We haven't set foot in a church for a Sunday service since we left ours in 2019. We were just so burned out on churches after dealing with the Calvinism that took over ours (and discouraged about how much it's spreading to many churches) that we simply stayed home and watched Tony Evans' sermons online (and we met with another family for Bible study for over a year, until they found a church to attend).
But recently, we decided to check out a church, just to see. And it was good. Not perfect, but good. We're not necessarily looking to make a church home out of it, but we just need a little something right now. And this was good enough. But on the way out, I saw a flyer for upcoming events at their church, and one thing they offered was a "Christian Yoga" class. That, to me, is a huge no-no, something Christians should not engage in. But they do. All over the place. With no sense of it being wrong.
In fact, at our last church, one of the female leaders (not a pastor) regularly did yoga and saw no problems with it. And we were talking once about our daily spiritual disciplines, and she was like "Yeah, I know I should read the Bible more, but I just don't have time." And all I could think was "You're a leader at the church... and you don't take time to read your Bible!?? You have enough time to do yoga and read all the Harry Potter books [a whole other issue!], but not enough time to read the Bible!?!" And this was a leader of our impressionable youth at a fundamental, evangelical Christian church. (God help us!)
[I think my experience with demonic harassment has made me much more sensitive to certain spiritual dangers and pitfalls. And as scary as it was at the time, I thank God for that time. I think it's had more impact on my life, my faith, than almost anything else. And I wish all Christians would experience demonic harassment like this at some point in their lives - because it brings the spiritual battle and God's truths alive to you like nothing else can. It makes you much more careful with your spiritual life, with what you do, watch, say, listen to, engage in, etc. And considering how many Christians today are lukewarm and compromising with the world - considering the pathetic condition of most Christian churches - I think most of them probably haven't experienced enough demonic harassment, because they don't see the need to stay on the straight and narrow or to really engage in the spiritual battle. They think of demons as mythical creatures, as legends who aren't really active in the world today. Such a shame! If demons can't get you to worship them, they'll get you to ignore them, to think they're not real or active in the world. Either way works just fine for them.]
Anyway, I planned on just ignoring the Christian Yoga class, thinking "Well, maybe they don't do the same stretches. Maybe they just call it yoga but it's not. I'm just a guest here, what do I know?" I wanted to just shut my eyes to it, to go on my way and forget about it, to not start making waves at a new church.
But apparently... that's not how I'm built.
It kept eating at me - a church doing yoga, encouraging the spread of yoga, seeing nothing wrong with yoga. And all I could think was "If everyone who had concerns about something at church kept quiet about it, if everyone turned away and ignored it and said nothing, then no one would stand up for what's right. And bad things would spread, ignorance of the Word and of God's truth would spread. If everyone thinks it's someone else's job to speak up then no one ever does. And then we share the blame for the condition the Church is in."
And then these verses popped into my head (I'm not claiming them as some sort of prophetic word to myself, just considering the spiritual lesson it teaches us): " 'Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.' " (Ezekiel 3:17-19)
I think that if God puts something on our hearts, a warning or a word to give to others, then we need to do it or else He'll hold us responsible for not doing it. He expects us all to do our parts for His kingdom and Truth and the gospel.
And so, reluctantly, I turned on my computer and typed up a letter (anonymously) to share my concerns. My job isn't to force them to change, but it's to sound the alarm. And then to let the Lord take it from there. Kinda like how we handled it with the Calvinism in our old church, sending a long letter to the elders and then letting the chips fall where they may, which ended with us leaving and them growing more Calvinistic. Oh well. We did our part for the Lord. (I even briefly included my concern about Calvinism in the letter to this new church, taking the opportunity to put it in more people's heads, hopefully before it starts to infiltrate. Also see "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?")
And since many churches and Christians are doing yoga, I figured I'd post that letter here (slightly edited for privacy) as an open letter to all churches, for all Christians to consider - because, well, I'm not one to make tiny waves. If I'm gonna make waves, they're gonna be big ones. It's just how I'm built.
Hello **** Church Staff and Pastors,
We recently visited your church and enjoyed it. We left our church several years ago because an unbiblical theology took over (Calvinism) and have been very wary of churches since then (because Calvinism’s spreading everywhere in evangelical churches, and quickly). But it was great to hear a sermon at your church without any of the toxic Calvinist twistings. So thank you for that. It was refreshing. Keep it up!
