Sample Chapter:
True to His Ways: Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice

Chapter Nine: Visions, Siddhis and the Priesthood of the Magus

Here in the West there are many who feel that the powers of Kundalini Yoga are nothing but rank superstition. I wish to say that those who cherish this idea are totally mistaken. Even the genuine spiritual Masters have examined Kundalini Yoga and found in their own experiences the undeniable authenticity of its hidden occult powers.
—Sri Chinmoy, yoga master

In yoga, supernatural powers are called siddhis or siddhi powers. They include paranormal perception, like seeing angels and demons, and the ability to perform miracles like materializing ashes out of nowhere.

In Hindu thought, siddhi mastery—that is, the development of supernatural abilities—is evidence of spiritual progress. However, as we saw in chapter 8, the student of yoga is expected to use his or her power humbly, for loving and selfless purposes.

For siddhi development, the serpent force must first be able to move freely through the chakras. The first step, say yoga teachers, is a kundalini awakening. Then siddhi powers develop
through continuing yoga practices including meditation, shaktipat and samadhi. There are “warrior siddhis,”“occult siddhis” and “heart purification siddhis,” among others. As devotees continue on the path of siddhi mastery they may experience:

• a sense of deep inner peace
• fantasies about being a destroyer of evil
• increased love for God
• clairaudience, i.e., hearing voices, musical instruments, singing, sighing or other sounds “in the mind,” sounds believed to be from the spirit realm
• clairvoyance: i.e. visions or pictures perceived in the mind alone and believed to be from the spirit realm (e.g., seeing angels)
• the ability to divine the thoughts and secrets of other people
• discerning illness in others
• knowledge of past, present or future; i.e., prophecy or seeing “outside time”
• the development of a warm sense of love and compassion for others.^[1]

Clairvoyance and clairaudience are considered occult siddhis. They refer to the opening of the so-called third, or spiritual, eye to see into the hidden spirit realm.

So what does this have to do with charismatic experience?

There are differences, but also significant parallels between charismatic and yoga teaching on supernatural powers and gifts. Hindus refer to gift development as “siddhi mastery” and charismatics call it “awakening the prophetic,” but for the most part they are, as we will see, talking about the same things. Many charismatics claim siddhi-like “third eye” powers to see and hear angels. They also claim to read people’s thoughts, discern illnesses and tell the future. And they believe they experience increased love for God through soaking prayer.

Yet another parallel is the need for a spiritual initiation experience. Hindus have the “kundalini awakening,” and charismatics the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or “second blessing.” In the minds of both groups this experience necessarily precedes the development of supernatural, or spiritual, gifts. The second blessing is regarded by charismatics as the initiation into a fully intimate and “anointed” relationship with God, but is eerily akin to a kundalini awakening in that the initiate experiences rapture, speaks in tongues and may emerge with supernatural abilities. Compare the following charismatic (Pentecostal) and yoga teachings:

Charismatic:

Should Christians Seek the Second Baptism? The first matter to consider is a vitally important one. It lies at the very heart of Pentecostal teaching. It controls and colors their whole view of the Christian life. It is the doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. According to them this is the blessing to be sought, the experience to strive for, the greatest and highest achievement of the Christian man and woman. What is this great spiritual blessing? It is a special post-conversion gift and experience in which the Holy Spirit is poured out on you in all His fullness, with special power to enable you to have things and do things you cannot have and do otherwise.^[2](emphasis original)

Yoga:

Shaktipat means “touch of the shakti” or Initiation. Shaktipat is the spiritual initiation given by a divine Master; the inner quickening. Shaktipat is synonymous with the baptism of Christianity, and the anointing of Judaism. The real baptism is an actual psycho-spiritual event, one experienced by those of many faiths who develop devotion combined with purity. It represents the beginning of the awakening and unfolding of the inner power of kundalini-shakti, and is often accompanied by marvelous events and perceptions….After receiving shaktipat, the divine shakti itself unfolds the spiritual development of the devotee.^[3](emphasis original)

The reader can see that both the second blessing and the kundalini awakening are believed to initiate the seeker into a mysterious world of occult gift development. Let’s allow yogis and charismatics to speak for themselves in the next few pages, as we consider the special powers and perceptions gained through these experiences.

