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Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220072A
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00:04 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:26 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:56 ♪ ♪ 01:03 Hello friends and welcome to another 3ABN Today program. 01:09 I'm Jill Morikone and you know what, Today programs are some of 01:13 my favorite programs. Because we get to feature the family. Those 01:18 at 3ABN and those abroad who are involved in ministry or have a 01:24 personal testimony to share. Today's guest is no stranger to 01:27 you at 3ABN because she's the mother, I call her the mother of 01:32 3ABN. This is my sister, Dr. Yvonne Shelton and we are so 01:36 delighted to have you here today 01:40 Well, thank you, my dear. You know I look at you and Greg as my 01:41 babies. So I'm kind of your sis but your mom you know just kind 01:47 of all rolled into one. It's so good to be here. Thank you so 01:51 much for doing this. 01:53 Absolutely. It's good to have you here. Of course, Dr. Yvonne 01:55 Shelton, if you're new to the 3ABN family is the Dare to Dream 01:59 cofounder and consultant. And we have another guest we will be 02:05 introducing you to in just a little bit, partway through the 02:06 program you've probably noticed we have a little monitor on the 02:10 set. And you say what in the world is that doing here? We 02:12 will be joined by Blessings Winn in a little bit so we're looking 02:16 forward to that. Today's topic is a very insightful topic. 02:21 There's a verse in Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 5 that says Woe 02:26 to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for 02:31 light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and 02:34 sweet for bitter. Now you say what in the world does that have 02:37 to do with our topic. We're talking about Yoga today. Many 02:40 people think yoga is a good thing, it's stretching, it's 02:45 exercises, it's helping me get in tune with my body better, 02:50 it centers me. So we're going to talk about this new book that 02:55 Dr. Yvonne just wrote called Perilous Practices: A Look at 03:00 Yoga from a Christian Perspective. We're going to 03:05 unpack this but tell us first of all what led you on the journey 03:09 to write this book because your background was in some New Age 03:15 philosophies, eastern medicine. So talk to me about that. 03:19 So for many years, I was involved without really knowing it, 03:27 without really knowing how deeply I was involved in New Age 03:31 medicine. I was board certified in traditional Chinese medicine 03:34 practice in acupuncture and I felt like okay I'm a Christian. 03:41 I'm not an adherent to eastern medicine or Eastern religion. 03:47 This is Eastern medicine, that's Eastern religion and the two 03:53 don't mix. Oh no, no, no. The basis for the eastern medicine 03:56 was Eastern religion and what our folks don't know is that we 04:05 have these connections to Eastern religion that seem so 04:14 harmless. So when I was practicing acupuncture I would 04:18 pray over my patients. I thought you know I'm a Christian. You 04:23 know I'm going to put the needles in and put a prayer over 04:27 them and leave them and let the Lord work on them through this 04:32 modality. Yeah. And I found out that through, and I'm giving 04:37 like a Reader's Digest version of this. I found out that this 04:42 was not from the Lord. That I was to come out of it. That it 04:47 was connected to astrology and divination and all of these 04:51 things that are forbidden in the word of God. And once I found 04:55 that out I had to walk away from it but it gave me this 05:02 sensitivity these practices that seem harmless, that seem like 05:07 they're not connected to anything necessarily. It gave me 05:14 like antennae, so I have like an antenna and so like when people 05:17 say well what about this, is this okay? No, because Satan is 05:24 very shrewd and he takes some truth and mixes it with a little 05:29 bit of error and it is error. And the scripture you read was 05:36 perfect because people are calling good evil and evil good. 05:40 because they don't know the evil behind a lot of these practices. 05:46 Of course, because all we know is what's on the surface and 05:49 that's all we see and we don't know what's deeper underneath 05:52 and that's what we're going to talk about today. Dr. Yvonne and 05:57 the special guest as well, Blessings will talk about what 05:59 is underpinning or underlying Yoga and how it is connected 06:04 with some of these eastern religions. But before we go any 06:06 further and talk more about the book Brother Tim Parton is going 06:09 join us and he'll be bringing us the song Power in the Blood. 