Bus Ride to the Future

TLTRP Note: Yoga is on
the rise in the Western world. Even in Christian circles,
Yoga is being widely practiced. “Christian” Yoga teachers
say that the exercises can be done without invoking Eastern
mysticism. But this is not accurate information. Caryl
Matrisciana was born and raised in India. Today, as a
Christian film maker, she testifies that Yoga is the
Heartbeat of Hinduism. The following is an excerpt from her
book, Out of India.

When I was twenty years old, my family returned from India,
where I was born and lived for most of my life, to England,
our homeland. It was during the turbulent sixties, and I was
about to be introduced to a movement that didn’t even have a
name yet. How could I have possibly known then that the
strange and mystical religion I had been surrounded by in
India would someday be at the heart of a spirituality that
would influence millions around the world?
I will never forget that hot, muggy day in London in the
summer of 1966 when I was twenty years old. How could I
forget? After all, it was the day that changed my life
forever.
Perhaps if I had been out in the English countryside or
beside the sea, that hot, stifling day would have been
bearable-but in the city it was miserable. Oh, to be in a
garden with its soothing assortment of colorful flowers, my
feet dangling in a cool spring!
Reality was all too blatant. The British capital was steeped
and simmering in its own crowded bustle, intense noise, and
pandemonium of traffic. By day’s end I could hardly bear the
sound and sweat of it all as I was jostled along in an
overcrowded, red, double-decker bus through rush-hour
traffic.
Still, in spite of all the unpleasantness, a breathless
anticipation filled my soul. That surging excitement was my
only motivation to struggle across blistering-hot London. I
knew I was on my way to a marvelous experience.
Eventually the bus rounded Piccadilly Circus and honked
impatiently at the myriads of pedestrians overflowing onto
the streets. The sidewalk vendors and little shops were
teeming with hundreds of tourists. T-shirts hanging on shop
canopies sported the slogan “swinging London,” along with
coffee mugs, postcards, and dozens of other souvenir items.
A New Spiritual Gospel
The phrase “swinging London” had recently been splashed
across the world’s newsstands by Time magazine1 and had
captured an atmosphere that really did permeate the London
air. I basked proudly in the energy that surrounded me,
enchanted with the good fortune to live and work in this
pulsating metropolis.
The bus changed gears noisily and puffed out dirty diesel
fumes. We moved slowly down Shaftesbury Avenue, the heart of
theater land, in Soho. My pulse pounded harder. The next
stop was my destination.
I pushed my way through the crowded bus and jumped off with
a spurt of enthusiasm. Renewed vigor had me effortlessly
nudging my way through throngs of theater goers who crowded
the sidewalks. At last I arrived! I stood still for what
seemed to be an endless moment, absorbing the glowing neon
advertisements that assured me I was at the right place. The
theater marquee carried but one word. The name of the show
was Hair.2
Soon I was to experience the musical blockbuster that the
whole world was singing about. The people milling around me
were quite different in appearance from those on the bus.
Denim jeans, casual Indian cotton shirts, and hippie
informality identified almost everyone. Hairstyles ranged
from long to longer to longest. I grinned to myself,
realizing I too looked like the in generation. At the same
time, it was a relief to know that my parents couldn’t see
me now. How they would argue that I was not conforming to
the “required London theater dress.”
I had waited months for tonight. Tickets for Hair were
nearly impossible to buy. I clutched mine protectively,
waiting to squeeze through the door. Scanning the crowd, I
searched for the friends I was to meet.
The air buzzed as people hummed various songs from the score
that was about to begin. Never before had I gone into a show
already so familiar with its lyrics and tunes. For months
the airwaves had carried those melodies around the world.
Still, I could not have imagined the impact the show itself
was to have on my life and thinking. I would not have
guessed how religiously I would follow this new spiritual
“gospel.” I was about to be “converted” by the message of
Hair, along with thousands of other people of my generation.
We shuffled inside and located our seats. The theater
darkened. The rustle of programs stilled. Chills and goose
bumps spread through the audience as the orchestra began to
play. There was heavy, loud rock music as magnificent, full
voices swelled in harmony. There were colors, lights, and
sounds. Everything mingled together to draw me willingly,
passionately, into the phenomenon. Never before had I known
such intense involvement in a theatrical production.
With exciting extravagance, the show animated and
popularized outrageously impudent and risqué ideas. Tricky
little songs whipped us into attitudes of rebellion and
promiscuity. We cheered and applauded the demise of family,
society, government, and country. We decried the past and
its values. We sang about the hopeless state of our planet;
we coughed and choked for the pollution and wept over the
sadness of war.
Every person in the audience was transformed into a mystical
searcher through the song lyrics. Everyone contemplated the
plaintive question asked in, “Where Do I Go?” That
particular song had us following everything, nothing, and
even myself. It had us asking the eternal question posed in
the lyrics, “And will I ever discover why I live and die?”3
Like many other people my age, I had never considered that
topic before, but I was to do so a thousand times in the
days and months to come. That evening’s performance was to
lead me, and countless others, on a spiritual quest.
Having disparaged the past and present and looking grimly
into the emptiness of no solution, Hair suddenly gave a
glimmer of hope. We whooped ecstatically through the
marvelous escape presented in “Hashish.” This gleeful song
promoted the wow experience one could achieve through no
less than twenty-five different highs.
In the years to come, I would get hooked on one particular
high and try several others. I would understand all too well
the appeal of replacing realism with psychedelia.
A New Way of Thinking
L ittle did I comprehend at the time that through this
musical I was being subtly introduced to a new religious
system. One song ridiculed the faith of my youth. It
encouraged us not to believe in God per se, but instead, to
see that we ourselves were like gods. Joyfully we sang the
immortal words of the great poet William Shakespeare, taken
from his play Hamlet:
What a piece of work man is!
How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty.
In form and moving, how express and admirable, In action how
like an angel,
In apprehension how like a god.4
My perception of the world was about to change. From here on
I was being introduced to a new alternative to my old way of
life-one that in the future was to jealously lead me into an
uncompromising spiritual dimension. “Let the sunshine in,”
the cast vocalized.5


