ABOMINABLE PRACTICES IN THE CHURCH (PART III)

“New Age Occult Invasion of the Church”

By Akin Ojumu

Ever since Adam and Eve were evicted from Eden and direct communication with YAHWEH was terminated, humans have resorted to all sorts of vagaries to reestablish what they lost. In an attempt to restore and reestablish fellowship with God, the world has turned to heathen augury, divination, sorcery, soothsaying, and witchcraft.

As it’s always the case, the ways of the world always find its way into the House of God. Sooner or later, abominable practices of the heathen eventually become integrated into the liturgies of the Church. When the high walls of Scripture that shield the Body of Christ from invasion are breached, heathen customs are bound to pour in.

Today, church folks everywhere openly embrace and enthusiastically practice divination, sorcery, and fortune-telling. Interpreting omens, consulting with conjurers and mediums, seeking guidance from necromancers, and making inquiries of the dead have all become acceptable Christian conduct. In fact, those who dabble in the evil ways of the heathen are looked upon as super-spiritual Christians who are “carriers of great grace and heavy anointing.”

Of course, the reason the people of God shamelessly and boldly engage in these abominable practices is because they have been conveniently repackaged and rechristened with Christian labels. Divination, sorcery, telling fortunes, interpreting omens, consulting with conjurers and mediums, seeking from necromancers, and inquiring of the dead have been Christianized or sanctified, and are, therefore, now considered the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. Ignorantly, Church folks attribute to the Holy Spirit the very things that the Bible says are detestable to God.

Christian leaders, especially those of the hyper-charismatic New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and other Pentecostal movements, don’t even hide it anymore. They actually acknowledge the fact that many of their practices come directly from New Age psychics and occult practitioners. They defend this by insisting that it was the New Agers who stole those practices from the Church in the first place. What they are doing, they assert, is simply reclaiming them for Christians.

The Physics of Heaven is a book written by Judy Franklin and Ellyn Davis with contributions from several of the top leaders of Bethel Church, Redding, California, including Bill Johnson (Senior Leader) and Kris Vallotton (Senior Associate Leader). It’s a book that strongly advocates for Christians and Churches to adopt practices traditionally associated with the New Age movement and the occult, such as, vibrational frequencies, energy/vibes, occult practices like tapping into auras, clairvoyance, and spirit guides. 

The Physics of Heaven is the instructional manual of the Hyper-Charismatic NAR movement. Writing in the Foreword of the book, Kris Vallotton declares:

“In this powerful book, Judy Franklin and Ellyn Davis assemble a team of seers who peer behind the curtain of creation to reveal the mysterious nature of our Creator. This book reads like a journal that emerged from a Holy Spirit think tank where great, spiritual leaders gathered to discuss their insights into the complexities of God. Through their collective intelligence these seers have emerged with new perspectives never before pondered…The Physics of Heaven is not the final word on creation’s revelation of God, nor is it a treasure map that leads to a specific truth that unlocks nature’s secrets. It’s more like a divine invitation to join these supernatural explorers, who like Columbus before them, refuse to believe that the world is flat. Leaving the safe haven of conventional thinking, they set sail in uncharted waters with a passion to discover new lands.”

In Chapter 4 of the Physics of Heaven, Recovering Our Spiritual Inheritance, Bill Johnson writes:

“There are anointings, mantles, revelations and mysteries that have lain unclaimed, literally where they were left, because the generation that walked in them never passed them on. I believe it’s possible for us to recover realms of anointing, realms of insight, realms of God that have been untended for decades simply by choosing to reclaim them and perpetuate them for future generations. We have a history of two thousand years of unusual things. None of them were meant to be lost, but all maintained, and all built upon and expanded. Though I don’t have a clear enough perspective on history, I have this sense that because of this place where we are in the unfolding of history, we may be in a position that no other generation has ever been. We may be the generation who actually carries things forward in God.”

In the Physics of Heaven, Ellyn Davis writes:

“The contributors of the book all agree that the next move of God will cause a shift at the deepest level of who we are – perhaps the very “vibrational level” that the New Age movement has been exploring. They also all agree that there are precious truths hidden in the New Age that belong to us as Christians and need to be extracted from the worthless.”

Jonathan Welton, a contributor to the Physics of Heaven, adds:

“I have found throughout Scripture at least 75 examples of things that the New Age has counterfeited, such as having a spirit guide, trances, meditation, auras, power objects, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and more. These actually belong to the church, but they have been stolen and cleverly repackaged.”

When referring to a practice associated with the New Age in his 2006 book titled Dreaming with God, Bill Johnson writes:

“Many prominent pastors and conference speakers add fuel to the fire of fear by assuming that because the New Age promotes it, its origins must be from the devil. I find that form of reasoning weak at best. If we follow that line of thought, we will continue to give the devil the tools that God has given us for success in life and ministry.”

What these people are espousing are lies from the pit of hell. Biblical and historical Christianity has never taught spirit guide, trances, meditation, auras, power objects, clairvoyance, or clairaudience. These New Age occult practices are abhorrent to the LORD and inconsistent Christian living. Those who engage in them soil their soul with evil, and as a result, they are doomed.

The LORD warned the children of Israel that He drove the Canaanite from their land and gave the land to Israel because they corrupted themselves with these abominable practices.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.”

We’ll take it from here next time.