Definition of Yoga: a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation. – Source
Many demonic practices have infiltrated the churches in these last days. Unsettling is the fact that what was once taboo or scripturally forbidden has become mainstreamed and systematically accepted by the undiscerning within our ranks. Quoting “Get A Life Ministries” Pastor Billy Crone, “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.”
Hence, the saying if it looks like a demon, acts like a demon, and smells like a demon, then it’s probably a demon. Yoga is demonism; the poses and chants are designed to pay homage and worship to over 330 million Hindu gods! Not only are these gods false, they are ancient idols, and more importantly, they are demons! Wake up, church!
Excerpts from julieroys.com: “Three Reasons Christians Should Think Twice about Yoga”
Can yoga be completely stripped of Hinduism and even “Christianized”? Many Christians believe it can. In fact, some churches and Christian colleges, like Wheaton College and Gordon College, even offer yoga classes. Christian yoga proponents admit that yoga originated as a form of Hindu worship.
But, is Westernized yoga truly nonreligious? Neither of my guests on a recent episode of my weekly radio show Up for Debate argued it was. Laurette Willis, the founder of PraiseMoves, said yoga served as a gateway into New Age religion for her and her mom.
Similarly, Bonnie Meyer, founder of a “Christian-based yoga ministry” called Studio 4:8, said yoga initially led her into spiritual experimentation, including Hinduism, Buddhism and even Wicca. She added that in the “common yoga studio,” there’s “a Buddha statue, there’s ‘om-ing,’ there’s chanting. It’s glorifying Hinduism.”
Similarly, the word yoga is problematic. Yoga means “to yoke.” And, as Laurette noted on the program, using the word begs the question, “Yoked to whom?” As Laurette explains, the postures and techniques of yoga were designed to be offerings to the millions of Hindu gods. But ultimately, yoga was intended to yoke a person to the so-called “Lord of Yoga” – Sheva, the destroyer. In the brief audio below, she describes why she believes these realities make yoga, regardless of how it’s packaged, incompatible with Christianity.
This seems much like what Christians are doing today with yoga. We are not worshipping God in spirit and truth. Instead, we’re trying to worship Him through an idolatrous practice that emerged from a lie about His nature. But, just like God called the Israelites to be separate from the idolatry surrounding them, He calls us to do the same today.
So, I would encourage Christians to stay away from yoga. Given its thoroughly Hindu foundation, I don’t think it can ever be fully stripped of all its religious meaning and become mere exercise. And, it certainly is not a valid means of Christian worship. As one Christian author wrote, “Saying that we can Christianize yoga is, in a sense, saying that we can Christianize Hinduism.” Yes, we Christians may have co-opted days like Christmas and Easter for Christian celebrations. But, we don’t incorporate pagan practices into our actual worship. Truth is, yoga is not holy and it certainly is not Christian. – Source
As you can see from this source that those who have practiced ‘yoking themselves ultimately to demons’ have unsurprisingly fallen prey to other false religions such as wicca (witchcraft) and the seduction of New Age lies and practices. We have discovered this firsthand over the years by seeing our oldest prodigal’s posts on social media. As a parent, it is more than disheartening to see how spiritually blind she has become and how far she has strayed from God and His Word! Yoga is truly a gateway among many other deceptions in leading one into dreaded spiritual blindness!
Excerpts from Christian Answers for the New Age: “YOGA: YOKES, SNAKES, AND GODS”
All forms of yoga, including hatha yoga, spring from beliefs that man can escape his lower or illusory self and experience liberation by uniting with the divine. But is this union, if possible, really liberation? Who or what is the god of yoga? Is the obliteration of your identity into an impersonal energy really liberation? Do techniques like yoga, meditation, and breath control really liberate you, or are they just another set of disciplines to follow to keep busy, so that you can think you are doing something?
Could it be that liberation is through a person and not a system? Long ago, the God-man Jesus said, “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Jesus also had something to say about yoking, but it is not a union with an impersonal force, but a resting in Christ through trust in Him as the Son of God, “Come to me, all you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). This verse shows us that we can lay our burdens on Christ because of what He has done on the cross, instead of endlessly laboring on the yoga path that leads only to more bondage. – Source
From what we can deduce from our prodigal’s social media posts is that this practice did not seem to alleviate her ‘newfound anxiety issues.’ Instead her posts reveal a person who has no peace, no discernment, no wisdom, and definitely no joy of the Lord. The only peace, wisdom, joy, and discernment a person can truly have is by putting their trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone!
