More Evidence and Argument - Chapters 36-40

By Dennis Edwards

All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.

Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google images)[To go to the first chapters click on link]

Section Four: More Evidence and Argument

Chapter 36: The Divided Kingdom
Chapter 37: We Are Sisters, We Are Harlots, and We Are Not Ashamed!
Chapter 38: Reiki and the New Age Movement
Chapter 39: Letter to a Friend Involved with Reiki
Chapter 40: Is Revival Possible?

Chapter 36

The Divided Kingdom

But King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, woman of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, You shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto them in love… For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect (obedient) with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as did David his father.[1]

Solomon built shrines and temples in Jerusalem in honor of the gods’ of his foreign wives.

And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou has not kept My covenant and My statues, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.[2]

On Solomon’s death, his son becomes king.

However, the ten northern tribes rebel and choose the son of Solomon’s former servant to be their king. Sad to say, both Solomon’s son who reigns over the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the new king of the ten northern tribes of Israel do not turn unto the Lord, but lead both Israel and Judah further astray. Of the new king over the northern ten tribes the Bible says,

After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places (of the shrines on the hilltops): whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priest of the high places.[3]

Jeroboam had started his own new religion to try to keep the people from going to Jerusalem each year for the various religious feasts. He needed priests, and those people obedient unto the Lord would not cooperate, so he took anyone who wanted the job. That’s not a good way to recruit religious leaders. And the Lord said of him that he

has done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke Me to anger, and hast cast Me behind thy back.[4]

The reign of Solomon’s son was not much better.

And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done, For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.[5]

That’s the Bible whether it’s what you want to hear or not. Has America abandoned the one true God of Christianity which caused her to be blessed and turned spiritually unto other gods that be not gods?

Notes:

[1] 1Kings 11:1-6
[2] 1Kings 11:9-11
[3] 1Kings 13:33
[4] 1Kings 14:9
[5] 1Kings 14:22-24

Chapter 37

We Are Sisters, We Are Harlots, and We Are Not Ashamed!

The book of Revelation is not the first time we see God using the symbolism of a harlot to try to make a point. Through Jeremiah He calls Israel, the northern kingdom, and Judah, the southern kingdom, harlots. He also calls each of them “an adulterous wife.” God tells the prophet Hosea to marry a harlot to try to get the point across that He is married to us and will forgive us if we change and come back to Him with all our heart, mind and strength. Here we read from Jeremiah:

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel (the northern kingdom) hath done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto Me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah (the southern kingdom) saw it. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says the LORD. And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.[1]

God was warning the southern Kingdom of Judah to not follow the way of the northern Kingdom of Israel. But even though Judah had seen what had happened to the Kingdom of Israel, she continued in her spiritual adultery. In Hosea we read:

Hear the Word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood.[2]

God Himself compares the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah unto two harlot sisters. Even though Judah gets to observe the fate of the northern tribes of Israel and their destruction under the Assyrian Empire, she refuses to change her ways but rather follows Israel’s bad example. The Bible shows us the parallel history of these two kingdoms, the northern ten tribes called Israel and the southern two tribes called Judah.

The northern ten tribes quickly forsake the true God of Abraham. They adopt Jeroboam’s new religious system and soon lose the blessing of God. Without God’s protection, they are defeated and conquered by the Assyrian Empire and taken away captive. In 722 BC, their capital city Samaria is destroyed. The Northern Kingdom has around a 300-year existence from the time of Saul. Other peoples are brought in to occupy the land. You can read it below:

Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the Law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.[3]

Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statues, and His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.

And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.[4]

The southern kingdom of Judah fairs somewhat better, depending on its kings and their obedience unto the Lord. They have several revivals and great repentances. Under the good King Jehoshaphat, the Bible notes,

And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he (Jehoshaphat) took out of the land.[5]

Even though sodomy is today politically correct and the US Supreme Court has made gay marriage legal in all states, is it is Biblically correct? As much as I try to respect people and their beliefs, I cannot condone homosexual behavior, no matter how many laws are made in its defense. Why? Because there is a higher law speaking to me from God’s Word and from the voice of conscience that tells me that such behavior is morally incorrect. Biologically it just doesn’t fit either. A nut and a bolt fit together, but two bolts don’t. In Isaiah we read

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees.[6] For the leaders of this people cause them to err.[7]

The Bible does not condone sodomy. Just as the many other moral restraints are placed in the Bible because of mankind’s tendency to sin, so is God’s Word equivocal on this matter. I will treat homosexuals respectfully, but I cannot condone their behavior and neither does God’s Word.

