Lesson Number One: No Drugs in SMURF

Information was slow, but we had pictures and read articles of the Beatles experimenting with drugs and meditation. Suddenly we couldn’t do anything without drugs to “heightening our experiences,” including religion.

The draw to the guru was his promise of “spiritual experiences,” and we were all interested in mind bending experiences, such as those that LSD produced. LSD was a chemical, but meditation was a natural high.

The brain releases dopamine, and the medulla, which is the seat of yoga, is where this natural chemical is distributed. Meditation releases dopamine, and dopamine is associated with the pleasure systems of the brain.

Meditation is the single most important requirement of being involved in eastern religions.

I know for a fact that many of the teenagers who showed up at the temple in Fullerton, California, between 1968-1974 were stoned and attending for the hippy cultural phenomenon and knew nothing about the pantheistic teachings they were embarking. This was about "experiencing something" not a ritualistic path to God. That came later. I know this because I was one of them, and I can name many others (if I had to) that didn't know any more about this church other than they had a guru and guru's led people into cosmic experiences. Period.

I also know that teenagers were running away from their Midwestern farms and showing up at the anchor church in Hollywood, California, without a penny, and expecting to start their lives on the monastic path.

The monastics didn’t know what to do with the drug problem because they did not advocate drug or alcohol abuse of any kind. They were not in cahoots with the Beatles to have their linage of gurus put on the record album, if anything they sought legal rights to have them removed. The backfire boon was a spike in interest with young people, for which *** was unprepared to handle.

You have to understand that *** has always been a Hindu monastic organization. This means that the monks and nuns take vows to live a sequestered life, including celibacy. They have little experience in worldly affairs once they enter the monastery. They are isolated from the world at-large, and highly protected by senior monastics about what they wear, eat, read, watch on TV or general interaction with householders (people who were not monastics). Thus, young people showing up for a higher consciousness experience were gently coached out of using drugs and dressing like hippies and slowly convinced to live monastic mirrored lives according to a strict set of rules and regulations.

The church was very conservative at that time, even with strict dress codes. For years jeans weren't allowed in the church, and even as late as the mid 90's most people dressed for church. I don't recall members ever coming in less that dress clothes. Ushers wore suits and women wore blue skirts and white blouses. As far as I know they still have this uniform for lay members. This church was as far as hippies as one can be, other than they had a guru.

In the late 1960's some of our parents were concerned that *** was advocating drugs because their children who were taking drugs were going to this temple. My husband’s parents recruited other parents to investigate the charges, and came away that the church did not advocate drug use of any kind and it would not be tolerated.

In the beginning of our discipleship we didn’t stop using social drugs, and smoked pot on the way to church service and the way home. The church just became an extension of our hippy culture.

SRF did not approve of this behavior in any way shape or form. Let me be clear about that--they did not and DO not advocate any drug or alcohol use. It was in the minds of the young people that eastern religions were part of the psychedelic scene.

My friends that were attending were also using some form of mind altering drugs or drinking alcohol. Separating a cultural phenomena, like the 1960's, from the factual disciplinarian teachings would take years to level out amongst many that I knew.

Some didn’t get out alive and died of their addictions, anyways.

The Guru Criteria

It’s common psychotherapy babble today to talk about our rotten childhoods and how many of us were ruined by them. Our childhoods can also be influenced by the religion of our parents. There are many Christians who suffered under toxic family religion passed down generationally.

During the 1960's young people rejected the religions of their parents in search of a religion that would give them the freedoms that they wanted to experience. The Jesus Revolution was one such rebellion. Rather than shuffling into a drafty cold church and forced to sit on hard benches and listen to someone talk about sin, the young people took Jesus outside, into the parks, to celebrate in a joyous manner, focusing on his message of love rather than damnation! They were against the established religion, the blandness and hypocrisy, and rather drew on the counterculture to create a movement. Then there was another shift...

When music became the signature of the boomers, the Beatles' music (in particular) opened up undreamed of spiritual possibilities. We wanted to emulate our rock heroes, and that’s when many of us experimented with drugs. We also wanted their kind of spiritual experiences, and at that time the Beatles were studying with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. More than that, we wanted a religion different from our parents, and something they wouldn't understand. This would set us apart in a generation that defined ourselves as "not trusting anyone over 30."

“All Things Must Pass,” started my inquiry into eastern religion. The *** line of gurus showed up on the now famous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Many of us were scrambling to read the founding guru's book, The Autobiography of a Yogi.

That is how we (and some friends) ended up at Self Realization Fellowship–by wanting to be part of a counter-culture movement that had already passed most major city players. Guru’s were not aplenty in conservative Orange County at that time. The Dutch cows had just left.

In 1967 Self Realization Fellowship bought a church building in Fullerton, California. In a small community, word got out amongst the younger crowd that the gurus on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album had set up shop nearby, and this was the only criteria for us to attend. This seems a very irresponsible way to chose one’s religion, but many things are done in youth that we come to regret.

Now, in today’s world, new-age, eastern alternative religion is everywhere and it’s no longer counter-culture the way it was then. Self Realization Fellowship isn’t the same either. Over 30 years I witnessed many changes to accommodate the modern world-view.

But this isn’t about the church per say, as there are toxic Christian religions, as well. My goal has always been to educate about eastern religions, specifically those that have a guru-figurehead, someone (or people in a group) whom we allow to control us, usually subliminally.

Because I got involved at 18, I was young and impressionable enough to have lasting effects of the relationship. I took a vow at 19 that I would accept the guru as my own, and I renewed this vow many times over the years in secret ceremonies.

