that will be kicking off at Rick Warrenʼs Saddleback Church on January 15th, 2011.

Near the end of 2010, Rick Warren announced that Saddleback Church would be entering “a Decade of Destiny.” He told his congregation that they would be focusing on several key areas, one of them being “health and wellness.” The “Daniel Challenge” or the “Daniel Plan” is Saddlebackʼs new health “initiative.” On Saddlebackʼs website, it states:

God’s Prescription For Your Health.
Be a part of this transformational debut to be a healthier you!

The kick-off event is next weekend, January 15. Weʼll hear from world-renowned doctors on a plan to get healthy and stay that way in the new decade.

Who are the “world-renowned doctors” that will be helping to kick off Saddlebackʼs Decade of Destiny? Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman. The video on the website states that this program has been “Exclusively Designed for Saddleback Church by Three of the Leading Health Specialists in America.”

Let us get right to the point: The three doctors who have put together a 52-week health program for Saddleback congregants are absolute advocates and proponents of not just eastern-style meditation but actual eastern meditation and much, much more as this article will reveal. Right off, let us say that if you are thinking perhaps that these doctors will only advise Saddleback on legitimate health advice (exercise, healthy eating, etc.) take a look at this video (taken place at Saddleback, see below) between Rick Warren and Dr. Daniel Amen. Amen intends to help Saddleback participants to have good “brain health,” which he firmly believes comes from meditation. In this video, he openly discusses meditation with Rick Warren.

What are the spiritual underpinnings of the meditation these three doctors are propagating? This report will lay it out for you.

Dr. Amen, founder of Amen Clinics, is the author of over 25 books. He teaches techniques that will improve  “brain health,” claiming that poor brain health is associated with a host of problems from overeating to depression. As Dr. Amen describes in the video you just saw, he includes meditation (and in fact this is his primary tool) as a way to have a healthy brain.

It is the nature of this meditation that sets Dr. Amen apart from any other individual that Lighthouse Trails has ever written about concerning Rick Warren. In a 6-CD set called Create a More Passionate Night, Dr. Amen has teamed up with advanced certified Tantra educator, T. J. Bartel. It is important that you visit Bartelʼs website to better understand the nature of what he stands for. By the way, when you hear Bartel say “Namaste,” this means the god in me bows down to the god in you. We have discussed tantric sex in a number of Lighthouse Trails articles in the past, such as one called “Whatʼs Sex Got to Do with It?” Please refer to this article if you are unfamiliar with this spiritual practice. In essence, Tantra or tantric sex is the use of Hinduistic-type mysticism during sexual intercourse. Please listen to what Ray Yungen has to say about Tantra and the serious implications of it:

Tantra is the name of the ancient Hindu sacred texts that contain certain rituals and secrets. Some deal with taking the energies brought forth in meditation through the chakras and combining them with love-making to enhance sexual experiences.

Once completely off-limits to the masses of humanity, Tantra, like all other New Age methodologies, is now starting to gain increasing popularity… The potential to impact a very great number of people, especially men, was brought out in an article by a sex worker who incorporates “Tantric Bodywork” into her services… she has turned to Tantric Union to give her clients what she feels is not just sex but “union with the divine.” …Now the “multitudes of men” who come to her get much more than they bargained for. In the past, wives and girlfriends needed only to worry about sexually transmitted diseases from cheating husbands and boyfriends, but now their men may instead bring home spiritual entities! (For Many Shall Come in My Name, Yungen, pp. 115-116)

We are sorry to be so frank – but we must – we are dealing with Rick Warren, “Americaʼs Pastor” and one of the most, perhaps THE most, influential evangelical leaders today. And in just a few days, he will be starting a 52-week health program that has been designed by Dr. Amen, a tantric sex activist! Dr. Amen expresses his strong feelings about tantric in his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body:

In my book, “The Brain in Love,” I wrote about Tantric sexual practices, and was fascinated by the concept… I wanted to experience it for myself and thought it would be a wonderful way to enhance my relationship with my wife, Tana… T.J. Bartel… became our teacher… I felt as if I had to share his knowledge with everyone I knew.” (p. 283)

