023 – Top 10 Countdown of New Age Lies: #5 Chinese Dragon

AdobeStock_1158129 DRAGON MODIFIED

Chinese metaphysics is taking over the world as steadily as Chinese manufacturing did. Discover the spiritual flaws in this belief system.

In today’s program we’ll be exposing the fifth largest lie of the New Age. This lie comes to us from a rising world empire, dressed in red and gold and is sweeping across the world. It falsely claims that those who study its secrets can control the breath of life so that it brings them success and prosperity.

When the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon came out, we were all spellbound as we watched the magical scenes of the Chinese fighters flying above the bamboo trees and other combat special effects. I vividly remember the first time I watched it I was on an airplane. Someone next to me was watching it and although I could just as easily have turned on my own screen and listened to the soundtrack I preferred to silently watch the breathtaking scenes that unfolded one after another.

This is the promise of Feng Shui and all of the Chinese metaphysical arts such as traditional Chinese medicine, astrology, Yi King divination, Tai Chi, Chi Gong, and the martial arts. They entice and seduce by the promise of magical outcomes of physical prowess, longevity, success, harmonious relationships, wealth and fame. At this point I was at the height of my involvement in the New Age and Feng Shui in particular. But now that I’ve understood the truth, I’d like to take you behind the veil of this magical seduction and expose the spiritual deception which is at the root of every single Chinese metaphysical art or practice. Let’s get started!

Chinese Cosmology or the Harmonious Co-existence of Good and Evil

Tao signifies the primordial essence or fundamental nature of the universe. Tao is not a ‘name’ for a ‘thing’ but something nameless that becomes manifest in thousands of named things. Tao is the womb of life before anything is birthed. In a more religious sense, Tao or Dao is also a Chinese concept signifying ‘way’, ‘path’, ‘route’, or sometimes more loosely, ‘doctrine’ or ‘principle’. So Tao is used symbolically in its sense of ‘way’ as the ‘right’ or ‘proper’ way of existence, or in the context of a spiritual practice that leads to the state of enlightenment or spiritual perfection.”

The first problem we encounter with Tao and Taoism as a spiritual practice is that there can be no spiritual perfection while there is sin in us. This is also the issue with other Eastern religious traditions that seek enlightenment. The Bible states very clearly in Ecclesiastes 7:20 “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” This is repeated for emphasis in the New Testament in Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Therefore we need a savior who can redeem us from our sinful condition.

According to the Chinese, aside from the original unity of the Tao the other building blocks of the universe are first and foremost the yin and yang, from which are derived the five elements, the eight trigrams, the 64 hexagrams, and the heavenly stems and earthly branches of their calendar. There is a very flawed premise that lies at the foundation of this belief system: the harmonious co-existence of good and bad.

In the Chinese worldview the Tao is the source of an energy force or field called chi that animates the universe and pervades everything, from the stars and planets down to our bodies. The yin and the yang are believed to be two complementary forms of this energy that come from the same source and co-exist harmoniously in the universe. According to Taoist teachings the yin and the yang, evil and good, darkness and light, are simply opposite poles of the same thing, and they are both of equal value. In fact they affirm that both are necessary for balance.

This is a very important theological point. Let me expose the subtle deception that’s at play here.   The Bible says something completely different, and we’re going to read three different scriptures to back up the biblical perspective:

1) From the Book of Genesis we understand clearly that darkness is the absence of light, and that they are not a unity but rather God established a clear difference and clear boundaries between darkness and light: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.” (Genesis 1:1-5).

2) In 1 John we read: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

3) And finally in the Book of Revelation we’re told that in the New Jerusalem, the Holy City of God, there shall be no night: “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof. And the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it . . . And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.“  (Revelation 21:23-25)

From a biblical perspective, light is good and darkness is bad, they should be kept separate, and we should seek the light instead of darkness. They are not two opposite poles of the same spectrum but they are intrinsically different and antagonistic. As Christians we should have no fellowship with the works of darkness. The Bible says that in God there is no darkness (1 John 1:5).

Whether it’s medicine, religion, astrology, divination, or martial arts, all of the Chinese disciplines and practices stem from the same belief system that does NOT include the God of Israel. They believe that the universe emanated from the void in an impersonal differentiation process that yielded land and sea and clouds and stars and animals and human beings, similar to the cellular reproduction and differentiation process. Their account of creation leaves no room for a Creator.