Spiritual eyes opened

In my charismatic church, one of my favorite pastors told me that as we “grow in the prophetic,” God can “open our spiritual eyes.” This obviously parallels the Hindu view of third eye openings. I discovered that powers of clairvoyance and clairaudience, especially seeing and hearing angels and demons, are very popular on the occult path. A kundalini devotee writes:

After receiving shaktipat, numerous experiences began to occur. One night at home, I heard the conch shell so loudly and clearly that I started. Interpreting that I was being beckoned to meditate, I did so…I realized I wasn’t alone. A sound in the hallway confirmed my belief, and summoning up all the courage I had, I turned to look. He was standing in the doorway—a being made of light. The beauty and vibrancy of this sight were not of this realm.^[4]

The above writer received both paranormal sight and hearing after a shaktipat impartation, and reportedly saw an angel of light.

Well-known charismatic Todd Bentley, who claims to receive frequent visitations from angels, travels widely for “Catch the Fire” events to impart occult visions in shaktipat-type practices. He writes voluminously on the topic, and has posted many articles on the Web. In one such article he writes:

So I’m asking God to release the seer anointing to you as you read this article so that you can even see the angelic hosts. Today I want to focus the teaching on the angelic realm and how you can release angels to fulfill God’s word. Recently, I had several daily visitations of angels which lasted for weeks. Since the beginning of this year I’ve also sensed an increase in the presence of angels in our meetings.^[5]

Mr. Bentley visited a church in North Dakota and reportedly imparted paranormal perception to the pastor’s wife. The pastor wrote:

After that power packed evening [with Todd Bentley], Julie testified that the prophetic gifting of the Holy Spirit began to operate in a new dimension. Tuesday evening she saw the church surrounded with angels and even heard them singing with the congregation during worship!^[6]

While in a trance Julie both heard and saw angels, demonstrating siddhi-like powers of clairaudience and clairvoyance. Similar occult visions were reported by others at a “Catch the Fire” event in Tucson, Arizona, featuring Gary and Kathi Oates. Mr. and Mrs. Oates are reportedly so advanced in siddhi-like power that “God’s presence invaded the auditoriums each time Gary and Kathi ministered.”^[7] Here is the testimony of a young woman who attended this event:

I felt the Lord was saying that we (our homegroup) should ask Him to open our eyes and our ears. I asked…then forgot all about it until Friday…in church I was so moved by the presence of the Lord that I went to the back and knelt down… sobbing. Soon, I saw an angel in the doorway blowing a cool breeze over the church and knew his job was to reawaken a hunger and recognition of the presence of the Lord. Next I saw an angel on either side of the first, and these were blowing trumpets, but I understood their message to be “Prepare the way for a Holy Lord”. I’m still so touched by the increased ability to see and hear and I want more.^[8]

The angelic message in the above testimony sounds biblical and reverent. But consider the occult elements. Enchanted by a presence brought by empowered leaders, unmotivated weeping, paranormal seeing: could it be that this woman really saw and heard an angel from God? Of course not. First, it came as a result of occult practice; that alone is reason enough to reject it. But we see also that this “angel” is not teaching the Jesus of the gospel who comes through the word of truth. It teaches an occult Jesus who comes by invocation and manifest presence, and imparts siddhi-like powers. Next, angels do not awaken our hunger for God; this is the work of the Holy Spirit. And last, Scripture teaches that not only will demons pretend to worship the Lord, they can and will declare His deity, and even proclaim His work of salvation. The demon that Paul cast out of the prophetess in Philippi caused her to announce his mission as God’s servant to declare the way of salvation. Every word she spoke was true. But Paul was not pleased, and clearly discerned
the demonic source (see Acts 16:16-18). We must not be fooled by pious appearances.
Another charismatic at the Tucson, Arizona event reported the following:

God opened [my] husband’s eyes to more of the angelic realm. Previously, he had seen his angel twice, but a few nights after the conference he saw him again. In the middle of the night he woke up, he sensed a presence and opened his eyes and saw his angel over him. He then saw five other angels, smaller in size, going around in the room swinging a flag type of item. When they swung this flag, there was music.^[9]

Note how the writer above refers to the opening of eyes to see more of the angelic realm—a classic third eye opening. What is also interesting about the husband’s experience is how he refers to “his” angel not once, but twice. This is no doubt linked to the concept of finding your own guardian angel.