Sodomy had been politically correct under Jehoshaphat’s father Asa. However, because King Jehoshaphat wants to serve God rather than man, he has the sodomites removed from the land. However his son, Manasseh, who reigned after him in Jerusalem,

did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.[7]

Manasseh builds up again the high places which his good father had destroyed and the altars to Baal,

and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.[8] And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his sons pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.[9]

I need to make a short aside and comment on the above verse. Many people do not seem to understand that much of the New Age Movement fits squarely into the section of “used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits.” Ravi Zacharias, Caryl Matrisciana and Johanna Michaelsen are a few of the authors who have written and spoken extensively on Eastern philosophies and the occult and their influence on the West. Both Zacharias and Matrisciana have backgrounds from India.

Michaelsen was involved in the occult medical practices in Mexico. In her book The Beautiful Side of Evil [10] she gives clear warning of the dangers of the occult and how easy it is to be deceived, but how difficult it is to realize that one has been deceived.

Michaelson, quoting Dr. Hobart Freeman says,

One of the greatest distinctions between the religion of Israel and heathen religions [was that the heathen] sought to discover truth by means of divination and sorcery.[11]

Having lived most of her childhood in India and later being captivated by the Indian mystical influence when she returned to the West in the sixties, Caryl Matrisciana knows all too well the drawing power of Indian mysticism found in Buddhism, yoga, and the different Hindu gurus. In her book, Out of India: A true story about the New Age Movement[12], Matrisciana exposes from her personal experience the truth about the Hindu influence in Western spirituality. She writes,

Just as bank tellers steadily become more familiar with money, so we need to steadily become more familiar with the Bible. And, because of the increasingly cunning deceptions of Satan, we need to become more familiar with the whole counsel of God…His Word is our best defense against the tsunamis of deception beating upon the world and the church.[13]

Intellectual and apologetic speaker and writer Dr. Ravi Zacharias is a powerful voice in helping us to discern the truth in the modern age. Having been born and having lived the first eighteen years of his life in India, Dr. Zacharias has a keen understanding of the Eastern mind. In his books Jesus among other Gods[14] and Why Jesus?[15] he reveals how and why the Western mind is attracted to Eastern mysticism. The New Age ideas are usually presented in pseudo-scientific terminology, which gives them an aura of authority to the Western mind. Dr. Zacharias accurately analyzes the influence of eastern mysticism and its deceptive “truths.” We read from his book,

Being born into a Christian home does not make one a Christian; it is the specific decision on the part of every person to follow Christ that makes a person a Christian…I became a Christian on the bed of attempted suicide at the age of seventeen when I cried out to God in prayer, “Lord Jesus, if you are who you claim to be, reveal yourself to me and take me out of my desperate situation and I will leave no stone unturned in my pursuit of truth.” Five days later I walked out of that hospital room a brand-new man, and I have never looked back.[16]

Both Reiki and Spirit Science fall into the New Age philosophies and in old Biblical terminology would be considered channeling or dealing with familiar spirits. My own article on the subject I will include in the next chapter of this book. Now we will return to the history of the kings of Judah.

And Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.[17] Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.[18]

Is the innocent blood which the Lord is talking about the children that were offered in child sacrifice? The Lord through Jeremiah the prophet condemns Judah saying,

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.[19]

In other words, the killing of the poor innocents was something that was done openly; the Lord did not need to make a secret search. The Lord said,

They have built the high places…, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My heart.[20]

Isaiah prophesied years before,

Their feet run to do evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood.[21]

In the Psalms we find,

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with you, which frame mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.[22]

Manasseh and other kings made it legal to shed the innocent blood in child sacrifice. Hitler in

Nazi Germany made it legal to kill Jews because they were according to his bias non-persons. Hitler believed the Jews to be a race in the evolutionary scale between monkey and man. Today our government makes laws to permit abortion. We build abortion clinics and promote day-after pills. Are we condemning the innocent blood? What blood could be more innocent than that of an unborn child? Is God happy with our behavior and the laws we have made? Will we suffer the consequences? Even if the law says it’s all right, does that make it right in God’s eyes, the higher law? Are our political, medical, educational, judicial, industrial leaders leading us astray?

At the end of the WWII, at the Nuremberg trials, some of the former Nazi leaders tried to use the fact that they were only following orders to [23]

escape prosecution and execution. They claimed that since the Jews were legally non-persons in Germany they had done nothing legally wrong. Utilitarianism, or the idea that whatever the society decides at the moment is right is therefore right, had given the German people their new moral code. Therefore, since the German law said that the Jew was not a legal person, how could the German soldiers be condemned? They were only following orders. The judges contested that a “higher law” existed, and their actions had infringed upon that “higher law.”