There is no greater sin than the one I committed. I denounced Jesus Christ for an Indian guru and I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I always loved Jesus, and believed through the teachings of the guru, that what I was doing was in harmony with Jesus, that East could meet West in a harmonious way.

"Those with toxic faith use it to avoid reality and responsibity. It often results in perfectionism; people are driven to perform and work in an attempt to earn their way to heaven or at least to gain favor with God. Like other addictions, it cause great damage, but the addicted continue to purse it." Toxic Faith, Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton

The Labor of Prayer - Meditation Exposed

The religions of the world teach many ways to pray, but there is only one true way. The Bible tells us how to pray, but if we listen to men (guru’s, teachers, theologians or pastors gone astray) on how to pray, we’ll be tangled in disciplines without having a personal experience with God. My prayer life prior to accepting Christ was a burden, so difficult that most nights I went to bed without even attempting it!

I’m going to explain it to you in some detail here so you can remain vigilant in your churches. Someone might explain it as a way to deepen your knowledge of God, and use phrases like Christian meditation or Christian Yoga. Always refer to the Bible about prayer, never the ways of man, no matter how educated or well connected that man may be.

This looks peaceful, and it should be, but... 

In my guru laden church, praying was a series of works. Prior to prayer we were to practice a series of Yoga “energizing” exercises. They were relatively easy to do, but took between 20 – and 30 minutes. After this, you sat down to mediate. Usually this included chanting for another 20 minutes. Next you practiced 3 different series of “yoga” techniques.

The first was a breathing exercise that used a repetitive phrase called Hong-Sau. You were to mentally say the first word as you breathed in, and second word as you breathed out, all the while paying close attention to your breathing. After about a ½ hour of this, you would switch to another technique, called The Om Technique. This one involved closing your ears and eyes with your fingers. To make this easier they sold a special bar you used to hold your elbows. You were to listen for the OM vibration and look for the “third eye.” They taught us this was the “comforter” taught in the Bible, or their idea of the Holy Spirit.

(This is an artists rendition as the picture I used was removed by Blogger...gee, I wonder who complained about it? Could it be a church that wants to hide it's techniques from the public eyes?)

An OM BAR is not a place to have a drink!

The last technique was their highest and took a year of lessons and a special secret initiation. It was called Kriya Yoga (you can Google this for more information), and this was a technique where you visualized energy in your spine while using a breathing method to “draw” it around the spine, starting from the base (coccyx) to the base of your brain (medulla oblongata). Each revolution was one Kriya and the amount of them depended upon how far along you were. They start you at 12 and increase you by 12, but not without permission from a monk certified to increase them. He would watch and listen to see how well you were practicing Kriya before allowing you to do more.  After the initiation they throw rose petals on you and sing, "Roses to the left, roses to the right, roses, left and behind...om, om, om..."

After doing 24 to 120 Kriya's, each taking about one minute to perform, you would then “sit in the silence." All of this took about two hours, but I would manage to cram this into one hour. You were instructed to do this at least twice a day, in the morning and at night.

These are Kriya beads count each Kriya

If you think it’s hard to find 20 minutes to pray to God, imagine having to go through those hoops to talk to him, and then not be able to really ask him for anything, just “feel his presence.” What does Jesus say about such prayers?

"When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again." Matthew 6:7 (NLT)

After I denounced my guru, it took me years to even attempt to pray, and I had no idea what kind of “religion” I should try. I started walking every morning and praying: “Dear God, restore my faith in you and define that faith and belief.”

If you or anyone you know practices techniques of prayer, I hope this message will release you from that bondage.

I want to leave you with a warning. Eastern and New Age philosophies and techniques are present in American Christen churches. We must be vigilant about “blending philosophies” into Christianity. Tolerance for other religions has nothing to do with standing firm in Biblical Truth.

The Voyage Out

“The relief in understanding this is a broken world, that we have a sin nature, and God is in charge was absolutely liberating!”

The guru-laden church I once belonged is in operation today with thousands of active members worldwide. Their members will not leave this organization, or their guru. What I share here are my own experiences. There may be other members who disagree with my own experience. The church may disagree with my experiences.

My website can't possibly change their minds. They are 100% convinced about their guru's teachings. However, it might give those who've not given the oath yet to follow the guru into eternity, to "at the least" do some research into what they claim, especially the part about their teachings being in harmony with Christ.

If you want another detailed description of how these teachings can't be reconciled with Christianity, visit: Christian Research Institute. You can also read my article: Eastern religion and Christianity can't be reconciled.

What this article doesn't explain is how these meditative techniques can brainwash you in ways you can't imagine. Repetitive praying, over and over in our thoughts, in a certain way, ultimately can make groves in our thought processes that are hard to undue. Let's not forget the complete devotion to a guru whom each member has a "Divine Romance."

What these teachings instilled in me was I had to be a people-pleaser and be nice. It was a cover-up for a very toxic environment. This being "nice" is used to manipulate people, and avoid any real emotional contact and intimacy.

Those of weaker mind might not be able to completely get out, at least not mentally and emotionally. What I've seen over the years is if members left the guru they immediately got into some other form of dharmic religion, like Buddhism.

You might notice that my earlier posts don't call into question the church I was involved in, and that's because I've found over the years posting anything about SRF on the Internet is sure to cause the poster a variety of problems. You can read my article Mask Behind Perfection where I candidly explain some of my previous experiences.

I certainly don't want issues with Blogger, either, and no doubt they're pounding on the "report this blog" tab, as I have seen a spike from Mountain View. Which is just ridicoulous, because if we're firm in our faith, what can anyone say?