Everyone he knows? Will that include Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, and even overflow to thousands of Purpose Driven churches? That could potentially be millions of people. On the video interview with Rick Warren and Dr. Amen, Warren states that Dr. Amenʼs resources would be available for those attending the seminar this coming weekend. In almost all of the ”resources” by Dr. Amen, he advocates eastern meditation. In some of the books, he devotes many, many pages to meditation practices. On page 238 of Amenʼs Making a Good Brain Great, he states: “I recommend an active form of yoga meditation called Kriya Kirtan. It is based on the five primal sounds saa, taa, naa, maa, aa.” He tells readers to repeat these sounds for 12 minutes straight.

Many of you have heard of New Age leader Eckhart Tolle, whose 2008 book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Lifeʼs Purpose was highly popularized by Oprah. Tolle stated that the bookʼs purpose was to bring about a “shift in consciousness” (pp. 6-7). In his earlier book, The Power of Now, he speaks of this ”consciousness,” what he considers a christ-consciousness:

Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence. (p. 104)

For more on Eckhart Tolle and the great awakening that New Agers seek after for the planet, read Warren B. Smithʼs 4-part article, “The Great Heretical Idea: Oprah and Eckhart Do the New Age Shift.” Dr. Daniel Amen talks about Tolleʼs The Power of Now in his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, calling Tolleʼs book ”extraordinary.”

Dr. Amenʼs meditation technique of choice is Kriya Kirtan, as we stated above. This is a form of kundalini yoga (see his book, The Brain in Love, p. 146). Those who have studied with discernment the New Age know that kundalini (or serpent power) is the spiritual “energy” behind meditation. Ray Yungen explains the relationship between kundalini and the chakras:

The chakras act as conduits or conductors for what is called kundalini or serpent energy. They say this force lies coiled but dormant at the base of the spine like a snake. When awakened during meditation, it is supposed to travel up the spine activating each chakra as it surges upward. When the kundalini force hits the crown chakra, the person experiences enlightenment or Self-realization. This mystical current results in the person knowing himself to be God. That is why kundalini is sometimes referred to as the divine energy. According to New Age proponents, all meditative methods involve energy and power, and the greater the power, the greater the experience. (“FMSC,” pp. 76-77)

Dr. Mark Hyman, one of the three doctors who ”designed” the “Daniel Challenge” for Saddleback, is another strong advocate for mystical meditation. In his book, The Ultramind Solution, Hyman emphasizes meditation, saying that it doesnʼt matter what religion one has to benefit from it (p. 322). Dr. Hyman suggests that “Mindful meditation is a powerful well-researched tool, developed by Buddhists” (p. 384). On the front cover of The Ultramind Solution, sits an endorsement by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the third doctor who will be training Saddleback on health.

Anyone who watches daytime television, in particular Oprah, will know the name Dr. Oz, a highly renowned cardiovascular surgeon. It was Oprah who featured him on her show for five years, making him a household name, which eventually led to his own television show, one of the most popular shows on television.

Last February, Lighthouse Trails posted a piece titled “Dr. Oz Tells Millions of Americans: ʻTry Reiki!ʼ” In January 2010, Dr. Oz brought a Reiki master onto his show to demonstrate Reiki and then ended the show saying, “try Reiki” as the #1 “Ozʼs Order.” It would make sense that Dr. Oz would tell his viewers to try Reiki – his wife is a Reiki practitioner. One press release related:

Reiki Masters across America and the world had cause for celebration on January 6 when Dr. Mehmet Oz revealed his Ultimate Alternative Medicine Secrets for 2010 during his nationally broadcast afternoon talk show. He ranked Reiki #1. Dr. Oz said, “Reiki is one of my favorites, weʼve been using it for years in the Oz family, and we swear by it.”