Are we today as nations infringing upon those “higher laws?” Will we meet the same fate as Hitler’s leaders when we face the Higher Law-Giver?

Notes:

[1] Jeremiah 3:6-11
[2] Hosea 4:1-2
[3] 2Kings 17:5-13
[4] 2Kings 17:15-18
[5] 1Kings 22:46
[6] Isaiah 10:1
[7] 2Kings 21:2
[8] 2Kings 21:3
[9] 2Kings 21:5-6
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Qy1j2LBmU
[11] Johanna Michaelson, The Beautiful Side of Evil, Harvest House Publishers, Oregon, 1982, pg. 200; cited from Hobart Freeman, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets, Moody Press, Chicago, 1968, pg.110.
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ-cADNmtiY
[13] Caryl Matrisciana, Out of India: a true story about the New Age movement, Lighthouse Trails Publishing, Montana, 2008, pg. 220.
[14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIBoARTGPk
[15] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh_tLWsL3gA
[16] Ravi Xacharias, Why Jesus, FaithWords, New York, 2012, pg. xvi & xvii. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4QuTwFYUIk
[17] 2Kings 21:9
[18] 2Kings 21:16
[19] Jeremiah 2:34
[20] Jeremiah 7:31
[21] Isaiah 59:7
[22] Psalm 94:20-21
[23] http://www.wnd.com/2007/04/41028/

Chapter 38

Reiki and the New Age Movement

I want to touch a little more on the subject of the New Age Religions including Reiki before going any further in our study.

One of the first promoters of the New Age Religion was none other than Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was well versed in the New Testament and quoted often from the words of Jesus. In his mixture of Hinduism and Christian thought, he developed his idea of political non-violence encouraging his followers to not offer physical resistance to government abuse, but to maintain a pacifistic position. Quoting from the Sermon on the Mount, he said,

Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.[1]

Asked if he admired Jesus Christ so much, why did he not become a Christian? Gandhi replied, he would become a Christian if he ever met a real follower of the words of Christ. George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, was paraphrased to have said something similar:

Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it.[2]

The mixture of Christianity with Eastern religions became quite popular in the 1960s. The Beatles trip to India, leading to George Harrison’s conversion to Hinduism, resulted in their influencing their generation with Eastern ideas. Many of their songs like My Sweet Lord promoted Eastern religious concepts. The Christian West enjoyed My Sweet Lord thinking it was dedicated to Jesus Christ.

In reality the song was to Lord Krishna and incorporated the words Hare-Krishna. Those words later became a familiar sound by the Hare-Krishna who were known for their continual chanting as they walked through the streets and parks looking for new converts. In fact, the Krishna are expected to chant Hare-Krishna at least two hours a day as a way of connecting with the Hindu god Krishna.

We need to understand that the Eastern idea of reality, their world view, is totally different to the Western Christian idea. In the Eastern world view, man is captured by his karma in a continual cycle of death and rebirth. Man is doomed to be born again and suffer another life if he cannot improve his karma. Only by connecting with the universal life force or energy can man overcome his bad karma and be released back into the cosmic energy and find his “salvation.” This is usually accomplished through the help of a guru or spiritual guide. One’s ultimate salvation is in the re-uniting with the universal energy or spirit with the complete death of self.

There is no personal entity in the Eastern world view of salvation or nirvana, but rather the reuniting of your spirit-energy with the great spirit-energy of the universe. Therefore, everything becomes God or part of God, you, me, the trees, the animals, everything is God. The Eastern world view also has no concept of sin. Man is born in ignorance and has to be illuminated. Those who have been enlightened and overcome karma are the gurus who teach others how they too can overcome their karma.

In the Judeo-Christian world view, man was made by God in a perfect state and had perfect fellowship with God. Man fell from that state through disobedience to God having been deceived by Satan, a rebellious angel. God promised a way of salvation and reconnection with Him. His promised Redeemer would defeat Satan and open the way to restore man’s broken relationship with God. God later chose Abraham as the father of faith through whom He passed His laws and commandments. God knew Abraham would faithfully teach his children after him, as we have read earlier.

