Christianizing Shamanism???

[billiefan2000]

Christianizing Shamanism

By Brannon S. Howse





Much of what we see in the Word of Faith movement and New Apostolic Reformation is "Christianized" shamanism. Dave Hunt warned about this growing trend in his 1985 best-selling book, The Seduction of Christianity, when he wrote:



Shamanism promises power to heal and transform through contact with a parallel universe of the spirit, from which this mysterious energy is allegedly drawn. That contact is said to be made in our minds: The thoughts we think and the words we speak become the vehicles of spiritual power. Those who accept this concept become victims of the great delusion that displaces God with self. In seeking power for self, they have become susceptible to the power of Satan. Nevertheless, even as the irrefutable evidence mounts documenting its destructive and evil power, shamanism's popularity and general acceptance is exploding in the secular world, and in "Christianized" forms is gaining increasing acceptance within the church.[1]



Hunt warns of the occult foundation upon which a vast majority of the Word of Faith movement is based:



The mental images that one is able to picture or visualize are no longer looked upon as mere figments of the mind, but as reality created by the mind that can even impact the physical world. The intimate relationship between thinking, speaking, and seeing (and the power thereby produced) has formed the basis of occult theory for thousands of years. The metaphysical philosophy underlying Positive Thinking and Possibility Thinking as well as major aspects of the Positive Confession movement is founded upon the alleged power inherent within thoughts and words.[2]



Please understand that I am not saying the individuals and groups discussed in this chapter are deliberately practicing shamanism or sorcery. Many believe they are practicing something biblical, but clearly it is not. Dave Hunt also saw this coming:



…the terminology, while sounding biblical, promotes concepts that cannot be found in the Bible, but are found in occult literature and practice. Moreover, some of the Positive Confession leaders not only admit but teach that the methods, laws, and principles they use are also used successfully by occultists. Nowhere in the Bible does it indicate or even imply that the people of God are to use the same methods or powers as the pagans.[3]



As we will examine later in this chapter, self-professing Christians and even pastors attribute to God the New Age "law of attraction" which is elsewhere promoted by people like Oprah Winfrey.

If you're not acquainted with some of these teachers, you'll be amazed at what passes from their lips as Christian teaching. Take, for example, this transcript of a Gloria Copeland teaching:



Copeland-You know, you're the – you're supposed to control the weather. I mean, Ken's the primary weatherman at our house, but when he's not there I do it. And you can see what's happening out there. It shows just like they have on – at the weather – like on the news. I mean, he's got the computer that's got the current weather on it and all that for flying. So sometimes I'll hear something, I'll hear the thunder start, and maybe he'll still be asleep, and I'll say, "Ken, you need to do something about this." [Laughter]



And knowing that – but you are the one that has authority over the weather. One day Ken and Pat Boone, when we were at Hawaii at their house, and we were – they were setting outside, and there was a weather spout out over the ocean.

And that's like a tornado, except it hits the water. And so they were sitting there and they just watched it, rebuked it, and it never did anything. One day, I was in the airplane, in the back, and my little brother was in the back with me, and Ken was up front flying. And we were not in the weather, because we don't fly bad weather, but we could see the weather over here. And I looked out the window and that tornado came down just like this, down toward the ground. And Ken said, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. You get back up there!"



So this is how I learned how to talk to tornados. I saw this. And that tornado went [makes repeated whooping noise], even while I was watching. And my little brother was not a devout Christian at that time, and that was really good for him to see.



So you're the weatherman. You get out there-or the weatherwoman, whichever it is, and you talk to that thing, and you tell it, "You're not coming here. I command you to dissipate! And you get back up there in Jesus' name!" Glory to God. That-I won't charge you extra.[4]



My friend Justin Peters is one of the leading experts (if not the leading expert) in America on the unbiblical teachings of the Word of Faith movement. As a guest on my radio program, he responded this way to Gloria Copeland's weatherman episode:



If this is true that Gloria Copeland and others in the Word-Faith movement can control the weather, then might we ask where she was when hurricane Katrina came into town? Might we ask why she doesn't, right now, talk up some rain to the people in drought stricken countries in eastern Africa? It's just, it's absurd on its face, but this [W-F theology], unfortunately, is the face of Christianity in much of the world today.



