Now, having said all of that [about why yoga is okay], women need to stop wearing yoga pants in public, or she must wear some kind of warm-up pants over them. Just as a Christian needs to consider that practicing yoga might cause someone else to stumble [you won’t stumble, pastor if your eyes aren’t on women’s asses], a Christlike woman needs to keep in mind that exercise pants are very form-fitting, and a man’s mind works differently than a woman’s does [really, pastor? the “men are visual, women aren’t” bogus argument?]. Some of those yoga poses can also be… let’s just say awkward [don’t look]. A woman is instructed to adorn herself in “respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control” (1 Timothy 2:9). There are no ifs, ands, or buts about this, sisters: be considerate and cover your bum [ Baptist for ass].
— Gabe Hughes, First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas, Is Yoga a Sin?, November 28, 2018
I go tomorrow morning to Buckingham Elementary School, because they’ve started a new program called ‘Mindfulness Program.’ And it’s led by yoga instructors. I’m going to go tomorrow morning, because the principal has invited me to come and see the program … and I’m praying for God’s wisdom and discernment. And we’re all praying for discernment and wisdom, because if what’s happening there is in any way trying to indoctrinate our children with a false teaching, then I have to stand against it. And we [the church] should stand against it. All over this community right now, this assault is happening on who Jesus is and who we are in light of him. It’s a clear assault on our community right now. I’m seeing it everywhere I turn. And, listen, I’m concerned.
They’re [church members] saying, ‘Hey, it’s a good thing, it’s not a bad thing. I’ve never been closer to God.’ Not the true one. You may be close to a God of your understanding, but he’s not the real one, And there is one who likes to mimic God – his name is Satan. And he has a whole legion of demons who want to convince you that you can trust them and that they’re good and that they can help you … But they have one goal, the bible says very clearly: the devil comes to seek, kill and destroy.
The lie that people can be as God or are gods themselves and only need to discover their inner higher self or that they possess the power to heal others by ‘their positive energy’ or that they can bring about their preferred future by the power of their own positive thinking is an old lie from the Father of Lies. God’s people should have nothing to do with such things. I understand not all yoga practices are spiritually focused but the foundation of yoga and many practices are of unBiblical nature and to be avoided by believers. The warning for us is that we ought not be supportive of anything that leads people away from God and the truth. Stretching is not the problem – yoga is. Even though some exercise called yoga may not be evil, there is a whole lot of evil practices occurring in this town under the name of yoga. Yoga seeks to draw and recruit people and in some cases indoctrinate them to false truths and practices.
McCready pastors SonRise Church in Berlin, Maryland. SonRise is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. McCready’s church bio page states:
After graduating from Crisfield High School in 1985, I joined the United States Army as a military police officer of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY. During the years I served in the military I walked away from the Lord and I did not walk with Jesus or honor Him with my life. After completing my tour of service with the Army I returned back home to Berlin and began my career in law enforcement where I served for more than thirteen years.
For most of those years I did not seek after God nor did I obey His commands for my life. As a result, I made a total mess of my life financially, and relationally. In 1993 I went through a divorce which caused me to take a long look at my life and the path I was on. It was at that time that I realized what I needed and decided to confess my sin and come back home to the Lord. Since that time, God has been calling me deeper and deeper in my relationship with Him.
In 1995, I married the love of my life, Traci and we began our relationship seeking after Jesus and have been on mission for Him ever since. In 1997 I felt God calling me into fulltime ministry. Having witnessed what pastors deal with first hand as a pastor’s kid, and the cost and stress that is placed on a pastor. I was not very excited about responding to the call. So I ignored the call of God on my life for a short time not wanting to acknowledge it due to my own fear and insecurity. Eventually however, I surrendered to the call of God on my life. In 2001 I was approached by the Baptist Convention of MD and DE and asked to pray about considering church planting. I knew nothing about church planting or what it entailed at the time, but as I learned more about it and read about it, I became more and more convinced that God was calling me to plant a new church. After completing an in depth three day assessment process, and after much prayer Traci and I received approval for funding and support from the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware. I resigned from the Police Department and was ordained in December 2001. My wife also resigned from her job a few months later in order for us to give our full time and attention to this new work and our young children. God led 13 other adults to commit to join us in this new church plant and we left our parent church Berlin First Baptist and launched this new church at the Ocean Downs Racetrack in October 2002.
Nothing seems to get a heated debate started faster than challenging a Christian who practices Yoga on this subject.
“But I only do the stretching part.” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this. This article is written for the sake of clarification and education on the practice of Yoga.
Yoga (/ˈjoʊɡə/; Sanskrit: योग, Listen) are the physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that aim to transform body and mind. The term denotes a variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism (including Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism and Jainism,[ the best-known being Hatha yoga and Raja yoga. The term yoga is derived from the literal meaning of “yoking together” a span of horses or oxes, but came to be applied to the “yoking” of mind and body.- source
Yoga:noun a mystic and ascetic Hindu discipline by which one seeks to achieve liberation of the self and union with the supreme spirit or universal soul through intense concentration, deep meditation, and practices involving prescribed postures, controlled breathing, etc. a system of exercising involving the postures, breathing, etc. practiced in this discipline.
A Christian who studies the Word of God, should instantly see red flags and discern that Yoga and Christianity are not compatible. We see in the definition “Yoga is the physical, mental and spiritual practices or disciplines that aim to transform body and mind.” What does God say about transforming our minds?
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
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Another red flag should easily be seen by a student of the Word. Let’s see what God says about being yoked together:
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
The picture of oxen being yoked together is used by both Yoga and the Word. In Yoga, the goal is for mind and body to be yoked together. It’s a Hindu discipline to bring mind and body into submission – but to what end?
Were you aware that every Yoga pose is a posture of worship to various Hindu gods? In this way, the person is making offerings to millions of Hindu deities! Of course, these details are left off of the “Welcome pamphlet” in Yoga centers. People are coming there to stretch and relax and be energized, right?
In an interview with Dave Hunt of the Berean Call (Dave is now with our Lord) the subject of the Kundalini Spirit was addressed:
“Well, to put it bluntly, it’s demonic. There is no way you can explain it physically, it’s a non physical force. There certainly is nothing coiled at the base of the spine, three and one-half times coiled like a serpent that’s going to spring up when you get in the proper state of consciousness, supposedly. This is the same occult power that all the occultists are in touch with, or try to be in touch with.”