For I know him (Abraham) that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken of him.[3]

As a result we have the Old Testament, with hundreds of specific prophecies foretelling of the life of the Redeemer who was to come. The prophecies were fulfilled in Christ, who Paul rightly explains is the way of salvation. In the Judeo-Christian worldview of death we are given once to die, but after that the judgment.[4] There is no continual cycle of birth, death and rebirth. One does not lose his identity in death but faces judgment with reward or due punishment. Only through the accepting of God’s own sacrifice for sin, in His coming into the world and dying for man’s sin on the cross, can death be defeated and the way of salvation found. Salvation is a gift of God offered to us by God’s own sacrificial death on the cross.[5] Satan and death are defeated and the way of salvation is offered to as many as will receive it.[6]

But in today’s New Age generation, we find man rejecting Christ’s position as the Redeemer. Man would rather accept Christ merely as an enlightened one, like the Buddha, Mohammed, or Confucius. To the New Ager, Christ did not really rise from the dead. Christianity, therefore, becomes merely one of the ways of salvation, and Jesus a mid-Eastern guru showing a path to salvation, a path similar to any of the other paths found in any other religion. Jesus becomes a great moral or spiritual leader or guru and nothing more. Salvation can then be found within many of the differing religious faiths or philosophies.

However, commenting upon the above idea, C.S. Lewis, the famous prolific Irish writer and scholar known for his 'Chronicles of Narnia' fantasy series and his pro-Christian radio broadcasts and books, said the following: 

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. 

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[7]

We either accept Jesus as Lord, or deny the truth of the Gospel and walk in darkness. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the world, Jesus warned them that many would be deceived. He said,

Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.[8]

A few breaths later He repeats Himself and says,

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.[9]

And then a little later when talking of the Great Tribulation that shall be upon all the world, He says,

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect.[10]

Of course the “elect” that Jesus is talking about here is the same “elect” found throughout the New Testament and comes from the Greek word “eklektos” which means “called out ones,” or “separated ones.”

The Latin “ecclesia” comes from the same word and is translated in our Bibles as “the Church,” which means the saved Christians, the true believers in Christ, and is not a reference to a building. Not one time in the New Testament does the word “elect” point to or indicate any other group of people than the newly saved believing Christians. Not once does it refer to a special group of Jewish believers, but is always synonymous with the new Christian Church of believers whether formerly Jewish, Greek or Roman.

Apostle Paul himself warned that in the “Latter Days” men would seek to the occult for spirituality,

Now the spirit speaks expressly, that in the Latter Times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.[11]

He also warns that Satan comes with

power and signs and lying wonders and because they received not the love of the truth, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.[12]

Satan can indeed do signs, healings, and even give us a feeling of peace in order to deceive us. God will let us be deceived if deception is what we prefer. However, we do not need to be deceived, because as Paul says, in Christ is

hid all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge (of God). And this I say less any man should beguile you with enticing words.[13]

In other words, we do not need to look elsewhere for some new hidden wisdom, even if it all sounds good, because all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge is in Christ! Nevertheless, Paul warns,

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, (why do you willingly listen)?[14]

It seems mankind is very easily tempted by his need for experiencing God with his feelings that he looks elsewhere. But the problem is that our spiritual Enemy, the Enemy of our soul, is seeking to destroy us through deception. Paul writes,

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.[15]

He warns us that we should not fall for the deception. We should be smarter.

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.[16]

Jesus said He is the true light. He said,

I am the light of the world. He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of light.[17]

But the trouble is that

men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.[18]

Jesus also said,

I am the way, the truth and the life.[19]

He said that

if (we) continue in (His) Word then (we would be His) disciples indeed, and (we would) know the truth and the truth would set (us) free.[20]

When He prayed to the Father for His disciples He said,

Sanctify them through Your truth; Your Word is truth.[21]

But He also warned that we could be deceived. He said,

If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.[22]

God has warned us in His Word that we should not be deceived by another gospel.[23] 

Reiki claims to be teaching us a method for healing and spiritual strength that was lost but rediscovered sometime recently in Japan. Reiki presents itself as a non-religious healing or stress relief technique open to all people of faith or of no faith. By using pseudo-scientific and metaphysical-sounding terms, the Westerner is captivated by its offers of healing and stress relief. It is even clothed in some very Christian-like terms and concepts. But when we look at Reiki closely we see it is indeed a spiritual practice with the calling upon spiritual entities or “angels” for direction and help ultimately ending in the person having what the Bible calls “a familiar spirit” or spirit guide.

Such practices have been condemned in God’s Word since the times of Moses. The Lord said,

When you are come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 

For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord your God does drive them out from before you. You shall be perfect (in obedience) with the Lord your God. For these nations, which you shall possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for you, the Lord your God has not suffered you so to do.[24]

Former occultist and Meditation teacher, Valter Ohman, from Sweden, said after his conversion to Christianity:

If mediation is not thoroughly Christian, it leads to pagan communication with spirits. Meditation based on a false ideology brings people into contact with false spirits and a false god. The result is not liberation but oppression and possession.[25]

Vale Hamilton, former Transcendental Meditation teacher, said the following about from her own experience in New Age meditation.