As Lighthouse Trails has documented for years, Reiki is a type of “energy healing” that is based on the New Age chakra system and puts those practicing it into contact with the realm of familiar spirits. If this sounds far fetched, listen to what one Reiki master wrote in the Everything Reiki Book:

During the Reiki attunement process, the avenue that is opened within the body to allow Reiki to flow through also opens up the psychic communication centers. This is why many Reiki practitioners report having verbalized channeled communications with the spirit world. (cited in “A Time of Departing,” p. 97)

Recently, we posted a YouTube video that describes the spiritual consequences of practicing Reiki. The person doing the video told the story of one woman who, after practicing Reiki, came into contact with 35 spirit guides and was unable to rid herself of them. They told her they would be with her forever. If you have not yet viewed this 10 minute video, it is imperative that you do. (Good Fight has embedded this video below for your convenience.) Reiki is a catalyst or channel, as stated earlier, into the spirit world. This is not a silly, nonsensical ritual with no meaning. This is serious stuff!

How serious (is Reiki)? Consider this: A book titled The Instruction, written by Ainslie MacLeod, is described by the publisher as the following:

Have you ever sensed that your life has a deeper, more meaningful purpose–but donʼt know what it is? If so, youʼre not alone. To help you and the millions like you, psychic Ainslie MacLeodʼs spirit guides have given him a systematic approach to uncovering who you really are–and the life your soul has planned for you. They call it “The Instruction.” Now, for the first time, this unique teaching is offered as a step-by-step program for realizing personal fulfillment. The Instruction will take you through ten “doorways” to unveil the life plan your soul created before you were even born.

In the foreword written by MacLeod, he says the “purpose of the book is to understand the coming shift in consciousness that is poised to sweep the planet. This transformation will affect everyone of us in some way.” This book, which is given by spirit guides and lays out the basic foundation for the New Age, impressed Dr. Oz so much that he wrote an endorsement for the front cover. He stated: “I recommend this book to those who seek greater spiritual well-being and a better understanding of their lifeʼs purpose.” Dr. Ozʼs endorsement is also on the front cover of MacLeodʼs 2010 book, The Transformation: Healing Your Past Lives to Realize Your Soulʼs Potential, where he exclaimed: “Ainslie MacLeod is at the frontier of exploration into the soul and its profound influence on our physical selves.”

Make no mistake about it – Reiki, meditation, tantric sex – these are very powerful mystical experiences that have the capability to delude and deceive those who are involved with it. While many of the health ideas these three doctors share in their books and DVDs are legitimate (exercise, vitamins, and good diet, etc.), these doctors firmly believe in meditation and want to make it widely accepted and embraced and have interwoven this belief into their programs. As Dr. Amen admitted himself, he wants to tell everyone he knows about meditation. Rick Warren and Saddleback are in danger, as could be the millions who Rick Warren influences.

We urge all discerning believers to contact their own pastors and any other pastors or leaders they know to warn them about what is taking place in the name of wellness and fitness in the church. We urge you also to contact ministries who have, in one way or another, either through consent or silence, supported the “new” spirituality that is trying to enter the church and tell them where it leads. The wellness and fitness aspect of this is just another face of this whole movement that is impacting our entire culture.
In this plea, consider what Roger Oakland stated at the end of Faith Undone:

There are still pastors and churches dedicated to proclaiming the truth. Find out where they are and support them. If you are in a location where this does not seem to be possible, seek out materials that are available from solid Bible-based Christian ministries and hold Bible studies in your homes.

When Jesus returns, He will not find a utopian world filled with peace but one in shambles, unrest, violence, and war for having forsaken the Word of God, the true Gospel, and the One true God. Rather than being a time when He will praise the world for discovering its christ-consciousness, He will come as a Judge and powerful King (p. 230).

Let us hold fast to the truth, and in considering the fact that compromising our spiritual health and wellness is never the right avenue to physical wellness, remember the words Paul spoke to the Romans. He did not tell them to entertain spirit guides, practice mantra meditation, yoga, or Reiki. This was his instruction to believers:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. –Romans 12: 1-2

As important as physical health may be, we must remember that our bodies are only temporal. Yes, we should take care of them, but in the process we should not do as Esau did and sell out our spiritual heritage for a bowl of pottage.

