Monday, May 27, 2013

Is Reiki Safe for Christians to Practice?

Lately I had reason to investigate an alternative form of “medicine” called Reiki. I use the quotes around the word medicine, for this type of medicine falls into the same sort of category as healings done by people the likes of Benny Hinn. It is a medicine that is supposedly practiced via a spiritual energy life force transfer, rather than depending on diagnosis and physical medical treatment from sources such as medication or surgery. The force is said to come from God, just as Benny Him and his compatriots claim that God is behind their so-called healings. But this article is not about Benny Hinn and his ilk. This is about the New (ancient) Age technique of reiki which many people, and sadly many Christians, are embracing.

To give a little background on this practice, I quote the following information from both Wickipedia and the Reiki Association. (http://www.reikiassociation.org.uk/3.html)

Reiki is a spiritual practice developed in 1922 by Japanese Buddhist Mikao Usui which has since been adapted by various teachers of varying traditions. Fired by a burning question, Dr. Usui was inspired to develop this healing system from ancient teachings after many years of study, research, and meditation. It uses a technique commonly called palm healing or hands on healing as a form of alternative medicine and is sometimes classified as oriental medicine by some professional medical bodies. Through the use of this technique, practitioners believe that they are transferring universal energy in the form of qi (also spelled qui, ki, chi, or ch'i – and which means life force) through the palms, which they believe allows for self-healing and a state of equilibrium. There is no belief system attached to Reiki, so anyone can receive or learn to give a Reiki treatment. It is possible to heal at any level of being: physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. Acute injuries can be helped to heal very quickly, but more chronic illness takes longer. In some cases such as terminal illness, there is not enough time for the progress of the disease to be reversed. However, in such cases there is usually great benefit and enhancement of the quality of life giving a sense of peace and acceptance during the time remaining. The practitioner is a channel which the energy is drawn through by the need or imbalance in the recipient. Neither person has to use any effort of will or concentration during this process.

Before addressing some of the statements in the above quotes, and listing many more that I found at another Reiki website, I feel it is important to first look at what God has to teach us about healing.

Genesis 20:17 “So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.”

Healing by God was in answer to prayer by Abraham. Abraham did not perform any ritual upon Abimelech or his household. The only thing necessary was prayer. But this prayer was not a chanting of a mantra or anything of that nature. It was a fervent intercessory prayer of a man pleading with God to heal another and his household from a punishment from God, that Abraham's actions had inflicted upon them.

Exodus 15:26 “And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.”

God is declaring that He is the one who heals Israel, directly, not through an intermediary. He will even prevent diseases and plagues, if they will listen to His commandments and heed them and obey His laws.

2 Kings 20:1-6 “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.”

God healed Hezekiah in answer to his prayer, because he had walked in righteousness before God. There was a condition for this prayer being answered. It was Hezekiah's relationship with God. Abraham had experienced the same relationship. God must know a person before He will listen to that person's prayers. The one unbeliever's prayer that God will listen to is the prayer of repentance. Otherwise, He does not know the person and they cannot expect that they have any right for their prayers of healing to be answered.

2 Chronicles 10:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Again we see that people must belong to the Lord, be called by His name in order to access Him in prayer. God heals not only our infirmities, whether spiritual (forgiving our sins), physical, and emotional but also he will heal a nation if the people that belong to Him within that nation pray for its healing. We must pray with humility though.

Psalm 6:2 “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.”

Again we see that prayer must be offered with humility if we want healing, for healing only comes from God's mercy.

Psalm 30:2 “O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.”

We do not have to go to others in prayer to get healing, if we know God, we can go to Him directly. However intercessory prayer by other believers is very helpful in getting God's attention and an answer.

Psalm 41:4 “I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.”

Confession of our sin along with a request for healing is going to open the door of communication between God and us, for sin is an obstacle in our communion with Him.

Psalm 103:2-3 “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;”

Again, part of healing is forgiveness of sins, for often it is our sin that is causing our infirmity.

Psalm 147:3 “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”

God heals our emotional needs as well as physical.

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

The ultimate healing that God gives us is to heal us of our iniquities. The forgiveness of sin is far more important than physical healing, for while the one may give us a longer physical life, the other gives us eternal life. Our sins were laid upon Him. He was brutally beaten and crucified so that we could be healed of our sins. The chastisement, that was ours for our sins, was laid upon Him, and forgiven us.

Jeremiah 17:14 “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.”

Matthew 9:2-7 “And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house.”

Healing our sins so that we may have eternal life is far more important than healing us of our physical ailments so that we may have a longer mortal life. To show that Jesus had the power to give us eternal life by healing us of our sins, He miraculously healed people of illnesses and disabilities that are not curable even in our day and age. He cast out demons as well as illness. 

Matthew 4:23-24 “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.”

Matthew 8:2-3 “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

Matthew 8:5-17 “And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”

While Jesus often touched people when He healed them, it was not necessary. He had the power within His words to heal from a distance, as evidenced by the centurian's servant being healed without ever seeing Jesus. Just speaking that someone was healed was enough for them to be healed.

Matthew 8:28-32 “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.”

People were healed of demonic possession, because the demons recognized that Jesus was the Son of God, God incarnate who had the power to do whatever He wanted to them. He is God and God is more powerful than any other spiritual entity that He created. Only God is more powerful than them though. We are not. Any ability we have to fight and overpower them is due to Christ's power flowing through us. This requires being a born again believer in Christ, and having a relationship with Him that is in good standing.

Matthew 9:20-22 “And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”

It was people's faith that enabled them to be healed. They believed Christ was the Son of God who had God's power to heal them. He did not have to even be actively healing them. The healing flowed out from Him.

Matthew 9:27-30a “And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord . Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened;”

Again it was people's faith and belief in Him that enable the healing to take place.