Once again the Bible is very clear. God is a divine personal being, the Creator of all things. God created the Heaven and the earth, the sea and the fountains of water. This is why we worship Him. The Book of Genesis Chapters 1 and 2 gives an accurate and literal account of how creation happened. The story of creation is NOT mythology. God also created man in His image and likeness and so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us. We needed a savior to redeem us from our sin.

The Chi

In the Chinese culture chi can be translated as life force, energy or vital energy, air, breath, or energy flow. Chi is one of those underlying principles that run across all of the Chinese disciplines. The Chinese believe that chi is the life force that sustains living beings, that qi permeates everything and links their surroundings together. By controlling the flow of chi inside and outside the body they believe they can achieve good health, longevity, happy relationships, success and prosperity.

The goal of all Chinese metaphysical disciplines is to manipulate and control chi to achieve desired outcomes. They use divination to harmonize man’s actions with the good chi. Astrology seeks to understand heavenly chi. Astrological divination uses the heavens to figure out how we supposedly move in and out of luck periods. Feng Shui is the Chinese system of geomancy, a form of divination that analyzes the impact of the land and water formations of the earth on our homes and therefore our lives. Traditional Chinese medicine and all of the related bodily practices such as Tai Chi and Chi Gong seek to channel the flow of chi into and around the body to procure good health and longevity. And the Yi King divination system was developed with the intention of assisting man in making right choices in those gray areas that fall between the readings of heaven, earth and body chi.

Obviously the Bible condemns all of these practices. Leviticus 19:26 clearly states “You shall NOT practice divination or soothsaying.” In the Book of Acts chapter 16 Paul and Silas were preaching the gospel in the Macedonian city of Philippi. Let’s read verses 16 through 18: “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.” So divination has a spirit, just as astrology has a spirit. We’ll come back to this shortly.

The Truth about TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine

The Chinese healing arts are based on the same principles of chi and spiritual energy and typically associate notions of astrology and other divinatory systems. Whether it be healing with herbs and potions (including all kinds of animal parts), acupuncture or reflexology, TCM practitioners apply the yin and yang, the five elements and even astrological pointers to diagnose and heal sick people. They believe the body is inhabited not only by chi but by other spirits, including animal spirits which rule over specific organs. Their healing potions include a wide range of animal parts, to help compensate for any weak animal spirit in the body, and go beyond healing to magical applications such as love potions and aphrodisiacs.

Elizabeth Reninger, who holds a master’s degree in Chinese medicine and has 25 years experience in Qigong, Acupuncture, and Yoga, describes the 5 “organ intelligences” or “the five shen” which supposedly rule in the body. “The Five Shen are the spirits associated with each of the body’s five yin organ-systems (Heart, Kidney, Spleen, Liver and Lungs). Each of these spirits has a connection not only with a yin organ and its associated element, but also with the energy of a planet and a direction. To “wake up” the Shen of the organs is similar to “calling in the spirits” for a shamanic ritual dance (kata, form). Ultimately, within the context of our neidan (inner alchemy) practice, the Five Shen are returned to Unity (become one again!”).

Let there be no doubt in your mind: their healing potions are a form of sorcery (the New Testament Greek word for it is pharmakeia), and the rest is magic and alchemy.

The Truth about Feng Shui

Feng Shui is the Chinese form of geomancy, which is defined as the art of placing or arranging buildings or other sites auspiciously.

As the Chinese influence has swept across the world, many Western countries including the US, UK, France, Germany and Australia have been bitten by the Feng Shui bug. In the US in particular interior designers, architects and landscapists practice a watered-down or Westernized form of Feng Shui. It’s become very trendy to arrange spaces using Feng Shui principles. Unfortunately, many professionals who normally wouldn’t be involved in the occult are dabbling with Feng Shui.

Feng Shui became my New Age discipline of choice. I studied Feng Shui with a Chinese teacher and after a few years of intense study and practice received my practitioner diploma from a world-renown Feng Shui teacher. I quit my corporate job, gave up a “golden situation” as we say in France, and set up my own Feng Shui consulting business.

Although money was coming in and I sold several large projects, with very high French taxes and all of the expenses of running a business I wasn’t even making ends meet. I’d poured all my money into my Feng Shui business: had a big website, prestigious marketing materials and produced a number of professional videos about Feng Shui. But I wasn’t prospering! The promise of Feng Shui was certainly not materializing for me.