As my consciousness extended, I became aware of the presence of spirit beings sitting on either side of me when I was meditating, and sometimes at night, they would sit on my bed. I spent three months meditating from three to ten hours a day. I had vivid experiences of demonic oppression while there. In the night during sleep. I woke with a sense of fear and apprehension as pressure was being put all over my head and body by a spirit who was trying to enter my body…I did not consider the possibility of Satan and his demons at that time, but just accepted it as a really weird trip…I even mistook them for guardian angels at times.[26]

Isaiah warns us,

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep (whisper), and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God?...To the word and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.[26]

Jesus is

the true light, which lightens every man that comes into the world,

not Reiki.[27]

Please pray for those tempted by Reiki and other Eastern religious philosophies. Pray for the Reiki masters who may themselves be seeking for God. We are fighting a spiritual battle, therefore use the weapon of prayer, but also let every man speak the truth in love with his neighbor. God expects us who know the Word to speak up and with meekness instruct

those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.[28]

Notes:

[1] Matthew 5:39
[2] http://shawquotations.blogspot.pt/2014/09/christianity-might-be-good-thing-if.html (accessed 03/2016)
[3] Genesis 18:19
[4] Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

[5] Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.

[6] John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

[7] C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/6979-i-am-trying-here-to-prevent-anyone-saying-the-really (accessed 03/2016)
http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/free-resources-pastors/152257-free-ebook-mere-christianity.html e-book download (03/2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwgLVJyZryA áudio part one (03/16)
[8] Matthew 24:4-5
[9] Matthew 24:11
[10] Matthew 24:24
[11] 1Timothy 4:1

[12] 2Thessolonians 2:9-11 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.

[13] Colossians 2:3-4
[14] 2Corinthians 11:3-4
[15] 2Corinthians 11:14-15
[16] 2Corinthians 2:11
[17] John 8:12
[18] John 3:19
[19] John 14:6
[20] John 8:32
[21] John 17:17
[22] Matthew 6:23

[23] Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

[24] Deuteronomy 18:9-14
[25] Valter Ohman, as cited by G.J.O.Moshay, Who is this Allah, Dorchester House Publications, 1994, p.157.
[26] Isaiah 8:19-20
[27] John 1:9
[28] 2Timothy 2:25-26

Chapter 39

Letter to a Friend Involved with Reiki

Dear Friend,

It was interesting to talk to you. It makes me have to think to find answers to the questions you addressed. But I think we need to ask and answer the questions: Do all roads lead to truth? Is there only one way? Is there more than one way? Since God’s Word says that all things work together for good to them that love God, I believe in our search for truth, we may go down different paths.

Jesus said,

They that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled.[1]

In Isaiah we read,

Ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.[2]

Jesus’ own words convey the same sentiment,

Seek and ye shall find.[3]

In my own personal experience, I rejected the God of Christianity, Christ and the organized religion of both Catholicism and Protestantism because of the hypocrisy and lack of spirituality that I saw in both of them. In my youth, I didn’t meet one priest or minister against the war in Vietnam or against the military industrial complex. They were just part of the club and though they sympathized with my problem of having to go to war, they felt it was my duty to obey my government. Therefore, I searched in Buddhism, yoga, Transcendental Meditation, organic foods, fasting, and Judaism for the answers.

However, after reading and searching intensely on the subject of what I should do about the war, which none of the above answered, I finally found the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount that said,

Ye have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite you on the right cheek, turn to him the other, also,[4]

and later,

Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.[5]

The Early Christians suffered persecution under the Romans, but lived out their faith. They went to the lions and torturous deaths, and yet testified of their faith in Christ’s doctrine of love. My stand against the military ultimately came from the following the words of Christ. Even before I experienced salvation’s rebirth in Christ, I received moral strength from reading Jesus’ words in the New Testament, where yoga, meditation, and fasting had failed me.

Since you agree that there are absolutes and therefore absolute truth exists, then we must look at the different religions and their truth claims to see which one or ones actually lead us to the truth. Oddly enough, almost all the religious ideologies claim to be the only way to salvation, or the best way to salvation, or the old and forgotten way to salvation, or the newly-found again way to salvation.

But since almost every one of the religions in the world make the same claim and contradict one another in their claims, they cannot all be true. They may all have truth. But even a lie is often coated in truth in order to deceive. If something is true, then something that contradicts it cannot be true. 

