SOAKING – A ONCE LOST ART BUT NOW A NEWLY FOUND IDOL

INTRODUCTION

I usually do not mince words, especially when the subject has to do with man’s relationship with God and his eternal destiny. So, without any further ado, allow me to tell you upfront what soaking and all the other similar methods Christians adore practicing actually are and where it is leading the unsuspecting. We are commanded to love and worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind; . . . (Luke 10:27). We are transformed by  the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2) and not through techniques boorowed from E astern mysticism.

LOVING THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND

We are exhorted to be sober minded (Titus 2:6; 1 Peter 1:13), to cultivate a mind of self-control and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7), and a humble mind (Colossians 3:12), to guard against a fleshly (carnal) mind (Colossians 2:18), and not to mind earthly things but to set our minds on things that are above (Colossians 3:2).

The gist of all the above-mentioned verses is that a person needs to remain in control of his mind at all times and never allow it to be taken over by outside entities.

Anything contrary to what the above passages in Scripture teach is obviously not of God and therefore a deception of Satan to capture and imprison the mind of those who willingly and willfully, or unwittingly open themselves to Satan’s wiles.

Satan’s primary purpose is to blind the mind to the truth so that people cannot be saved.

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (Ephesians 4:17-18).

The word for “understanding” is (dianoia); Deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise: – imagination, mind, understanding. In fact, your mind and a correct understanding of who you are and who God is, is an absolute necessity for your salvation. Hence Jesus’ statement in John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they might know (understand) thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Similarly, the word “repent” (metanoia) involves a change of mind in order to be saved. (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). Anyone who disregards the importance of the mind in salvation is spreading a false gospel.

BLINDING THE MIND

To understand more fully how Satan and his demons imprison the mind, we first need to turn an ear to what John Eccles said.

John Eccles received his Nobel Prize for research on the brain. He describes the brain as: “A machine that a ghost can operate.” To “operate” a “machine” clearly shows a distinction between the “brain” and the human soul and spirit (the mind), or what Eccles calls the “ghost.”

The mind of the individual operates the “machine” (the human brain), which subsequently causes the human body to function as needed. (Remember Proverbs 23:7?). Read here.

The significance of this is that it shows how important it is to remain sober-minded, vigilant, watchful and in control of your mind and not to allow anyone to take hold of your thinking faculty through hypnosis, meditation, or any other methodology that can cause an altered state of consciousness or any form of passivity of the mind.

Every single methodology or technique man devises to receive physical or spiritual blessings from God, whether it is to invoke his presence, to be healed, to gain monetary prosperity or to summon his protection, is idolatry of the worst kind. Let me repeat that – IT IS ALL IDOLATRY.

WHAT IS IDOLATRY?

Idolatry is the universal practice to set up or prop up anything visible, like a statue, or something non-physical, like a concept/idea/method/technique/tool in which you place your trust and hope with the purpose of appeasing the divinity you have chosen to worship or to gain something from him or her. In Christianity the key and most commonly used phrase is “enter into God’s presence,”

When God commanded Moses to build an altar, He said the following.

• An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.
• And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
• Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. (Exodus 20:24-26)

Let’s break this down into simple terms.

1. God’s blessings are bestowed on you only, I repeat ONLY, by means of an altar which immediately points to the substitutionary death or sacrifice of an innocent victim and the shedding of his blood.  Any kind of “altar” you venture to erect of your own doing (including “soaking”) is polluted.
2. God forbade Moses to build the altar of hewn of stone using some kind of instrument or tool to cut or hew it to a size or form of his own choice. Please notice later on in this article how one of The Secret Place’s admirers thanked Ray and Pam Watson for the great tool they provide to easily come into the presence of God.
3. He was not permitted to ascend the altar by steps lest his nakedness be exposed.

The overall meaning is that God is so awesomely and indescribably holy that He alone makes the rules and supplies the means by which He permits mankind to approach Him in his most holy abode in heaven and to come into his presence.

Any other methods, techniques, ways and means or tools mankind uses to come into God’s presence are of the flesh and therefore completely unacceptable to Him (Habakkuk 2:18; John 6:63).  In fact, it amounts to an effort to approach God in heaven without the garment of salvation (Isaiah 61:10; Zechariah 3:1-5).

Nakedness in the Bible is often used to describe man’s sinful nature. Are there any other passages in Scripture to back up what I had just said? Indeed, there is.

• This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
• And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
• Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
• Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
• By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
• And having a high priest over the house of God;
• Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:16-22)

As you may have noticed, the shed blood of Jesus Christ is the only means by which the redeemed of God may approach Him in his most holy of holies. Have those who practice these methods and techniques to allegedly enter into in God’s presence forgotten the Levitical sacrificial system?

Every single method or technique mankind concocts to enter into the presence of God are as filthy garments and cannot possibly cover the nakedness (sins) before an awesomely and indescribably holy God.

