Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
When Christians integrate new age practices like yoga, meditation, and the power of your words. into life coaching, should Christians participate because they incorporate scripture and prayer? Shanda will tell you how to spot new age practices in Christian coaching and online teachers and why it has no place in the church Then we’ll look at what the Bible says about suffering and the hope we have that God will use our suffering for good.
Recommended Resources:
Cross Examined Article: Is Teaching Your Kids About God Child Abuse?
Website: shandafulbright.com
Instagram and Facebook: @shandafulbright
Email: hello@shandafulbright.com
YouTube: Shanda Fulbright
Today we are discussing yoga laughter, the power of your thoughts, and how to identify new age camouflaged as Christianity. I came across a few websites and decided to check them out for the sake of the ladies following down the path of this type of healing that says it’s Christian, uses all the right words and Bible verses, but incorporates new age practices.
I’ve talked about New Age before, and to be honest, it’s not my main topic of conversation. If you’ve listened to me long enough, I often talk about the importance of interpreting scripture, discipleship, and basic apologetics concepts mixed in with cultural issues. But this is something I find disturbing because Christian women, desperate for physical healing, are following other Christian women who promise healing but are incorporating New Age practices into their consultations and classes.
New Age
I am familiar enough with the new age, especially after reading worldview books and writing this new worldview curriculum coming out in January, that I can spot it right way. There are key words and phrases in the new age that immediately flag me and I stay away from it. I want to talk about those red flags with you today and how to spot the new age in the church. Because that’s where it shouldn’t be. The world is gonna keep on worldin’ but worldly teachings don’t belong in the church.
Before we get into it today, I want to remind you of the 7 Churches of Revelation study starting on Thursday, April 4th. It only runs for 4 weeks and includes 4 LIVE zoom sessions. You need to register right away for this class so you don’t miss it. You get all 9 of the pdfs and will learn the strengths and weaknesses of the church as well as how to study the Bible.
I will be in Asheville, NC in a few weeks to speak at a retreat on Reflections of Eve. If you have an event coming up and need a speaker, please reach out to hello@shandafulbright.com and I’ll be happy to talk to you about it.
Ok, so today we are going to discuss the following:
- How do you know if a Christian is promoting New Age?
- We’ll break down some of what a Christian coach offers and how to identify new age in it.
- What’s the big deal? Are we being stuffy and legalistic or is this a problem?
So, let me tell you about the process of this whole podcast script because what you don’t know about how I do my podcast is that it always starts with an idea and then I have to go and gather research, check out sources, and lay out the three main points I want to talk about.
And I’m going to very honest and transparent here and tell you that I had every intention of telling you the ladies I’m referring to on these websites, which I won’t tell you who they are because you will see many wholistic Christian coaches (which I have something to say about Christian coaches in a minute, so hold on) and they talk about the same sorts of programs. So it doesn’t matter who I’m talking about today, what mattes is that you know the language and the approach so you can process how you think about Christian health.
So while I’m thinking I’m going to say they’re wrong and don’t go to them, I’m not going to go that far.
I watched the videos that they posted on their site, listened to what they had to say, read their stuff about the Bible, worship, etc, and came to the conclusion that they’re not ALL wrong. But does that mean I’d recommend them to someone struggling with health and wellness who’s a Christian? Probably not. My main point here is that I don’t want to nitpick ever single person because we’re not all 100% right. I’m not 100% right. I look back over the years and see where I’ve been wrong many times. I even had people in my life who told me I needed to think differently about some things and I brushed them off because I thought I was right and they were wrong.
What I want to caution you on before we get into any of this critique is that we should think critically about everything and come to conclusions that align to God’s word but we shouldn’t be hyper critical. That means we are prideful and pride is foolishness and a fool despises instruction. So I hope that as we talk about this today you understand that I want to come at this with a humble attitude and that it helps you process what’s out there and what people call christian when it’s really not.
How do you identify New Age?
First, understand that the person who is promoting Christian courses and beliefs is not likely to tell you it’s New Age. They are not going to say, “Look at these New Age practices I’m incorporating into Bible reading time and worship.” In fact, many don’t realize it is New Age. They will say it’s not because they quotes some bible verses and prayed during their courses.