New Page on airō: Cults and World Religions

By Justin Edwards

A new page full of excellent resources on major Cults and World Religions with an emphasis in reaching those trapped under these false teachings has been added to the blog.  Here's the intro:

Jesus made it clear that salvation comes through no other but Himself in John 14:6 when He said,

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Yet one must only survey the multitudes of world religions and cults to understand the majority of the world's population deny this truth. And while Christian cults may acknowledge and accept the words of Christ in the passage above, they twist and distort other Scriptures to deny the deity of Christ and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, thus stripping away the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of sin and adding works as necessary for salvation.

Similar to the Last Days Apostasy page, this page is dedicated to providing you the best resources to equip and prepare you to understand the basic teachings of religions and cults in order for you to defend the Christian faith and share the Gospel with the lost. In these last days of deception, Christian intolerance, paganism, and calls for religious unity at the cost of denying the fundamentals of Christianity, it is imperative you are well-informed not only to defend the truth against the lies, but to

...always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear... - 1 Peter 3:15

Each section is broken down by religion or cult and will include various trusted websites, books, videos, and other tools to prepare you for battle. This is a lot of information, so please take your time and visit often as you finish with each resource. The Cults and World Religions page will be updated as new resources are discovered. I pray God uses this page

...for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. - Ephesians 4:12

If you are a non-Christian and perhaps belong to one of the belief systems mentioned on this page, please know the purpose here is to lead you to the love, grace, and mercy of the One True God through His Son Jesus Christ. Please consider exploring the resources in the applicable section and seriously examine whether what you believe is actually true. Eternity is forever, so it is critical you have the right Answer as our beliefs do not create truth, rather our beliefs must conform to the truth. I pray you seek the Truth that offers you eternal life, for there is no other name, Jesus Christ, under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). And remember,

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. - Hebrews 11:6

Please click the following link to visit the new page: Cults and World Religions

Emergent Church Pastor Rob Bell Praises New Age Author Huston Smith

By Justin Edwards

Thanks to the Sola Sisters blog for reposting this critical red flag from Ingrid Schlueter of Crosstalk blog. Rob Bell is one of the most dangerous men in the visible church today. Here's the story:

Reprinted in part from Crosstalk blog, by Ingrid Schlueter

Rob Bell’s 40,000 something followers on Twitter were treated to this tweet where Bell calls New Age Interspiritualist author Huston Smith’s book “great.”  See tweet here. And here Huston Smith holds forth on one of the world’s religions. YouTube is filled with Mr. Smith’s praise for Hinduism, Buddhism and other world religions and their “truth.” Christianity is just one of many choices, according to Smith.

Why should this be especially alarming? Because Rob Bell is a rock star among today's youth and church youth leaders.  His books (Sex God, Velvet Elvis, Drops Like Stars, etc.) have been bestsellers, and his NOOMA videos are shown in church youth groups all across the country.  Discerning, mature Christian adults may "get" why Rob Bell is dangerous, but it is the children and the youth who are being targeted and indoctrinated into Rob Bell's interfaith religious syncretism, sometimes right under their parent's noses.

We can thank Rob Bell for openly admitting what many of us have been warning about for years. He represents a version of Christianity that is, in fact, anti-Christ. While Bell roots around in the books of rank interspiritualists for “truth”, true Christians look to our only and final authority, the unchanging Word of God.

(HT: Sola Sisters)

Warning: Christianity and Yoga Do Not Mix!

By Jason Carlson and Ron Carlson

“Yoga purists are bent out of shape”. This was the headline of a recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. The article explained that traditional Yoga “experts contend that Hindu religious elements are being profaned by fad versions of the ancient practice.”

So, what are these “fad versions” of yoga that are upsetting the Hindu yogis? The article cites as an example the “millions of Americans… practicing yoga to improve flexibility, strengthen muscles and relieve stress.” These 16.5 million American yoga enthusiasts “spend nearly $3 billion annually on classes and products”.