06:13 ♪ ♪ 09:20 Thank you so much, Tim Parton. We love Tim Parton. We're so 09:23 grateful for his ministry. What a powerful song There is power 09:29 in the blood of the Lamb and we're so grateful for that. If 09:32 you're just joining us my special guest today is Dr. 09:35 Yvonne Shelton. We're talking about a brand new book, booklet, 09:40 that she just wrote, Perilous Practices, A Look at Yoga From a 09:45 Christian Perspective and then we'll have another special guest 09:48 joining us via Skype in just a few moments as well and that is 09:52 Blessings Winn and you'll get to see her in just a little bit. 09:55 But first Dr. Yvonne we were talking about your background 09:58 with Chinese medicine and your background with acupuncture and 10:02 some of the New Age practices and how you discovered the 10:04 danger of it. Now have you practiced yoga or what led to 10:08 you even wanting to write this book? 10:11 No, I was never a student of yoga but because it has infiltrated 10:18 the church I felt compelled to write it. You know Ephesians 10:23 5:11, let me just read it. It says: And have no fellowship 10:26 the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them. And I 10:31 felt like this...yoga is on the rise. It's on the rise in our 10:38 churches, our schools. Christian schools are teaching yoga. Now 10:41 some of are teaching "Christian" yoga, we'll talk about that in a 10:46 little bit but there's one online commentator that said 10:51 that there are more people who engage in Eastern occult 10:56 practices and New Age religion practices than attend all houses 11:03 of worship for all denominations combined. (Wow!) So it's on the 11:10 rise. (Spiritualism is on the rise) Yes, yes, and we know that 11:13 in the last days, spiritualism is going to be an issue and it is. 11:18 It is an issue. So I felt compelled to share this practice 11:26 to share the dangers and perils of this practice because people 11:31 don't know. And there were things that I didn't know about 11:35 acupuncture and then once I found out...You're not 11:37 responsible for what you don't know, you're only responsible 11:39 for what you know. So I felt like I could hopefully share 11:44 what is going on, what's underneath yoga that's so 11:50 So what is yoga? Someone might be saying maybe they live under 11:53 a rock and I'm not familiar with yoga. Because yoga really is 11:56 prevalent. I mean it's within the church and outside the 11:59 church. It seems like everybody practices it, but what is yoga? 12:01 So yoga is a Hindu philosophy that includes spiritual, mental, 12:08 and physical practices. 12:10 I thought yoga was stretching. 12:12 No. Yoga is a philosophy. It's actually one of the six schools 12:16 of Hinduism, orthodox Hinduism. (Yoga?) Yoga. So you cannot 12:24 separate yoga from Hinduism. That's the thing. And so you're 12:29 going to do a practice you need to know what is its foundation. 12:33 What is Hinduism really about? And so I dug into it to see what 12:41 it's about. Can a Christian be a Christian Hindu? Right? But yoga 12:50 is not just a physical practice. It is a spiritual, mental and 12:57 physical practice and it's designed to yoke, which is what 13:01 the word means, yoking or union. Yoke the self with the Hindu 13:08 highest god who is Brahman. 13:10 Now the Hindus have several gods or...(millions) millions. 13:15 Millions, I've read 300 million, I've read 3.3 million but 13:21 millions of gods and in fact Hinduism teaches that we are all 13:27 gods. So there's pantheism (and panentheism) and 13:34 panentheism. And we're all... 13:36 And what's the difference between the two, pantheism and 13:37 panentheism. Someone might be saying I don't really understand 13:38 Yeah. Pantheism is god is everything and panentheism is 13:45 god is in everything. (Oh wow) So a rock is god, a monkey, 13:53 (this table) this table has elements of Brahman who is 14:00 their god. It is the Hindu god. And so the goal of yoga is to 14:09 unite or yolk the self with Brahman who is their absolute 14:18 almighty, their absolute reality their supreme consciousness. 14:22 So when you go into a yoga class or when you leave the teacher 14:29 might say Namaste and do that. What does that mean? It means 14:36 the divine in me or the god in me honors the god in you. 14:41 (Seriously?) So now you are acknowledging as a Christian 14:45 you're being pantheistic because you're saying we are all gods. 14:51 (Wow!) And then many times there's a mantra at the end of 14:56 the class and that's a recitation of many of the Hindu 15:02 gods back to back, just their names back to back to back to 15:05 back and so Christians are breaking the first commandment 15:09 without even knowing it by calling on other gods. When God 15:14 said Thou shalt have no other gods before me. So all of these 15:18 things with Hinduism looking at the foundation of yoga, looking 15:26 at where it came from and how it's connected it's critical. 15:31 The other thing is yoga is henotheistic. That means that 15:36 there's one supreme being who is the supreme god and then there 15:41 are multiple deities. So there are a lot of other gods 15:46 underneath that supreme Brahman and those are really worshipped 15:51 even more than Brahman, like Vishnu and Shiva. These are 15:55 other Hindu gods but you cannot separate Hinduism from yoga. 16:03 Yoga is one of the foundational philosophies underpinning 16:09 Hinduism. 