Gloria Copeland saying that we can control the weather, and what I teach in my seminar is, "Who else does this remind you of? Does it remind you of Someone Who, one day, was in a boat with His disciples and a storm came up, and He spoke to the storm and calmed it?" The Word-Faith proponents denigrate God's deity. They demote God to make Him look more human than what He is, and then in return they deify man to make us look more like God than what we really are. They ascribe to man attributes and powers that reside solely with God, and so they blur that distinction between God the Creator, and us, His created. That is a very, very dangerous line to blur.[5]



Another popular Word of Faith teacher is Benny Hinn, who, like many Word of Faith teachers, seems to believe that instead of man serving God, God is to serve man. Note this interchange between Hinn and Myles Munroe:



Benny Hinn-We get the mind of God about His will, we pray it. When we pray it, we give him legal right to perform it.



Myles Munroe-Yes. Let me define prayer for you in this show. Prayer is man giving God permission, or license, to interfere in earth's affairs. In other words, prayer is earthly license for heavenly interference….God can do nothing on earth, nothing has God ever done on earth without a human giving him access….Always looking for a human to give him power of permission. In other words, God has the power, but you got the permission. God got the authority and the power, but you got the license. So even though God can do anything, he can only do what you permit him to do.[6]


God does not need our permission to do anything. Psalm 115:3 declares, "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases." In Psalm 135:6, we read, "Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth." And Psalm 103:19 announces, "The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all."



The Word of Faith movement is a sister to the New Apostolic Reformation with its "prophets" and "apostles." The NAR and WOF false teachers not only preach another gospel, but they preach philosophies and practices derived from the occult. The Church must beware of the Christian and pro-family leaders who have given these groups credibility.





While false teachers have been around since biblical times, infiltration of the church has increased alarmingly, just as Jesus predicted in Matthew 24.

Well known evangelical and pro-family leaders have joined in events, alliances, and common causes with a shocking array of unbiblical partners. As a result, many contemporary "Christian" leaders embrace and encourage the false Jesus and false gospels of Mormonism, the New Age Movement, Roman Catholicism, Word of Faith teachers, the New Apostolic Reformation, Eastern Mysticism, and the spiritual left.

Our bitterest philosophical enemies have made it past the gatekeepers of both mainstream and evangelical Christian thought, and anti-Christian worldviews have assembled within the walls of our churches. As a result, hostile forces wreak havoc in the minds and hearts of believers who are caught unaware.

"Certain men" are indeed creeping in unnoticed, but God is still in charge-and working decisively through those who will not exchange any of the truth for a lie. Religious Trojan Horse will help you become one of the ones stand against the invaders.



Christianizing Shamanism

[Meg]

Wow!! This stuff is truly disturbing! Especially this quote:

[QUOTEbilliefan2000]Myles Munroe-Yes. Let me define prayer for you in this show. Prayer is man giving God permission, or license, to interfere in earth's affairs. In other words, prayer is earthly license for heavenly interference….God can do nothing on earth, nothing has God ever done on earth without a human giving him access….Always looking for a human to give him power of permission. In other words, God has the power, but you got the permission. God got the authority and the power, but you got the license. So even though God can do anything, he can only do what you permit him to do.[6]
[/QUOTE]



The stuff being described here is witchcraft. The practices and concepts being described here are precisely what was being discussed by witches in a forum I belonged to in 2002-2003 just before I repented into Christ. The people pushing this stuff, Copeland, Hinn and Munroe are blind and very dangerous fools. They should be avoided at all costs.

[livin_in_the_Son]

If God can do nothing on earth without a human giving Him access....exactly what human gave Him the access to CREATE the earth then?! This is blasphemous.

And if I claimed to control the weather, I would be laughed out of my home!

[Meg]

Indeed it is blasphemous. Very much so.

