It certainly would be narrow minded if Christians were saying “Jesus is the only way because he’s my way”, or if they were just trying to edge out the competition from other religions. But this idea did not originate with some pastor or theologian. It goes back to Jesus himself. He’s the one who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
People who bristle at this idea are ultimately arguing with Jesus — not with the Christians who are simply trying to be faithful to his teachings.
But was Jesus narrow minded? Well, in a sense he was. In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount he said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7: 13-14).
If Jesus was right about this, then he was being appropriately narrow minded. He was being like parents who are narrow enough to insist that their children walk on the sidewalk and not in the street, or a doctor who limits his prescriptions to medicine that will actually help people rather than poison them, or the airline pilot who restricts his landing options to that narrow path to life called a runway, rather than trying to put the airplane down on a cornfield or a beach.
You see, we really want narrow approaches — as long as they are based on truth and point us in the direction that’s best for us.
Jesus gave us every reason to believe he was telling the truth and that he loves us enough to lead us towards forgiveness, life, and an eternity with him.
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” JESUS in John 10:9-10
Source: Lee Strobel, The Case For Christ Answer Booklet (Zondervan, 2017), p. 35
While some think of yoga as a form of exercise or a way to clear the mind, others view it as a “demonic door” that opens its practitioners to and oppression.
For former psychic-turned-Christian Jenn Nizza, yoga was once a ritualistic exercise she purposely used to connect to evil spirits. After leaving the occult and turning to Christ, Nizza is using her platform to speak out against the idea that yoga is simply all fun and innocent movements.
“I used to do yoga ritualistically, and the meditation aspect really opened me up and helped me to receive communication from evil spirits,” Nizza detailed in an episode of Billy Hallowell’s “Playing With Fire” podcast.
“Yoga is a Hindu spiritual practice and the word ‘yoga’ is rooted in Sanskrit. It means ‘to yoke to’ or ‘to unite with.’ And what they’re doing is … they have deliberate postures that are paying tribute, honor and worship to their false gods,” she explained.
According to Nizza, Hinduism has “over 330 million false gods, which are demons, and they’re honoring them with these postures. That’s what yoga is, and it is not just stretching and breathing.”
Nizza cited yoga as violating the biblical teaching in Exodus 23, which she summarized as commanding the faithful “not to worship any gods before our one true God” and “not to have any other gods before Him.”
“You’re opening demonic doors by practicing yoga because those postures that you’re doing are worshiping other little ‘g’ gods; not the one true God, of course, but Hindu demons,” Nizza said.
“The whole thing with the demonic spirits and in the Church and everything else, I think it seems that people either over-demonize or under-demonize,” Nizza added. “We’re not looking for a demon behind every corner. But we can’t be ignorant to the fact that they’re there and that there are practices that invite them and invoke them.”
“When you give the permission to do that and invite them into your space, you’re signing up for the consequences that follow. And that’s why the warning is so, so important.”
Nizza addressed Christians who believe yoga is merely a series of physical postures and harmless as long as there is no malicious intention. She advised them to read Jeremiah 17:9, which she summarized as stating, “The heart is deceptive.”
“It’s not like you can take yoga and blast worship music and cry out to Jesus. Or you say you’re praying while you’re doing these exercises,” Nizza maintained. “People say to me, ‘Well, God knows my heart, God knows my heart.’ That’s right, and you should be concerned about that.”
“My friend Doreen said once, ‘You wouldn’t put Scripture on a Ouija board and think that it’s OK to do it.’ … This is a real spiritual practice and super deceiving, especially because it has infiltrated the Church. Many people in the Church, many churches, are supporting yoga. It’s very heartbreaking.”
When someone practices yoga, they “open the door or sign up or give permission to demons to come into your space,” according to Nizza. She stressed that anyone who practices yoga “will be vulnerable to demonic oppression” and the variety of symptoms it causes.
Nizza listed many ways that demons can harm a person as a result of them practicing yoga.
“Anxiety, confusion, planting seeds of doubt, sickness sometimes even; they can actually affect your health. Again, as the Christian, spiritual confusion, spiritual vulnerability, not wanting to go to church or open your Bible, anything that will be leading you away from God, that’s what the battle is.”
Demons, she said, intend to “get you away from God, get you into disobedience to God as well and then get you into sin,” adding: “It’s so, so dangerous to do that.”
“And then of course, as a former psychic medium, when you go through … any form of New Age meditation, you’re opening yourself up to communication with demons as well, where maybe you’re hearing things or seeing things in your home, and you’re bringing that home with you. And my concern is for the soul of the person and also for their children, by the way, who you’re bringing that demonic oppression home to.”
Psalm 119: 38 