As Christians in pursuit of healing, we are to put our hope, trust, and faith in our Great Physician Jesus Christ to heal us as He wills. Once we start pursuing such desired health through New Age self-healing methods such as yoga, salt lamps, essential oils, meditation, and pagan practices other than God, then it becomes idolatry.
Excerpts from deephealing.eu: “Testimony of Deliverance from a Demon of Yoga”
Yoga is idolatry and incompatible with Christianity. Despite the practitioner’s best intention, yoga cannot be divorced from its original purpose and redirected to some other use such as mere exercise or communion with the God of Abraham. Why? Because God does not accept a revised version of idolatry as a neutral activity or satisfactory form of worship. Christians may justify yoga as a great workout or as worship of the SON, not the SUN, but the intent and good will of the practitioner are not enough to make the practice acceptable. Why? Because the giver can give a gift that is acceptable to him but not the recipient. The critical question is not, Are you offering worship to the God of Abraham when you practice yoga? but, Is yoga an acceptable form of worship to the God of Abraham? There’s a difference.
The first perspective focuses on how the worshiper views the act of worship. The second focuses on how God views the act of worship. The worshiper may approve of something that God disapproves of; he may offer worship that pleases himself but not God. Admittedly, Christians ought to please God and not themselves. Offering God a form of worship that has already been consecrated to other gods is like giving God second-hand goods used by the devil; it’s like giving your fiancée a recycled wedding ring previously worn by an arch enemy. There’s no way to adequately describe the abhorrence God has for such offerings. They are abominable to Him.
This passage indicates that Christian worship and other forms of worship are mutually exclusive. Why? Not because other gods are real gods that threaten the one true living God, but because other gods are demons that threaten the Christian and offend God’s love. In yoga, the mat is the altar, the practice is the sacrifice, and those who partake are the practitioner and Hindu demons. Put in starker terms, the mat is the altar, the practitioner is the sacrifice, and those who feed on the practitioner are Hindu demons. Yoga, at the very least, opens a Christian to demonic influence and, at worst, demonization. Either way, demons will hinder the Christian’s full potential in God; there will be inexplicable or ill- defined pressures, resistance to the abundant life, and frustration. I know from personal experience. I pray that others who have been misled as I was will be undeceived:
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). – Source
Galatians 6:7-8 (all scripture KJV) “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;”
Excerpts from gotquestions.org: “Christian Yoga”
The word yoga means “union,” and the goal is to unite one’s transitory (temporary) self with the infinite Brahman, the Hindu concept of “God.” This god is not a literal being, but is an impersonal spiritual substance that is one with nature and the cosmos. This view is called “pantheism,” the belief that everything is God and that reality consists only of the universe and nature. Because everything is God, the yoga philosophy makes no distinction between man and God.
Hatha yoga is the aspect of yoga that focuses on the physical body through special postures, breathing exercises, and concentration or meditation. It is a means to prepare the body for the spiritual exercises, with fewer obstacles, in order to achieve enlightenment. The practice of yoga is based on the belief that man and God are one. It is little more than self-worship disguised as high-level spirituality.
The question becomes, is it possible for a Christian to isolate the physical aspects of yoga as simply a method of exercise, without incorporating the spirituality or philosophy behind it? Yoga originated with a blatantly anti-Christian philosophy, and that philosophy has not changed. It teaches one to focus on oneself instead of on the one true God. It encourages its participants to seek the answers to life’s difficult questions within their own consciousness instead of in the Word of God. It also leaves one open to deception from God’s enemy, who searches for victims whom he can turn away from God (1 Peter 5:8). – Source
Bottom line is this: if something is not of God, is questionable, has demonic roots, is tied to false religions, and ultimately puts you into spiritual blindness, then it should be something that we strive to avoid at all costs! Remember, we are in the last of the last days; therefore, the lies, deception, and spiritual blindness run rampant everywhere we look!
Do we want to fall prey to this demonic practice and become another spiritual statistic? No? Then, my admonition is for the church to pray now more than ever for God’s wisdom, discernment, strength, and courage… daily if not hourly! Yes, it is that serious.
Until next time… Maranatha!
Jesus = Way, Truth, Life
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