Yoga

Yoga is another controversial topic in the Christian community. Despite its pagan origin, much like Halloween, we tend to dumb it down to “It’s just stretching,” and we ignore the real spirituality behind it. So, I took the liberty of doing my own research. I personally always had a bad feeling about yoga and after hearing what my parents and some friends had to say about it concerning what God told them, I decided that others should know the truth behind it. There are many ways to stretch in a way that is all physically, mentally, and overall spiritually safe…Yoga is NOT one of them. So, here’s the truth about it.

History

“The history of yoga spans more than 5,000 years, beginning in ancient India as a spiritual practice focused on uniting the mind, body, and spirit. The practice has evolved through several distinct periods, moving from a primarily meditative discipline to a more physical one, and eventually spreading globally in a variety of forms. Yoga was created as a spiritual practice to unite the individual consciousness with the universal consciousness, with the ultimate goal of achieving inner liberation” (peace) (Google Ai overview).

Each position represents a specific Hindu god in which you are honoring and worshiping (even though there are thousands of Hindu gods). There are 84 original yoga positions with “the belief that there are 84 different ways to align the body and mind for spiritual practice” (Google Ai overview). But depending on the region and posture over the centuries, there are hundreds more (Ai overview says 84 million, but I have a hard time believing that).

What does God say about this?

First of all, God should be our source of peace. When we give ourselves over to a counterfeit, we will reap the consequences of that counterfeit, because Satan is the creator of all counterfeits to God’s creation. There is what God made and then there’s what Satan manipulated, perverted, and corrupted. There is no gray area. God does not accept or opt to protect those who practice things of the world, especially those things birthed by the demonic. He will warn you of them with His Holy Spirit, but at the end of the day, you have free will. Secondly, the only spiritual practices permitted for TRUE wellbeing, are those given and instructed by God as your Creator. Anything else will result in consequence, whether it be spiritual, mental, physical, or all three. Dabbling with it is still involvement and this practice is a form of idolatry. “Liberation” is a dangerous word. In worldly terms, it means freedom from things that you were never trapped in to begin with; and if you are, it’s not the universe’s fault; it is the war between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). The Hindu religion sees liberation in relation to all negative things, but unfortunately, this includes the ultimate positive Truth, which is God, simply because it doesn’t align with their (counterfeit) truth. All religion outside of true Christianity, a true relationship with God, is a counterfeit. This means that any practice or modulation that any religion makes outside of God are grounds of false god (demon) worship. You cannot practice both actions of Christianity and other religions and expect to still be aligned with God’s real Truth. You are either all in or you’re all out, and for those who are lukewarm (half in and half out), God will reject. You cannot worship both God and other false gods. God will not accept you as His own. And it hurts because it doesn’t matter if your practice of false religion is intentional or unintentional. This is why you must know and listen to the Holy Spirit. It is not God the Father or God the Son’s (Jesus Christ) responsibility to tell you. That’s not their job. Your job as true Christians is to listen to the Holy Spirit and obey Him; to consecrate yourself, and to remain in the right standing of the covenant God intended for Himself and mankind. To practice modulations of foreign gods and other religions is to defile that covenant and if you make it to Heaven, you WILL be held accountable for it.

Ephesians 6:12- For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

I've mentioned this in other articles: Good can be corrupted, but evil cannot be redeemed. God is Good and He creates; Satan is evil and he manipulates. If Satan starts something, invents something, teaches mankind something; Christians cannot finish it; they can’t even try to take ownership of it. Darkness cannot start something and light take up its mantel and say that it’s no longer evil, it’s good now. In fact, this deceit was prophesied in the Book of Isaiah. God can make something, and man can pervert it and corrupt it and hand it over to darkness (and God will let us due to free will; Romans 1:24), but Satan will never make something that God will take up for Himself and call it good. Although some good can become corrupt, evil will always be evil. This is because darkness cannot be manipulated, but light can. If you take a flashlight and keep it off, notice you can’t do much with it. There is nothing to manipulate, because darkness is the absence of light. You can’t bend darkness, because it is and always was. There is nothing to manipulate. But the moment you turn it on, you can do things with it. You can shine it in the midst of darkness wherever you want. You can see things you couldn’t before and from that sight, you can make proper judgments. With certain objects like a mirror or a piece of reflective material, such as glass, you can bend the light’s rays. You can even place a sheet of colored plastic over it and change the light’s color. Light can be manipulated in many ways, both good and evil, but darkness will always stay the same, because it is the absence of light; the absence of truth; the absence of goodness. And this is why God will never claim it, because He is subject to His own rule of constant goodness, truth, love, and life. He will never take part in any sort of evil or darkness; and does so despite knowing all about it!

