NEW AGE SEDUCTION A peek Around the Edges of My Testimony by Joanne Baumeister Turner We spend the early years of our lives getting an education, growing and maturing as little people and hopefully part of that time is spent getting to know God and becoming aware, maybe through church and Sunday school or directly from our parents; and/or through personal experiences of a spiritual nature, that we are in fact spiritual beings not just physical. Even those people never exposed to spiritual teaching become aware at some point that they are much more than what is simply physical. When I was a young girl, growing up in the Catholic Church I was constantly exposed to God and learned early on that the death of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead was my only means to eternal life with God. I was also taught there were 3 distinct parts to Gods created image (mankind) body, soul, and spirit. We were not encouraged in my church growing up to read the Bible, and so when I read in 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 23 May the God of shalom make you completely holy — may your entire spirit, soul and body be kept blameless for the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. it was no surprise. But along with having an unshakable acceptance of my salvation through Jesus; knowing He is the only means to eternal life and understanding the three-fold nature of every person, I experienced from a very young age what it was like to live seeking life as a spiritual being. 12 For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the[a]breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 Being educated by nuns and clergy, I was reminded on a daily basis the vast differences between the human soul - mind, will and emotions, and the human spirit come alive through salvation in Jesus consisting of intuition, conscience and communion with God. As a Catholic we were taught that confession of sins is made to a priest, at least once a week, and that meant I had to tell my sins to him - who according to catechism, and the sacrament of the priesthood, is the presence of Christ as head of the Church made visible in the midst of the community of believers. In other words the priest represented Jesus to the people. As a child, telling my sins directly to the priest with a thin screen between us frightened me. I was afraid of the priest, not Jesus. I was very much aware of Gods presence around me, that walked with me in the redwood forest, and when I walked alone on country roads which I loved to do to be able to talk with God by myself. It was this relationship that drew me to want to please God, not fear of the priest. And it was the knowledge that I was a child of God and Jesus gave His life so that I could experience life with God that overruled the strict catechism and priestly righteousness which for many people made God someone to be feared. I thought I knew what it was like to be a blood-bought child of God. Until my soul decided to wander to the things of the occult to prove the power and personal intimacy I was so certain were a part of my life already. That was when I found out just how lost I was. The unregenerate spirit, may seek for the things of God, but actually having the spirit of God live within my spirit, didnt occur until I had searched for the God I thought I knew and found something I couldnt understand. The pre-reborn spirit is wooed by the Holy Spirit to seek the things of God, but since the mind, will and emotions are still the driving force in a person, there is no conscience for the Holy Spirit to speak to and as you know, the flesh seeks to please the flesh. I bought into the age old thought that Eve did you can be like God! It permeates the New Age Movement and really is in fact its most tempting offer. (the picture of me in the photo below is wearing a t-shirt from The Church of Divine Man). No matter if it is being a conduit for an entity you allow to use your body to communicate, doing energy healings, reading auras or depending on astrology to tell you what your next move is, or the multitudes of thousands of untapped powers man truly possess, it is all in an effort to put power in the hands of man rather than God. I knew innately that God was personally intimate and held the power of the universe - yet there is no evidence of that power exhibited in the Catholic Church. Well, I found a god who wanted intimacy alright - the intimate power to take everything away from ESPECIALLY God seeking souls. I was on a head-on course with the Grim Reaper - sensing more power than I knew how to handle, yet knowing I was spiritually dead and the power wasnt the answer. But for me, Satan made a grave error. He forgot evidently, that I knew the truth - that Jesus died for my salvation. And thinking evidently I was deep enough to never give it up, I found a picture on the bulletin board at the occult training center, of a crucified ape. The hair went up on the back of my neck and I ran the 2 miles home. Jesus died for me, I never lost that - and poking fun at that most sacred place in my heart literally scared the devil out of me. The best thing I could have ever done was call out to the one true God of the universe to make Himself known to me; and that was my last resort. I was filled instantly with the warmth and love that God wanted to give to me and was just waiting for my decision. It would be a few weeks coming yet, but I had begun the real journey of seeking out what God wanted most to give to me - Love!! The difference between the soul seeking out the God it wants to be real, and the actual spirit of man being reborn in God is the difference between darkness and light! Occult powers are tantalizing and feed the intellect. The pleasures are immediately gratifying and rewarded with more complex and subtly darker powers. Unlike drug addiction the chains arent an insatiable drive to return to the original high - never able but always holding onto the delusion that it must be possible. No, in the occult more power is rewarded for demonstrating the desire for more and in the ability to prove oneself. That way, Satan continues to drive his fangs in deeper. How is it anyone escapes the clutches of the occult? Like me, there are some people who will never be satisfied with anything that mimics what the unregenerate spirit really desires - Love. We were called before the beginning of time. And Jesus will give us every opportunity He must to make certain we have the best opportunity to become His. (the picture below is of me wearing a t-shirt from the Church of Divine Man)
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 18:07:23 +0000
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