The problem with this, according to the Hindu yogis quoted in the article, is that yoga was never designed to be an exercise, yet alone an exercise “fad”. Rather, yoga is an ancient Hindu religious practice, intended to unite a person’s soul with the impersonal, universal force Hindus call “god”. The Hindu Sanskrit word “yoga” literally means to be yoked or joined in union. And the goal of every Hindu yogi is to use the religious practice of yoga to lose their personality and individuality and to become one with the monistic-pantheistic spiritual force of Hinduism. This is done through Hatha Yoga (the physical disciplines), where one seeks to call up what Hindus say is the Kundalini or spiritual force described as a “coiled white serpent of light” to aid them in their transcendence to impersonal spiritual monism. There should be no doubt about it; yoga is a 2,000 year old Hindu religious practice designed for very specific spiritual and occult purposes.

This Star Tribune article should be a wake-up call to the thousands, if not millions, of Christians who are regularly practicing yoga. And it should be a wake-up call to the hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian churches that have embraced yoga as a regular part of their weekly worship. Too many Christians have erroneously strayed into participating in various forms of this Hindu religious practice. The common claim is that they’re only doing yoga “for its exercise benefits”; or for those aware of its Hindu religious origins, that their yoga meditation is “directed towards Jesus Christ and not the gods of Hinduism”. The fact of the matter is this, God strictly forbids his people from dabbling in the false religious activities of the world.

As you read through Scripture, you will not find one example of God tolerating His people’s participation in pagan religious activities. Rather, over and over again God explicitly condemns this. So, why should we think that just because yoga has some exercise benefits, that God’s standards have now changed? Why should we think that a pagan religious practice, even one that may work, is suddenly acceptable in God’s eyes? Think about it, there are a lot of pagan religious practices that work (witchcraft, sorcery, spiritism, ouija boards, etc.), but we don’t recommend that our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ participate in them. So, why should yoga be any different?

Christians who have mistakenly gotten involved in the practice of yoga need to stop now; there is no excuse for staying involved in a pagan religious activity. And Christian churches that have embraced yoga as a regular part of their worship need to put an end to this and repent; God will not tolerate His people’s participation in pagan religious practices. God calls His people to be set-apart, to be salt and light to the world. How are we being faithful to this calling if we are participating in the rituals of pagan religions?

Minneapolis Star Tribune “Faith & Values” July 30, 2005, p. B5

(From Christian Ministries International)

Jesus and the Buddha on Happiness

By Jon Bloom

Greatly disturbed by the suffering he saw in the world, 29-year-old Prince Gautama Siddhartha (563-483 BC), who was later called the Buddha (enlightened one), left his wife and young child and set out on a search for the meaning of life.

What he observed was the impermanence of the world—nothing lasted. In spite of this, people desired these impermanent things. They desired to hold on to life, health, possessions, and each other. But life, health, possessions and people pass away. Human desires would always ultimately disappoint. This, he reasoned, was the cause of human suffering.

Therefore, he concluded that if he could kill desire, if he could be tranquilly unaffected by either good or evil, his suffering would cease and he would be happy. He would be free from pain and the endless cycle of reincarnation. This was Nirvana.

It is ironic, though, that driving the Buddha’s rigorous pursuit to kill his desires was one great human desire: lasting happiness.

There was also a huge, vacuous hole in the Buddha’s pursuit of lasting happiness: no God. The Buddha didn’t say much about God’s existence because, frankly, to him God was irrelevant to human happiness. Rather, happiness was being free from desire-induced suffering and reincarnation. Happiness was the blissful end of individual existence—a sort of sweet annihilation.

How different are Jesus’ answers from the Buddha’s. When a rich and troubled young man, not so different from the rich and troubled young Gautama, sought out Jesus’ direction for eternal happiness, Jesus replied,

You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (Mark 10:21)

Notice that Jesus did instruct the man to become detached from his possessions. But he did not mean a Buddhist detachment. He said it another way here:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:45)

The message is clear: desire the treasure! Desire it enough to count everything else as loss in order to gain it (Philippians 3:8).  The difference is that the Buddha wants to be desire-less and completely absorbed into the impersonal cosmos. Jesus wants us to deeply desire and be completely enthralled with the Person in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

That’s why, in the battle against sinful desires, Jesus is so much more helpful than the Buddha. He knows that our desire for happiness is designed by God, and so is our desire for permanence. They are not evil. Here is what is evil:

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13)

We are designed to be satisfied with the one eternal (permanent) God. Evil is when we believe that God will not satisfy us and therefore pursue happiness in something else. That’s the essence of sin. And the way we fight sin is not to kill desire, but to abandon our futile desires for broken cisterns. There is no water there. Go to the Fountain!