Also, I can't and won't defame anyone in the church. I'm sorry they are still there, since I inducted many of them, but I don't hold any ill feelings. I quite loved many of them, though since I left, I've not heard from anyone of them. That's what cults do. They disown you. You are in or you are out. Period.

My decision to share information about my experience with methaphysical teachings wasn't taken lightly. I've thought about it for a long, long time. Basically, it's my personal experiences, and being a writer, it's difficult to hop-skip-and jump around exactally how I've come to be so opinionated about guru-led churches that claim we can be both a Christian and a Hindu at the same time, which ultimately only leads to confusion and little peace.

The Big Guru Breakup

Here is a never before shown picture of me at my guru church. This was taken in Hollywood, California in 1973 at the temple of my guru.

Over the next few weeks (in between other interests) I'm going to share some of my personal experiences of life on the inside of an dharmic religion that makes claims to be a church of all religions, thereby including Jesus in their teachings, and what I know of why they added him, and how they successfully re-wrote his teachings and published parts of the New Testament.

Pantheistic  (Eastern) religion and Christianity can't be reconciled. I've written about this exclusively on this blog but it bears repeating. I will share some of why I broke up with my guru after a 30 year relationship, and how I returned to Jesus Christ.

I try (now more than ever) to remember that all of my experiences are the sum total of who I am, and that I must love all parts of my life to love the whole me. Thus, I embrace the memories of it "all" but see now how I was out of step with God in this church. We each only have our own experiences. I can only write about mine. But, I can also say I witnessed a swath of suffering in the lives of other devoted devotees striving for perfection under the iron hand of discipline.

What I've learned as a Christian is there is no perfection in this world. Stay tuned.

Sin-sational!

Our world is so full of sin. Today I watched a woman sobbing on TV because her beautiful daughter was struck down by a car at her college, driven by someone who ran a red light and didn't stop. Now her life is destroyed by the senseless, selfish, horrible act of sin. Yesterday, a semi-truck driver was driving recklessly, lost control and careened into several cars, slid into three stores leaving several dead, including a father and daughter, and many injured, and today a hostage murder situation in New York.

Sin is everywhere, not just what's in our hearts. We open the newspaper, and read about robberies, homicides, affairs, drunken drivers, and criminals who seem to run the world. Not so. We must not be deceived by the publicity that sin receives. Sin, by its nature, is sensational.

We must remember that we ourselves are not sinless and cannot expect others to be. We might not sin in the horrific ways noted in the news, but sin comes in many shapes and forms, and the most dangerous is rebellious pride.

I generally gear my writings toward those who follow misleading spiritual teachings, because that's what I did for 30 years, or to those who do not believe in Jesus Christ. When I say, "don't believe," I mean that person who only believes Jesus Christ was a man, a saint, a guru, or a rabbi, but not the Son of God, our Savior.

So, coming from this direction, the number one question asked to try and "trick" a Christian in relationship to sin and suffering is: "If God is all-powerful and could stop sin, and so loving (as you claim) why does he allow sin to harm people in the first place?"

God is all-powerful and is all loving. God allows sin because free will is necessary for the true worship of God. God gives human beings the freedom to either worship him or reject him.

The idea of worship is problematic for many but, think about it, we "worship" many things in our human lives, such as food, relationships and money. These objects of worship are not questioned. Yet, worshiping a God who is the creator and sustainer of our lives is downright offensive to some.

People (in general) want to do what they want to do, period, with no accountability in their lives to anyone, and certainly not to a God. They would rather worship their own reflection. There is a large sector who believe in their own moral obligation, that they have the strength of mind to "do the right thing" in every situation and that a God to watch over them is not necessary and not believable, anyways. What we believe or don't believe matters to God. Just because a person does not believe in sin, does not mean it isn't accrued.

What happens when we sin? God will attach criminality to our accounts, which is a moral worth attached to the acts of our rebellion (sin). Whew. That doesn't sound good, does it? Criminality? I've never heard that word on Sunday! Sin is, simply put, death. That statement is so heavy!

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," (Rom 6:23).

Sin = action. Something is going to happen with the sin in our lives if we're not "washed" clean by the blood of Christ.

Conversely, dharmic religion does not believe in sin or that it can be pardoned by Christ, or that we'll live a sinless life in heaven with Him. They believe in karma (cause and effect) which is burned away (provided you no longer create karma). Through many lifetimes of work, hence, Yoga postures, diet restrictions and non-attachment, a person frees the soul from ego to fade back into God, losing all its original, unique self-awareness. Why would we want this? One reason, control. Or so we think.

So, if we buy into sin, what's the root cause of all this suffering? As Christians we know it's related to the fall of mankind through rebellion. But, this explanation has taken on a fairytale narration over the past 50 years, and more recently by unbelievers who "scoff with scientific impossibility!"

What most people believed for hundreds of years came under critical examination during the 1960's when drugs and eastern influences barraged our youthful culture. They began to rebel against everything their parents believed to be true, including Christianity, and sin was replaced by the idea that we could make up our mistakes by living many lives to get it right. This idea of expanded consciousness meant personal freedoms never before considered. Sin was taken from behind closed doors to the streets, and we began demanding the "right" to sin.

I, myself, gave up Jesus Christ for an Indian guru. Baptized by the Holy Spirit at 16 was thrown away for a false prophet. There is no sin greater than the one I committed. It was easy enough to do it because I wanted something "different" and "special," a "personal experience of God," having been told by this guru that I'd never had one. I was promised by him that I had control of my destiny, and that I was part of God, that I was God, a "bubble" in the sea of God. That everything living and inanimate thing was Gods vibration that linked all of us to God's consciousness. It sounded so, well, wonderful, so 1960's. Beatles! Om. Peace. Amen! I bought into this philosophy (blasphemy), hook, line and sinker without ever questioning it, without ever opening my Bible and carefully taking into careful, soul consideration what I was willing to throw away.

