Section 8 B - Cautions and Pitfalls

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Cautions and Pitfalls

People, Practices, Celebrations, Books etc. To Be Shunned or at Least Treated With Extreme Caution

(Preferably Avoided)

Practices

Celebrating Christmas, Easter Etc.

  Santa Claus.. Pretender To The Throne   For the most part, the world will tolerate stars, angels, Christmas trees, or a baby sleeping in a manger. But there’s still "no room at the inn" for the King who invites us to walk His lowly path. Worse.. Jesus’ place has been usurped by a pleasant fat fellow boasting a red hat and team of reindeer. So how do we understand the Santa Claus phenomenon? What do we REALLY know about Santa? Is he just a harmless, friendly fellow? Or is there something or someone else hiding behind the façade?

Also See Should We Celebrate Christmas?

And Should We Celebrate Easter?

Halloween is much more than a harvest festival. Its origins are deeply rooted in the occult.

Alternative Medicine
Each branch of alternative medicine needs to be assessed individually to determine its effectiveness, scientific basis, mode of action, safety, underlying worldview and links with the occult.

 YOGA: Section includes two articles on Yoga - Trying to separate the so-called physical from the spiritual in yoga is like attempting to remove arsenic from a bowl of sugar. There is no Yoga without Hinduism.

Books

The Chronicles of Narnia
Did just enough resemblance to the Biblical story creep in so as to render the book acceptable - even appealing to Christians everywhere?

The DaVinci Code
is a clever and dangerous book suffused with lies, distortions, Satanic imagery, and historical inaccuracies, all designed to cast doubt in readers' minds about the deity of Jesus Christ.
 

A Course In Miracles
The Course uses Christian terminology and its followers believe it to be the revelation of Jesus... But is it?

The Secret
The book and movie simply state that your thoughts control the universe. Through the "law of attraction" you "manifest" your desires." It is exactly like placing an order from a catalogue. You must know that what you want is yours the moment you ask.

Sound familiar? It should!

A Return To Love
As I read A Return to Love, I understood why people are attracted to it. It's upbeat, optimistic, and non-judgmental. Williamson bases much of her thought on A Course in Miracles (above) — a channeled metaphysical work. However, Williamson is unable to consistently apply her belief system  to the everyday world with which we are all familiar.

Chicken Soup For The Soul
why are some Christians critical of these books? If there is something so un-Christian about them, why are so many Christians reading and enjoying them? As is the case with many books that infuse spirituality into the workplace, Jack Canfield’s books contain a great deal of common sense. Nonetheless, Christians should be aware that the books also are steeped in a spirituality that is opposed to biblical Christianity.

People
Although several of these preachers and teachers are no longer alive or are not as much in the public eye as they once were, they have shaped the thinking of very many people. For the current crop of false teachers See

 Shepherds or Wolves

and Doctrines That Directly Stem From The Occult

Rick Warren and PDL
Unfortunately, we are living in the time that Paul spoke about in 2 Timothy 4:3 when people refuse to adhere to sound doctrine but heap up for themselves teachers who will tickle their ear "according to their own lusts". Biblical knowledge and and discernment are at an all time low in both pulpit and pew.

And Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life is a perfect example.

Martin Luther
Not many Martin Luther devotees seem to be aware that he taught that being baptized and partaking of the sacraments are necessary for salvation.

Also that several Catholic doctrines remained firmly entrenched in his belief system. And that is not all. All too many Christians tend to gloss over the fact that Luther slandered everyone he disagreed with. He made strident and offensive verbal attacks against both the papacy and the Anabaptists, while his violent polemics against the Jews are appalling examples of extreme anti-Semitism.

Ken Blanchard
 

Billy Graham
William Franklin Graham, Jr. was, arguably, the best known, best loved, and most influential evangelical during the approximately 50 years he was in the public forum. However, many have rightly pointed to him as the father of modern ecumenism. Billy Graham put the stamp of approval on the false gospel preached by the Roman Catholic church and has undoubtedly caused many to think that Roman Catholicism must be true Christianity. This was not the only area where the Rev. Graham compromised the Gospel.

Norman Vincent Peale
Peale was a 33rd degree Mason who rejected the Christian doctrine of sin, the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, and justification by faith alone in the merits of Christ. Although he used Christian terminology he believed that human nature is essentially good and that human beings are saved by developing their inner potential.

Robert Schuller
Schuller was the epitome of the wolf that Paul spoke about in Acts 20:29-30. What Schuller believed about the Bible is actually a redefined, twisted view of it. His repentance is not Bible repentance; his new birth is not Bible regeneration; his Jesus and his salvation is not that of the Bible. By promoting New Agers and their doctrines, he did his part to lead the church further and further away from Biblical doctrine.