16:10 Wow! So I'm going to play devil's advocate for just a 16:13 moment. (Yeah sure) Well I'm not going to go to a yoga class. I'm 16:17 going to in my own home I really need to stretch, I really need 16:22 to exercise more and I've really heard that yoga really seems to 16:27 help that. So can I not do the stretches and not become 16:33 involved with the philosophy. Does that make sense? 16:35 Absolutely. Now there is nothing wrong with stretching. 16:41 Stretching is important for flexibility, we need to stretch. 16:42 It's the flow of these stretches It's the mental and physical 16:49 aspects of it that then introduce you to the spiritual. 16:53 So in other words, if you're just stretching and you're not 16:56 doing the for example the surya namaskar flow, and we'll talk 17:02 more about that later, but if you're not doing the sun 17:05 salutation flow... 17:07 Like a certain sequence. 17:08 It's a sequence. That sequence is a worship service basically 17:14 it's an invitation to the deity that it's connected with. So 17:23 stretching is great but if you go into the mind stilling 17:28 emptying your mind, the meditation part, the breathing, 17:32 because pranayama is the breathing part of yoga where... 17:37 So you have asanas, which are the postures, pranayama which is 17:42 the breathing. So all of those things are connected in yoga but 17:49 just stretching that's fine. 17:50 So stretching is good but when it's connected with that, with 17:55 the practice of yoga that's what brings it in with the Hinduism 17:58 and with the underlying philosophy that we don't always 18:01 even see or we don't always even know. (Exactly) This book is so 18:06 insightful. I'm so grateful. I know it takes time to write a 18:09 booklet but thank you for taking the time to research and to 18:12 study. We want to let you know at home that this booklet is 18:15 available for you complimentary that means you can call us or 18:19 [(618) 627-4651] you can get it online for free for one copy. 18:22 You can call us at (618)627-4651 That number again here at 3ABN 18:31 is (618) 627-4651 or you can go online at 3ABN's website 18:37 3abn.tv and you can get your own copy. We're making those 18:43 copies available one copy per household available that way. 18:48 It's so important to understand and to see the danger in this 18:54 practice and then once you have your copy, you can share that 18:57 with your community or your family or those in your church 19:03 who might be involved in this practice. And for that, you can 19:07 order these by five, 10, 15, 20, even a case full and you can 19:14 pass them out. And for that you can either order them online at 19:17 3abn.tv or you can go to Dr. Yvonne's website which is 19:25 MagnifyHimPub.com and you can see the other books that she has 19:32 available there as well on her website. But thank you for 19:36 taking the time to write this booklet. We're going to put up 19:41 this website several times throughout the program because 19:43 we want you at home to have the opportunity to be informed. 19:48 Because when we know something then we have a decision to make 19:52 do we not? What are we going to do with this? 19:54 Exactly. That is so true, Jill. That's the whole point. If you 19:58 don't know and in times of ignorance God winks so when we 20:03 don't know something we're not responsible for what we don't 20:05 know. But once we know we are responsible for what we know and 20:09 for what we could have known and just chose not to. We have to 20:14 love the truth. That's the key. We have to love the truth and 20:18 many times we kind of don't want to hear it you know especially 20:23 people who have been practicing it for a long time. They really 20:27 tend to feel like I'm getting so much from this. This is so great 20:32 for me and now you're trying to take it away. No. It's that you 20:36 have to know what's behind it and then you make the decision 20:40 as to whether or not you're going to continue the practice. 20:44 But if you do continue to practice it you are practicing 20:48 idolatry. 20:50 Wow! That's heavy. (That's really heavy) That's heavy. 20:53 Speaking of practicing yoga we want to bring in now our other 20:57 special guest who's joining us from California via Skype. This 21:01 is our sister in Jesus Blessings Winn who practiced yoga and was 21:06 a yoga instructor. She is actually an ex-yoga instructor. 21:09 Blessings we're so glad to have you here with us today and tell 21:16 us how did yoga or practicing yoga, how did that affect you? 21:18 Yeah so I, like you said, grew up Christian and believed in God 21:25 and I was always athletic. I practiced dance and was very 21:32 limber growing up so I didn't see a harm in then going into 21:37 yoga. You know I attended my first yoga class and I succeeded 21:42 and I caught the attention of the instructors and they said 21:46 Hey you know you are really good at this. You're such a natural. 21:49 Why don't you get certified? And I thought hey why not, let 21:51 me get certified, right? Through the certification process and I 21:55 don't necessarily plug the company but it's not a school of 22:01 say Hinduism or yoga. It's one of these American certified yoga 22:07 companies that basically teach you the formula of how to become 22:10 an instructor. So that's how I ended up being an instructor. 