[Hannah]

The Bible says we are healed by Faith.

Our Faith is in God who has the power to heal.

The Apostle Peter clearly states in the verses below that Believers have NO POWER of their own to do healing.

AC 3:11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

We have to put our faith in the Lord for our healing through prayer and then it is ultimately up to the Lord to decide when and how He will heal us. Some Believers may not be healed until we go to heaven where sickness cannot follow us. That doesn't mean that there is no healing for a Believer this side of Heaven. God still can heal us today. We use our faith to receive all things God generously gives to us because that is how we receive our salvation as well through faith.

The Bible has clear teaching on how a Believer can ask for healing and receive it but as the Apostle Peter has pointed out we do not have the power to heal or the ability to heal (neither ourselves nor others). We can only ask for it and wait with Faith ready to recieve it when God is willing to give it to us.

The Word of Faith preachers do teach some truth about healing because the BEST LIE is wrapped in TRUTH. What they do is pervert what is written in the Bible so that when it doesn't work for you or someone else then our FAITH is undermined. Satan loves to make us Doubt and have UnBelief because then you cannot have a Strong enough FAITH to receive what God wants to give you.

MK 6:4 Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

RO 3:3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar.

Even if we never see God's healing in our lifetime on this earth our experience doesn't Nullify God's Word. Our Lack of Faith doesn't make God's Word Untrue.

However the only way to see God's Healing is to have what I call mountain moving faith. You need to Believe and Not Doubt and keep Believing or Having Faith. If you don't see healing then Keep Believing. If you die before you receive your healing it didn't make God's Word Untrue but instead of getting here then you receive it in Heaven. Either way (healed in life or after death) God sent you the healing when you asked for it but you never received it here on Earth.

I have read some very good Old Time Preachers who saw many healings in the days of the Revivals century before last that the Church has lost the ability to see mighty moves of God in the Body of Christ due to our lack of Faith.

You can easily deal with any sin issues today. Just stop sinning and come to the Lord for forgiveness. Jesus blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Sin is easy to deal with and so is any interference by Satan but his most powerful weapon is to simply make you Doubt.

If you don't have problems in the above two areas the Third is Faith. Also remember Daniel prayed but the Angel sent immediately to answer his prayer had to fight a long & intense battle that lasted 21 days before he could break through. The enemy is often fighting a fierce battle to stop us receiving all the gifts of God. Even salvation. How often is a new Believer's Faith for salvation undermined by Satan with doubts? Everything else we pray for requires faith to receive it, a new job, strength to do God's Work, spiritual fruit, deliverance from addictions and healing. None of these things come without standing in faith to receive them.

When you pray for your healing know God is able to heal and willing to heal. Don't give up believing the healing is on it's way. Don't be discouraged. If you get worse well know this that we all have to die sometime (unless we are fortunate to go up in the rapture first). So if you get worse in your health know that God hasn't let you down. If our healing doesn't come in this world it will in heaven.

We cannot through our words or our minds or by any specially worded prayer make the healing appear any faster. These are lies from the Word of Faith camp. They tell you that you cannot go around saying you are sick. Yep that is correct you cannot say you are sick or go to a doctor and say you are sick. Because it will break their spell for healing. I quite honestly admit my body is still sick. These Word of Faith men are deluding you by saying you are already well so start acting like you are healed and your healing will come through.

In the Bible every person healed by Christ got their healing and then they went around telling people they were healed NOT BEFORE. No one went around saying was totally healed by Jesus and still running around with their illness for all to see. Matter of fact the lame didn't walk until their legs were healed. The Lepers could not present themselves to the Priest to be declared Clean until they were healed.

I Believe God has answered my prayer for healing like Daniels Angel that was sent as soon as the prayer was heard in Heaven. However, my body is not physically healed yet until it arrives here on Earth. So I believe that God has answered my prayer for healing but I don't know when I will see it in this world (or if I might not see it until I get to heaven). So I keep praying and trusting in God and even Praising God for His healing but I know full well it hasn't come yet and I will say to anyone who asks "how are you?", that I am not healed yet but I know I will see my healing because I have prayed with faith.