Matthew 9:35 “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

Matthew 12:10-14 “And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.”

Matthew 12:22 “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.”

Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Christ did not come merely to physically heal people. He came to preach the gospel of God's forgiveness to the people so that they could be spiritually healed. He preached deliverance to people who were captive to sin, to set them at liberty so that they could keep the law through Him. The miracles and physical healings were just to give proof to His message of forgiveness. They were not the purpose of His coming.

Luke 5:17 “And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”

Even Jesus had been restricted to living as a human without power until the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, for the power of the Lord had to come upon Him for Him to do these miracles, as He was living as a human so that He might experience what we have to experience. He was tempted in all ways as we were, yet never sinned. How could He sympathize with our difficulties if He never experienced them? He had to be extended the power by God while here, just as we have to be extended the power by God for us to do anything that might be considered miraculous (which the apostles certainly did.) But to access that power, one must be in communion with God.

Matthew 10:1, 6-8 “And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease..... But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. ”

Mark 6:7, 12-13 “And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits......And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”

Luke 9:1-2, 6 “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick...And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where ”

The disciples were sent forth not just to heal and cast out demons, but to preach the gospel of the kingdom, which was to repent.

Acts 14:8-10 “And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.”

For people to be healed, it still required that they have faith.

1 Corinthians 12:4-10, 28-30 “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will..... And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? ”

The gift of healing is one of many gifts of the Spirit. It is only given to a few, as for the body to be complete they must have all the gifts, not just the miraculous. In fact, I have never seen a person who truly has a miraculous gift. I do believe God may still give them, but I have never seen someone with a true gift (as opposed to quacks and charlatans who pretend to have it.) What I do believe is that those with the miraculous gifts would keep them quiet, so as to not gather followers around them. I believe they would humbly do their work in a way that nobody would know that they have the gift for fear of being worshiped. Only this type of person could handle a gift like this. Which may be why I have never known someone with these gifts. As the gift of healing is given by the Holy Spirit, only someone with a personal relationship with Christ could possibly have it. Anyone who does not have that born again relationship with Christ, who is supposedly manifesting a gift of healing would fall into two categories. Either they are a huckster fleecing people out of their money - a complete charlatan, or they are in league with demonic spirits who are performing healings on behalf of the practitioner who “heals” people. Nobody can miraculously heal others on their own. The power to heal miraculously comes directly from Christ as a gift of the Holy Spirit and only is given to a small group (if any) of Christians. Demons also have the power to heal, but often they have inflicted the ailment to begin with, so that they can take it away for the purpose of having someone believe in something like Reiki or faith healing, which they are controlling. It is a ploy to deceive people away from Christ.

James 5:14-16 “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Here we find the directive that tells us what to do if we are in need of healing. This is the practice that Christians are supposed to use when asking God to heal them. We are to call the elders of the church together, they are to anoint the person with oil, the person should confess any sins (for sin can be a cause of illness) and have faith that God can and will heal them. The elders should also have confessed any sins, for sin gets in the way of having prayers answered, and then they need to pray fervently for the person to be healed. This is the way that God has told us we are to practice healing within the church. It does not require having a person with a miraculous gift of healing in the church, which seems to indicate that God does not hand these miraculous gifts out very frequently, if at all. Any other form of “spiritual” or mystical healing is not Scriptural and should be avoided, especially if Christians are not involved in the healing process.

Now let us look at how Reiki lines up with Scripture on the subject of healing. Below are quotes taken from Reiki organizational websites that offer information, list practitioners from all over, offer classes and etc. The following quotes in italics come from http://www.reiki.org. I will make comments following the statements.

The Japanese name for the master level of Reiki is Shinpiden which means “Mystery Teaching.”

The first thing that one should note is that Reiki is a Japanese healing art from the Buddhist tradition and at the highest level is known as a “mystery” teaching. Anyone with any familiarity with the Bible knows that the Mystery religion is from Mystery Babylon, which is the religion of Satan. The Babylonian mysteries are the occult teachings that are found in all the pagan religions.

When we receive the Usui master symbol and the attunement that empowers it, it creates the possibility for us to become aware of the Ultimate Reality. This is expressed in the definition of the Usui master symbol which indicates that it represents that part of the self that is already completely enlightened! When we use the master symbol, we are actually connecting with our own enlightened selves. This in fact, is the true source of Reiki energy

Reiki masters are given symbols, which they trace on their hands before having a healing session. The occult is big into secret symbols. Note that the symbol and the “attunement” (read that as spiritual entity) that “empowers” it, allows them to be “enlightened.” Satan presents himself as an angel of light and he loves to have his groups carry names that indicate a source of enlightenment. e.g. Illuminati. This symbol brings with it a “power”. This power is not from Christ, it is from another spiritual source. One that answers to the symbol. This power is demonic in nature. This is, as they say, the “true source” of Reiki energy. They are perfectly honest as to the source of the power, but people are too ignorant to understand what they are saying.

Then meditate on this affirmation. "I surrender completely to the Reiki energy and the source from which it comes." Repeat this affirmation over and over, then as the Reiki energy continues to flow, with your inner eye, look for the source of Reiki, either within yourself or above.

Again, they are being perfectly honest as to the source of the power. First you have to meditate. This requires chanting a mantra. Although this mantra is a sentence, not the usual mantra which tends to be the names of demonic entities (chanting them calls up the demon in question), note what they repeat over and over in this sentence. They are surrendering to the source entity from which the power comes. Again, they are saying that it is coming from a source outside of themselves, and they are turning themselves completely over to this source. The person is to look with their “inner eye” (an occult reference) for that source.

By doing this, you will have many important experiences. As your awareness moves closer and closer to the source, you will become aware of amazing insights and have ever increasing experiences...Reiki will guide you to other healing techniques that are exactly right for you to use in addition to Reiki. You may also receive guidance about changes you need to make that require you to take action.