22:13 What I didn't know was that and of course, because they didn't 22:18 teach me these things is that I was actually fornicating on my 22:23 own God. That I had basically started practicing another 22:28 religion with my body and this was a moving liturgy where I was 22:33 literally taking the...you can call it the yoga bible but the 22:36 yoga Vedic text and I was reenacting it through every 22:42 single posture and every posture is dedicated to a particular 22:46 deity and that deity when you invoke that posture you invite 22:51 them to come into you and no one told me this. So imagine...It's 22:59 actually kind of similar to what happened with cigarettes. You 23:01 know when a cigarettes were first unleashed in American 23:04 society they were actually prescribed to women who had 23:06 anxiety, who were pregnant, to people across the board and they 23:10 were never told of the consequences of what could 23:13 happen if they were to smoke the cigarette. So likewise, this is 23:18 what's happening across the world and especially in the 23:20 United States. You're being given a medical practice, a 23:23 religious medical practice that can alter your being, alter your 23:28 psychology, your mental stability, it can mentor your 23:33 spirituality and have some really irreversible harmful 23:37 effects on your body. But no one tells you these things. And it's 23:43 something that has to be spoken out against and if I had known 23:46 that I would never have participated in it. 23:48 You know Blessings it's so interesting you know just a few 23:53 minutes ago you said all of these postures are linked to 23:57 heathen gods and I have a graphic that I'd like to put up 24:01 that shows various postures these asana, these poses and 24:09 they are poses, worship poses whether it's receiving or bowing 24:12 or worshipping. These are connected, they're all connected 24:16 to heathen deities so when you practice these poses you are 24:22 actually cooperating with a system of idolatry, with a 24:26 system of bringing in false gods 24:30 You're inviting demons. (You're inviting) A demonic presence 24:33 you're inviting a demonic presence by doing that. 24:36 Exactly. 24:38 And unfortunately in America is being used as a 24:40 marketing tool you know. 24:41 The yoga industry had just really blossomed. It's over a 24:45 billion-dollar industry. But if you actually listen to you know 24:49 the gurus and the professors, let me quote for you this. It's 24:53 from Subhas Tiwari and he had wrote a book, he's a professor 24:58 at the University of Hinduism of America in Orlando, Florida and 25:04 his book is titled Yoga Renamed Is Still Hindu. He says, "The 25:10 simple, immutable fact that yoga originated from the Vedic or 25:15 Hindu culture it's techniques were not adopted by Hinduism 25:19 but originated from it. Efforts to separate yoga from it's 25:26 spiritual center reveal ignorance of the goal of yoga. 25:30 It was intended by the Vetic seers as an instrument which can 25:36 lead one to apprehend the absolute, ultimate reality 25:39 called the Brahman reality which is the Hindu god." So if you can 25:45 think about this, take a step back and you think about what 25:48 this really means what he's saying is that for instance we 25:53 have the Bible. Imagine if we were to indoctrinate our 25:57 children with every scripture and we would say you know say 26:01 we had movement and the movements were train up a child 26:08 in the way he should go and when he is old he will never depart 26:14 from it. And that was just the moving liturgy of the scripture. 26:18 What he is telling us is that in yoga the Vetic text you use 26:23 your body to indoctrinate yourself and also to become one 26:28 with the god that you serve. So there's no way to separate it at 26:32 all. This is powerful. 26:35 It is, it is. And the god that you're serving is Brahman with 26:42 to goal of yoking yourself to their highest deity. 26:49 What was interesting to me was the word you used, Blessings, 26:52 liturgy. (Mm-hmm) I mean liturgy is worship is it not? (That's 26:57 right) and we have not at least I have not classified yoga as 27:02 worship. You know it's like you're entering into a worship 27:05 service through these poses and the system of that. What about 27:12 Christian yoga? So is there such a thing and can there be such a 27:17 thing? Because people say oh there's Christian yoga. So talk 27:19 to us about that. 27:21 It is such an oxymoron. It's just like saying a Christian 27:26 Hindu. You cannot be a Christian and Hindu. They're antithetical. 