1) The scoop on Feng Shui is that it doesn’t work. Other than arranging a space so that it’s pleasing to the eye and feels good, Feng Shui does NOT deliver on the promise of good fortune, prosperity and success.

2) As with astrology, when you start to dabble in Feng Shui you open the door to many unwanted demonic spirits. The spirit of Feng Shui, like the spirit of astrology, is a mind-binding spirit. That means that it distorts your thinking and your mental perceptions and reasoning. I could no longer just look at a space or a home and see it for what it was: a large space or a nice home. No! My mind was projecting Feng Shui analyses and configurations over whatever space I looked at. I no longer saw my kitchen, I saw the 1-6-8 Flying Stars configuration in the Destiny Palace. I didn’t just see a building, I’d be reading the road configuration or looking for the Four Heavenly Animals that should surround any building. If you’re familiar with Feng Shui you know what I’m talking about. It became absolute torture!

3) My joy in my home was shattered. As happens with so many Feng Shui practitioners, the devil steals your joy in your home and you become progressively more critical of it, focusing on all of its supposed  Feng Shui shortcomings. You obsess about improving your own Feng Shui in order to improve your luck. My Swiss friend and I would get totally caught up in the absolute craziness of it. We used to joke that we should try sleeping in our bathtubs to see if that would be more auspicious than our beds just because our bedrooms didn’t have the perfect Feng Shui readings.

4) Chi worship is another sinful aspect of Feng Shui. The Chinese say that “chi is everything”. This is the motto of every Feng Shui master and practitioner. They worship the chi as the source of every good thing. The quest for good chi takes over their lives. Yet the Bible says in James 1:17 that “every good and perfect thing comes from above”, meaning that it comes from our heavenly Father. Chi worship is false worship, a violation of the first commandment that says “You shall have no other God before Me.”

5) There is a spirit of divination that’s part of Feng Shui and all of the divinatory arts. Similar to the spirit of divination that had come over the young girl we read about in the Book of Acts, a spirit of divination comes over Feng Shui practitioners. All of us became addicted to the Yi King and used it all the time, consulting on almost every matter or decision we needed to make. It became a useless crutch, and looking back I can’t name one single good decision I made based on using the Yi King oracle.

The Truth about Martial Arts

There’s a striking similarity between the Chinese martial arts and yoga. Both are they taking the Western world by storm, and are the physical expression of a spiritual system. Both yoga and martial arts seek to bring spiritual energies into the body to increase personal power and achieve supernatural feats. Through specific body movements and breathing techniques yoga seeks to awaken the kundalini energy that is said to reside in the lower chakras, whereas the Chinese martial arts seek to awaken the revered dragon chi.

Chinese martial arts include a variety of movements that not only mimic animal movements, but have the stated purpose of calling in those animal spirits to animate the movements. Some of the better known ones include: the tiger head hook, mandarin duck ring, monkey form, white crane fist, tiger eagle form, and the fire dragon form.

The martial arts hierarchy begins with the white belt, symbol of emptiness and innocence, and it’s interesting that as the disciple ascends in rank and occult knowledge the belt gets darker until the highest level, the black belt, is reached. Throughout the climb through the ranks the “Master” or “Grand Master” expects total obedience, loyalty and submission. Trainees actually bow down to their teachers. These are not minor points. Jesus said: “And be not called Rabbi: for One is your Master, even Christ; and ye are all brethren. And call no man your Father upon the earth: for One is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for One is your Master, even Christ !”     (Matthew 23:8-12). Furthermore we should only bow down before our God. To bow before men is a form of idolatry.

When the disciple has reached black belt level he’s been initiated into many of the spiritual secrets behind the combat. His quest now is for greater enlightenment and inner control. The goal is to allow higher powers that are all demonic to take over his body in order to perform supernatural feats. These demonic powers take the form of animal or dragon chi and the end result of years of hard labor, training rigor and discipline is actually slavery to these dark powers. Most teachers and “grand teachers” of Chinese metaphysical arts, whether it be martial arts, Qi Qong or Feng Shui, end up with their bodies being completely possessed by these spiritual entities. They’ve opened so many doors into the demonic world that they’ve become a gateway for evil spirits. I know this is true because my “grand teacher” often talked about spirits interacting with him, his life was filled with spirits.