The person now demonically possessed will of course have unusual experiences. That is the whole objective, so as to solidify the attachment of the person to the demon. Notice that as they grow closer (spiritually) to the source (demon) they start experiencing insights into things that they had never known or experienced before. People in the occult do experience supernatural occurrences, for they are dealing with supernatural entities. Once in the power of the demon, it leads them down the path into more occultic practices, types of sorceries and witchcraft. They now have a “spirit guide” which will teach them and make changes in their lives as needed for the demonic spirit to maintain its complete control and use them to lead others astray.

As we continue on our healing path, we will become aware of a level of consciousness that resides deep within each of us that can bring a wonderful new way of living. It creates a new attitude that is entirely positive and brings with it the ability to solve many problems and create positive results that previously we did not think possible. This higher consciousness is what Jesus was experiencing when he performed miracles and when he had a profoundly positive effect on those around him.

Once in the demons' power, people experience other levels of consciousness, because when a demon is in control of a person, they find themselves shoved aside into a subconscious state much of the time. The entity will give them positive feedback in the way of feelings, making them think that they are raising themselves to higher levels of consciousness and morality, so as to keep them ignorant of the source of the power to which they have turned themselves over. It will give them what they will believe is a wisdom to solve problems by positive thinking. This higher consciousness is merely the demon providing their minds with information. Jesus was God incarnate. There is no higher form of consciousness than that. He was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the miracles and the positive effect He had on those around Him was due to their experiencing forgiveness of their sins and the freedom of their spirit which that brings.

This new consciousness is coming to many people now and in a short time will become the normal state for most of the people on earth. You might say that it is a higher aspect of Reiki consciousness, but it has gone by many names and it is becoming more and more available to all of us. Jesus spoke of it as the second coming of Christ and I believe that he did not mean that Jesus would return to earth as he did 2000 years ago, but that the spirit of the Christ would become available to all of us.

Unfortunately yes, this new consciousness is coming to many people now and in a short time it will become the normal state for many people. We are told that most will take the mark of the beast and most likely that will bring with it demonic possession. Many people are already demonically possessed from playing with all the occult things that are out there – ouija boards, horoscopes, channeling, yoga, Reiki, rock music, the list is endless. There are so many doors being opened to demonic possession these days that it is amazing that there are any (apart from Christians) that are still not possessed. The number is dwindling fast. It does go by many names, as I just showed from naming a few, and it is available to everyone. Jesus did speak of it, but not as His Second Coming. He asked if He would even find faith left on earth when He came back, for most everyone will have given themselves over to demonic powers. Jesus will be coming back to earth physically just as He did 2000 years ago. He was not lying about that, for that is exactly what He said He would do. Matthew 24:30 “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great gloryAlso the angels told the disciples when He ascended that He would return physically just as He left. Acts 1:9-11And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” The so-called New Age “Spirit of Christ” or Christ consciousness of which they speak is for people to open themselves to demonic possession, so as to experience this state of higher self, which is really only the demon taking control. 
 
This Christ consciousness is not limited to those of the Christian religion, but is available to members of all religions and spiritual paths. In fact, this higher way of manifesting our lives has been part of all religious practices and has gone by many names depending on which religious or spiritual group named it. 
 
As already said, the Christ consciousness is not from Christ, therefore it is not limited to only Christians who have accepted Jesus as their Savior and have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. These people experience demonic possession. They are speaking the truth when they say that this has been a part of all religious practices (including Christianity in this day and age) and it has gone by many names over the ages depending on the group who named it. It is called paganism, witchcraft, the occult, the New Age, Shamanism, mysticism, the list goes on and on. This in and of itself should now be enough to convince any Christian that they should not be messing around with this witchcraft. It is an abomination to the Lord. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” But we will continue with looking at what they say about themselves.

Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy." It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. The ability to use Reiki is not taught in the usual sense, but is transferred to the student during a Reiki class.

Reiki is a “spiritually guided …. energy.” The energy being, of course, the demon. It is administered by the laying on of hands. That is how it is transferred. The person doing the healing passes the demon with the permission of the recipient. Of course it is not taught in the usual sense. There is nothing to teach. It only requires the passing of the demon to the other person and their reception of that demon into their lives for him to work his “magic.”

Its use is not dependent on one's intellectual capacity or spiritual development and therefore is available to everyone.

Of course it is not dependent upon one's intellectual capacity of spiritual development. All a demon needs to take possession is your permission. It is the source of intelligence and power and it does not want you to have any real spiritual development (meaning a true belief in God), for that would work very much against their agenda.

While Reiki is spiritual in nature, it is not a religion. In fact, Reiki is not dependent on belief at all and will work whether you believe in it or not.

Again, how Christians could be involved with this when they make statements like this is a mystery to me. It is spiritual in nature because it is demonic possession. It is not dependent upon a belief in God, because a true belief in God would be counterproductive to the demon and what he hopes to accomplish. Naturally it works whether a person believes or not, for all a demon needs is permission to enter a person. They do not need you to believe. They can do all sorts of miraculous things through the humans that they possess. In fact, if a person is truly producing healing results, as opposed to psychologically manipulating a person through charlatan methods and engendering a temporary manifestation due to the mind of the patient, it is evidence of demonic possession, for a lack of belief or more specifically not being a born again Christian, would be evidence that the source is not from God.

Because Reiki comes from God, many people find that using Reiki puts them more in touch with the experience of their religion rather than having only an intellectual concept of it.