Satan offered Eve the "tree of knowledge of good and evil," and promised her that she could know all that God knew. Sound familiar to my own experience? Modern man tends to think "he (or she's) different" and that those old scriptures are not relevant to their lives, and yet, like me, turn their lives over to idol scriptures that are even older, such as Hinduisum.

As you can see, the desire to be God is very innate in our natures, and that's why promises of "God like status," is so desirable.

Though I wasn't raised in a Christian home, I knew about sin, and wanted nothing to do with it's condemning nature. My best friend from age 5-11 was what we called a "Bible-Banger" in those days and she told me on a regular basis that everything I did and said was a sin.

My guru promised me utopia. No sin, simply karma. No worries.

Though sin has always been prevalent in ages prior, it wasn't dismissed as something implausible until the culture rebelled, as I did, against the "establishment." This extraordinary change in our cultural beliefs continued to meld into many forms, from basic eastern religions, such as Hinduism, to "New Age" religions or "blended religions" that teach both Christian and Krishna in the same sentence (as did mine). Peace, love and Harmony. No sin. No worries.

But, let us remember this scripture: "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21).

Jesus Christ was sent to this earth to save "his people" from their sins. If this is the cornerstone of Truth, how can sin be omitted, ignored and denied? How can anyone say, "I believe in Jesus Christ," but not sin?

Sin, then, was "sifted" out of popular religion, as distasteful, and has even become absent in some Christian churches. Talking about sin is not popular. We use more socially acceptable words like, "broken," "addicted," or "dysfunctional to describe living in sin. Without being aware of sin, we sin easily. If we don't learn what sin is, then how do we know when we're sinning?

The Lord spoke to Cain in this way: So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6)

Nothing but Feelings

While reading a New York Times Bestselling book, I felt compelled to write a review that's going to call into question the author's beliefs, but she's freely calling into question the beliefs of Christians. My husband asked me if I felt the writer was telling her own story, or if she was pushing a belief system on the readers. She's pushing a belief system on her readers, I told him, making statements of fact, such as meditation is the only way. Then I said, "I think that Christians, as a whole, are too passive. Few of us are defending Christ in the manner that say, Paul, defended Him, through great suffering, opposition and death. Would we die for the name and Truth of Jesus Christ?

Are we a bunch of Peter's crouching behind the water fountain in the courtyard, lest someone finds out we're Jesus followers and not cool? By not speaking up when we see or hear Jesus persecuted, isn't that the same as denying Christ? Is it a sin to be passive about how people speak, write or portray the Son of man?

Without a doubt there's a movement to eradicate Christianity. The American Atheists are clearly pushing an agenda in Washington. The media, even public television, is out to debunk Christian beliefs. PBS just presented a program that brings into question whether Moses ever existed. The celebrity anti-Christian circus would require another article, but even the least of us who follow celebrity gossip know about Kabbalah and Scientology.

Then, of course, I began to wonder just how well I, not only shield my eyes from lies, but really stand up and defend Jesus?

While eternal life is a free gift given on the basis of God's grace (Ephesians 2:8,9), each of us will still be judged by Christ. This judgment will reward us for how we have lived. God's gracious gift of salvation does not free us from the requirement for faithful obedience. ¹

When I meet God, what if he asks, "Did you defend my Son?" And when I say, "Why, yes," and he asks, "We'll, what about the time when your friends used His name in vain and you said nothing?" I'll of course look dumbfounded, shuffle my feet around and make some lame excuse such as that using the Lord's name in vain became part of the American lexicon. "But what about that time you watched a TV show that made fun of my Son, and that time you enjoyed a movie that ridiculed him? What happened there?" I'll probably say something like, "What could I do even if I didn't like it?" Here God will say something like, "Why didn't you turn it off, walk out, warn others about the content? Why didn't you post the Truth on that blog you kept? I happened to be one of your readers."

By now you want to know what book I'm talking about that's led to this conversation with God.

First things first. This author is an amazing writer. There's nothing negative to say about her writing, in fact, I envy her ease of it and how she turns a phrase into a living, breathing thing. Her writing was so good that, even though it prompted this article, I kept reading. Perhaps more than anything that's why I'm here, now, not to defame her but to tell others that one must be prudent with the ideas and feelings of others when it comes to our spiritual life. Always look for the truth in the Word.

The name of the book is, Eat Pray Love, and her name is Elizabeth Gilbert.

She claims to have no personal issues with the many names of God, but prefers to use the name "God," rather, than, say for example, Shiva. She also believes God could be a woman, but prefers to think of him as a man. Culturally she claims to be a Christian, but not theologically. I stopped and re-read this again, scratching my head, wondering where the editor was because clearly there's no such animal as a cultural Christian. One either believes in Jesus or not. The writer goes on to say that Jesus is just a great teacher, and to quote her directly: "I do reserve the right to ask myself in certain trying situations what indeed He would do, though I can't swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God."

How can anyone believe anything at all about Jesus if they don't believe what he said about himself? How can she "not swallow" what Jesus claimed himself to be? What did Jesus claim?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John 3:16-18

For those who claim the Gospels were not composed by Jesus, it's important to note that they were written by four eye-witness accounts of the life of Jesus and all four recount similar, if not exact experiences, including the resurrection. These four disciples wrote what they remembered, not what they extrapolated off the Internet, out of books, or heard from a guru. In actuality there were hundreds if not thousands of people who saw Jesus, both before and after he was resurrected.