Jesus and the Buddha agreed that pursuing ultimate happiness in transient things is futile. But they direct us to opposite solutions. The Buddha says satisfaction is treasuring no thing. Jesus says it is treasuring God. In God we get all things. In no thing we get, well, nothing.

(HT: Desiring God Blog)

Beyond a Doubt: Contemplative Spirituality = New Age Movement

By Ray Yungen

Before writing my book, A Time of Departing, I made sure I could prove, beyond a doubt, that contemplative prayer had not only slipped into the Christian faith, but also prove it is an integral part of the New Age movement. In fact, New Agers see contemplative prayer as one of their own practices. Why would both New Agers and Christians claim contemplative prayer as their own? Certainly you will not find the New Age movement promoting someone like Francis Schaeffer or Charles Spurgeon, but you will find many instances such as this in which New Age therapist Jacquelyn Small cites contemplative prayer as a gateway to the spirituality to which she belongs. She explains it as:

A form of Christian meditation, its practitioners are trained to focus on an inner symbol that quiets the mind … When practitioners become skilled at this method of meditation, they undergo a deep trance state similar to auto-hypnosis.1

The editors of the magazine New Age Journal have put together a book titled As Above, So Below—which they promote as a handbook on “Paths to Spiritual Renewal,” according to their worldview. Along with chapters on shamanism, goddess worship, and holistic health, there is a chapter devoted to contemplative prayer. In it they openly declare:

Those who have practiced Transcendental Meditation may be surprised to learn that Christianity has its own time-honored form of mantra meditation … Reliance on a mantric centering device had a long history in the mystical canon of Christianity.2

New Age author Tav Sparks lays out an array of doorways in one chapter of his book, The Wide Open Door. Again, along with a variety of occult and Eastern practices we find what Sparks calls Spiritual Christianity. He says, “The good news is that there are some forms of Christianity today that are alive with spiritual power.”3 He then uses a few contemplative prayer advocates as examples.

Perhaps the most compelling example of all is one by a prominent figure in the contemplative prayer movement itself, Tilden Edwards. Edwards is the founder of the prestigious Shalem Institute in Washington D.C.—a center which turns out spiritual directors from its training programs. In his book, Spiritual Friend, Edwards suggests those who practice contemplative prayer and have begun experiencing “spiritual unfolding” and other “unusual experiences,” should turn to a book titled Psychosynthesis in order to understand the “dynamics” at “certain stages.”4 For the Christian, there is a major problem with this advice. The book Edwards recommends is a book written by a world famous occultist, Roberto Assagioli.

These dynamics for certain stages of “spiritual unfolding” may be desirable by those in tune with occultism, but remember, Edwards is seeking to draw Christians into this form of prayer. Edwards himself puts to rest any pretense that this is truly Christian when he openly admits, “This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.”5

In answer to the well-meaning but folly-laden attempts of the Desert Fathers and their spiritual descendants, I must refer to the deep observations of Charles Spurgeon who penned:

Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrine of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial with the depraved tastes of fallen nature; instead, however, of improving the gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel, and not the truth of God at all. All alterations and amendments of the Lord’s own Word are defilements and pollutions.6

(from A Time of Departing, 2nd ed. by Ray Yungen, pp. 44-46)

(HT: Lighthouse Trails Research)

Sola Sisters: Universalism: The Gospel Message of Emergent and New Age Spirituality

From the Sola Sisters blog:

Universalism: The Gospel Message of Emergent and New Age Spirituality

One of the greatest misconceptions in this country today is that the New Age Movement of the 80s and 90s is (1) a thing of the past and (2) has nothing whatsoever in common with Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth on either count. Let me explain.