As shown above, Reiki does not come from God at all. It may give people a mystical “religious” experience, but that experience is not a connection with God. It is a connection with Satan. God says that we must worship Him with our heart, soul, and mind. Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” He does not want us emptying our mind, nor chanting mantras. Matthew 6:7 “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” He wants us actively engaged mentally through prayer and reading and studying Scripture, and to understand Him intellectually as well as having a spiritual relationship with Him through Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

During a meditation several years after developing Reiki, Dr. Usui decided to add the Reiki Ideals to the practice of Reiki. The Ideals came in part from the five prinicples of the Meiji emperor of Japan whom Dr. Usui admired. The Ideals were developed to add spiritual balance to Usui Reiki. Their purpose is to help people realize that healing the spirit by consciously deciding to improve oneself is a necessary part of the Reiki healing experience.

The purpose of adding these ideals (from Satan's point of view) was to deceive people into thinking that they were attaining a higher level of spiritual consciousness, for most people assume that a spiritually superior person is naturally going to be more selfless and have high ideals and concepts. Note further below the ideals of Reiki and how some are similar to what is taught by Christ – do not worry, (Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”), do not be angry (Ephesians 4:26 “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”), be thankful, (1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”), be diligent in what you do (1 Corinthians 10:31b “whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”), be kind (Ephesians 5:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”), pray morning and evening (1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”).
 
Ideals of Reiki
The secret art of inviting happiness
The miraculous medicine of all diseases
Just for today, do not anger
Do not worry and be filled with gratitude
Devote yourself to your work. Be kind to people.
Every morning and evening, join your hands in meditation.
Pray these words to your heart

and chant these words with your mouth
For improvement of mind and body.

As said at the beginning, there is much truth in these false religious teachings. If they were only lies, people might not be so interested. Look at how these ideals parallel much of Christ's teachings, yet notice the subtle differences. This is a “secret” art. God does not have a secret religion. That is strictly Satan's realm. Chanting and meditation, two occult practices are a major part of this ritual. They allow the demonic entity entrance into the person to do carry out its intentions. The miraculous healing of all diseases. Reiki seems to offer a blanket guarantee of being healed. God on the other hand does not always heal for a couple of reasons. First it may be a faith problem, second it may simply not be His will as He has a greater plan in motion.

There are many similarities between the laying on of hands healing Jesus did and the practice of Reiki.

There is no similiarity. Reiki is either bogus and quackery, or demonic and witchcraft. Jesus was God incarnate and healed through the power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Jesus forgave people of their sins along with healing them. Reiki is not concerned with sins.

One important similarity is the fact that Jesus could pass the power to heal on to others which is similar to the Reiki attunement process. We read in Luke 9:1-2 that Jesus gave his twelve disciples power to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. We do not know by what process Jesus gave healing power to his disciples, but the fact that he was able to pass it on to them indicates an important similarity with Reiki. 
 
Jesus did not “pass on” the power to heal others. Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit, who did the healing when they claimed it in Jesus' name. And notice that they did have to heal in Jesus name, not in their own. Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” We do know by what process Jesus gave healing power. He told them to heal in His name. That was all that was necessary, that and prayer (sometimes fasting for certain demonic exorcisms.) The source of healing was the Holy Spirit, not any power that the disciples had. It has no similarity to Reiki whatsoever.

Another aspect of Jesus' healing practice that is similar to Reiki relates to faith. While faith was required for many of the healings he performed, it appears that the healings Jesus did with his hands did not require faith. Mark 6:5-6 states: "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith." So, in spite of the fact that they did not believe, Jesus was still able to use laying on of hands to heal. This is one of the important aspects of Reiki: It does not require faith on the part of those receiving a treatment in order for the Reiki to work.


Faith was not required for many of the healings Christ performed. It was required for all of the healings that He performed. Where there was no faith, he could not perform the healings. The verses mentioned above in Mark 6 states that he was unable to do all the miracles He normally did because of their lack of faith. The few He could do were due to the faith of those very few individuals The lack of faith prevented any further healings other than those few. They misunderstand these verses entirely. Jesus did not heal those with no faith. It requires faith. On the other hand Reiki does not require faith on anyone's part, either the practitioner or the patient. This is very different from God's healing.

The fact that Jesus had secret teachings he gave only to those who he had given healing power is clearly indicated in Matthew 13:10-11 and Mark 4:10-12 & 34. Secret knowledge is also part of the Reiki teachings in that the symbols as well as the process of doing attunements are traditionally kept secret and only made available to those who take a Reiki class.


Let us take a look at those Scriptures to see if they are understanding them correctly. Matthew 13:10-11 “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Taking these two verses out of context, one might assume that Jesus was giving secret teachings to His disciples, but is that really what these verses mean? Let us look at the entire context of the passage. Matthew 13:10-17 “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” (Mark is the parallel passage) Jesus spoke in parables because only those who had faith in God and in Jesus as the Son of God had their spiritual eyes and ears open to understand what He was saying. When one does not have a relationship with God, one cannot understand the Word of God, because God's Word is only spiritually discerned. It has nothing to do with secrets, for the information is not secret. It is right there in God's Word, however the understanding only comes from God, and so one must be in a right relationship with Him to perceive those things about which He speaks. 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Israel had long before closed their ears to God's instructions. They did it almost immediately upon leaving Egypt, and it only got worse as time went by, with occasional times of repentance. That is why then ended up in bondage so much of the time. This was to what Christ was referring when he said they neither heard, nor saw, nor understood. Their minds were dulled from sin, and this was the cause of their lack of understanding. Not that the teachings were secret, for we have the teachings for all to read, do we not? 
 
It is not known whether Jesus was born with the ability to heal through touch or if this was something he acquired. His activities between age twelve and thirty are not mentioned in the Bible. It has been suggested by several researchers that during this time Jesus traveled to the East and was schooled in many of the mystical teachings of India, Tibet and China. If this is so, it is possible that Jesus was initiated into a healing technique, during this time. On the other hand, it is possible that Jesus was taught directly by God or the Holy Spirit or simply had these abilities from birth.