27:33 So you can't make linguistic substitutions and for example 27:42 sun salutation in yoga, s-u-n, is son in Christian yoga. But 27:51 what they're doing is...you know how these different companies 27:57 have packaging and they might repackage something. The content 28:05 is the same but the package is different. That's what Christian 28:09 yoga is. The content is still idolatry. You can call it 28:15 something else, you can relabel it, you can call it criss-cross 28:20 applesauce when you get in the lotus position but the real 28:26 thing is...Criss-cross applesauce was part of a 28:30 whole Chandra yoga movement but with Christian yoga taking 28:38 Christian nomenclature and applying it to Hindu philosophy 28:43 is what's going on and so it is an oxymoron. You cannot practice 28:50 it. And I know that there are people who are going to rear 28:54 back and say we teach Christian yoga. What do you think, 28:59 Yeah I agree and again there is an awareness for the Hindus as 29:07 well. They're actually fans of Jesus and so they see Jesus as 29:11 just another great guru. They don't see him rightfully as God 29:16 as Savior, as the Creator of this whole universe. So there's 29:22 also an indoctrination right now among the gurus to talk about 29:27 Jesus in its way and it makes yoga seem nonthreatening 29:30 because they use some of the same vernacular that we're used 29:33 to and so we think to ourselves oh this is inviting, this is 29:37 enlightening and you have actual Christians who know better and 29:40 they are coming up with ways to incorporate this physical form 29:45 of worship so that it's approved and okay by Christians. And 29:52 honestly, there's no way to do it because the ramifications...and 29:55 in fact, if you bring up that diagram again of those poses 30:00 Yvonne that you mentioned earlier, you know a Chandra yoga 30:05 any of these yoga's, if you actually study these positions 30:09 you know you will see that these are idols. You're forming your 30:15 body like a snake, a mermaid, a crane, a dog, you know cobra 30:23 all sorts of deities that you're worshipping and doing these 30:27 forms with your body. And the other goal of yoga is actually 30:31 used to relax the body so that the mind opens up and you can 30:38 experience a whole other level of consciousness. And what they 30:41 believe that by killing the body you can find the enlightenment 30:47 and their whole goal is death you know. And if you die then 30:53 you can achieve this new reality and so a lot of these postures 30:59 they tell you they're good for you but in actuality they're 31:04 actually very dangerous because they cut off blood flow, they 31:06 cut off hormone function. You know there's no good that 31:11 can come of you cutting off blood flow. 31:14 There's one pose called plow pose where 31:17 you lie on your back and you bring your legs over your head 31:19 and you touch the floor with your knees and your toes and 31:23 your shins if possible and at this you're cutting off your 31:29 thyroid and their belief is that if you cut off the thyroid that 31:34 you are stopping any bad blood flow to the thyroid and then 31:39 once you resume your normal position then all this gushing 31:42 of new blood will regenerate the thyroid Well that's the American 31:51 kind of candy that they're feeding you to do this position 31:54 but in actuality what you're doing is harm to that region 31:59 that is vital to your hormone production, to your sanity, to 32:04 just your functioning in general and beyond the physical is the 32:10 spiritual, when you start doing these chants and the mantras 32:15 you're opening yourself up to a deity coming into you and the 32:20 Bible talks about it. You know it's not something that I'm 32:23 making up. The Bible talks about demonic possession and here this 32:27 practice it welcomes it. It's saying bring it on in and if we 32:31 do go to scripture, if we go to Romans 6:13 it reminds us: Do 32:35 not present your members...When you talk about members this 32:39 actually means your limbs. Do not present your members to sin 32:45 as instruments for unrighteousness but 32:48 present yourself to God as those who have been brought from death 32:52 to life and your members, again your body parts, to God, as 32:57 instruments of righteousness. Again you're being brought from 33:02 death right? From sin you're being saved from sin and you're 33:05 being brought to life. The yoga practice does the exact opposite 33:10 It takes from a quasi-life, right? You might not be saved 33:16 yet or maybe you are saved and then what ends up happening you 33:21 find a way to kill that new life in Christ so that you can yoke 33:25 with Brahman, Vishiva and 300 other million gods. 33:29 Yes, yes. I'd like to read a scripture. The word of God is 33:34 specific about following pagan styles of worship. Deuteronomy 33:38 12 verses 30 and 31 from the ESV reads: Take care that you be not 33:45 ensnared to follow them after they've been destroyed before 33:48 you and that you do not inquire about their gods saying how did 33:53 these nations serve their gods that I also may do the same. 33:57 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way for every 34:02 abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their 34:06 god. So the Lord tells us don't follow after these pagan ways of 34:12 worship. We have a graphic of the surya namaskar. It's the sun 34:22 salutation and each of those poses is supposed to do 34:28 something for the body. You know you were just talking about the 34:34 supposed benefits from these but those poses have supposed 34:39 benefits except each one is a moving liturgy. That sequence is 34:45 a moving worship service for the sun god. And the sun god is 34:51 ancient. Worship of the sun goes back to biblical times. In Egypt 34:58 it was Aman Ra and the Canaanites worshipped the sun, 35:02 the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and God told his people do not 35:06 worship like they do. Do not and yet we're caught up in this 35:12 whole thing thinking that it's just stretching. It is not just 35:17 stretching. 