That being said, God created healthy habits in which He wants us to participate in to maintain a healthy physical body so He can work through us and walk out our calling. He created good food, the resources to exercise and subtle things, like stretching. Satan perverted these things. We now have unhealthy food, distractions that seem like real exercise, and demonic infiltration of stretching like Yoga. It doesn't mean that the original design no longer exists; it just means a counterfeit, a fake version that did not come from God, now exists with it. Your job is to find out which is which using God's Word and the Holy Spirit, and participate in the good one, NOT the bad one. You can still stretch and it is recommended; but not in the light or intentions of yoga or the demons it acknowledges. If you want to meditate, Philippians 4:8 tells you what to think about.

Isaiah 5:20- 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!

Romans 1:24- So, God let them follow the desires of their sinful hearts. They did sinful things among themselves with their bodies.

Riaan Swiegelaar, a former leader of a Satanist church turned Christian speaks on behalf of things that are demonic that Christians tend to be ignorant about. One of these things was yoga.

“Yoga is extremely demonic. Yeah…anything—that if we take anything—so, we can talk about a lot of different things, like yoga, or we can talk about all different types of modalities and practices; we have to look at what, where does it originate from; Who started it. Like, not what people make it to be; not what people try to twist it or slam a Bible verse or the word “Christian” on it—it doesn’t make it not what it is. So, yoga is based on a practice that honors thousands and thousands of Hindu deities in the positions you are literally posing and standing in positions of those Hindu gods and deities. So, it’s a form of worship to foreign gods (to demons). And the Word [of God] is actually very clear on that. So, we also have to understand that a lot of people think, you know, ‘if I don’t go and do this in a dark room where there’s a satanic altar, then it’s okay.’ There’s only two things in the spirit world, and I’m talking about the spirit world that is here around us; and it’s the Kingdom of God, which is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and there’s everything else that falls outside of that. So, there’s no grey. So, you can’t say, ‘oh but I’m a Christian, I’m covered, I’m protected, it’s okay for me to dabble a little and practice a little bit of that, and this, and because’—and the Word [of God] is clear: You cannot sit at one table and drink from a cup from another table (1 Corinthians 10:21); you understand it. It is clear, and I’ve said this many times, is that: God does not put these rules and laws in His Word to control us. It’s to protect that covenant that He wants with us.”

1 Corinthians 10:21- You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.

Holy Yoga

“Scripture warns that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He tries to infiltrate worship with counterfeits that look spiritual yet lead away from the Gospel. Yoga isn’t simply exercise. It was created as a spiritual practice to unite with Hindu deities (demons). The word “yoga” means “to yoke,” and its poses aren’t neutral stretches but physical offerings in a system of worship that denies the [One] true God. We can’t take a practice designed for idolatry and make it holy by adding a Christian label. God commanded His people not to adopt pagan worship (Deuteronomy 12:30-31). This is where the spiritual warfare component becomes clear. One of Satan’s schemes is to try to “Christianize” pagan practices, so believers drop their guard. When a church offers “holy yoga,” it’s like rolling a Trojan horse through the doors. On the surface, it looks like exercise and fellowship, yet inside it carries the seeds of confusion, compromise, and further false teaching. Paul warned that we are not to be ignorant of Satan’s schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11), because deception often comes dressed as good. Some argue that “Christian yoga” is like eating redeemed meat offered to idols in Paul’s day. Yet that comparison doesn’t hold. Paul allowed believers to eat meat because food itself was created by God and morally neutral. The temple rituals were sinful, but the meat was not. Yoga, on the other hand, is the ritual. The poses and breathing are themselves acts of spiritual worship in Hinduism. It would be like pasting Bible verses on a Ouija board and calling it a “Christian Ouija board.” Yoga can’t be redeemed. Others say, “God knows my heart. I’m not worshiping Hindu gods. I’m worshiping Jesus while doing yoga.” The problem is that God never told us we can worship Him however we choose. He sets the terms of worship. Nadab and Abihu learned this when they offered “strange fire” that God had not commanded, and they were struck down (Leviticus 10:1-2). Good intentions don’t sanctify disobedience. Paul said he could never eat or drink anything that caused a weaker brother to stumble (1 Corinthians 8:13). If that’s true about food, how much more about spiritual practices rooted in idolatry. Someone who sees professing Christian doing yoga (even so-called “holy yoga”) could stumble into New Age deception and idolatry. So please don’t be taken in by the idea of “holy yoga.” Recognize it as spiritual warfare disguised as health and wholeness. The enemy presents counterfeits, yet God calls us to worship Him in spirit and In truth (John 4:24). Holiness isn’t about what we rename; it’s about obedience to Christ” (Doreen Virtue, former yoga practicer).