Angels: a biblical view

Teachings about finding, and even conversing with, your own guardian angel are increasingly common in charismatic circles. But these are occult counterfeits of biblical teaching about protective angels.

While many passages of Scripture indicate that angels are assigned to guide and protect people (Hebrews 1:14 says that angels are ministering spirits who help God’s children), nowhere are we commanded to ask for “spiritual eyes” so we can see them and hear them. This is occult thinking.
Only a brief excursion into ancient and modern teachings of magicians and other occult seekers reveals that they have always been preoccupied with angels, demons and guardian angels. Read the following written by an accomplished medieval magician—Abraham the Jew, also known as Abramelin the Mage—an “expert” on guardian angels, who wrote to his own son, “you shall see your Guardian Angel appear unto you in unequaled beauty; who also will converse with you, and speak in words so full of affection and of goodness, and with such sweetness, that no human tongue could express the same.”^[10]

Abramelin the Mage, like those at the Tucson church, says angels come with a manifest, loving spiritual presence—and odors, as also reported by the Toronto church and other charismatic congregations:

Humiliate yourself before God and his celestial court, and commence your prayer with fervor…and you will see appear an extraordinary and supernatural splendor which will fill the whole apartment, and will surround you with an inexpressible odor, and this alone will console you and comfort your heart so that you shall call forever happy the Day of the Lord.^[11]

While angels are mentioned in the Bible over 350 times, only a small number of groups or individuals—fewer than 40 over approximately 1,500 years of biblical history—are reported to have seen them. However, mystics teach that anyone, if they go about it the right way—that is, through the occult—can find their own angel. Thousands of angel sightings have been reported by charismatics and other mystics.

Why are believers looking for angels when our eyes are to be fixed upon Jesus? Why did the young woman in North Dakota say “I want more”? Is this not to set up angels as idols? Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Let no one defraud you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head…” (Colossians 2:18-19).

While it is clear from biblical accounts that God sometimes communicates through angels, this is definitely no reason to dabble in the occult. The Bible portrays angelic appearances as extraordinary phenomena. Insofar as God’s children are concerned, such appearances are never experienced through, or as a result of, occult practice.

Seers at will

A newcomer to mysticism usually finds it necessary to enter a trance state before he or she can see angels. However advanced mystics, both pagan and charismatic, claim such ability when not in a trance, even at will. Kundalini practitioner Gail tells us:

I am a “sighted” psychic, and have the ability to see angels, hierarchies of angels, demon/entities, lost souls, apparitions, guides, deceased pets, saints…and have done for the last three years or more, sending souls to the Light, and casting out demons…angels look like white rays of light, to white energy forms, to solid humanoid forms. They come in all sizes and shapes. They look like old Victorian-type angels, to angels with holographic-type gowns that change color with the light that shines within them. I’ve seen angels that look gold in color, and have eyes all over their wings.^[12]

Charismatic Kathie Walters claims the same abilities as Gail. She says seeing angels is a normal part of her everyday life, and she believes we should all be conversing with heavenly beings on a regular basis:

I [asked] people “Do you know that the realm of the Spirit, the supernatural realm, the angels, heavenly visitations, are supposed to be a normal part of your life? Those same people who are sure of their salvation, will say they feel somehow they are not “qualified” for this supernatural realm…When I speak of angelic encounters, heavenly visitations, God’s chariots, people say to me, “Well it’s OK for you—you have that kind of Spirit ministry.” It grieves me when I hear that. We are all meant to have that kind of ministry…Pray this, “Thank you Lord that when Jesus died for me, He left me an inheritance. The realm of the spirit, the supernatural realm of God, the Angels, the visitations of God, Heaven—that is my inheritance and it is a normal part of my life. This I confess and I choose to believe…”^[13]