But I do want to point out one thing that concerns me: the Christian Yoga class. I’m not sure what kinds of stretches/poses you do in that class - maybe they are nothing like the classic Hindu stretches and poses - but if you do classic Hindu poses, you should be aware that, at its very core/nature, those poses are prayer poses to Hindu gods, meant to align people with the universe. Christians who visit Hindu lands say that they see Hindus doing those very poses in front of the shrines, in worship to the gods. And the spiritual nature/purpose of those poses won’t change just because we ignore it or don’t think of them that way.
And I’ve read testimonies of Indian Christians who converted from Hinduism who have been beaten by Hindus for warning people about the spiritual dangers of yoga - and yet here we are (Christians in America) encouraging yoga for health, believing that we can separate the Hindu-god worship from the yoga, that we can mesh the worship of Hindu gods with the worship of Jesus Christ. But we can’t - just like we couldn’t take the occultic nature out of, say, the Ouija Board or Tarot Cards and couldn’t turn Muslim worship practices into an acceptable form of Jesus worship.
In the Old Testament, God warns the Israelites to fully separate from the religious practices of the pagan nations around them, to not compromise with them or mimic them, so that they don’t get tainted and slowly led astray. Deut. 7:5-6: “This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God…” (Compromising with pagan religious practices is what led to Solomon’s downfall, and yet he was supposed to be the wisest man ever.) And I think this is great, critical advice for any God-fearing Christian or church: to not blend the world’s practices into Christianity.
And yet there are Christians all over America mimicking Hindu worship in the name of physical fitness, excusing it as “harmless” and “good for your health,” saying that Hindu worship blends nicely with our Christian faith, encouraging its spread among Christians, telling them that God wouldn't mind, that they have nothing to worry about, that it's perfectly acceptable.
But is it okay? Is it spiritually harmless? Would God agree?
I, personally, agree with the Christians who say that yoga is essentially, at its core, demon worship and that it will open people up to demonic influence/attack. And if there was even a small chance that this is true, is it worth the risk, especially when there are other forms of exercise out there that do not have spiritual components to them?
Of course, stretching and breathing exercises are not an exclusively Hindu thing. And Christians have come up with their own kinds of “yoga-like” stretches/exercises so that they can get the health benefits without mimicking worship poses to Hindu gods. And maybe this is what your class is. If your Christian Yoga class is simply called “yoga” but doesn’t have the classic worship poses to Hindu gods, that wouldn’t be as much of a problem. But I think the problem then would be the fact that you call it “yoga.” This has the appearance of compromising with Hinduism, of affirming, celebrating, encouraging it - and it will lead trusting, naïve Christians astray, possibly drawing them deeper and deeper into it. Please, as leaders in the Church, prayerfully consider what I’m saying and what these verses might mean in this situation:
1 Cor. 10:14-22: “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say… the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons? Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”
2 Cor. 6:14: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”
James 4:4: “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
James 4:7: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (If we are compromising with the devil, we are not resisting him and cannot make him flee.)
Eph. 5:8-11: “… Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, perfect, and pleasing will.”
Romans 14:13: “… make up your mind to not put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.”
Ex. 20:3-5: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol… You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…”
Joshua 24:14-15: “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped… and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."
Yoga is not “innocent” or “neutral.” It’s not devoid of Hindu spirituality. It IS Hindu spirituality, the worship of Hindu gods. And I point this out, as a fellow believer, because I care, and because I am very concerned with the compromises the Church (at large) has made over the years. There’ve been so many compromises in so many ways that many Christians have little clue anymore what God really says in His Word, and they cannot discern right from wrong, God’s truth from the world’s “truth.” (I’ve heard it said that true biblical discernment isn’t about being able to tell right from wrong; it’s about being able to tell right from almost right.)
Please, ****, be better than that. Don’t settle for or encourage the spread of “almost right.” Be more godly than so many of the compromising churches out there. God's character, the Word, the gospel, and people’s faiths are at stake. And you, as teachers and leaders, will be held doubly accountable before God. And so don’t take this lightly, but really consider what I’m saying. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this. And God bless!
[For more on this, see my post "Is Yoga Ok for Christians? (Here's a hint: It's not!)"]