I’ve said it before, but let me remind you that you are the gate keeper of your own mind. We have to be so diligent to guard what we allow into it because the entire goal of every belief system is to get you to follow it. Not only that, when 64% of Americans claim to be Christian (I know that my podcast intro says 65% – I’ll update that someday), but only 4% have a biblical worldview, you have to assume the most people who call themselves Christians do not have a biblical worldview and do not know their bibles. That means you have to be more diligent than ever when you expose yourself to the teachings of others.
Worldview
Another reminder is that most people in the US, 75% of them, have what we call a syncretized worldview, meaning they hold to the beliefs of several worldviews, not just one. So they wouldn’t be called a true Marxist necessarily, or a true New Ager. That’s why they wouldn’t be called a Christian, unless they hold to the essential doctrines of Christianity. Ok. So that’s a necessary refresher.
So how do you identify New Aage when someone says it’s a Christian coach, or a Christian class?
Here are a few buzzwords and phrases you should be aware of and your new age red flag radar should start to go off:
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Power of your words
- Spirituality
- Power of your thoughts
Those are 5 of the main ones, there are more. But in a Christian setting you will see people use these buzzwords because you can isolate scripture to easily back up the claim that they’re from God and not the new age. In fact, that’s what many people do when they isolate verses – they use it to suit their own desires and read into the verse their own perspective. We talked about that a few episodes ago. But what makes them new age? Why is meditation a new age practice? Isn’t meditation in the Bible? Sure, it is.
But what kind of meditation is in the Bible?
Let me read you this and you tell me what kind of meditation we’re talking about: Joshua 1:8, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
Psalm 1:1-2, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.”
What kind of meditation is that? It’s meditating on the word of God. It’s intentionality of thought and where to place our thoughts. And for that reason, when someone says the word meditate is in the Bible, we have to ask, “What do you mean by that?”
Meditate is a verb, it’s an action word. It means, by definition one of two things:
- think deeply or focus one’s mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.
2. plan mentally; consider.
We are to think on God’s word. It is not the mediation practice similar to that of the New Age where you are to clear your mind or find enlightenment.
All of these practices: meditation, yoga, the power of your words (which is the law of attraction in the New Age), comes from Eastern religions such was Buddhism, Hinduism and that led to New Spirituality. So you can’t even ask someone if they’re spiritual rather than religious because to many in the New Age, they identify as being spiritual.
So why don’t women think a coach who integrates New Age practices into her program is New Age? For a few reasons:
- Because the New Age is attractive with all of the spirituality and mindfulness talk. It puts some of the control into your hands and promises something you desire – in this case it’s healing. In the case of the coach we’re going to discuss today, it’s physical healing, which I don’t want to downplay at all. Physical suffering is hard and it affects the mind. It can leave you depressed and anxious.
- They just don’t know. If you don’t know what the New Age is made of, how can you identify it when someone calls themselves a Christian? But that goes both ways, doesn’t it? I would also say they don’t understand God’s word or Christianity to understand what the Bible tells us about meditation and the power of our words.
So it’s necessary for us to dig into some of these claims before we buy into them with our time and money because they will affect your mind. And that brings me to the next part of this episode where we look at a website of a woman who calls herself a Christian but integrates New Age practices into her program.
Christian Coaching?
We’re going to evaluate the website of a Christian health coach who says she does not integrate new age practices into her coaching, and I want you to be the judge of that as we compare what she does and says to the new age lingo. For this, we’re going to specifically look at her “about” page.
Before we do, I get tons of inquiries from Christian life coaches to come on my podcast and although I will be fair and check them out, I almost always decline to have them on my show. The main reason for this is I don’t agree with their approach to life or health. Many of them come from a therapy background that nurtures a very me-centered mindset. It’s usually something about living the life you were meant to live, changing your mindset, and living your purpose and those things aren’t what the Bible actually teaches about discipleship.
