Angels and Demons 7 – Spiritism is a jump into the spirit world. There are a few different ways that people try to access the spirit world. We spent some time on the occult, also known as the devil’s playground. Occultist activities and games can be a gateway into heavier spiritism. For our lesson we focused on near death experiences and the new age movement.
Near death experiences are nothing new. One of the most famous examples is told by Todd Burpo in his best selling book, Heaven is for Real. The story was even made into a movie! It details how a young child had a near death experience and had knowledge of events in his parents life that were known only to the parents. While the Burpo’s have never recanted their story, there was another contemporary story of the Malarkey family. That story is a hoax. We have read through the book – heaven is for real, and it’s a really good story, but that’s it.
There is nothing in the book that necessarily adds anything helpful beyond what God has already told us in the Bible. The real problem with near death experiences is when the survivors come “back from the dead” only to tell everyone – “There is nothing to fear. All that happens after you die is happiness.” God paints a different story for folks who reject Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus shares the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. At the end of the account, Father Abraham tells the rich man that even if someone rises from the dead, they will not believe what God says. All we need to do is pay attention to Moses and the prophets. In other words God’s word is all the information we need.
There was a question on yoga as well. THIS video does a great job of breaking down the topic.
Want to hear more? Please watch this week’s study Angels and Demons 7 – Spiritism.