Jesus was God incarnate. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him at the time of His baptism. As He did not perform any miracles before that time, it is logical to assume that the power that He had through the Holy Spirit came upon Him at the time the Holy Spirit was seen to descend upon Him. His activities between the age of twelve and thirty are not mentioned, because there is nothing worthy of mentioning. He most likely was studying the Torah with the rabbi, as was the common practice, and working alongside Joseph at carpentry which was also a common practice – to apprentice the father's vocation. He did not travel to the East and learn the mystical teachings of Satan through those pagan religions. One can be assured of that.

The early followers of Jesus' teachings were made up of several groups. One such group was the Gnostics. They practiced laying on of hands and professed to have a secret knowledge that had been passed on to them by Jesus and his disciples.


The Gnostics were heretics. They believed that salvation was achieved through special knowledge, something only they could impart. Gnosticism denies the incarnation of God as the Son and thus the atonement. Salvation does not come through the sacrifice of God (the Son) on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins, but from special secret knowledge that is imparted (enlightenment). This is the source of the “christ conciousness.” What does God have to say about this? 1 John 4:1-3 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” According to God, the Gnostics were antichrists. Therefore anything they did was of the devil. Their laying on of hands was not for the good of men (they probably passed demons on to others) and the secret knowledge they claimed to have was of the Babylonian mysteries, those practices of Satan, not of God. Jesus did not pass on such secret knowledge. All of Christ's words and all of God's teachings are clearly open for all to read and believe.

Jesus possessed great confidence in his ability and was able to heal in an instantaneous way with spectacular results. It is clear that he had perfected many skills and used them in conjunction to get the results he created.


Jesus was God. Why should He not have confidence in His abilities? For heaven's sake, He spoke the entire universe into being. Healing was no big deal. God is a God of miracles. They are nothing for Him. Jesus did not have to “perfect” His skills. He is the omnipotent God. He gets any results He wants.


One of the greatest joys of Reiki Mastership is teaching Reiki to others. Imagine the thrill of witnessing the members of your Reiki class receiving Reiki energy during the attunement.


Of course they experience great joy. I believe that the vast majority of practitioners of Reiki are completely ignorant of the real source of the spiritual fire with which they play. While there are, I am sure, some scam artists among them, who are into this purely to fleece people of their money, I believe that most probably have been deceived into believing that they are actually doing something real and spiritual, and when they see others get the “energy” (get demonically possessed) the spirit within them (not their own, but the spiritual entity) probably delights in having deceived yet another person away from God. It must be especially thrilling for the entities when they can convince a Christian to reject God's truth in favor of their mystical hocus pocus.

As a teaching Reiki Master it is important to treat your students with the greatest respect. Know that each has the spark of God within them.
 
No, the only people who have God within them are those who confess and repent of their sins and ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, believing that He died and rose for them paying the penalty for their sins.

There is a perfect plan for your life that has always been present and has been waiting for you. This plan is not based on what your parents want for you, or what the culture says you need to be accepted, but on what will really make you happy. This plan is inside you and comes from your core essence. Reiki can guide you to this plan and help you follow it. This plan is your true spiritual path.


God does have a plan for everyone who gives themselves to Him. Romans 8:28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” It is true that our parents cannot determine what God's plan is for us, for only God knows that. We can only put our trust in Him to guide us in the path which He has chosen for us. Often God does put within us the desires that He wants us to pursue. That is one of His ways of leading us. But Reiki is not going to guide you in that. Reiki will only lead you down a path away from God, not to Him. If you choose the path of Reiki, your true spiritual path will lead to to hell, not to God.

In the end, we must consider that a Reiki Master is not one who has mastered Reiki, but one who has been mastered by Reiki. This requires that we surrender completely to the spirit of Reiki, allowing it to guide every area of our lives and become our only focus and source of nurturing and sustenance.


The first sentence here is very telling. The Reiki Master is not one who has mastered Reiki, but one who has been mastered. That is exactly correct. The spirit that is called upon when they trace the symbol on their hand and chant whatever it is they chant, is their master. It controls what they do and think. They surrender completely to this spirit, giving their soul over to the charge of Satan, allowing him to guide every area of their lives and to become their only focus. He becomes the source of their sustenance, which is in the end, death.

As we proceed toward the end of the millinium, the Way of Reiki offers itself as a solution to our problems and a path of unlimited potential.


The New Age has long taught that the Age of Aquarius is about to begin. A new age that will lead people to a higher level of consciousness, allowing them to “ascend.” Reiki is merely one more of those deceptions that Satan is using to deceive, letting them think that they are tapping into their unlimited potential, when in fact they are doing nothing except turning themselves over to the spirit world that is run by Satan.


While Reiki is spiritual in nature, it is not a religion. It has no dogma, and there is nothing you must believe in order to learn and use Reiki. In fact, Reiki is not dependent on belief at all and will work whether you believe in it or not.

Reiki is a religion in the sense that people are allowing a “god” into their lives to tell them what to do and think. It controls their actions and beliefs. There are a set of “ideals” which lay out a pattern of behavior, just as the Ten Commandments did, so do they not qualify as dogma? Just because they do not put a name on their god, does not mean that they do not have one. What they do not understand is that any religious/spiritual belief system, no matter what it is, if it is not the worship of Yahweh God and Jesus Christ is ultimately the worship of Satan. While Judaism does worship Yahweh, we know that they have incorporated many of the Babylonian mysteries into their worship, which Jesus – Yeshua, condemned. This too is a path that can lead to death. True Jews, the ones who have a true abiding faith in Yahweh, will one day accept their Messiah, when He returns. The statement that Reiki will work whether you have a belief or not just shows that it is not of God, for God does not hand out the gifts of the Spirit to those who do not believe in and belong to Him. Every Christian should know this, yet still some dabble in this occult practice.