Coaching vs Discipleship
I believe that true discipleship – getting people to understand how to study their bibles and nurturing and creating spiritual disciplines in our lives that keep a God-centered focus will help you with every aspect of your life – mental, physical, and spiritual. In fact, discipleship is wholeness of biblical teaching that impacts how you live. There’s no other way around it, so to get a life coach that does not disciple you, is not going to give you the right mindset or outcome. That’s why I’m leery of Christian coaches.
This woman specifically, talks about the reason she’s a coach, and refers to her health issues and the things that have helped her. She says, “I want to share some tools that helped me along the way! Retraining my brain and my nervous system by renewing my mind to the word of God and learning my identity, and God’s nature and character was my focus. Laughter exercises, somatic exercises, and the word of God / praise were my main three big tools.”
She says the right things and some might not see an issue with anything she says, but I immediately see something here that causes me to proceed with caution: she mentions laughter exercises.
So I head over to the side of her page where she talks about her approach.
She talks about being a mind, body and soul being, none of which I disagree with. She talks about using the word of God to change your mindset, which I also don’t disagree with. But keep in mind she is looking at this in the aspect of health and healing. This is not a discipleship focused program that talks about knowing God. Keep that in mind as we evaluate.
She goes on to talk about the somatic system and self-lymph massage and the benefits of those and then she gets to laughter. Now, I’m all about a good joke, but she’s not talking about genuine, authentic laughter. She’s talking about forced laughter for healing purposes.
This is what she says about it:
“Laughter is another great tool. As I discuss on the laughter page, it increases the DOSE neurotransmitters (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins), and gets the body out of a stress response. It increases blood flow, and oxygenation. Laughter as exercise is just good fun! If you have never done it, it may feel very awkward at first to choose to laugh as exercise. However, it becomes natural, and you get all the DOSE brain chemistry and other beneficial benefits even with simulated laughter. Then natural laughter will come more and more easily. Plus, you get that amazing benefit of it being easier to choose laughter in the circumstances of daily life!”
That seems harmless enough, right? I watched her video on a laughter class, and it’s not for me. You’re not going to catch me fake laughing. When I watch movies and actors laugh, I wonder how they make it look so real. So I can’t do it. Apparently, if you go to her page about laughter classes and you’ll see her Laugh With Me class is actually laughter yoga. She justifies this biblically by quoting proverbs 17:22, “A joyful cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul.”
Where does the laughter practice come from ?
But she also posts the history of laughter yoga, and I double checked it and she’s right – it comes from … the Bible? No. Not at all. It originates from a medical doctor from … guess where? India! Where hinduism and eastern mysticism come from. But none of that is mentioned. But the doctors name is Madan Kataria. Apparently he started it in a park in the US in 1995 and it’s caught on and grown exponentially. She mentions that the research shows amazing benefits. Now here’s where I show her some respect. She admits that many people combine laughter and yoga but she does not. She only does the laughter part. Her classes incorporate simulations like swinging at a park and some sort of role play, but honestly, it’s just weird. I just can’t with it.
When she does praise through God’s word, she has one verse on a sheet of paper at a time and goes through them and thanks God for what He says in His word. Now, you might wonder why I’m talking about this and you have to ask again about the purpose of these classes – they are what she calls – mind renewal classes. This is not about learning about God through His word as much as it’s about focusing on a verse at a time and selecting these verses to go through and set your mind on God’s promises to you. Again, tis is not how discipleship is done. And to be fair to her, she doesn’t mention discipleship as her goal but I want to stress again that worldview, aka discipleship, is wholeness.
You live what you believe.
And if you are in a discipleship program, or have a teacher who disciples you, you will get wholeness of self through that program because that is what effective discipleship does. True discipleship will transform the mind. It will get you to think like God. It will get you to change the way you think and as a result, it will change the way you live. Also, it will help you think correctly about suffering and illness. It might not help you understand it any better than you do now, but it will help you better understand God’s sovereignty and build your trust while you endure it. What she’s focusing on is not Bible study and it’s not discipleship.
What’s the Big Deal?
In the grand scheme of things, does it matter that you fake laugh to feel better? I don’t think so. I mean, how many people have done a downward dog not thinking about worshipping false gods in the new age practice of yoga? I’ve done plenty of yoga poses to warm up or cool down from a workout not having any idea of what it was all about. Ok. But ignorance isn’t an excuse to participate in unbiblical things. We can’t use ignorance as an excuse.