Most Americans today have sort of an eye-rolling, amused response to the phrase "New Age." Perhaps their minds are conjuring up an image of Shirley MacLaine on the beach, talking to the sky, a spiritual eccentric who became the punch line of many jokes for her interest in reincarnation and channeling. Perhaps they think that, like Shirley MacLaine, the New Age has passed gently into history, much like the rubix cube and Duran Duran. Well, the truth is that the New Age is still very much with us today. It never really went away, it just went mainstream. New Age practices or beliefs that were once considered borderline occultic or kooky are now widely accepted and embraced, including yoga, mantra meditation, muscle testing, acupuncture, reiki, sustainable living and going green. Don't believe it? Just pick up any newspaper or popular magazine today (Reader's Digest, Ladies' Home Journal, Parade) and you will most likely read at least one, usually multiple articles, on the benefits of these practices. Heck, even my husband's Golf World had a lengthy article in the February 2010 issue on how golf courses around the country are trying to "go green."

So just how did this New Age worldview get so powerful so fast? The short answer is that although it's actually been around for a very long time, it got its greatest push into the mainstream through America's most beloved talk show host, Oprah Winfrey. For some reason, people think that this New Age Spirituality direction that Oprah has taken is a new thing. It is not. I know this because I was on the same path that she was for a very long time, and at about the same time. Along with Oprah, I became completely immersed in New Age beliefs and practices, about 20 year ago, and yet at the same time used Christian terminology for all that I was doing. But the catch was this: all the Christian terminology I used had been redefined to fit the theology of my New Age belief system. And this is exactly how Oprah has made the New Age worldview palatable to the average Americans who were watching: she was using the same terminology that many Americans were. We were still, at least at that time, a "Christian" nation, and by that I mean, the majority of Americans made some kind of Christian profession and had at least some knowledge of the Christian faith. So although Oprah was going in a distinctly occultic, eastern direction spiritually, she was using words like "Holy Spirit," "God," "Jesus," "atonement," and "salvation." And because Oprah was using terminology that everyone was familiar with, everybody's guard went down....and that's how the deception flooded in. Not to get too creepy about it, but this is exactly how many cults "reprogram" their new recruits. Same terminology, redefined terms.

One example of these redefined terms is a teaching from A Course In Miracles on the "atonement." For those not familiar with A Course In Miracles (ACIM), it is a book that was originally published in 1976. The teachings of this book were channeled by a demonic entity to a woman named Helen Schucman who transcribed them. New Age author Marianne Williamson brought the teachings of ACIM into the mainstream after being enthusiastically endorsed on the Oprah Winfrey Show in the early 90s by writing her own book about ACIM and helping to explain its principles in laymans' terms, sort of "A Course In Miracles for Dummies" (its real title: "A Return To Love").

But back to the "teachings" of A Course In Miracles. We know that it was a demon that channeled this book because the demon plainly revealed himself that way. Nah - just kidding on that one. The demon actually called himself "Jesus" when he delivered this occultic book to Helen Schucman. And how do we know that this demon wasn't the "Jesus" he claimed to be? Well, we go by Scripture that warns us not to let anyone come to us and preach "another Jesus" other than the one that Paul preached, and warns not to receive "a different gospel" from the one delivered by Jesus and the apostles. ACIM's foundational principle, which is its view of the atonement, preaches a "different gospel" and "another Jesus." The ACIM view of "atonement" (paraphrased) is this:

There is no separation between human beings and God, and the belief that we are separated has been the cause of most of the world's problems. People grow spiritually by awakening to the view that they are already united with God. When this happens, we achieve "At-one-ment," meaning, we grasp our unity with God and because of this new understanding, we take a huge spiritual leap forward and begin living in more loving, Godly ways. This will eventually bring about a spiritual transformation on a global scale as more and more people awaken to this belief - and ALL people will eventually awaken to this belief.