In other words, something cannot be true and false at the same time, unless you play word games. But unclear mystical concepts are very common in India where their meaning of “reality” is that ‘reality’ is an “illusion,” and therefore, is not “real,” which leads to an illogical contradiction or anti-logic. In math we say, if y=3 then y cannot = not 3. “God is love” and “God is the absence of love” cannot both be true because they are contradictory.

The Bible says that Christ was crucified and rose bodily from the dead.[6] The Koran says that Jesus

was not crucified but God let another person be substituted for Him. Therefore, there was no resurrection. The Bible and the Koran contradict one another. Both cannot be true. The statement that all religions basically teach the same thing, unconditional love, is not true. The Koran says we cannot really know God. Only by following the Five Pillars of Islam can a man have a chance of maybe gaining salvation upon death, unless he dies as a martyr in the cause of Islam. That is not to say that followers of Islam cannot be very loving people. 

In my visit to the Saharawi refugees in southern Algeria, I met a very loving Muslim man. His love was almost beyond anything I ever experienced in Europe. But even though he was a loving and caring person that does not necessarily mean that the creed of Islam is true. The Bible says,

God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.[7]

I believe people like my Muslim friend who are really walking in love are close to God. Jesus said,

He that receives you, receives Me.[8]

I believe that although the circumstances made it hard for us to talk to him more intimately about Christ, by his receiving us so cordially, he was actually receiving Christ whom he knew we represented. In the same chapter where John says

God is love,[9]

he also says,

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try (or prove) the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, but is that spirit of Antichrist.[10]

Are the spirits that people are channeling with in Reiki believers in Jesus Christ?

Jesus said,

I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes unto the father, but by me.[11]

He said,

If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness (and you believe it is light), how great is that darkness (then you’re really in great darkness).[12]

Apostle Paul said that even the Devil himself can appear as an angel of light.[13] Apostle John said that the “beast,” Satan’s man during the Last Days, would perform great signs and wonders so that the whole world would believe in him.[14]

From my experience and from reading the Bible, I am under the conviction that all the religions can be placed under two categories. The first are those that profess that one must obey certain rules, or do certain exercises, eat certain foods, etc, to be saved. The second are those who profess that man is incapable of saving himself and he needs a Savior.

In the first group, we can put false Christianity or Churchianity or religiousity in whatever form or sect it appears, plus all the other “isms,” sects, and spiritual movements of both East and West which teach us that we can save ourselves through our own efforts whether they be meditating, calling upon certain spiritual entities, using certain signs, symbols, or rocks, eating or not eating certain foods, performing certain rituals, wearing certain symbols, chanting certain lines, etc. Though these ‘isms’ may contain some truth, they profess to be the truth in order to gain converts and disciples. But the truth is they are not “the truth.”

The truth is that man is not capable of saving himself by his own self righteous efforts. That is why the world is like it is today. The world needs a Savior. We long for a Savior. Not just some ethereal concept of salvation. The Bible says we are made in God’s image.[15] Because of that we are able to think, communicate, use language, create and love. If God is just some “universal energy” or “life force” why should we have a conscience telling us the difference between right and wrong?

The belief in the Christian God of the Bible gives ample reasons for why we can love, reason, judge, create, think and feel. The Bible says God is love.[16] But it also says He’s a consuming fire.[17] The Bible says that Jesus stands at the right hand of the Father [18] and that Jesus will judge the living and the dead.[19] When we die, we are not just reunited with the universal life force or energy; we are reunited with the Person of Christ, and with the departed saints who are surrounding us now like a great cloud of witnesses.[20]

It is not true that all the religions teach the same principle, unconditional love. The Bible does teach that God has an unconditional love for us. However, if we reject God’s love for us, He will not overrule our free will. If other faiths teach something similar, it’s like the example of the counterfeit bill. The counterfeit has to be pretty close to the real to pass off as the truth. Therefore, even false religious beliefs need to have some universal truths in their doctrines in order to be believed.

Jesus not only preached love, he lived and died in love for the sins of mankind, both you and me. We cannot save ourselves.[21] We need a Savior to cleanse us from our impurities. If we depend upon our own ability to cleanse ourselves, or the calling upon spirits or angels to do so, we will be found short. Only Christ alone can redeem sin, the only begotten Son of God. Our own righteous efforts cannot save us or keep us saved. It’s Christ alone. The Bible says,

Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.[22]

No one else died for the sins of mankind and testified of the truth of His doctrine through the mighty miracles He did. His final resurrection from the dead confirmed His divinity. Death was swallowed up in victory. [23] Only Christ died and rose from the dead.[24] This is the foundation stone of Christianity. No other faith has such a firm foundation. The Bible also is a living book full of prophecies which Christ fulfilled. It is a book full with prophecies yet to be fulfilled.

