Just the other day I wrote the blog entry about our lack of understanding of the power of the spirit realm. Well, here we are in a 3-day "spiritual" retreat with all of the Central American MCCers, and I am disturbed by what I have heard in the teaching session that I have attended.
The speakers have been brought in from Chiapas, Mexico to lead us through the retreat. One is a native Mexican and the other is a Swiss lady, pastor/theologian in the Reformed Swiss church background. Apparently the two of them have been working together for some time in Chiapas.
They are focusing on the Mayan Christian traditions and rituals, and are leading the group through various exercises. I assumed that they were coming from a "normal" evangelical viewpoint and felt that I was open to hear what they had to say. However, the alarm bells started to sound when they started to lead us through gymnastics to "gather the power from the earth and sky", and bring it inward. They proceeded to talk about getting in touch with the heart of "Mother Earth" and to understand that God is in all of creation (not that we can see who God is, but that He is actually in the animal, plant, etc.).
Meantime they had created a traditional Mayan altar in the center of the room with various colors of flowers and symbolic candles. They proceeded to explain the "paths" from one candle to another: red to black signifies God's life and death, white to yellow signifies something (can't remember) to corn/plenty, and there were two others that I cannot remember. The three paths form a traditional Mayan cross. In the middle they place a small clay pot with burning incense. Each person lights a small candle and offers him/herself to God, through the candle.
OK, this is as best I understood/remember it. However, as they continued to talk about all of these things I became more and more filled with the conviction that this was not of God, and so I left the room before they performed the incense part of the ritual.
I keep asking myself if I am over-blowing the whole thing, but I cannot shake the feeling that they are entering the realm of the occult, and it is not benign! I opened my Bible to 1 John 4 (funny, I had a marker there) and read: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."
This experience is at the polar extreme of ignorance of the spirit realm, but I fear that the spirits with whom they are dealing are not of God.
If anyone is more knowledgeable on this subject or has some insight I would love to hear your thoughts.
More to come as I process this.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Prowling Like a Roaring Lion
First of all, I have to insist that all of you (men especially, but women too) read a fantastic book called, Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge. He articulates so well some of the things that I have felt over the years and has helped me to understand myself and my role better. Anyhow, I say all of this because I am going to include an excerpt from the book to illustrate what I want to say.
It goes like this:
The invasion of France and the end of WWII actually began the night before the Allies hit the beaches of Normany, when the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were dropped behind enemy lines to cut off Hitler’s reinforcements. If you’ve seen The Longest Day or Saving Private Ryan, you remember the dangers those paratroopers were facing. Alone or in small groups, they moved through the dead of night across a country they had never been to in order to fight an enemy they couldn’t see or predict. It was a moment of unparalleled bravery … and cowardice. For not every trooper played the man that fateful night. Sure, they jumped; but afterward, many hid. One group took cowardice to a new level.
Too many had hunkered down in hedgerows to await the dawn; a few had even gone to sleep. Pvt. Francis Palys of the 506th saw what was perhaps the worst dereliction of duty. He had gathered a squad near Vierville. Hearing “all kinds of noise and singing from a distance,” he and his men sneaked up on a farmhouse. In it was a mixed group from both American divisions. The paratroopers had found [liquor] in the cellar … and they were drunker than a bunch of hillbillies on a Saturday night wingding. Unbelievable. (D-Day)
Unbelievable indeed. These men knew they were at war, yet they refused to act like it. They lived in a dangerous denial – a denial that not only endangered them but countless others who depended on them to do their part. It is a perfect picture of the church in the West when it comes to spiritual warfare. During a recent church staff meeting, a friend of mine raised the suggestion that some of the difficulties they were facing might be the work of the Enemy. “What do you think?” he asked. “Well, I suppose that sort of thing does happen,” one of the other pastors replied. “In the Third World, perhaps, or maybe to thwart a major crusade. You know … places where cutting-edge ministry is going on.”
Incredible. What a self-indictment.
I think that this excerpt says it so well. The western church is asleep. We have swallowed the lie that the enemy is not really active. It is time that we wake up and start practicing some serious spiritual warfare.
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and the cosmic powers of this dark age.
It goes like this:
The invasion of France and the end of WWII actually began the night before the Allies hit the beaches of Normany, when the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were dropped behind enemy lines to cut off Hitler’s reinforcements. If you’ve seen The Longest Day or Saving Private Ryan, you remember the dangers those paratroopers were facing. Alone or in small groups, they moved through the dead of night across a country they had never been to in order to fight an enemy they couldn’t see or predict. It was a moment of unparalleled bravery … and cowardice. For not every trooper played the man that fateful night. Sure, they jumped; but afterward, many hid. One group took cowardice to a new level.
Too many had hunkered down in hedgerows to await the dawn; a few had even gone to sleep. Pvt. Francis Palys of the 506th saw what was perhaps the worst dereliction of duty. He had gathered a squad near Vierville. Hearing “all kinds of noise and singing from a distance,” he and his men sneaked up on a farmhouse. In it was a mixed group from both American divisions. The paratroopers had found [liquor] in the cellar … and they were drunker than a bunch of hillbillies on a Saturday night wingding. Unbelievable. (D-Day)
Unbelievable indeed. These men knew they were at war, yet they refused to act like it. They lived in a dangerous denial – a denial that not only endangered them but countless others who depended on them to do their part. It is a perfect picture of the church in the West when it comes to spiritual warfare. During a recent church staff meeting, a friend of mine raised the suggestion that some of the difficulties they were facing might be the work of the Enemy. “What do you think?” he asked. “Well, I suppose that sort of thing does happen,” one of the other pastors replied. “In the Third World, perhaps, or maybe to thwart a major crusade. You know … places where cutting-edge ministry is going on.”
Incredible. What a self-indictment.
I think that this excerpt says it so well. The western church is asleep. We have swallowed the lie that the enemy is not really active. It is time that we wake up and start practicing some serious spiritual warfare.
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and the cosmic powers of this dark age.
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