Well, for orthodox Christians, our view of the atonement is also foundational - and it is vastly different from this New Age view that we simply have to "awaken" to the divinity we already have. The ACIM view of atonement is both a "different gospel" and "another Jesus" in that it presents a different way to salvation rather than the biblical teaching on how we are saved: only those who repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus, understanding that his sacrificial death on the Cross was on their behalf, will be saved. There is no eventual universal salvation, and neither do we start out with a little "God spark" inside (the inner divinity) that we just have to awaken to: we are born dead in our sins (Eph 2:1). We need a Savior. But ACIM's redefined view of sin reduces this central tenet of Christianity to something akin to spiritual amnesia - in other words, sin gets redefined as "forgotten" divinity, an "awakening" to the belief that we are actually already in union with God. But if this is true, then anyone can approach God by simply "awakening" - muslem, buddhist, hindu, whatever. So at its core, ACIM's view of salvation is one without the Cross. No penal substitutionary atonement, no sacrificial death on behalf of God's people, and everyone eventually gets to God. This is as blasphemous as it gets, and as wickedly deceptive too, given that it is delivered by something claiming to be "Jesus."

Before God saved me, like Oprah I also embraced the teachings of A Course In Miracles, believing that my view of God had been "expanded" out of its narrow little box of orthodox Christianity. It felt more tolerant, more loving to hold to these beliefs. But these beliefs are no longer in one little fringey segment of our culture like they were in the 80s and 90s - remember, the New Age has gone mainstream. This view of God is becoming increasingly more widespread, especially in our culture which has begun to prize "tolerance" so greatly. But, not only are these beliefs held by those who embrace the New Age Spirituality, they are also held by the Emergent Church movement, which, like the New Age, uses plenty of Christian terminology, and positions itself as a more tolerant, loving version of Christianity with its big tent inclusivism and God-loves-you-just-the-way-you-are heresy. The truth is that God loves his own children, yes, but we must approach him in the way He has ordained, and that is through the blood of Jesus. We don't approach God through mystical mantra meditation - which, curiously enough, seems to be the connecting point between Emergent and New Age Spirituality. Both New Age and Emergent heavily promote the practice of mantra meditation, only it's called different names from within each movement. Within the Emergent Church movement, these practices are given "Christianized" names so that they will be more palatable. I mean, what could possibly be wrong with something called the Jesus Prayer, right?

The fact remains that we do not approach God in this way, because here's the rub: as I stated before, if anyone could approach God by use of a mystical practice (a Christian, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim, etc.) without repenting and confessing Christ, then there would be no point to the Cross, which as far as orthodox Christianity goes, is the hinge that swings the whole door. No, we approach the throne of God through Christ alone, as Scripture plainly tells us: "There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12, my emphasis)

So who are the "players" in Emergent and New Age Spirituality bringing about this merging of these two movements? Well, my money's on Ken Wilber for one, a straight up New Ager who is so admired by prominent Emergent Church leader Rob Bell that Bell tells us to "set aside three months" to read Ken Wilber's book, A Theory of Everything.

John Shelby Spong, an Episcopal Bishop who identifies himself as a "progressive Christian," will probably also be a player from the New Age side. Doug Pagitt, a well known Emergent Church leader, recently interviewed John Shelby Spong, who, though he identifies himself as a Christian, is far, far afield of the orthodox views of Christianity. When speaking of the virgin birth and Jesus' resurrection, he actually sounds much more like a New Ager than a Christian when he says:

"The best way to lose all is to cling with desperation to that which cannot possibly be sustained literally. Literalistic Christians will learn that a God or a faith system that has to be defended daily is finally no God or faith system at all. They will learn that any god who can be killed ought to be killed."

Yikes! I'm thinking the scholarly "Bishop" Spong must have somehow skipped Corinthians in the course of his biblical studies:

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve......But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." (1 Cor 15:3-5, 12-14)

I say this about Bishop Spong somewhat tongue in cheek, because I quite understand that Spong does not hold to the view that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. How tragic for him, because this means that he is a pagan, not a Christian, and is therefore reduced to feeling around in the dark like all the other lost people, trying to figure out who God is and how to get to him. (Here's a tip: it's why God gave us the Bible, so that we would know....)

Stay tuned on this issue, as an upcoming interfaith conference called Sacred Awakenings features Marianne Williamson (mentioned above as the New Ager who brought A Course In Miracles into the mainstream) and John Shelby Spong, both espousing more of the all-paths-lead-to-God view of Universalism. Since this also seems to be the view held by Rob Bell, Doug Pagitt and other emergent leaders, one has to wonder: how long before New Age Spirituality and Emergent officially merge together?