The Truth about the Dragon

In Chinese culture the dragon is an auspicious deity and symbol of success. The dragon is a ‘mythological’ creature that has the body of a serpent with four legs and has five claws on each foot. In particular dragons have control over water-related weather conditions such as rainfall, hurricanes, and floods. The dragon is also a symbol of power, strength, and good luck, and over time has acquired a whole range of supernatural powers. All of the Chinese metaphysical practices focus on acquiring dragon chi, the chi of success and prosperity.

Today I’ll be revealing the Biblical truth about the Chinese dragon. The Bible confirms the existence of such a dragon.

The Chinese believe that dragons are the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, or seas. There are four major dragon kings, representing each of the Four Seas of China. Each dragon king has a given name and a last name, Ao, (with Chinese being a tonal language I’m not sure how this is pronounced but it’s spelled A-O). It means ’playing’ or ‘proud’. The origin of the family name is unclear, but remember these two words. We’ll see in a moment that the last name of the dragon kings bears a relationship to scripture.

Because dragon kings are seen as being “in charge” of water-related weather phenomena many Chinese villages (especially those close to rivers and seas) had or still have temples dedicated to their local dragon king. In times of drought or flooding, the locals and government officials lead the community in offering sacrifices and conducting other religious rites to appease the dragon, either to ask for rain or to stop the rain.

Now let’s go back to the Bible and unravel the mystery of the dragon king. God’s Word tells us about a sea creature, a monstrous scaly serpent who reigns over the waters. Its name is Leviathan. Leviathan is a reptile, both serpent and crocodile.

In Psalm 104:25-26 we read: “This great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great. There the ships sail about; there is that Leviathan which You have made to play there.” This is our first Biblical connection to the last name of the king dragons which means ‘playing’ and ‘proud’. Now we know where the ‘playing’ comes from. Let’s continue. We read in Psalm 74:13-14 speaking about the Lord: “You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.” Isaiah 27:1 says: “In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”??The Bible definitely confirms the existence of the sea dragon or water dragon and promises it’ll be slain.

But God didn’t create an evil serpent to play in the sea. On the fifth day of creation God created the creatures of the sea and when He had finished God saw that it was good. It’s after the fall of man and man’s sin that everything that God created became corrupted.

The longest Bible description we have of Leviathan is in the Book of Job, Chapter 41. It describes his ferocious look, how people quake with fear when he’s raised up. In Job 41:9-10 we read: “Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false; Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.” The only one who can overcome Leviathan is God Almighty Himself who created him.

There’s another interesting revelation about Leviathan given in the Book of Job. Verse 34 says: “He is king over all the children of pride.”  So now we’ve established the second connection between the dragon kings’ last name AO which also means ‘proud’ and the sea monster Leviathan which is “king over the children of pride” according to the Bible. We’re now ready to unveil the true identity of this dragon who plays in the sea, this dragon king who rules over the children of pride.

In Isaiah 14 the prophet says about Lucifer who after his rebellion was called Satan: “For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” So as we connect the dots we see very clearly who the dragon or Leviathan is – it’s prideful Satan himself. Lest there be any doubt in your mind about this, let’s read one final and conclusive scripture in the Book of Revelation 12 verses 7 through 12, speaking about the dragon:

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.  So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Conclusion

When you practice any of these Chinese metaphysical arts, no matter how Westernized or harmless it may seem, you accept their spiritual or religious belief system that denies the existence of God our Creator. They put man at the mercy of abstract, impersonal forces and affirm that these forces rule the universe and the destiny of nations and men. In reality, God controls the entire universe, and the most important determiner of our destiny and our children’s destiny is our relationship with God.

The quest for good chi is a form of idolatry and a violation of the first and second commandments of God’s law. By engaging in any of these practices you’re sinning against God and therefore opening a huge door into the demonic world. Not only that, but the seeking after the dragon is a disguised form of satanic worship, because we demonstrated that Satan himself is the dragon. If you’re sincerely seeking the one true and living God, stop immediately, repent of your involvement in Chinese metaphysics and ask the Lord to forgive you. If you’re already a Christian, please join us in praying for God to send more missionaries to this great nation China, where the majority of their nearly 1.4 Billion people do not yet know Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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