But is Kathie’s teaching really Christian? Of course not. It is akin to Hinduism or magic. It has nothing to do with Jesus, or with any form of godly righteousness. Communing at will with angels is an ancient, occult art. Considering again the definitions from chapter 5, we know that occult practice involves seeking supernatural spirits, and seeking the paranormal ability to see or hear them. Encouraging “visitations” and “encounters” with angels definitely falls within this definition. Such practices are those of the nations. They seduced the Israelites, and they are now seducing those who claim to belong to the Christian church.

Divination, prophetic gifts and the priesthood of the Magus

Occult exposure also influences people to pursue secret knowledge, such as knowledge of the future or of people’s hidden thoughts. Charismatics do this under the rubric of “developing the gift of prophecy” and yogis, as we have seen, under “mastering the siddhis.” However, this is nothing more than simple divination. Consider again the definition from chapter 5:

What is divination? Also called soothsaying, magic or seeing, it involves:

• trying to predict future events or discover hidden knowledge, usually by the aid of supernatural gifting; or
• using paranormal insight or perception.

Let’s consider the experiences of yoga and charismatic seekers in their own words. Yoga master Jafree (chapter 3) said that after his second samadhi experience:

[I] had more…psychic knowledge of everything and everyone in existence than I ever imagined was humanly possible. Every person I met was like an open book which I could read from beginning to end!^[14]

One guru explains that when kundalini is awakened a person may experience “states of heightened awareness, the emergence of psychic gifts…”^[15]  Charismatics report similar experiences. In the Alpha tapes, Nicky Gumbel talks about discerning people’s illnesses. Here is what another well-known, charismatic teacher, Rick Joyner, says about increased powers of paranormal perception:

In the dream and trances, I had what I consider to be greatly magnified gifts of discernment and words of knowledge. Sometimes when I look at a person, or pray for a church or ministry, I just start to know things about them of which I have no natural knowledge. During these prophetic experiences these gifts were operating on a level that I have never personally experienced in “real life.”^[16]

Not only yogis and charismatics, but also other occultists pursue supernatural gifts. This is not surprising, given the influence and leading of occult spirits. French magician Eliphas Levi (chapter 8) understands divination to be but one aspect of magic, and advanced divination to be “the Priesthood of the Magus”:

Divination…in its broadest sense…is the exercise of divine power, and the realization of divine knowledge. It is the Priesthood of the Magus. But divination, in general opinion, is concerned more closely with the knowledge of hidden things. To know the most secret thoughts of men; to penetrate the mysteries of past and future; to evoke age by age the exact revelation of effects by the precise knowledge of causes: this is what is universally called divination.^[17]

What is noteworthy about Mr. Levi’s definition is that he identifies divination as exercising divine power and knowing divine things. This is significant, the implication being that people who seek powers of divination are, whether they realize it or not, trying to be like God. Bible readers will recognize this as the primary satanic temptation (Genesis 3).

Occult Sanctification

A further belief shared by yogis and charismatics has to do with how we are sanctified unto holiness, or how we attain spiritual purity. Both rely on occult presence or power, believing they are literally “washed,” purified and made holy by the power or influence of occult spirit. Practitioners see their role as largely passive; once they connect with a manifest spirit they simply lie back and submit to a sort of mystic “bath” or occult “fire” which is supposed to take away all their sins and impurities. Let us look at the yogic view:

Awakened kundalini in someone will do complete cleansing and purificiation on chakras, layers of the bodies, and eteric channels. After passing the cleansing and purification processes, a person can have different psychic powers and a higher level of consciousness.^[18]

This writer expresses the view that after mystic cleansing a person magically develops a “higher consciousness.” The kundalini power is seen as having a purifying effect by directly touching and cleansing. This is clearly occult. Disturbingly, charismatics express similar views. Consider the following testimony from “Bill,” who believes that only after mystic cleansing is he ready to “enter the inner chamber” and be closer to God:

[As] I lay there in the wonderful presence of God on me I became aware of the Holiness and the love and the wrath and His Mercy and majesty of God in a way that I had never known. Now, I understood why I had to be cleansed that time…I knew at the time that I was saved but there was a cleansing that needed to take place before I could enter the inner chamber, the Holy of Holies where God would speak to me...^[19]

While under the influence of a manifest spirit, Bill had a powerful, apparently holy experience. He felt moved to reverence for “God.” I accept what he says about his feelings. But, he also gained the impression that he needed a mystic cleansing before God would speak to him, before he could come close to God. Is this what Scripture teaches? Not at all. This is occult thinking. This is what Satan wants us to think, and this is how he draws unsuspecting seekers repeatedly back to occult worship.

Biblical teaching has not changed in two thousand years; it is faith and faith alone that opens the curtains to the Holy of Holies, the place where the spirit of man can meet with the Spirit of God. Sanctification is very real and very important, but it is not what ushers us into His presence. We come as we are, the only requirement being that we turn and believe. An old hymn expresses this very well: “Just as I am He will receive, because His promise I believe”. In fact, the time of conversion—when sanctification scarecely begun—is for many believers an exquisite experience of intimacy with the Father. But Bill, and countless others like him, have been led to seek repeated occult communion with demonic spirits, thinking that this is how they can be made clean. How satanic it is.

Splashing, surging, flushing and purging

Let’s examine more samples of occult thinking about spiritual “cleansing.” In the next quotation a Reiki instructor advertises a course on the cleansing power of kundalini “fire”:

Kundalini Reiki 2—All channels are strengthened. Kundalini Awakening—main energy channel opens gently and surely, alighting the Kundalini “fire”…You are also taught a specific meditation. When you perform this meditation, you increase in a short time, the power of the flame in the Kundalini fire/energy. In this way, all the chakras/energy systems are enlightened and a cleansing takes place.^[20]

This instructor says we need kundalini “fire” flowing through opened chakras to cleanse and enlighten the soul. What do charismatics say? Let’s look at the teaching of Carol C., who echoes this idea, except in her view the cleansing comes with “hurricane strength”:

We need the love of the Father flowing freely through us. And that love only flows when our soul is cleansed—a cleansing that requires the hurricane strength wind and drenching rain of God’s Spirit. So throw away that umbrella of fear and soak in the Holy Spirit. Just say: “More, Lord. I want more of you!”^[21]

Similar occult ideas abound in charismatic thought, worship and practice. Sometimes, during prayer, charismatics pretend they are “splashing” water from a spiritual “river” onto a person, supposedly assisting the cleansing process. A line in a charismatic song says,“Into the river I will wade, there my sins are washed away.” This is an occult perversion of biblical teaching on the blood of Jesus.

Another occult concept is “purging”—like washing, but a more violent application of occult power upon the soul. Mysteria, the yoga teacher, says purging by kundalini can be painful. Devotees sometimes vomit, supposedly part of the process. But we saw in chapter 3 that charismatics also vomit as a result of their practices. Some also believe this is part of a spiritual cleansing process. For example:

What I do know [is] that vomiting is quite often a part of deliverance, and it is certainly a result of Holy Spirit movement…I do know, also, that in renewal meetings demons do quite often manifest among people in the congregation—this is due to the Holy Spirit moving so mightily in such meetings.^[22]

Charismatic Pat C. has fallen completely for the occult idea of spiritual “purging.” She prophesied as follows:

Beginnings of Purging Fire: A baptism with fire will visit many individuals and churches in 2004 who have been passionately seeking for purging in their lives. A purification season is going to visit the church as a move of purging begins. This purging process will begin to separate the “wheat from the tares.”^[23]

Charismatics also speak about “applying” the Holy Spirit directly to the heart as if it was ointment. In the following teaching from Carol Arnott at Toronto Airport Church, Christians are urged to be open to occult “doses” of sanctification:

[God] wants you to experience heavy doses of His divine grace because grace is a place where Satan can’t go… This is what sanctification is all about; little by little, allowing Jesus to take back the ground in your heart and mind that was once Satan’s playground. As you open each door to your Heavenly Father’s healing touch, you will automatically close each of those doors in the devil’s face.^[24]

Mrs. Arnott believes that the penetration of a manifest spirit into her heart will make her like Jesus, which is typical occult thinking. The demonic teaching is that the action of the spirit upon mind, body, heart or soul will magically change a person, preparing him or her for intimacy with God without any other effort. This terrible error turns biblical teaching on its face, as victims are lured into a satanic trap.

Biblical sanctification

The believer’s part in true sanctification is to practice the ways of true Christianity. If we do our part, God will do His. Our Lord said to His disciples even before they received the Holy Spirit that they were already clean because of the words He had spoken to them. He said, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean…” (John 13:10).

Regular reading of Scripture, remembering to search our hearts for sin, confession and obedience—these are the practices that keep us in truth and near to God. The Bible says we are washed by the Word and by mortification of sin. The apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Peter taught that we purify ourselves by obeying the truth (see I Peter 1:22). Biblical teaching has to do with staying in truth by doing (obedience), not by receiving (opening to occult spirit).

Mystic healing

Another belief shared by charismatics and yogis is that submission to spiritual power, especially during trance states, brings healing. The emphasis is usually upon emotional and spiritual healing. Following is a yoga teaching:

Practiced yogis can consciously achieve [Samadhi]… It is in this state that our bodies can completely focus on healing and growing. Delta brainwaves are conducive to miracle-type healing, divine knowledge, inner being and personal growth, rebirth, trauma recovery...^[25]

Charismatics believe the Holy Spirit applies healing power during soaking. For example:

One of the greatest benefits of soaking prayer is receiving the love of God again and again. Francis MacNutt said that soaking through to the core of something dry that needs to be revived, takes time. Soaking prayer invites the love of our heavenly Father to seep into the painful core issues of our lives and bring healing and renewal.^[26]

Following are lyrics from a charismatic song that could have been written by any mystic, where the Holy Spirit is depicted as a river that brings healing:

My first love is a rushing river a waterfall that will never cease, and in the torrent of tears and laughter I feel a healing power released.^[27]

Compare this yoga poem, which describes melting in waves of joy and feeling “lifted”:

From joy I came, for joy I live, in sacred joy I melt. Ocean of mind, I drink all creation’s waves. Four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light, Lift aright.^[28]

The next charismatic testimony reveals the occult idea that the Holy Spirit heals by washing away problems, pain and burdens:

to me, there’s still nothing more tiring than counseling. Though Paula and I knew that we were to release the burdens to God, it was always easier to say than to do. We had become soggy with people’s grief and emotional pain, defiled by the weight of their sins… When we arrived in Toronto, we began to receive prayer. Flat on our backs lying on the carpet, we began to rejoice as His refreshing River washed away years of accumulated burdens.^[29]

All these practices are occult because they rely upon the presence, action and influence of supernatural power.

Emotional logjams

Both yogis and charismatics believe there can be emotional “blockages” in the inner person which prevent growth and must be cleared away by occult power, in the same way we might clear a clogged drainpipe.^[30] This is similar to the concept of purging, except it focuses specifically on healing “memories” or “old wounds.”

I will draw again on my discussions with Mysteria, the yoga teacher. She stressed to me that “inner clearing of emotional blockages happens not in our minds, but in our being.” We must turn our thinking off, she says, and let kundalini have its way. The serpent force can then rise up and through chakra centres to “heal wounds and erroneous beliefs.” But this process can supposedly be prevented by a blockage, such as a “painful memory.” If there is such a blockage, Mysteria explained, kundalini fire “deals with the problem, brings emotional healing, and then progresses to the next chakra.” This magical process is believed to free the yoga student from bondage to past hurts and repressed memories.