The following comes from the website Reiki-light.org.

The Reiki can only be transfered to a student during a Reiki class during an "attunement" given by a Reiki master. This attunement process opens and aligns the student with this highest life-force healing energy, placing it into their crown chakras, moving it through their body and into their hands. Because Reiki is an energy it flows into the body along pathways called merridians and will unblock areas of built-up emotional energy.

The transference of the spiritual entity to a student was addressed above. Notice the use of the words “chakras” and “meridians” which is a dead give-away of the spiritual origins of this practice. The problem with people is not that their emotional energy has been blocked up. It is that they have sin of which they need to repent. Repentance has enormous power to unblock people's emotional and spiritual lives. Sometimes it even heals their physical problems.

To draw people in, Reiki promotes itself by making people believe it has the answer to all their problems, whether medical, spiritual, physical (things like weight loss), and emotional. Notice how it is promoted on this following website. Reikiinmedicine.org

Do you have a medical condition and want to feel better while supporting your health care?
Are you healthy but not sleeping well, maybe adding unwanted pounds?
Would you like to feel more engaged, more in control of your life and your health?
Do you sometimes feel isolated, hopeless to address the challenges of your life?
Do you want to develop your inner spiritual connection, on your own terms?

Reiki treatment can help.

 

Reiki may fool people into thinking they are helping them with their problems, but Reiki is a problem in and of itself, as it is a form of spiritual death to the people involved in it. A person cannot develop a spiritual connection on their own terms. God has set the terms for us to establish a connection with Him. It is called repentance, faith, and belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died for our sins and rose again defeating sin and death. These are the only terms for connecting to God.

If one is not concerned with the spiritual side of Reiki, but only the scientific, here is what has been found about Reiki from that aspect. The following comes from an article on Reiki in Wickipedia.

The concept of qi underlying Reiki is speculative and there is no scientific evidence that it exists; a 2008 systematic review of randomized clinical trials concluded that “the evidence is insufficient to suggest that Reiki is an effective treatment for any condition. Therefore the value of Reiki remains unproven. The American Cancer Society and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine have also found that there is no clinical or scientific evidence supporting claims that Reiki is effective in the treatment of any illness.

Given all the Scriptures and information that Reiki practitioners provide about the practice, it is clear that Reiki is not something anyone should be involved with, but most importantly, it is not something with which a Christian should be dabbling. These days you will find medical doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, nurses, and people from almost any walk of life practicing this on unwitting people. If you care about your spiritual life, you will stay far away from it. And you will be very careful about letting people who are into this, that may have reason to be touching you (for instance your medical doctor), lay hands on you. The Bible warns us about laying hands on others and allowing people to lay hands on us. 1 Timothy 5:22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.” The laying on of hands is not just innocently touching someone. Things can be passed to another that way. So we need to guard ourselves against those who would pass spiritual entities to us. Christians may not be able to be possessed, but they can be harassed and become obsessed about things from the influence of a demon. Look at the problem Christians are having with pornography addictions. Some suddenly find themselves having homosexual urges. All of these things come from demons and may have been passed to the person via others laying hands on them. The devil is a lion who seeks to destroy whomever he may. Do not let him destroy you. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Stay away from Reiki.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Which Way to Heaven is the Right Way? Is Christianity the Only Way or Is There Another?

For the Christian who has a personal and intimate relationship with God through Jesus, or Yeshua, we cannot understand why people run after all these other Christian cult religions (which teach a path other than strictly through Christ) or non-Christian religions such as Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, New Age, Shamanism, etc. We find it hard to understand what the appeal is in these religions. In most Christians' eyes, these religions represent nothing but lies, so we have trouble understanding why people would find the answers to their problems in them. What people do not realize, for the most part, is that these religions are not just a pack of lies. Satan is very clever. He knows that if he bottled nothing but lies, people would not want any part of his deception. He does not work that way. Far more people are deceived if the lies are couched in very uplifting truths. So that is how he packages them.

When you look at these other belief systems, you find much in them that is good. Many teach a morality that is very Christian in its conception. I ran across a blog by someone who appears (after further investigation) to be into some form of Shamanism or Eastern mysticism. Initially I was impressed by what he was saying. He spoke of unconditional love, turning the other cheek when others hurt you, forgiving, and letting go of hate, bitterness, and anger. Had I not explored further and seen that this person was into a New Age (or Old Age) type of spirituality and not a Christian, I might have thought that he was a Christian, for he was espousing the very things that Christ told us to embrace. He is a perfect example of what I was saying above about lies couched in truth. He has a great deal of truth in what he is saying. We should give unconditional love, we should turn the other cheek, we should forgive those who hurt us, we should let go of bitterness, anger, and hate. The problem lies in that this author expects that a person must dig deep inside themselves to find this ability, rather than realizing that the ability to be able to do these things comes from having Christ's love within us through a personal relationship with Him. He spoke of his struggles in trying to reach this plateau of existentialism. It is truly sad that he does not know the Lord, for it was apparent that he is seeking to attain a spiritual place where he can rise above man's sinful nature and be a man that is totally good in essence. He wants to realize a godhood of sorts. He does not realize that godhood is not something for man to achieve, for there is only one God. He does not realize that within himself he will never achieve his goal of sinless perfection, and that only through Christ's forgiveness of his sins and His love within him through being indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, can he even hope to achieve the spiritual state he so seems to desire.

Unfortunately he is one of many who has bought into the very first lie that Satan told, when he told Eve that she could be like a god, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:4-5 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Man has always wanted godhood. Even Satan wants godhood. That is why he fell at the start. Isaiah 14:12-14 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” And mankind continues to want godhood and listens to any and all lies that Satan tells him that he thinks will bring him to that point. It did not work for Adam and Eve, as we can attest to from the sinful state of the world today, and it will not work for anyone else.