This is how the Bible defines idolatry.

• For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). (1 Samuel 15:23a – AMPC).

You may ask “How does quietening the mind by means of certain techniques or methods to enter into the presence of God give you the right to call it idolatry? Surely the desire to be in God’s presence and to soak in his blessings is something to be desired and biblically acceptable.”

Indeed, the presence of God and the entrance into his magnanimously glorious presence is the most desirable thing any believer could want. Nonetheless, God’s awesome holiness cannot and may not be invaded by our own carnally concocted methods.

If God who dwells in inaccessible light (1 Timothy 6:14-16) is so awesomely holy as the Bible tells us, then surely He alone has the right and prerogative to determine how believers may approach Him and enter into his presence.

“No, no, no,” saith Sid Roth and his followers whom the maggots are going to eat up in their graves when they are dead and buried, “We carry our holy little cushions under our arms wherever we go, and string along Julie True, and Ray and Pam Watson to play and sing their “holy” songs whenever we feel the urge to lie down on our stay-soft-washed-holy-cushions and soak ourselves into the presence of God.”

Please note Julie True’s song called “Breathe You In” on the sleeve of her “Soaking Music Collection.” Where do Sid Roth and Julie True find this in Scripture? They could not have found it in God’s holy book, the Bible, because it simply is nowhere to be seen in his Word. Where do they get it from?

THE HINDU TRADITION OF BREATH MEDITATION

The underlying philosophy of Hinduism is Pantheism (God is all and all is God) which in a nutshell means that every conceivable movement in the cosmos is a movement of the Cosmic Breath (Vishwaprana).

In the Hindu Sanskrit the word for “faith” is “visvas” and literally means “to breathe easy.” The “vi” of “visvas” conveys the idea that he who breathes calmly can have faith born of intuition.

Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, the guru of Paramhansa Yogananda, wrote in a song:

• Pranayama (controlled or regulatory breathing ) be thy religion,
• Pranayama will give thee salvation,
• Pranayama is the Wishing Tree.
• Pranayama is Beloved God,
  

  Hindu soaking (meditation)

• Pranayama is Creator Lord,
• Pranayama is the Cosmic World.
• Control the little pranayama,
• Become all-pervading pranayama,
• You won’t have to fear anything anymore. (when you’ve reached Kundalini enlightenment).

In the so-called “soaking prayer” circles calmness, rest, quietness, and tranquility are all allegedly attained by a form of meditation which in essence is nothing else than the Roman Catholic inspired prayers called contemplative and centering prayer with its accompanying stillness or quietness, which in turn is derived from Eastern Mysticism.

It is in this stillness and quietness, they say, when you experience the nearness and presence of God and are filled with his Holy Spirit.

As usual, the devil knows how to use God’s Word to verify his strategies and make them acceptable to “Christians.” One of the soaking Christians’ most beloved verses is Psalm 46: 10. A site, The Secret Place that promotes soaking prayer says the following:

Ps. 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”

Again this exhortation tells us that when we are still or soaking in God’s presence there will come a knowing or experiencing of God. There is a weight or glory to His presence that we can experience as we are still before Him. It is hard at times to come to this place though because our flesh is very active and often takes a while to settle. What we do with our bodies however is a powerful declaration in the realm of the spirit. When we lie down in God’s presence it is a statement of surrender and a posture of rest that the Lord will honour.

It helps to play worship music while we are soaking. Music sets the atmosphere and worship music opens our heart and causes our spirit to rise in adoration. Worship is the love call of the saints and as we simply love and adore Him, we will experience the richness of His presence in even greater degrees.

Soaking does quieten the flesh and allows our spirit to ascend. As this happens, we become conscious that we are a spirit that lives inside a body. As our spirit starts to rise up in adoration and communion with the Lord, we can get to the place where our body is totally at rest, but our spirit is awake and receiving from the Lord (Dan.10:9).

The emboldened sections in the above three paragraphs prove beyond any reasonable (excuse the pun) doubt that soaking is another gospel, proclaimed by another Jesus through the power of another spirit. (2 Corinthians 11:4).

The author’s assertion that it is hard (difficult) to come to the place of stillness because the flesh is very active and takes a while to settle, is completely false.

The Bible never once teaches that the saints need to “settle” their carnal nature until it reaches a point of quietness. They are commanded to die to self and their carnal nature. (Colossians 3:5).

In fact, it is impossible to mortify the flesh with any kind of puny little method or tool of which soaking is the most dangerous because it introduces the unsuspecting to Eastern mysticism and Pantheism.

Believers neither have the power nor are they required to work toward the accomplishment of the mortification of their flesh (carnal nature).

God has already accomplished that on their behalf and the only thing for them to do now is to reckon (with a sober mind) that they are indeed dead to themselves and their carnal nature in order to bask in the awesome knowledge that God is indeed who He says He is.