I came across something else in the Bible about the testimonies of Jesus. He makes a case for himself, perhaps knowing there would be people in this world who reserved the right not to believe in him, which of course is free will, the very gift God gave humans over all other creatures on this planet.

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.

You have sent John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony, but I mention it that you maybe be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you posses eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me, to have life.

I do not accept praise from men, but I know you, I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?

But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" John 5:31-47 NIV

Sadly, many Christians don't know exactly what Jesus said and they can get sucked into false teachings that promise they're in harmony with Christianity, and without much dissension.

"...most of the Christians I know accept my feelings on this with grace and open mindedness..."

She doesn't know any Christians. Christian's profess belief in Jesus as Christ and follow the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus. There is no middle ground with Jesus Christ. One only has to pick up a Bible and read the RED.

Open mindedness means having or showing a mind receptive to new ideas or arguments. She doesn't present new ideas or arguments. To this writer, any explanation other than none would have helped me have an open mind to her feelings pertaining to Jesus.

After a few more chapters about her painful divorce (which I feel no empathy as she left an otherwise decent man), she flies the reader to Italy. Now, the story holds me tightly and is so provocatively written that after beautiful, breathless months spent in Europe we're abruptly dumped in India, and pummeled on Hindu philosophy, a detailed, rehashed monologue about yoga, ashram life, meditation techniques and how to find the right guru, peppered with cheeky comments about God being a turnip. Nothing unique in selling Hinduism, different, untold, or captivating. Her guru hammer had me ready to sob. She'd taken us out of glorious Italy on an amazing journey and dropped us on our heads in a shabby chic ashram.

Inside the ashram she meets more privileged spiritual seeking cohorts (whom she points out are all successful (which isn't true or they wouldn't be there). One even has a PhD, mind you! Why some people think education justifies bad choices, I'll never know. So, all these inmates of hers had the free choice to put their lives (and those of their husbands, wives, children, employers, friends, cats and dogs) on hold to travel half way around the world to suffer (but not too much) for their guru, completely unconcerned while zoning out in meditation, about the millions of real Hindus who haven't enough clean water to drink. The devoted ones eat delicious meals, have their personal needs met, with just a few inconveniences (for effect), yet on the other side of the wall people are living in abject poverty.

Christians would have been working outside, in the trenches, to help those in need, not spending their days in service to those within the ashram. Therein is a pivotal difference between Christ and a guru. Christ wants us to roll up our sleeves and administer to the poor and needy, but guru's want you serve them first, then their devotees (who support the guru's pampered lifestyle), while ignoring the poverty and suffering all around them.

I wanted rip the book in two and keep the part I was adoring! But no. Here I am reading what I already know about Hinduism (or any variant of it) and wanting to find this writer's phone number and call her and scream, "How could you have ruined such a perfectly fabulous book?"

I understand that she had to write about her experience in the ashram since she went there, but she presents her case for yoga with an air of professional qualifications, discounting Christ, to proclaim her own feelings, with certainty that her--struggling in a dark fake cave and sitting rigid for hours of meditation is the only way to know God. This chapter tries to sell a package that all Hindu guru's have sold since Swami Vivekananda successfully introduced yoga to the West in the late 1800's.

Her single experience wasn't based on years and years of this kind of spiritual pursuit but a few months, and yes, the ashram makes for an interesting adventure because of her talent as a writer, but she's not walked this razor's edge long enough to weigh in with such authority that the actual teachings are superior to Christ's.

Now, as I continue reading, weary from frustration, she begins what I call the Hindu witnessing and proof they all proclaim, in one manner or another, yet they deny witnessing.

* You're chosen

* The guru was unique, chosen by his master, enlightened

* You received an initiation.

* The guru seldom visited the austere, desolate ashrams in India that were run mostly by volunteers, rather her guru lived most of the time in America. This void is explained. The devotees do not need the guru in their presence to benefit from them. They can be alive or dead, here or thousands of miles away. It's all the same.

* Ashram life was difficult. There are long hours of physical work and tedious hours of meditation. Devotees are exhausted and under fed.

* To come to the ashram the guru wants the devotee to be in good physical and mental health and have financial assets. This is stance is viewed as practical, giving credence to the guru.
You're not to be a drain on anyone.

* If your family objects to you coming to the ashram, you should not to come. Your family is not to be a drain on anyone. You're to serve the guru and his/her followers without any resistance.

* Any abuse you receive (hard labor, lack of food or sleep and hours of still meditation) will help you on the path.

* The guru came from a "line" of guru's.

* The guru gives a mantra, and special lessons.

She presented many other commonalities of yogic life seen in similar sects, but there are too many to list. What's important to note is her "feelings" were her guide to truth. Because she "felt" something in her meditations, this was proof enough to her that she was communicating with God.

Why then were her original feelings about her husband not enough to sustain her marriage? Feelings are never accurate, especially when God is involved.

Group experiences seemed to hold some value to her as well. She tells a story about a rowdy crowd of people waiting to see their guru and calmed into bliss when he appeared on stage, therefore the yogi is authentic by his ability to transcend people who came looking for spiritual joy.

A crowed can be convinced to drink cyanide.

Yogi's are seeking an experience. They gather for that experience. They come together with silly "bliss bunny" smiles and meditate together. Whether in a group or alone, they are not meditating to just sit there. They're straining for something God-like, whether it's a breathless state or to gaze into the third eye (often described as a blue light with a white star), or some form of out-of-body feeling. They may very well hallucinate by a self imposed hypnotic states, fueled by opiate type endorphins.