I also want to say that many people who go to Christian health coaches are desperate for relief from their suffering. And I do not want to make light of that. I don’t want to tell someone suffering from an incurable disease to just go read the Bible and you’ll feel better about your pain. That’s not what I’m trying to do here.
I want to remind you that suffering is a part of the curse.
And I really hate saying that out loud because I don’t like to suffer. My dad, mom, and brother all had cancer scares over the last 4 months and I felt helpless except for the fact that I know God is sovereign and even if, God forbid, one of them died from it, I know that my hope is in the next life not in this one (my dad had prostate cancer and it was removed and my bother was diagnosed with melanoma in the early stages and it was removed). Paul says in Romans 5:3-5, “3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
James says in 1:2-4, “Count it all joy, my brothers,1 when you meet trials fof various kinds, 3 for you know that gthe testing of your faith hproduces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be iperfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
I want to say it again – I hate suffering.
I suffered through anxiety in my early 20s and the best way to describe it is hell on earth. But God taught me a huge lesson during that awful time in my life and I thought I would live with anxiety and depression forever. I did not seek out professional help because I knew I had a weak mindset. I found solace in God’s word and sought Him to help renew my mind. And, I never want to go through something like that again but I wouldn’t give back the lessons I learned through that.
And if you are suffering today, understand that those around you will also learn about God through your suffering. What is God producing through your suffering, not only in you, but to those around you? And instead of seeking out people who integrate practices from other belief systems, as though God’s methods and ways are not enough, what if we allowed the process of suffering to unfold in our lives for what it will produce? Does that mean don’t take medicine or take care of yourself? Nope. Hear what I’m saying. I’m saying the practices of other religions and belief systems that are unbiblical have no place in the life of a Christian. And that is what we must be careful of.
Close
I want to close this out by giving a recap of what I’m saying and what I’m not saying so people don’t get offended.
- I am not saying that everyone who calls themselves a Christian coach is not Christian. I do believe the woman I’m referring to in this podcast is genuinely seeking to help people. But I don’t care if someone is nice or genuine in motives. I care about what’s right and what’s wrong.
- I am not saying that there aren’t things we can do to get healthy or integrate into our lives that are not mentioned in the Bible. For example, you won’t see the word stretch in the Bible but stretching is good for the body. You won’t see lots of things in the Bible but that doesn’t mean you can’t do them. If they specifically defy the word of God or go against biblical teaching, stay away from it.
- I am saying that the Bible tells us suffering is a part of life. We will all die of something – illness, accident, tragedy, and even old age which shoes the body does wear out and weaken. Pain comes whether you want it to or not. How we handle that suffering makes all the difference in the world. And the good news is God uses our suffering for our good.
4. I am not saying you can’t find relief for your suffering. Follow wise people who give sound advice and they don’t try and make something Christian that’s not Christian.
You are the gatekeeper of your mind.
If we are the gatekeeper of our own minds, and we are because God’s word says above all else, guard your heart for out of it flow all the issues of life, then there is no dismissing the responsibility we have to check out all of those who want to teach us, lead us, and feed us the ideas that come from their worldview. That’s why we critique their claims and their approach but we have to be careful not to be hypercritical. It’s a hard balance to strike at times because on one hand you can fall on the side of legalism and on the other hand you can fall on the side of liberalism, but what we want to do is land on the side of wisdom and we can only do that as we seek out the council of the word of God.
I hope that helps you.
I can only layout the information and I hope it helps you as you critique what you allow to enter into your mind. If you enjoy the podcast please leave a 5 star rating and review, I’d love to get to 300 5 star ratings on apple and you can help me do that to get this podcast into the earbuds of others. If you have any questions for me, email me at hello@shandaufulbright.com. I have a marriage, parenting, and family series coming up this spring and I’ll even have my stud of a husband on with me to talk about the three main things to instill in your kids before they leave home. I look forward to that. And like always, I’ll catch you on the next one!
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