Don't Exchange the Sword of the Spirit for the Butterknife of Culture

Several years ago I was present when two Christians kindly and gently warned one of their friends about the dangers of her involvement in yoga. 

“Well, you can let me know if I start to act demon-possessed,” she said, chuckling. Her remark illustrates the casual attitude many Christians have toward popular pagan influences. 

Ephesians 6:10-18 is a well-known passage, but do we genuinely understand what it means?

It tells us to be strong, putting on the full armor of God, so we can take our "stand against the devil’s schemes." It tells us that we are not simply dealing with other human beings—our struggle is "against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." 

Without the truth of God's Word and the commands and warnings it contains, we can't stand firm. Our uncompromised belief in God's truth is the only thing that can "extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

This requires alertness and prayer. We must be alert to the possible dangers in the things that influence us and err on the side of caution, not compromise. We cannot avoid the world, but we can refuse to join it. 

So let's take up the sword of the Spirit which is God's Word, a sword that is sharp with truth, cutting through all the lies and half-truths in our culture. Let's not exchange it for the butter knife of culture and joke about demons as if they don't exist.

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If you are involved in yoga in any form, I encourage you to read the Bible Love Notes collection: Examining Yoga Biblically, especially 6 Questions Every Christian Should Ask before Doing Yoga. Yoga is one of the more popular pagan practices that Satan has disguised as something harmless and helpful. But it is not the only one. See Pagan Influences for other examples. And beware of The Enneagram, which I first heard about at a Christian women's group when a speaker sang its praises! This video explains its occult background: Harmless Personality Test or New Age Tool?

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