She writes, "In mystical India, as in many shamanistic traditions, kundalini shaki (life force) is considered a dangerous force to play around with if you are unsupervised; the inexperienced Yogi could quite literally blow his mind with it."

I knew such an inexperienced man and after doing a technique to control Kundalini, he went behind a gas station and stabbed himself to death. Read that again. I did not mean to say that he cut his wrists. He, quite literally stabbed himself to death. If this is any indication of what she means by blowing ones mind, then on this note she is indeed accurate.

I studied, mediated and followed a very famous Indian guru during most of my life. I was a profoundly excellent devotee. Though I didn't live in an ashram, I'd stayed in one, and visited many in America. One need not travel to India to have this deprived experience. I knew hundreds of yogis for up to 30 years, but not one of them had ever attained much. I don't mean money, though most of them had little financial success, but happiness. There were drugs, alcohol, affairs, divorces, physical abuses, and because yogi's do not believe in sin and have no way to be absolved the guilt. They seemed a bunch of shame driven antisocial beings. I'd never seen anyone enter into the highest state, Samadhi, and yet we heard many times of our gurus experience. None of these struggling yogi's were better off, if anything, all of them suffered mental and emotional problems. Guru's offer much to the unpopular, the antisocial and the broken people who never quite fit into anything. Here they become special, and needed, chosen, ripe for picking. If they came from the Christian faith they generally grew up with a distorted view of Christianity perpetrated by their parents.

Everything this author shares about her yoga experience I've heard before, accept this one thing: "You come to your Guru, then, not only to receive lessons, as from any teacher, but to actually receive the Guru's state of grace. Such transfers of grace can occur in even the most fleeting of encounters with a great being."

I experienced no Grace in eastern religion. Grace is the divine favor toward man; the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice; also, any benefits His mercy imparts; divine love or pardon; a state of acceptance with God; enjoyment of the divine favor.

When I left my guru, I did so for reasons that had nothing to do with his deceptions--those I learned about them many years later (his followers continue to disbelieve what's been uncovered). I had no grudge to bear against the guru, I loved him dearly. I just needed space from the people he attracted, including the monks and nuns who ran the organization like a gulag. I was completely unaware that I'd been slowly brainwashed into believing the Hindu philosophy, and had abandoned so many years ago the truths in the Bible.

I came back to Christ in a simple way. I began reading the Bible. Truth was revealed. I remember setting the Bible on my lap, glancing up at my husband and saying, "They (our old guru church) have it all wrong."

The first thing the Lord showed me was that the Christian life is a fight against evil forces from without and temptation from within. Christ paid for our sins. God wants us to live by faith, not by magic, or by trying to manipulate God. Satan tried to temp Jesus into sinning by quoting scripture. Don't be fooled. One can't believe Jesus was a good teacher if one doesn't believe what he taught.

Jesus said, "If a kingdom cannot stand against itself, that kingdom cannot stand." Mark 3:24

"It is also written: Do not put your God to the test." Matthew 4:7



₁ Life Application Study Bible, Zondervan

Modern Day Guru’s Part III - Buyer Beware

“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” Matthew 13-14 Message

For the sake of this article, I am using the term guru, in its more modern term. Meaning anyone who supposedly has knowledge of religious subjects.

God is very clear who the Boss is, and everyone knows He’s the boss, and if we’re not following Jesus Christ, we’re rebelling. Everyone hates to hear that, and people get up on their laurels wanting to “do their own thing.” Okay, I get that--I’m simply trying to advise you that gurus make money on their followers, and they don’t really care about anyone but themselves. I know this because I followed one. I got into dharmic religions through the counter-culture of the 60's, the "do your own thing" era. Plus, I wasn't raised a Christian, and the ones I knew were not redeeming so, though I was saved by the Jesus Movement, I bailed out too soon. I discovered early in my Christian walk hypocrisy in my small band of Christians, and quit without seeking truth from Christ. Plus Christianity sounded very conforming to me, and my generation didn't want to conform. The first time I registered to vote I did so as a Libertarian Party just to raise some eyebrows, and it did at the local polling place.

Most people don't want to be told what to do--or believe in, and the idea that we're free to choose what we want to be acceptable as our God, is an American right. I get that too. Yet, when we try on religions, we're apt to be greatly disappointed in our choice. The idea of a hell is so distasteful to most Americans (it was to me!) that they'd rather turn their spiritual life over to a famous syndicated talk show host by following her spiritual choice rather than crack a Bible and see what it has to say. The devil is laughing all the way to the bank. The idea of a devil isn't popular, either. Satan knows this and uses it to his advantage.

I swore an allegiance with an eastern guru without ever knowing about the truth in Christ.

Did I know that there was salvation in life through Christ before signing up with a Guru? Yes. I knew, I'd been told. I willingly left the side of Christ for a Guru. I walked away for something that seemed mystical; something that might show me more than what the Christians were showing me. Therein was my problem. I wanted the Christians to show me something...not Jesus. And that's what happens, we want a show.

My guru, who was dead since 1952, still had quite a show. For being dead, his organization had grown world-wide. There were temples, meditations, incense, Indian music, and all the eastern mysticism which is very beautiful. They owned beautiful gardens and properties overlooking the ocean. I can't deny even now how peaceful those places were, but they're not only for eastern religions. Christians can have gardens and beautiful retreats, and yet, most Christian churches lean toward a more austere environment with little or no Christian elements. Nature draws us in naturally, and many eastern religions are in touch with the beauty in nature and use that to attract members.

My church had famous movie stars, a president or two, a Beatle, all the trappings that seem to qualify them as God's representative. It was tied up in a nice package. It was appealing. But many things are appealing to our flesh that isn't good for us.

