THEOLOGY & APOLOGETICS
Deepak Chopra: Exchanging God's Glory
By Sally Plemons
Continued from Page One
Occult behavior is particularly offensive to God, and He inspired Moses to address this issue in Deuteronomy 18:10-12:
There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you.The underlying reason that the occult is so dangerous is that it involves contact with evil spirits and provides an opening for them to enter and perform their evil deeds in and upon those who show an interest. Though such a practice as meditation appears to be innocent, it involves opening the mind to activity by evil spirits (demons), whose sole job it is to deceive and destroy.
God ordained meditation for the purpose of gaining inner peace and comfort from His truth, as well as to strengthen believers, fortifying them with knowledge and wisdom of His ways, His ordinances, and His standards for behavior in His creation, as explained in Joshua 1:8: "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."
In the New Age movement (an umbrella that includes most, if not all, of the above mentioned practices), along with the other false belief systems, meditation is being used for contacting spirits and "spirit guides" who are nothing more than demons disguising themselves as ancient entities, deceased friends, and relatives. Meditation allows them to communicate certain messages or make suggestions to the person performing the ritual of meditation. Sadly, many people have been duped by this occult practice, which is nothing more than sorcery (witchcraft) and idolatry. For those who do not repent, an eternity in the lake of fire awaits as declared in Revelation 21:8: "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
The bottom line is that God is who He says He is — not who people think Him to be. He declares His character, His attributes, and His standards of behavior for living in His creation in the pages of the Bible. He has given His word — His holy and inerrant word — to those who would put their faith and trust in Him, and His truth, as written in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
Jesus Christ is one, not three, as imagined by Deepak Chopra; He is explained in Colossians 1:15-20:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.Jesus alone holds the power to dispense salvation, as written in John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'"
Furthermore, God is jealous, even though Oprah Winfrey has openly declared that she does not like the trait of jealousy in the God she once claimed to worship. Rather she stated her annoyance with "rules, belief systems, and doctrines" when she heard a Baptist minister quote from Deuteronomy 5:9: "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me." Obviously, people like Oprah, Deepak, and a myriad of others have failed to seek after the true God; the Father Creator, the One through Whom all things came into being, and the One Who will exact judgment upon those who have rejected His offer of eternal life through His only begotten Son, Jesus, and His finished work on the cross.
Tags: Current-Issues | False-Teaching | Health-Wellness
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Published 5-21-14
