Posted on 06/01/2013 12:58:39 PM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
Father Gabriele Amorth is an old school priest. The octogenarian told The London Times this week that, since he was ordained way back in 1954, he has cast out some 160,000 demons.
I believe that gives Father Gabriele some authority on the devil. So when he told the Times, “Practicing yoga brings evil,” he got my attention.
I’ve long considered yoga a benign form of exercise, no more harmful than, say, aerobics or Pilates or, the apparent latest craze, Zumba. But after doing some research, I’m inclined to agree with Father Gabriele, the exorcist.
While yoga indeed has a physical component, it’s the spiritual component that leads to the devil. For yoga, defined as a “union with the divine,” is not about obeisance to the God that Christ followers worship. It’s about homage to the false gods of Hinduism.
That brings me to a lawsuit, brought by parents of children enrolled in the Encinitas Union School District in California, challenging the yoga program the district mandated for its nine public schools, under the guise of “physical education.”
Funding for the program comes from the KP Jois Foundation, which promotes a form of yoga called Ashtanga. The Ashtanga practice traditionally begins with a mantra, which concludes, “To Patanjali I salute.”
“Lord” Patanjali, as he is known by the Hindu faithful, is considered to be one the incarnations of Shesha, a many thousand-headed serpent god.
The Encinitas Union School District maintains that its district-wide yoga program is strictly secular; that neither Shesha, the serpent god, nor Patanjali, his human avatar, are anywhere to be seen.
But that’s not what Harvard-trained religious scholar Candy Brown found when she visited the Encinitas public schools. “I see it all over the place,” she testified in court a fortnight ago.
And even though the school district insists that there is no chanting of mantras, Dr. Brown provided the court written statements from teachers in the district that children have, in fact, been observed chanting while doing their yoga.
They were sending shout outs to Patanjali, the several-thousand-headed serpent god, and they were none the wiser.
Now, many may think the court case in California is much ado about a trifle. And even some Christians may argue that there is nothing unGodly about yoga. That they separate their faith and their workout. That Shesha and Jesus can peacefully co-exist.
Well, that’s KP Jois Foundation wants Encinitas parents. That’s what the devil wants all of us to think.
Which should bring to mind to all of us who count ourselves Christ followers the challenge Joshua issued to the children of Israel: “Choose you this day whom you will serve.
The choice for the Joshua’s people was between the gods their fathers served “that were on the other side of the flood,” or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land they dwelled after the Exodus, or the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The choice today for those who consider themselves faithful Christians, who have been advised by Father Gabriele and others that yoga is a gateway to evil is whether they will stand with the Lord, or sit, in Lotus position, in homage to the serpent god Shesha.
It appears that about the only time you post here is when you’re pimping your blog.
BTW, the Romans had a really serious reservation about adding Jesus ~ they killed people over the point.
Thanks for you comments. I still say “Abstain from all appearance of evil”.............like the verse that talks about eating meat, if it might cause a weaker brother to stumble then don’t do it
The Romans did not kill Jesus because they didn’t want to recognize he was God.
They killed him, as they killed hundreds of thousands or millions of other people, because they saw him as a political inconvenience in controlling a rebellious people.
They didn't care if you were rebellious or kissing their tush ~ they only killed 70 million over the centuries anyway. Most of them were people well deserving of death!
bookmark
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Only 6 million good angels??? That leaves billions of people without a guardian angel...I hope I'm one of the lucky ones...
Well, think about it. There is no indication that God made any more angels from the original host he created. There was a finite number, so as the human population grows, he would always have to make more.
I was just trying to point out that if you are a Christian, taking ballet from Russians doesn’t make you communist or from the French doesn’t make you socialist; therefore taking yoga at the local gym doesn’t make you hindu, either.
As for the armpit part, that was just a joke about the French.
Those are incredible videos! Thank you so much for posting those! (PS how ya doin'?)
As long as one is not prideful in abstention, no problem.
A couple of yoga stretches can be pretty beneficial. But one doesn’t really use those muscles in any form of locomotion...least of all in baseball.
I see your completely random Bible quote that was used to avoid dealing with an ugly truth, and raise you a completely random Bible quote as a response in turn.
“Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.”
You’re welcome.
Words DO carry intrinsic energy. This is why freedom of speech is under so much (successful) attack. PC speech is not just speech control, it is mind control and thinking control by way of language.
A word can carry the energy and intention of a person who created it or even spoke it. This is especially true of words or phrases spoken and used many times with a specific use or intention.
Ironically, it was a Buddhist who got me to appreciate the King James translation of the Bible. Even more ironically was the fact that there are Sanskrit words that describe why that translation is so powerful, and do so better than English language.
But a word spoken with no audience is just a funny breathing exercise.
Ugh. Where's Headache Guy when you need him?
Go ahead and hate, I’m sure that is very pleasing to Him. /sarc
So many answers.
I’ll go for the simplest answer.
No.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.