The guru I had made an investment with couldn't give me unconditional love because he wasn't God incarnate, though we were told he was, and many stories where shared either in his writings or amongst devotees, of his divine quality. There was a kind of love affair going on there... A divine love affair. Affairs don't last, and neither did this one. As long as I was young and idealistic, this religion worked for me, but life isn't young and idealistic forever.

I really thought that the history of the Bible and Jesus was too inconceivable to believe and written by the church to manipulate people. This is what we were told, if not from the pulpit, certainly within smaller groups. On the other hand we were told so many goofy stories, completely unprovable by science and history, that it’s embarrassing to admit I believed any of it, and yet we didn’t believe the Bible! And that’s how these gurus want things to run. They don’t want you poking your nose into the Bible, lest you find some truth there. The only Bible they want you to read or know about is their version.

Recently a talk show host began to support a new-age German philosopher. Her stamp of approval escalated him into mainstream media. He teaches non-ego and enlightenment states (which is impossible to attain) so what he’s really spewing is ancient philosophy and eastern teachings—claiming them modern, and using his hypnotic German accent as part of his persuasive presentation. After watching a few of his videos I was captivated by his sheer sense of bloated self-worth. He needs to kill his own ego.

Why am I picking on TV personalities? Well, I’m not. I’m just stating a fact and it's disturbing to me that people I love are starting to follow this fake. Why didn’t this A-lister talk show host support Jesus Christ whose given her the blessed life she now enjoys? Because she's come to believe she's God. Being taught we are God is the number one ticket for guru's.

I did the same thing! I was born again in 1971 and took up with a Hindu guru in 1973. The idea that I could control my own destiny was too seductive for me to turn and run. The devil has his ways.

The Bible warns us to be wary of those motivated by fame, power and money, or plain rebellion. Satan is a deceiver and extremely motivated to use these phony teachers to get what he wants, our soul. Don’t take the word of anyone over the Word of God.

Jesus warns us of the cost of following him and many people don’t want to pay the Cross.

All gurus teach a self-directed life, which means results are promised to one self--you're never to look outside of yourself for your happiness. These gurus put themselves on a throne and promise their followers the same throne. From my own experience, I'm telling you, this does not work. We can't be God, we can't control anything but our own choices.

A guru's premise is ALWAYS that you’re flawed and what they’re selling will make you feel better, look better or have a closer relationship with God. For some reason they have been allowed to talk to God and get it right, whereas the rest of us must take their word.

We are not flawed.
We were born into sin.
Only Jesus Christ can free us.

Gurus want you to believe you’re more than human or less than human. To be more than human is to make a mistake, and to be less of human is to believe you are the mistake. Their techniques shame us when they fail to work and keep us preoccupied with our flaws. The more mistakes we make as human, the more money they make when we strive to be less human. People idolize their gurus and make themselves bad.

Modern day gurus do not believe in the true Jesus Christ. To believe in Christ is to believe everyone has sinned; the penalty for our sin is death; Jesus Christ died for our sins; to be forgiven for our sin; we must believe and confess that Jesus is Lord. Salvation comes through Jesus Christ.

Modern day gurus will correct you if you quote scripture as truth. They believe they have the answer, not Jesus Christ, because they have a better way, a life full of strict details where there's no freedom in the doing, doing, doing...

Jesus says to beware of those whose words sound religious but who are motivated by money, fame, or power. You can tell who they are because in their teaching they minimize Christ and glorify themselves.

Further proof that Christ is the way and the truth and the life:

Word of Christ –Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Col 3:16 Message

Word of God - Jesus commented, “Even more blessed are those who hear God’s Word and guard it with their lives!” Luke 11:28 Message

Word of Life – “so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.” Phil 2:16 Message

Word of Truth - “Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.” – Tim 2:15 Message

Abides forever – “Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.” Mark 13:31 Message

Endures forever – “God’s Word goes on and on forever.
This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.” 1 Peter 1:25

Soul Saving – “It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else!” Romans 1:16 Message



**Photo National Geographic

From False Teachings to Salvation

I was convicted in a Dharmic religion that was unbiblical and toxic. I often repeat that in each posting to set newer readers on the road to this blog.

Let’s set the record straight: Satan convicts, not God. The verb convict is to make aware of one's sinfulness or guilt. The noun conviction is a state of firm or fixed belief. A little etymology will help. A “con” is a swindle.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2

When we first leave a toxic faith, false teaching, cultist or guru based churches that tell us there are many roads to God, we’re left with nothing but our old convictions. It’s devastating to realize (however it comes) that you were swindled into a bogus belief system—it’s so distressing some people stay put rather than face what they've done. There are all kinds of implications. You likely tried to convert people into the cult—and did, and now must leave them there, lost friends and family over it, and more serious, you turned your back on the Christian God for false idols and worship. Facing these transgressions of religious and moral laws, especially when deliberate wasn’t easy for me. My pride was squashed flat.

For years my God was a set of rules and regulations and a lot of work.

“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Romans 4:4-5

But like any recovery program, you first tell God, “I was wrong.” Then ask his forgiveness. Then, you tell the people you hurt, and you ask their forgiveness. Get it out into the light and out of darkness. Its shame and shame only has power in darkness, so bring it into the light. That is for starters. Confess your fear to someone. Also expect God to help you out of this conflict. I thought I had to do it myself (part of the false teaching package).

It was the conviction part that held me back (and pride). A real roadblock. You see, I wrongly thought conviction was something else—that it was my proof in the pudding that my cult was the true and only way to spiritual oneness with God, and if I’d been so convinced, how would I ever trust my judgment in God again?