35:21 I want to mention the book one more time and then we'll jump 35:22 right back into this. But if you would like your own copy of 35:27 Perilous Practices: A Look at Yoga from a Christian 35:29 Perspective, we will send one copy complimentary to every 35:33 household that calls for it. You can call us at (618) 627-4651 35:39 It's so important that this message get out. That we not 35:45 unintentionally or intentionally be yoked with a false god, be 35:52 involved in spiritualism, be involved in idolatry. You can 35:57 also go online 3abn.tv and you can order your own copy. If you 36:03 want to order these in bulk you can order them from either 36:07 3abn.tv or you can go to MagnifyHimPub.com and you can 36:12 order more after Sabbath hours. You can order more at that time. 36:17 The e-book is there as well. 36:19 Oh, thank you. So the book is available for download and 36:21 people can read it that way. I love that, that's perfect. 36:26 I'm sorry Blessings. I think you were going to jump in on 36:28 something and I interrupted with the book here. But go ahead, I'm 36:32 sorry, I think I interrupted you 36:34 So the therapeutic benefits that they've outlined, you have to 36:37 realize that most of it is pseudo-science and most of it is 36:42 superstition. None of these things have actually been 36:46 surveyed by a medical body and in fact, people end up in the 36:51 hospital all the time. More of the people who practice yoga end 36:56 up having some kind of physical injury. Many people also report 36:59 psychological side effects. It's just no good especially when 37:05 you're confused and you don't know exactly what it is that 37:07 you're doing. You're all the more a sitting duck. So I just 37:13 say stay away from it. It's not what God intended. Again He 37:19 reminds us in Romans 12:1 He says to present your bodies a 37:24 living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your 37:28 spiritual worship. Our worship is supposed to be unique, it is 37:32 supposed to be you know to be a very special people and if we 37:38 keep adulterating what it means to worship God and we do other 37:43 people's forms of worship then we're not serving God. We're 37:46 not keeping our temples, our bodies holy as a sacrifice to 37:51 our God and Lord and Savior. 37:53 Very true. I'd like to add something too about the holy 37:58 yoga and the praise moves and the Christian yoga. There is a 38:02 Hindu researcher Wajib Mahotra who said, I'm going to quote him 38:08 He said While Yoga is not a religion in the sense that the 38:13 Abrahamic religions are, it is a well-established spiritual path 38:17 Its physical postures are only the tip of an iceberg beneath 38:24 which is a distinct metaphysics with profound depth and breadth. 38:27 Its spiritual benefits are undoubtedly available to anyone 38:30 regardless of religion, however, the assumptions and consequences 38:35 of yoga do run counter to much of Christianity as understood 38:39 today. That is why every Hindu, Yoga practitioner and scholar 38:43 I agree with the Southern Baptist seminary president when 38:47 he speaks of the incompatibility between Christianity and yoga. 38:50 arguing that idea that the body is a vehicle for reaching 38:56 consciousness with the divine is fundamentally at odds with 39:00 Christian teaching. So we have yoga practitioners like 39:05 Blessings like this man here... (ex-yoga) Oh, my word EX... 39:12 Such were some of you, praise the Lord. 39:16 We are washed and sanctified and cleansed (Yes, yes) 39:21 The word of God is specific on how we are to practice or not 39:29 practice different things and 1 Corinthians 10:21 says: You 39:34 cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You 39:37 cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons 39:42 So we cannot blend the two. I think one of the things that 39:46 happens in the New Age movement is something called syncretism 39:49 where you take a little bit of this and a little bit of that 39:52 and a little bit of that and try to mix it all together. The Lord 39:56 has not called us to do that. We are not to mix evil with good 40:00 We are to stand for him and we cannot drink the cup of demons. 40:06 We have to focus on what the Lord would have us to do and how 40:10 He would have us to act and so I think the scripture is really 40:14 powerful. 40:16 It is really powerful. You know it just reminds me of that other 40:18 scripture: What fellowship has Christ with Belial, you know. 40:21 Can two walk together unless they are agreed and we always 40:25 say that refers to marriage which, of course, it does. But 40:27 it refers to anything in life where we're thinking okay I'll 40:33 mix some good but some evil practice comes in at the same 40:36 time and the danger of that. 40:39 That's right, that's right. They have done scientific studies 40:43 that show that practices alter values. So your beliefs, whether 40:50 you intend to have it happen or not the long-term practice of 40:56 yoga changes your values. And that's biblical too. Proverbs 41:01 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be 41:06 established. So whatever you commit your works to there your 41:10 thoughts are going be. So that is scriptural as well. But 41:14 science is corroborating this that your practice can alter 41:18 your values whether you intend for it to happen or not. You 41:23 begin to embrace the philosophy underlying these practices. 