That’s precisely why the Word of God says that his children are more than conquerors. They do not strive from a position of their own accomplishments to overcome their carnal nature; By grace they have already been given the victory in Christ Jesus over their carnal nature and only need to score victory after victory (to be more than conquerors) in the knowledge that they have already been crucified, buried and raised from the dead in Jesus Christ.

Here’s how Paul says it:

• For as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
• Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,
• so that in the same manner as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus, the Christ, our Lord.
• What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
• No, in no wise. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
• Know ye not that all of us that are baptized into Jesus the Christ are baptized into his death?
• For we are buried with him by baptism into death, that just as the Christ was raised up from the dead to the glory of the Father, likewise we also walk in newness of life.
• For if we have been planted together in him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection,
• knowing this: that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that we should not serve sin any longer. (Romans 5:19 – 6:6)

And now – the punchline.

• For he that is dead, died unto sin once, and he that lives, lives unto God.
• Likewise also reckon yourselves to be truly dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ, Jesus, our Lord.
• Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
• Neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but present yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
• So that sin shall have no dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but under grace. (Romans 6:10-14)
• I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)

Please note the words “reckon” and “reasonable service.”

What do you do when you reckon and reason?  Well, of course, you use your God-given mind to attentively, consciously, soberly and in a state of full alertness say to yourself, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).

Those who believe they can accomplish the mortification of the flesh (their carnal nature) by indulging in a technique or method or a tool called soaking are heavily deceived and also deceiving others. They need to repent.

Instead of thanking the eternally living God for his own magnanimously formulated way to gain entrance into his awesomely holy presence, the adherents to soaking thank and praise mere men, who, as I said previously, are going to be eaten up by maggots when they are dead and buried. This is how one of The Secret Way followers endorsed The Secret Place.

“Thanks for giving us a great tool to easily come into the presence of God and clear our minds of all the daily distractions of this world.” – Amanda Gruenthere, NZ

What Amanda seems to be saying is, “God’s way to enter into his presence (through the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ) is old-hat, too tiresome and too difficult. Who wants that? The tool you (The Secret Place and Ray and Pat Watson’s music) offers, makes it so much easier and funkier to enter into the presence of God and to soak up his holiness like a sponge.”

Patricia King of XP Ministries, USA says the following:

“The Lord says you have entered into a realm now with God. There are new songs coming forth. And I see a connection between heaven and earth and some of your greatest works that you put your hand to, to deliver the song of the Lord … And I see words lined with gold …. And I see music notes lined with gold because they are of the glory realm. The Lord says as your music is being played, I see a room filled with people connecting with God in a new way. Life transforming moments, because of what you are birthing” – Patricia King, XP Ministries, USA

Will Cayer wrote:

“I have used this album for many years to come into the presence of the Most High God. It is awesome and the best album I own. The anointing on the album is sweet and Holy. I have never found any other to top it…. Ray is my favorite singer and Worship Leader. I have been using Ray’s music for years every day.” – Will Cayer, Middletown, RI ,USA

A common denominator between false teachers is their insatiable craving for something new in the spiritual realm because they are never satisfied with the “old paths.”

Jeremiah 6:16, Amplified Bible (AMP)

• Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is; then walk in it,
  And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

Therese pathetically deceived Christians are shunning the old path (the way of the cross of Jesus Christ) and swapping it for a very dangerous way or path that does not bring them into the presence of God but into the presence of the enemy who is quite capable of changing himself into an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:13-14).

ENTERING INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD?

Do charlatans like Sid Roth, Julie True, Ray and Pat Watson really believe that soaking can bring you into the presence of God when God thunderously announces that it is and always will be faith and faith alone in the shed blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, that grants sinners access into his most holy of holies in heaven?

Hebrews 10:19-22 Amplified Bible (AMP)

A New and Living Way

• Therefore, believers, since we have confidence and full freedom to enter the Holy Place [the place where God dwells] by [means of] the blood of Jesus, by this new and living way which He initiated and opened for us through the veil [as in the Holy of Holies], that is, through His flesh,
• by this new and living way which He initiated and opened for us through the veil [as in the Holy of Holies], that is, through His flesh,and since we have a great and wonderful Priest [Who rules] over the house of God,
• and since we have a great and wonderful Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, let us approach [God] with a true and sincere heart in unqualified assurance of faith, having had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
• let us approach [God] with a true and sincere heart in unqualified assurance of faith, having had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Here now is a list of things many people who call themselves Christians practice to gain, as they say, spiritual blessings from God.

Animal behavior like walking on all fours.

Animal noises

Carpet time

Catch the Fire

Centering prayer

Contemplative prayer

Holy laughter

Labyrinths

Meditation

Silence

Slain in the spirit

Soaking prayer

Speaking in unknown languages

Spiritual or Praise Dancing (also known as “Take me to the King Dancing”)

The Anointing

The anointing of your Home with oil

The Awakening

The Father’s blessing

The River

Uncontrollable shaking