I was young and energetic like you when I first experienced the love of God during a drug trip. At that epiphany experience I asked, “Is this is what Jesus was all about?” But since I did not know any real Christians, I looked elsewhere. The New Age Movement, which has only recently arrived in Portugal, had been made popular through the Beatles’ music. Eastern thought and Transcendental Meditation became the intellectual norm. I bought into it fully and filled my heart and mind with the popular New Age books of that era.

I meditated, did yoga, fasted, and ate organic food cooked only in a special way to gain my spirituality. But it was never enough. Even with all my effort it was never enough. I always came down from the high, got impatient, did something unloving, and became discouraged - especially with my inability to stay on that spiritual high. I couldn’t keep the spiritual high. I couldn’t maintain a state of righteousness. Thank God I found the truth was much simpler. I found true Christianity; I found the power of God’s Word, comfort of the Holy Spirit and the discernment and wisdom that knowing God’s Word gives.

Jesus said,

My Word is truth.[25]

He said,

If you continue in My Word, then... you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.[26]

But He also warned that many would come in His name saying they were Christ and deceive many.[27] [28] Paul tells us there will be a great falling away first and then shall the man of sin be revealed,[29] the Antichrist. Paul also admonished that even the Devil himself can appear as an angel of light.[30] And Jesus warned that the false Messiahs would do great and mighty miracles,[31] so we know that the Devil and his fallen angels can and do inspire their human followers on earth in the Last Days to perform seeming miracles.[32] Many people will be deceived.

Jesus said the love of many would grow colder.[33] He said men’s behavior would be similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah[34] before its destruction. He said violence would increase and there would be wars, earthquakes and pestilences like Ebola and Aids, but that all these things were the beginning of sorrows and that things would get worse.[35] Mankind is indeed headed for some apocalyptic events that will shake the foundations of the world. Jesus said that unless He controlled and shortened the destruction mankind would cease to exist, that man would destroy himself.[36]

I believe Reiki is not the truth, but an imitation, a deception. The calling upon the angels of light is in fact the calling upon deceptive spirits who cannot fulfill their promises but are sent to confuse and disorient the truth-seeker and keep them from the real truth of the Gospel. I have read various testimonies of former Reiki Masters who have, after a sad journey through Reiki, finally found Christ. Some have sent out warnings to others.

I will end here, my friend, to not go on too long. But I will attach two links for you to view on the subject. Catholic Leader Talks About REIKI[37] and Dangers of REIKI.[38] Or you might want to get the book at the left, The Reiki Danger: Healing that Harms by Eric S. Harz.[39] In my search for the truth, I eventually had no desire for those Eastern philosophies and exercises. The reason though was because I was full of the Word and had found the answers in my in depth study of the Scriptures. Would you be interested in studying more from the Bible? Jesus said if you do,

the truth would set you free.[40]

Will you take up the challenge to “continue in His Word?”[41]

Let me know! We could study the Word together.(End of letter to a Reiki Master)

At this point I would like to apologize if some of the chapters repeat information discussed in previous chapters. Some chapters were written as independent items which I later thought worthwhile to include in the text. Rather than do a lot of editing, I have left them pretty much as they were. But hopefully by repeating the same information, it will make it easier for you to remember.

Notes:

[1] Matthew 5:6
[2] Jeremiah 29:13

[3] Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

[4] Matthew 5:38-39
[5] Matthew 5:43-44

[6] 1Corinthians 15:3-5 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then the twelve:

[7] 1John 4:16

[8] Matthew 10:40
[9] 1John 4:8
[10] 1John 4:1-2
[11] John 14:6
[12] Matthew 6:23 …If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (paraphrased in text)
[13] 2Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

14] Revelation 13:13-14 … and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon (the Devil) which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast?....

[15] Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

[16] 1John 4:8

[17] Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

[18] Acts 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

[19] Acts 10:42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of the quick (living) and dead.

[20] Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

[21] Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.

[22] Titus 3:5

[23] 1Corinthians 15:54
[24] 1Corinthians 15:3-4
[25] John 17:17
[26] John 8:31-32
[27] Matthew 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

[28] Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

[29] 2Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you be any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.

[30] 2Corinthians 11:14

[31] Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

[32] Revelation 13:13-14 And he doeth great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceives them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast….