[mattfivefour]

Shamanism and other New Age beliefs are what the Emergent Church is all about. It is the sinking sand upon which that heretical and satanic edifice is being built. It is not an alternative means of practicing Christianity, it is actually a non-Christian alternative to Christianity.

[Meg]

Shamanism and other New Age beliefs are what the Emergent Church is all about. It is the sinking sand upon which that heretical and satanic edifice is being built. It is not an alternative means of practicing Christianity, it is actually a non-Christian alternative to Christianity.

Back in the early 2000's, when I was searching for the truth about God, I was working with a very detailed study of mythology. Offline, I was researching an odd passage in an old myth, and online I was hanging with pagans including people into the occult. I discovered on no uncertain terms that the practices of shamanism and the practices of modern occult branches were the same thing using different techniques and different terminology, but the results were identical. This is why mixing the occult with Christianity is simply not done by any genuine servant of Jesus Christ.

I have been noticing that people who aspire to be important on the televised Christian scene tend to try to be cool or "credible" or something by using all this jargon etc. People are also responding to fear and unanswered prayer by searching outside the confines of the Bible for some answer that satisfies their desires, wants, and even genuine needs. Thats not faith, it is an attempt to manipulate the Lord rather than permitting Him to shape us. When that happens, God is reduced to a dead image employed as a means to an end. Many Christians have suffered real losses, and have remained in the Faith even so, because we understand that the Lord our God has a purpose in mind that is larger than the moment we are in and has value lasting to the furthest reaches of Eternity. If the Apostles hadn't been able to grasp these things, the New Testament would never have been written. Trusting the Lord in times of serious trouble can be thew hardest thing we could ever do, however...

John 6:61-69

61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirite and they are life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

[mattfivefour]

I have been noticing that people who aspire to be important on the televised Christian scene tend to try to be cool or "credible" or something by using all this jargon etc. People are also responding to fear and unanswered prayer by searching outside the confines of the Bible for some answer that satisfies their desires, wants, and even genuine needs. That's not faith, it is an attempt to manipulate the Lord rather than permitting Him to shape us. When that happens, God is reduced to a dead image employed as a means to an end. Many Christians have suffered real losses, and have remained in the Faith even so, because we understand that the Lord our God has a purpose in mind that is larger than the moment we are in and has value lasting to the furthest reaches of Eternity.

Meg, these are five great, great truths you have written here. The two I highlighted are the theological core of the problem. Absolutely spot on, sis! I wish those who call themselves Christians but sit in so-called "emergent," "post-modern", "relevant" churches today could grasp what you have written.

[Meg]

Thanks Adrian I heard the point of God being a means to an end either on the radio or in a sermon a long time ago, and that helped me keep things in perspective.

[Everlasting Life]

These were some of the things I was utterly shocked to find when going from a Saturday keeping church to a Sunday keeping church (legalism to grace), I was utterly horrified and could hardly process what I was coming across. God, in his kindess, showed me what was happening...a shaking and split down the church. Those who were stubbornly rebelling and those who, although greatly shaken, stayed faithful to Him.

It is my constant prayer that the church would be mightily protected from deception.

[billiefan2000]

related:


Brannon Howse: Aired August 16, 2012

Brannon plays clips from two sermons by Joel Osteen that reveal that he is embracing New Age teachings or what Brannon describes as “Christianizing Shamanism.”


Brannon explains the very definition of Shamanism and then reveals how this is being embraced by “evangelicals” today.


One message Osteen delivered at his church is on speaking your future into being and another is on speaking “I Am” just as New Age Mormon Glenn Beck has declared.



Osteen also talks about how one’s words can stop God’s plan for your life. Why is this not true?


Osteen quotes Scripture but Brannon explains how the Scripture is not just being quoted out of context but misquoted.

Brannon also reveals a very encouraging call from a listener that explains how the truth of what Brannon has been explaining for the past several months has set her free from the oppression of the Word of Faith theology.

Worldview Weekend Tube & Radio