I have since learned that Satan is the only one who convicts (and condemns) in such a manner. Satan leaves unbelievers alone, but those interested in God (any God), he'll get involved. He tells us God has a high price, that we are not worthy of Him and that the path is steep and narrow, that we're basically rotten and need the tar beat of us by some guru, too sinful to be saved, karma-challenged and must suffer rebirth for centuries, and then keeps us on these rat wheels of lies or addictions or both blinding us from the truth. It really gets sticky when you’ve been told by your false religion that there’s no Satan, no sin, no heaven and no hell, that there is only dark and light and Ying and Yang and it’s up to you to know the difference.

Satan does not want anyone to believe that salvation is easy, he doesn’t want you to know that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). He's perfectly fine with you not believing in him.

False teachings will never tell you about Grace. Grace is salvation and Grace has no place in their teachings. It’s the first clue you’re involved in a phony philosophy. The number one thing a false teaching teaches is that you have to do the all the work yourself, but you can do it if you keep striving.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Eph 4:14

I certainly didn’t believe Jesus died for me. Hadn’t I been told for years that the Jesus story was—well, just a story and he was just a great prophet-guru? I had was told and believed I was God and could “realize it,” so when I left a church that supported that belief, I was desolate, depressed, anxious, fearful, confused, tired, lost and staring at a void that used to be my spirituality. I had no church. I had no community. I had no God. I had nothing. When you walk away from a false religion it does not walk with you. You go it alone.

The greatest tragedy for some.

I thought conviction was a big deal, necessary, a prerequisite. After I left, it held me back from God in a serious way, for a long, long time. For me, years were going by and I just wasn’t getting convicted into any kind of “other” religion, and Christianity just seemed too easy—that the road to God had to be involved and complicated as I had been convicted in believing. Eastern religion, cults and anything not rooted in God’s Word are full of conditions and works. Those conditions and works lead us to conviction, not the other way around. When we leave a false teaching without all those conditions and works, we take a free-fall off a cliff, and it’s scary not knowing what to do next.

If you’ve left a cult or a false teaching, there are some things you can do to help the transition period. Expect to be confused, angry and depressed. Expect to grieve. Pick up your cross and get right with God. While you’re trusting in Jesus now, you must throw everything you believed in into the trash, yes, tangible things, such as books and teachings, babbles, idols, etc., (forget about what you paid for those things, and don't donate them or sell them!) but most important, physical, mental and emotional rituals. Wear a rubber band around your wrist and every time you slip into a "chant" a mantra, or any lie you were told, snap it! Hard! My wrist bled, but I deprogrammed myself. If possible get counseling and deal with it like a death. It is death, and you'll experience all the same emotions.

Remember, it’s normal to try to hang on to some of what you were convicted into. Maybe you no longer believe the Guru you followed, but you still think his teachings have some merit. Maybe you hang onto meditation techniques. Most of us try to take something with us and try to fit it into Christianity. But Jesus, himself, said it can’t be done—you’ll be left with nothing.

"No one sews a patch of new cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins." Mark 2:21

Jesus is the new wine. If we pour new wine into an old skin, it will ferment and will burst, leaving you with nothing. We can’t be caught up in the check list of our old belief system. It’s all new in Christ.

Before you think this was easy for me, let me set the record straight. First I boxed up everything I’d collected into an enormous plastic box, almost 30 years of stuff, and put it into the garage. It sat in there for five years! One day, God pressed upon me to “do it.” I immediately, without questioning his order and dumped it all into the trash. As I tossed it, I noticed how dog-eared and tired all the books looked, my finger oils stained into the pages as year after year I had poured over these teachings, convicting myself of their truth.

When I slammed down that trash lid, and watched the day the dumpster truck lifted and poured it all into it’s rotten gassy belly, it was like someone taking off a yoke. I don’t recommend you wait five years, but if you’re struggling with this issue, put everything into a box, out of site, and God will help you deal with it when the time is right.

Nor did I leave my cult and happily skip to the Christian church across the street. It just did not seem feasible that I could really get into Christianity. False teachings make sure Christianity is the very last place you’ll look for help—it’s ingrained on a subconscious level that Christianity is backward. I was going to sit in my pit and shake my saber at God for having allowed me to stumble into it to begin with, waiting until he convicted me again in something else… Oh, I threw blame all over the place! I was so angry at God.

Then one day I bought an NIV Bible. Cults and false teachings do not recommend reading the Word. Only their teachings, for you see, if you read the Bible, it will expose the lies you’ve been told, and you’ll ask questions, it will tell you the truth. I started asking Jesus for his help to sort it all out, but still hanging onto some old belief systems. I went to therapy. I grieved the loss of my false church just like I grieved the death of my mother. I grieved the lost friendships, the tainted memories; especially those that I believed were "spiritual experiences." I grieved to learn my "guru" was just a man, had secretly fathered children, had affairs, and died young of clogged arteries, that he wasn't a saint who commanded his own death as we were told that he couldn't help me anymore than he helped himself.

One of the scary things for people leaving false doctrines or teachers is trying to find a replacement God. Christianity isn't appealing, there's not enough to do, not enough rules and regulations, no one to confirm that you’re moving along nicely on the path, no gage, meter, guru, someone to affirm your spiritually. If there isn’t a list of things to do—something to strive for—like Samadhi (a state of oneness with God), then, what do you do? Just read the Bible and pray? Surely there has to be more? People in cults often need toxic structure.

Salvation is not conviction or structure, it’s about faith. Jesus said to his followers, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:40). The Word tells how to have salvation. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9.