41:28 Yes and I think that's a powerful point and I just love 41:31 the booklet because you have outlined so many things. You can 41:34 see me with all kind of sticky notes but it's a beautiful 41:43 outline of exactly all the pitfalls and the things you know 41:45 that you guys are doing without realizing it in yoga. And so I 41:50 love how you outlined here you know the eight different limbs 41:56 of yoga. You know the restraints the disciplines, the postures, 41:58 the control of breath, turning the attention within, 42:02 concentration, meditation and ultimately holy trance. That's 42:07 exactly what you're being subjected to in these classes. 42:09 You have to understand they've been studying this for as long 42:13 as we've been alive almost. They have figured out how to 42:19 incarcerate your soul along with theirs in worshipping this 42:25 demonic force and none of this is by accident. You're doing all 42:30 of these asanas, you know you think these are beautiful 42:32 movements and they're actually going to bring you the benefit 42:34 that they're claiming. But again this is pseudo-science. Have you 42:37 actually seen the people that made this up. I mean none of 42:43 them are doctors, none of them. These are ancient cultures and 42:49 civilizations that go back all the way to Egypt. This is 42:51 specific deity worship. The people are not intentionally 42:56 trying to observe Christ. And Yvonne what you said about 43:01 you know beholding and what you bring your body to do it 43:06 actually will start to transform you. That's very true because 43:10 the person that I was when I walked into a yoga class for the 43:14 first time versus the person that left after going and living 43:17 in an ashram, you know in India and going to the Mecca of Yoga 43:22 in a state called Kerola, India I was not the same person. I 43:28 still thought I was Christian but I had given myself unto 43:33 these people to study more in depth and to come away "wiser" 43:37 with more knowledge and more enlightenment and before I knew 43:40 It, I was speaking their vernacular. I was using their 43:45 colloquialisms. I was talking about God and calling Him 43:48 Universe but Universe is actually, Shiva which is another 43:53 god in the pantheon that is celebrated in Hinduism. And 43:57 Shiva is known as the destroyer and the creator and he literally 44:01 is pictured as having a serpent all the way around his neck... 44:04 We have a picture of that too. We have a graphic of that. 44:10 Yeah this is Shiva (this is Shiva) and you see him in lotus 44:13 pose and you see that he is trying to connect and unify 44:17 himself with Brahman. The serpent on his neck is not 44:22 unintentional. People actually believe that when Adam and Eve 44:25 were betrayed by the snake and beguiled by the snake and ate 44:31 the forbidden fruit that they actually, after the serpent was 44:34 successful in stealing you know the dominion of earth away from 44:39 them by them deceiving themselves and betraying God 44:42 they actually believe Shiva taught Eve Yoga then and there. 44:50 So this is how far back this practice goes. And these things 44:55 I didn't know about until I left yoga because I started having 45:01 spiritual attacks because of yoga. And you get introduced to 45:06 so many things that you are clueless about like this new 45:08 craze on Kundalini yoga. Well this is the most powerful form 45:13 of yoga...(and the most dangerous) 45:16 What type of yoga is that? 45:17 Kundalini is actually where it means coiled snake (seriously?) 45:24 and the belief is that the serpent is a divine female 45:31 energy of Shakti that's at the base of the spine but it's 45:36 coiled and it has to uncoil and travels up, we have a graphic of 45:40 that as well, traveling up through the shakras to the 45:44 crown shakra and kundalini, let's talk about that Blessings 45:51 because it is said to be the most potent but the most 45:56 dangerous form of yoga. It's a amalgamation of all the forms of 46:00 yoga together. 