[33] Matthew 24:12

[34] Luke 17:28-30 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fired and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

[35] Matthew 24:6-8 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; ss that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

[36] Matthew 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

[37] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5C7t_XEAdU
[38] http://www.catholicbryan.org/blog/dangers-of-reiki/
[39] https://www.amazon.com/Reiki-Danger-Healing-that-Harms/dp/0966830105
[40] John 8:32
[41] John 8:31

Chapter 40

Is Revival Possible?

Now let’s get back to our greater study at hand and the similarity between today’s America and Israel of old. During the reign of Josiah, Manasseh’s son, a revival takes place on the finding of

the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.[1] And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he rent his clothes.[2]

And thus begins a revival and turning back to the Words of the Lord with the king leading the way. The king commands a cleansing of the Temple of all the false gods.

And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.[3] … And he broke down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the Lord.[4]

Again, we see that repentance and getting back to God causes the king to break down the houses of the sodomites in Jerusalem adjacent to the house of the Lord. Sodomy had been politically correct under his father, and the sodomites had wielded considerable power and influence, in as much as their houses were “by the house of the Lord.” But Josiah takes a stand against sodomy.

Is the homosexual community with its gay-lobby wielding excessive influence over our government, our entertainment industry and even our religious institutions, so much so that we accept gay marriage and allow gay couples to adopt children? Is God pleased with the decisions we have made? Have we gotten off-center and are doing what the Lord warned us not to?

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter![5]

Josiah also stopped the worship of Molech:

that no man might make his son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech.[6]

The worship of Molech with its child sacrifice, as we have noted earlier, was similar to modern-day man’s abortion clinics. By offering your child to Molech, the false priests promised you material blessing and wealth.

Many of today’s modern-day abortion or unborn child sacrifices are because of potential financial problems the future child could cause. Therefore, we sacrifice or abort the unborn child. We conveniently call it a “fetus,” so that subconsciously we don’t feel we are actually killing a person. The sacrifice we make is to the God of Materialism, because having children is expensive and we prefer to maintain a certain financial status, or to alleviate society from having to care for the burden of the poor who always seem to produce prolifically.

We even have “the day-after pill” which makes it easier and limits the number of actual bloody abortions. The warning on the little white paper inside the pill box admonishes the taker of the health dangers. Such pills should only be used once in a six-month period, though on-line I read an article that claims you can take them as often as you like without any knowable side-effects. A young friend of mine from a Southern European country told me that young girls were popping them like aspirins, once or twice a weekend. Today’s newspaper said there has been a 30% increase in the “day-after pill” sales, which has caused a decrease in abortions.

Interesting enough, when I looked up Molech I found that the Babylonians did not practice child sacrifice in their religion. They were pantheistic and used the occult, but they did not commit child sacrifice. [7]

Therefore, they were more righteous in God’s eyes than Israel. Israel had adopted the atrocious behavior of the Canaanites whom God had commanded the Israelites to supplant. Again and again in the scriptures we see the Lord’s hatred for the killing of innocent blood. God even called Nebuchadnezzar his razor.[8]

Josiah’s cleansing continues.

And slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars.[9]Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the Law which were written in the Book that the priest found in the house of the Lord.[10] And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath, wherewith His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him withal.[11] And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.[12]

Could the innocent blood that the Lord is talking about, be the blood of the children offered in child sacrifice? What blood could be more innocent than that of a young child? Since the 1964 Supreme Court ruling making abortion legal, more than 50,000,000 unborn children have lost their lives in America alone.

Can God forget the bloodshed of these poor innocents? In Jerusalem He could not. Will He forgive America and other nations of the world for their similar sins? I think not. As the Lord said to Jeremiah,

Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou came forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I have made thee a prophet unto the nations.[13]

In other words, we are God’s children from the moment of conception. Also, God’s warnings from the mouth of Jeremiah were not just for Israel of old, but for all nations, even those today, even America.

After Josiah’s death in battle, it is written,

And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.[14] And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day.[15]

We should note that even though the nation repented because of the effect of a righteous king, the repentance was short-lived and the nation soon fell back into her evil ways.[To continue reading the next chapters click on the link]

Notes:

[1] 2Kings 22:8
[2] 2Kings 22:11
[3] 2Kings 23:5
[4] 2Kings 23:7
[5] Isaiah 5:20
[6] 2Kings 23:10
[7] http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10937-moloch-molech
[8] Ezekiel 5:1-4
[9] 2Kings 23:20
[10] 2Kings 23:24
[11] 2Kings 23:25-26
[12] 2Kings 24:4
[13] Jeremiah 1:5
[14] 2Chronicles 35:24
[15] 2Chronicles 35:25