Doorways of Borrowed Power
"Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils." — 1 Corinthians 10:21
The Question That Identifies This Category
There is a whole class of practices that share one feature: they deliver genuine results through a power that is not from God.
That is what makes them so difficult to warn people about. They work. The pain does subside. The blood pressure does come down. The skill really does increase.
So the question to ask is never does it work? It is: where does the power come from?
Martial Arts
Many parents enroll children in martial arts for confidence, discipline, and exercise. Judo and karate look like sport.
But these disciplines developed within cultures saturated with the worship of spirits, and the skills themselves depend on those powers. Anything beyond the most rudimentary level involves interaction.
In their countries of origin, teacher and students bow to a shelf holding statues of the gods after each session, and students spend time in meditation before those images. In the West this is usually disguised, but it is present.
The teacher is also regarded as master — which is what the bow at the start of each session actually is. It is an act of worship, and a common form of worship in those religions.
No one receives a brown belt without bowing down in some manner. No one reaches black belt without knowing they are using "powers" of some sort. In the East, people know openly that they are calling on their gods.
The shouts used are forms of incantation — notice that they are always present. The formal hand motions between contestants are also a form of signed incantation, an ancient practice for summoning, used in many other settings as well.
Most participants are infested by brown belt. These particular ones rarely manifest except in practice, with one exception: they prevent the person from committing to Jesus Christ, and if he is already a believer, they seriously interfere with his walk. One mark is a subtly arrogant attitude; dependence on Christ becomes nearly impossible.
Usually one step leads to another — judo to karate to related practices — and the fruits of a close walk with Christ quietly disappear.
Demonic Healing
The same principle covers a range of therapies.
Acupuncture, whose specific purpose is to arouse a particular force in order to produce healing.
Biofeedback, widely used in pain clinics and for headaches and blood pressure, which produces the same altered state as meditation and self-hypnosis. It trains a person to control their spirit body, which in turn controls the physical body.
Kundalini practice, taught in some physical therapy settings for blood pressure and other conditions, whose stated aim is to arouse and control a force named after a serpent deity.
Psychic healing of every description.
In each case the relief is real. That is precisely the point — and precisely why it is a doorway.
Point to Ponder
"Does it work?" is the wrong question, and asking it is how most people walk through this door.
Verse to Remember
"Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." — 1 Corinthians 10:21
Question to Consider
Have I accepted help from a power I never asked the source of?
Today's Practice
Take an honest inventory of practices you or your family have taken part in.
Martial arts — including as a child, and including your children's classes. Note whether bowing was involved, to whom, and what belt level was reached.
Therapies and techniques: acupuncture, biofeedback, energy work, psychic or spiritual healing, practices aimed at arousing or channeling a force.
Anything at all where you received a benefit and never once asked where the power came from.
Then close each doorway out loud:
"Father, I confess to You my involvement in ______. I renounce every power I received through it and every act of bowing or reverence I gave to any teacher, image, or spirit. I did not know what I was doing. Forgive me.
Lift out any entrance that resulted, cleanse me, and close that doorway forever with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Satan and you demons — I have asked forgiveness for participating in ______ and I have received it. I close that doorway forever through the blood of Jesus Christ. In His name I command you to leave me and never return."
Then destroy any associated materials, belts, certificates, and images.
Prayer
Father, I have accepted help without ever asking where it came from. I asked only whether it worked.
I confess every practice I have taken part in that drew on a power that was not Yours. I renounce every one of those powers. I renounce every bow I gave to a teacher, an image, or a spirit, whether I understood it or not.
Forgive me. Cleanse me. Close every doorway with the blood of Jesus Christ, and in His name I command everything that entered through them to leave me and my household now and never return.
Where a subtle arrogance has grown in me, and where dependence on You has become difficult, break that. I want to depend on Christ entirely.
I cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. I choose Yours. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The relief is real. That is exactly what makes it a doorway rather than an obvious danger.