What is of interest from our point of view as Christians is, do these people ever question from where this idea of attaining moral perfection or godhood comes? As Christians, we realize that God is perfect and that we were created perfectly and in communion with Him. It was through Adam's sin that our connection was severed, and that nature passed on to us all. Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” Now within each of us is that knowledge of God and our need to meet God's standard of perfection, which we cannot do on our own. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Many people choose to reject the entire idea of God and even morality, blaspheming the Holy Spirit by rejecting the revelation of Jesus Christ when it comes to them. Others, innately realizing that they fall short of what man was originally created to be, even if they do not believe in creation and the fall, decide that they will strive to meet God through their own paths and efforts. Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Yet others think they are gods and can attain their own godhood by their actions. This is the same sin of pride that fell Satan.

So for the non-Christian who reads this, you may wonder why do I think that the Christian path through Jesus is any better than any other path or teachings of any other religious leader? Why is it the only path or way back to communion with God? In other religions, while they may teach that we are not perfect and need to get to that place, they all teach that you can work your way there or earn it somehow, possibly by reincarnation, working out your karma. Even some Christian religious groups and denominations teach that you can work your way to heaven solely by works alone. It is not our works which justify us in God's eyes, for the works of our own effort are as filthy rags to Him when it comes to trying to justify ourselves in His sight. Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Our justification before God come from another source. Galatians 2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Romans 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” While the Bible teaches that you must maintain your relationship with the Lord through works of love that He gives you to do to create your wedding garment, your justification does not come from anything you do. It comes from the righteousness that Jesus has which is applied to our lives to cover our sins when we accept Him as our Savior. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

And why is Jesus or Yeshua's righteousness sufficient to do that any more than anyone else? Because He is the Son of God, God incarnate, and was Himself perfect in every way. How can we know that? Why can not Buddha or Mohammed or anyone else do that for us? Because they are not God incarnate. They never made any claim to be God incarnate. Jesus or Yeshua did. How can we know that Christ's claims to be the Son of God or God incarnate are true? Because His actions backed up His claims. First there were the miracles, but we know that Satan can perform miracles, so that in and of itself is not sufficient. The proof comes in through something much greater. Has anyone besides Christ ever raised themselves from the dead? Christ proved His claims by doing exactly that. Everything He said was true, because He proved it true by resurrecting Himself. Had He merely died and stayed dead, He would have been no more than any other man, and His sacrifice would not have defeated death or covered our sins. It was because of His resurrection that our sins were covered. He said that He is the resurrection and the life, and that nobody comes to the Father except through Him. He said that He would lie in the grave for three days and that is how long He stayed there. Then He brought Himself back to life. Since He is the only one to resurrect himself from not only death, a gruesome form of death from which nobody could have survived, the other things He said are also true. Nobody can come to the Father, God, unless they come through Jesus Christ, Yeshua haMashiach. He is the one who repaired the breach between God and man by building a bridge to span the gap created by sin. His blood atoned for the sins of the entire world. God shed His own blood, His Son's blood on our behalf, so that we could reconnect with Him. John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” How arrogant and proud to think that we can build our own bridge to the eternal, omnipotent God and to tell Him that He must accept us on our terms. Especially after He incarnated Himself into our form, lived a sinless perfect life, died a horrific, excrutiating death and raised Himself on our behalf. What ingratitude to dismiss that sacrifice. And to come to and through Him, one must confess that one is a sinner, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, or God incarnate who died, shedding His blood, substituting His own death for ours, and rose again, giving us a substitutionary atonement by taking the punishment of our sins upon Himself.

It is really so simple to get on that bridge that God had Christ build for us, yet people would rather work, and often work very hard, to build that bridge themselves. I am not saying that staying on that bridge is easy, for we must work to maintain a good relationship with God, as one must do with any person. We must keep the commandments, John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commandments.” and we must do the works God provides for us to do. James 2:14-26 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” We must keep the faith and endure all things to the end of our life. Matthew 24:13 “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

As Christians we have been given the mandate to take the gospel to the world, but how many of us are doing it? We expect the “church” to do it. In other words, the organization, not the body of Christ. We have abandoned our mandate in favor of either living in cloistered communities, and that does not just mean people like the Amish, it means never going outside your little church group to socialize with people outside of the church, and get to know them so that you can witness to them. Or we turn the church into an entertainment venue, believing that somehow people will come to the truth through all the worldly things that are offered in the name of Christianity. Neither fulfills the mandate we have been given. We need to witness to people one on one. We need to get to know them, especially when they are living in a darkened world of New Age, occult, etc. They need for us to tell them the truth about Christ and salvation, for eternity is a long time, and these people will be spending it in hell. They will have a valid complaint on Judgment Day when they point their fingers at us and say that we never told them. Even in America, the land of the free and home of the brave, where we have all sorts of religious freedom (although we are losing it quickly, so we should act fast before it is gone) there are thousands of people who have never heard the truth of Christ and salvation. They do not understand the consequences of rejecting God. But we do, and it should bother us enormously that people are plummeting headlong into hell every day by the millions. They will be there for all eternity. How can we remain silent considering the cost? Yet we worry that someone will mock us, or possibly worse, hurt us. In many countries people are dying for their belief. Should we not at least endure mocking for taking a stand and witnessing? Yet people are afraid. Christ said that if we draw back and deny Him, He will deny us. Time is very, very short. The Lord is returning soon. We must work quickly while there is still day, for night is nearly upon us.