To my surprise, Mysteria went on to explain Hindu teachings that sound very like those of John and Paula Sandford (of Elijah House Ministries) and other charismatics in counseling ministries, namely the concept of “healing memories.” These teachers all believe that painful memories can be retrieved from the subconscious mind (or “the tissues” as Mysteria put it) so they can be “dealt with”—kind of like antibiotics deal with bacteria. Mysteria credits this “healing of memories” to the power of kundalini. Charismatics credit the “healing power of Jesus.”

However, it soon dawned on me that the whole idea is blatantly occult; occult and magic. Considering again the definitions from chapter 5, we know that occult practice involves seeking supernatural power, presence, influence or action. Magic, or wizardry, is particularly concerned with harnessing or invoking (calling down) supernatural power to work miracles and healing. Here, Elijah House and yoga teachers invoke the presence of supernaturnal spirit or power to act on human flesh.

When Christians call for a supernatural spirit to act upon the heart, they have crossed the line into occultism. In the case of healing memories, practitioners are seeking the action or influence of supernatural power for a magic healing of emotions. This is what wizards do, not true followers of Christ.

Mysteria says that as the serpent force of kundalini progresses up through the chakras, dealing along the way with a person’s memories and emotional wounds, it arrives at the heart where it supposedly does a most important work, that of opening it to occult love. This is sometimes referred to as a “heart orgasm,” and is believed to develop the individual’s capacity for love and compassion. But Mysteria’s thinking is startlingly similar to charismatic thinking. For example, John White writes about how the “Holy Spirit” opened a man’s heart:

He asked me to pray for him, and as we prayed the Holy Spirit continued to work powerfully, so that he was stunned by the sudden opening of his mind and heart to realities he had kept at bay for years. ^[31]

This heart opening is an occult counterfeit of the real thing, which occurs when the Holy Spirit opens a person’s heart to receive the Word of God (see Acts 16:14). Consider also the following charismatic testimonies:

It is possible to have a personal logjam in the heart. This logjam keeps the person who ministers from experiencing Jesus’ healing mercy in his own wounded soul…^[32] 

Soaking prayer is not so much a matter of words as of the intent of the heart to simply hold the person in the love of God while He works the creative power of that love into the area of dis ease [sic].^[33]

In the above quotations we see many mystic components, including uncovering memories, healing emotions and the magical working of power “into the heart.”

Biblical healing

Healing is a good thing. But is the current preoccupation with emotional healing really biblical?
Jesus’ ministry involved much healing, but it was always physical healing, or involved deliverance from demonic spirits. We never read about “emotional healing” in the New Testament. Why? Is it unimportant? Of course not. But Scripture holds different views as to the significance of our grievances, the way we are healed and how we are raised anew in the power of the Holy Spirit.

As to the hurts and damage suffered by the “old man”or the “old woman”—the people we were before we came to Christ—Scripture teaches that we must consider that person dead, crucified with Jesus. Trying to patch the old heart is like trying to patch old wineskins with new leather; it doesn’t work. God has given us a new heart and a new spirit: this we must seek to develop by the knowledge of God, obedience and prayer. Throw out your “Christian psychology” books and turn to the Word—there is wine to warm your soul!

Our old self is no longer useful. We must simply let go of our preoccupation with former things. Indeed, Scriptures are more forceful than that, saying we must put to death that old self, with all its vain preoccupations and ungodly pursuits; then God can and will raise us up in new life His way. So let us look forward, not backward. We must live God’s way, putting on the new man or the new woman, so the old can pass away. In so doing, I promise you will be overjoyed to find that painful memories and lingering resentments simply lose their power. This indeed is freedom, and healing, and new life! It is not painful. It does not require hours of time lost to mystic pursuits or introspection or digging around in the past to “discover” repressed memories.

It is natural for humans to focus on emotional well-being, but this only distracts us. The prevalent teaching of Scripture is that believers are washed, renewed and nourished by truth, and through the Word led to spiritual health and maturity. This, then, is what we really need.

* * * * *

Endnotes:

All endnotes have been removed to avoid linking to occult and charismatic websites. Full references, current when taken, are in the book True to His Ways