The Bible warns us about being yoked to other beings, when we are to be yoked only with the One True God. To be yoked to demons is to be trapped. “The Bible teaches against being ‘unequally yoked’ with unbelievers, meaning forming deep, binding partnerships like marriage or business with those whose faith and values are contrary to God’s” (Google Ai Overview). “To be yoked together with someone means that you are in a compromising partnership with them, and you’re compromising your beliefs to do it” (CrossExamined, 2023). So, to be in a yoked business with false gods is to compromise your relationship with Christ and also your own belief system in order to hold onto that practice. When you struggle with a belief or a sin, you will often form a protective justifying barrier around it when you refuse to surrender your pride after an extended period of time.

2 Corinthians 6:14- “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”

2 Corinthians 11:14- And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

Deuteronomy 12:30-31- And after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

2 Corinthians 2:11- In order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Leviticus 10:1-2- Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

1 Corinthians 8:13- Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

John 4:24- God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

The real spiritual deal

As yoga is viewed as physically good for you, spiritual health will always thwart physical health, because everything is spiritual. Your spiritual wellbeing determines your physical and your mental wellbeing, because God created you and all things, and He is the original Spirit. It’s not so much the physical benefits that are the “sin”, but the spiritual consequences that will in turn, affect your physical body and mental state in the form of the actions. Many Christians believe that they can “christianize” pagan things like yoga, but they can’t. It was never the atmosphere in which it was created that is demonic, it is the actions themselves, which were dedicated to demons (false gods). So, it doesn’t matter if you were to practice it in a Hindu shrine in a dark room, with a statue and candles, or a church with worship music playing. Performing the positions themselves in a posture of tainted meditation worships the demonic in which it was created, no matter what atmosphere you are in. The atmosphere is only a boost in activation and invitation; so, although setting the pagan Hindu stage would attract more of the demonic, performing in a church or with worship music playing would render useless, because light cannot pair with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14). Demons are very crafty with this sort of thing. They will have you believe that if something is physically good for you (or seemingly mentally good for you, like Hindu meditation), then it must be spiritually good for you, and therefore, it is okay. And they will tell people that they are covered by the blood and slap a Christian label on it and claim that “God wouldn’t allow demons to attack them while doing something physically healthy” (even though sex is also physically good for you, but when done outside of God’s covenant of marriage, results in spiritual, mental, and even mass societal damage.) And furthermore, the demons will even manipulate things in your physical body to keep that illusion alive. You must understand that ALL physical ailments, sicknesses, and diseases are experienced in the physical, but they are the result of the spiritual. God did not cause them, Satan did. Satan is involved in the curse of man. He is the reason for it. He is the spirit behind all physical ailments, and to make sure his influence sticks, he must also create counterfeit medicinal cures. Much like Pilates, yoga stretches and strengthens the body. This is good for warding off pain in certain areas, like joints, muscles, and tendons. But when actions dedicated to the demonic are used instead of the natural way God intended, the demons you invite will make it as though your symptoms are cured…for a while. And then, when they return, they will be even worse (Matthew 12:43-45). But you won’t yield; you will think you just need to do more yoga. But that’s not all. A demon’s jurisdiction goes beyond the specifics of their invitation. Yoga was just a foothold. They will begin to affect other areas of your life that don’t even relate to the original joint pain. You will be blind to their presence, because they don’t sound like they relate to the first foothold. Over time, other problems will show up in your life, but because they are so vastly different than simple joint pain, you’ll never make the connection…unless you listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, who will tell you where it came from. You will be trapped suffering in the vice of your own pride until you yield.

Matthew 12:43-45- “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” 

Love you all! Stretch responsibly!