The day is soon coming when taking a stand for Christ may cost us our lives, even in countries where religious freedom is still tolerated. Are you prepared to take that stand? If we hold back, so may God. Do you want God to hold back on you when you really need Him the most? The time to get serious about our relationship with God and our witnessing to unbelievers is now. God has already begun judgment on His house. How much time do you think is left before He starts punishing the world?

Thursday, May 16, 2013

When Is Shavuot or Pentecost Celebrated? Who Is Right? Christianity or Judaism?

When should Pentecost or Shavuot be celebrated? I received an email from a Messianic Jewish group (who sends me wonderful Shabbat messages), wishing me a blessed Shavuot on Wednesday, May 15, 2013. I was told by a Christian pastor that Pentecost will be on Sunday, May 19, 2013. So who is correct, or are either of them correct?

It seems that paganized Christianity and Rabbinic Talmudic Judaism have led to Pentecost or Shavuot, as it is known in Judaism, being celebrated on different days other than when God intended it to be celebrated.

First we need to look at Christianity to see the problem. Shavuot (or Pentecost) is determined by when Passover occurs, not by any paganized Christian holiday. Instead of celebrating Passover as the Lord did, Christianity opted to drop the Jewish feast in favor of celebrating just the day Christ arose, renaming it after the pagan goddess Eastre. The problem with this is not that it is only the day Christ arose which is celebrated, and that the rest of the feast is ignored (Gentiles are under no obligation to have to celebrate the feasts), but that the way we determine the date of Easter or Resurrection Day (which is a better way of addressing it) is not that it fall on the Sunday during the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but that it is determined by the vernal equinox. Easter falls on the Sunday after the full moon after the equinox. As the Jewish calendar can change (some years have thirteen months) there have been times when Easter occurs an entire month before Passover. Obviously something is wrong with the way Christianity calculates the date of Resurrection Sunday. So that is a major problem in determining the date of Pentecost. As the original outpouring of the Holy Spirit was on Shavuot, which occurred at the end of the Counting of the Omer, Pentecost must be fifty days from the Feast of Firstfruits during Passover, (according to Lev. 23:15-16) not from when Christianity celebrates Easter. Many times this may work out and Pentecost may fall on the correct day, but there are times when it will not.

Now looking at how Judaism (the Judaism with which everyone is familiar) calculates Shavuot, we look at what they teach. The problem comes in the way in which Rabbinic Judaism (which takes its instruction from the traditions of the Talmud, not the Word of God) counts the fifty days. Most Jewish communities (with the exception of the Karaites who stick strictly with the Word of God and deny the Babylonian Talmud) start counting the omer on the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread or the sixteenth of Nissan. This means that Shavuot can fall on any day of the week, depending on which day Passover falls. But is this Scripturally correct?

Let us look at what the Bible says about this celebration. There is not much directive given, but there is one thing that is very clear that makes it certain as to exactly when this holy day should be celebrated.

Leviticus 23:15-16 “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”

The Rabbinic tradition teaches that because it says that the omer should start being counted from the morrow after the sabbath, and that the sabbath being spoken of is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread or the fifteenth of the month of Nissan, that this would make the sixteenth the morrow after the Sabbath or the first day of the Counting of the Omer and therefore the fiftieth day after that, regardless of what day of the week it falls on would be Shavuot or Pentecost.

One might be able to argue the point that it is the sabbath of the fifteenth that is being spoken of here, if it were not for the following clarification. “Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days.” They are to count seven weekly Sabbaths, then the morning after the seventh Sabbath is Shavuot. The problem comes in, there is no Sabbath festival day scheduled the day before Shavuot so that it might fall on any day of the week. The only way there can be a Sabbath the day before Shavuot or Pentecost is for the fiftieth day to always fall on Sunday, so that the day before is a weekly Sabbath. There simply is no alternative to this. It is speaking strictly of weekly Sabbaths, not of feast day sabbaths.

Logical deduction does the rest for us. Going backwards from this Sunday would then mean that the wave offering of the firstfruits would also have to occur on the morrow after the weekly (Saturday) Sabbath after the Passover, or the Sunday after the Pesach meal (no matter what day it is on). This is the only way there can be fifty days from the Feast of Firstfruits to Shavuot which must be on the day after the Sabbath or Sunday. As there is only one Sunday during the seven day week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (God ordained only a seven day festival, not an eight day one as Rabbinic Judaism has created), there is only one Sunday in which this could occur. If the fourteenth were on Saturday, and the meal that night, then the firstfruits would be brought the next morning, even though it was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in order to be on Sunday and within the seven days of the week of the festival. If the fourteenth fell on Sunday, then the Passover meal would be on Sunday night (Monday by Jewish calculation) and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread would actually begin on Monday, which means the following Sunday would be the Feast of Firstfruits. And thus for any other day of the week. This was why Christ rose on Sunday.

Contrary to popular opinion in Christian circles, God did not have Christ rise on the first day of the week because He was changing the Sabbath. It had nothing to do with the Sabbath. It had everything to do with fulfilling the Feast of Firstfruits, as He had fulfilled the Passover. 1 Corinthians 15:20 “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Sunday was when the wave offering of firstfruits was offered. Christ was the firstfruits of the resurrection, thereby fulfilling this feast. It is from the Sunday of Firstfruits (as counted by God's calendar, not paganized Christianity's calendar or Rabbinic Judaism which uses lunar calculations instead of looking at the barley harvest to determine the start of the month of Nissan) that one starts Counting the Omer according to Scripture. Therefore Pentecost or Shavuot will always be on a Sunday, fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits (which is on Sunday after the Passover), according to God's calendar (which does not always jive with either Rabbinic Judaism or Christianity.)

So who is correct this year? Well, it so happens that if we check when the barley harvest was and when Passover should occur and count fifty days from the Sunday during that week, we find that this year Christianity or at least western Christianity got it correct. It is on Sunday, May 19, 2013.