46:02 Thinking about that beginning scripture I started in Isaiah 5 46:05 about those who call evil good and good evil and that's exactly 46:09 what's happening because the serpent is evil, right? and here 46:13 they're bringing the serpent in as something good. 46:15 Yes. There's some pictures where the serpent is spewing venom 46:22 from his mouth and that venom is actually, avidia which is the 46:27 veil of allusion and the idea is that and we have the cobra pose 46:34 you know which is one of the poses of yoga (two voices) 46:39 right and so it's like they make the serpent the purveyor of good 46:46 It's supposed to overcome fear. So that whole veil of illusion 46:53 is there because you don't realize that you are divine and 46:59 that snake, that serpent, is supposed to overturn the whole 47:02 idea of fear, the fear of anything because you are divine 47:08 You don't need to be afraid. You are God. So they make...the 47:14 Bible teaches in Genesis three that the serpent is cursed 47:17 (that's right) but with Hinduism that the serpent is around their 47:22 God's neck. 47:24 And that was Satan's first lie one of his first lies, you shall 47:27 be as gods. (as gods) 47:29 In the Bible, it also says that he was the most cunning of all 47:32 the beasts and it's no different right here in the practice of 47:37 yoga. He is extremely cunning and deceptive. And you may start 47:41 it thinking oh this is so good. You know it helps me calm down. 47:46 But that's why even just spending time alone and 47:51 stretching without any kind of yoga or sitting and talking to 47:53 God or reading the Bible or relaxing would give you the same 47:56 benefit without any of the side effects of delusion or demonic 48:01 possession or injury to yourself You know ultimately harming your 48:06 salvation. 48:08 I think people don't realize the metaphysical aspects of yoga. 48:13 You know for them it's just a physical thing but the physical 48:16 part is just the tip of the iceberg and in the booklet I 48:21 have different people who are yoga practitioners who say that 48:26 this is a spiritual practice. This is a spiritual path and you 48:32 will be visited by spiritual beings. Now there is no 48:36 spiritual encounter that is neutral. There's no neutral 48:40 spiritual encounter so when they talk about you will receive some 48:44 kind of guide or spiritual guide or all this stuff happens this 48:50 demonic. It comes straight from the devil. 48:53 That's really heavy. You were so right. There is no neutral 48:58 spiritual encounter and what responsibility we have once we 49:03 are armed with the truth, once we know what the word of God 49:06 says and the deception that Satan has placed really with the 49:10 yoga is unmasked then we have a decision to make. Joshua 24:15 49:15 says, Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods 49:22 that your fathers served which were on the other side of the 49:24 river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell 49:28 So we don't serve things because or tradition or what our parents 49:32 did, neither do we do it because of peer pressure, and everybody 49:36 else is doing it therefore I need to do it too. No we need to 49:39 make a choice. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. 49:43 I want to give you another opportunity to get this booklet 49:46 for yourself because what it contains is life 49:51 transformational. If you walk down the path of yoga it will 49:55 lead to spiritualism. So the danger of that you can call us 50:02 at 3ABN and we will send you one copy complementary per 50:04 household. Call us at (618) 627-4651 or you can go 50:11 online 3abn.tv and we will gladly send one copy out for 50:17 free to you or if you would like to order this in bulk on non 50:22 Sabbath hours you can always go online at 3abn.tv or to Dr. 50:27 Yvonne's website MagnifyHimPub.com 50:30 We're coming down to the end of this program. We're going to go 50:33 to a news break and then we'll come back with some closing 50:36 thoughts. But before we do that I want each of you to maybe 50:40 speak to someone who's currently involved in yoga, currently 50:44 practicing. What would you tell them right now? Dr. Yvonne, we'll 50:46 start with you. 50:48 I would say that now that you know the dangers of it you have 50:54 a decision to make. And I know it's not easy because I had a 50:57 similar decision to make with acupuncture. So I know it's not 51:02 easy but when the Lord is calling you out the come out of 51:05 her my people and touch not the unclean thing. This is that. 51:11 He's calling you out so you do have a decision to make and it's 51:15 our prayer is that you will make the decision to follow Jesus no 51:19 matter what. 51:21 Amen, and Blessings what would you tell our family watching 51:23 right now and listening. 51:24 I agree a thousand percent with Dr. Yvonne. Honestly, you know as 51:31 I said before I walked in ignorant and I didn't know that 51:38 it ended up opening up a gateway to things that I would have 51:43 never entertained. But somehow because I had been basically 51:48 disarmed by yoga I felt like hey if God is everywhere then I can go 51:54 and dabble in this, I can go and dabble in that. I can open this 51:58 door and see what's behind that curtain and what it ended up 52:01 doing is causing a lot of spiritual discord, a lot of 52:06 disharmony. I couldn't really think clearly during the most 52:11 stressful times in my life so if you're finding yourself having 52:14 dabbled in these arts and then opening the door to other arts 52:17 know that there is a way out and his name is Jesus. Come out 52:21 please. Don't mess with it. 52:22 I love that; come out, please. Absolutely. We're going to go to 52:27 our news break right now and then when we come back we'll 52:29 come back with some thoughts from these beautiful ladies right 52:32 here. |
Revised 2023-08-16