“Let the sunshine in!” we responded at the tops of our
voices. Oh yes, oh yes! Let the sunshine in! My heart ached
with hope. How I longed to experience this new “opening” and
its promised sensation. In any case, it would have been
hopeless to struggle against the overpowering emotional,
mental, and sensual seduction taking place. (To read this
entire chapter one of


Out of India,
and for endnotes and credits,

click here – picks up on p. 17. For more information or
to order,
click here.)

---

Comments on the Rick Warren



LETTER/VIDEO STATEMENT TO UGANDAN CHURCH LEADERS
By Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church, Lake Forest,
Calif.,
Regarding the Pending Anti-Homosexuality Bill Before the
Ugandan Parliament

by
Sandy Simpson


Deception in the Church Ministries

In
a letter and video statement to the government and church
leaders in Uganda, Rick Warren laid out his reaction to the
anti-homosexuality bill that is pending with the Ugandan
Government. Warren opposes it.

Now there are some provisions in the bill that any Christian
should oppose such as imprisonment and possible death
penalty for homosexuals (apparently just for being a
homosexual), forcing pastors to report private counseling
with gays, etc. However statements by Warren such as “While
we can never deny or water down what God’s Word clearly
teaches about sexuality, at the same time the church must
stand to protect the dignity of all individuals – as Jesus
did and commanded all of us to do.” does not address at all
what the Bible teaches on sex outside of marriage which is
defined as between a man and a woman including
homosexuality. All sex outside of marriage is a sin before
God and must be repented of. This also means that repentance
will be followed by a turning away from practicing sin to
practicing righteousness (1 Jn. 2:29; 3:4, 8, 10). When
Warren states: “ALL life, no matter how humble or broken,
whether unborn or dying, is precious to God” this is true
but the Gospel is left out of this equation, thus presenting
only part of the picture, thus presenting error alongside of
truth. God wants all men to be saved and does not want
anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9), but that is why He sent His
only Son to die to purchase us salvation and forgiveness
from our sins if we believe in Him and repent. Homosexuality
is a sin and those who practice sin are destined for
damnation (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Practicing homosexuals are living
lifestyle sin, thus God does not love their sin and will
punish them if they do not respond to the conviction of
their sin by the Holy Spirit.

Though some of the provisions of the anti-homosexuality bill
are unjust and should be removed we have to understand that
HIV/AIDS is a huge problem there and is being propagated and
spread by homosexual behaviors as well as other methods.
Uganda is trying to find ways to protect their society
against this deadly sexual disease. Warren states that we
all have “the freedom to make moral choices and our right to
free expression are gifts endowed by God.”. This statement
comes from his erroneous teaching on “gifts”. He has taught
repeatedly on this subject in his “Purpose” series and often
confuses natural gifts with spiritual ones. Do we have the
right to make choices that cause others to die of AIDS? If
the “free expression” of homosexuality is a “gift endowed by
God” then why does God prohibit it in Scripture? We are not
just free to do anything we want as people created by God.
There are laws against murder, and infecting others with
HIV/AIDS should be prosecuted just as any other act of
murder is. If you knowingly give someone poison and they die
will you not be tried for that crime?Please
click here
to continue
reading this article.

 

---

Source page:

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletter20091221.htm