Mark Driscoll Worships Demons
Let me first say that I’m not out to ‘bash’ Mark, but he is the head of a very large church and he keeps posting these videos online that people send me, and I cannot help at the end of these videos thinking to myself, “Why the Sheol would anyone go listen to such ignorance and foolishness on a weekly basis.”
Some time back I wrote on Mark Driscoll as scholar and exegete after his ham-fisted abuse of Targum Neofiti in a talk we shall loosely describe as a sermon. My issue with this video was that it demonstrated a serious lack of critical thinking skills and (intentionally?) misrepresented the issue for apologetic purposes.
Then pastor Mark suggested Avatar is the most satanic film he has ever seen.
From this Mark stated that a demon began Mormonism, wrote the Twilight novels, and some demons authored other books for teens.
Well the demons are at it again. This time they’re trying to get you to do yoga… and wait for it… put on your surprise face… they created yoga as well!
I’m not sure where Mark got his conception of demons, but they sound like some erudite dudes. Let’s see: film maker? check? Novelist? Check? Religion maker? Check? Physical trainer? Check.
Producer, writer, spiritualist, and trainer… is there anything these awesome demons can’t do? Maybe they invented coffee, tea, homeopathy (just the evil kind that doesn’t work), push-ups (because you should only prostrate yourself before the Lord!), and Scrabble.
In Christian theology there is a saying “The God of the gaps.” By this it is meant that God is used to explain areas of scientific knowledge that are currently unexplained. Mark Driscoll has a demons of the gap. If he doesn’t like it or understand it you can make a pretty good guess where he thinks it might have come from. Can you imagine being around his house? “Dad, where does the water go when I flush the toilet?” “Demons, take it to hell honey.” “Dad, can you help me with my Algebra?” “Demons, created math honey to take your focus off of God.”
Think much about demons much ? Much too much, Mark, much too much…
“That’s trying to treat the name of Jesus like a little magic formula that you sprinkle over the demonic.”
“Master,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
“Yoga is a worship act…”
This is really getting so stupid… why am I not pressing stop on the video button. Obviously, this guy doesn’t even know what Yoga is, or has seen it practiced.
“Exercise that is ‘biblical'”
Now the stupid is actually starting to kill brain cells…
“Satan doesn’t care if you stretch as long as you go to hell…”
Mark claims to know a lot of what Satan thinks and cares about in these videos, but really, are there any theologians in the house? The atonement doesn’t work if you go to Yoga?
Yoga trumps the cross? Stretching trumps the cross?
Wow. So not only does this guy have a love affair with literate, erudite, intelligent, productive, creative demons, now he thinks they are so awesome that doing their Yoga will send you to hell. There’s little doubt: Mark worships demons.
scotteriology.wordpress.com 
Yet another poster child for Carl Sagan’s book The Demon-Haunted World…
like you scott i dont know why anyone would subject themselves to this crap. they must be even more ignorant than driscoll. and that’s saying something.
that way to long shirt he’s wearing is demonic. if you’re going to un-tuck your shirt mark, get one with a straight hem… or the devil will gobble you up.
“too long” – oops, devil’s going to take me down now for my bad grammar..
Lol. Well Phil, if Mark has taught us anything it’s that these demons are quite literate, so yeah, you might be going down for your grammar!
Well, the thing is Driscoll has encouraged people to visit naturopathic doctors. Like this guy, who has been Driscoll’s doctor for a while:
http://theresurgence.com/authors/john-catanzaro
Driscoll has also encouraged men to attend or take an interest in mixed martial arts events. Are the naturopathic methods his doctor prescribes demonic? If not, why not? Are the mixed martial arts events he is into demonic? If not, why not? If Driscoll were really as simplistic in real life as he is in his pulpit persona how does he account for letting his naturopathic doctor contribute so much to Resurgence? It would appear he’s capable of making a distinction between one and the other in his own life. Why not simply take a measured approach from the pulpit?
Let’s see: film maker? check? Novelist? Check? Religion maker? Check? Physical trainer? Check.
If the example of “Novelist” is Twilight, I’d substitute the word “Hack”.
Can you imagine being around his house? “Dad, where does the water go when I flush the toilet?” “Demons, take it to hell honey.” “Dad, can you help me with my Algebra?” “Demons, created math honey to take your focus off of God.”
Yes, I can imagine. I was on the phone to my writing partner (the burned-out country preacher) last night, and he was telling me how he was having to deal with some Spiritual Warfare Master who was even more into “It’s All Done By DEMONS!” than Driscoll. Guy was so far gone that if a lightbulb burned out, instead of changing the bulb he’d dig out his Bible and start Rebuking the DEMON of Burned-Out Lightbulbs.
Sad to say, “Demon of the Gaps” is very popular among Christians. Apparently Satan is bigger and badder than God — or these guys wouldn’t be terrified of Satan slipping his woopee cushion under their butts every time they sat down.
Driscoll has also encouraged men to attend or take an interest in mixed martial arts events.
Well, I have heard from two sources about “Steel-Cage Smackdowns for Jeesus” churches. They pray, do the smackdown, then preach tha Altar Call at the end. I think one of them is even in the Seattle area.
Ok. I can’t not reference this. I received a friend request from a guy at my mother-in-law’s church, and since I’ve never met him, I decided to glance at his page before denying him. I found this on his page
“I am somewhat disillusioned. Here I am at a church where there are leaders in the church and several volunteers in the church who are dabbling in the occult. A few were taking a few free classes in martial arts and I even know one who is paying for the classes. They do not realize that Martial Arts and Yoga are all forms of demon worship. There is no such thing as Christian Yoga; you can’t Christianize peganism. In martial arts, you summon powers from demons to give you supernatural strength to do feets which are otherwise impossible. In Yoga, each position is a specific prayer to a demon god.”
Did you catch that? They summon demons for the strength to do martial arts. Wow!
and then part 2
“Christians should have no part of martial arts or yoga. They are forms of occults. I am just sad that leaders in a church are allowed to dabble in the occult and make light of the situation. Both yoga and martial arts are very deep in Buddhism, not something a Christian should be involved in.”
Just wow.
There’s a Chuck Norris joke in here somewhere…
They just can’t study martial arts from Asia, I guess. Germanic or Irish martial arts are probably fine. 😉
From 1:23-1:39. Did anyone else catch the irony?
Mark: you could preach ignorance and meanness, and say the name Jesus, but that doesn’t make it Christianity.
flip … i guess the demons made wii fit then too. crafty little suckers because there’s rhythm boxing on there which seems manly and godly, but then they slip in some yoga.
there’s a dilemma … i spent money on the wii fit, but if i trade it in to get some cash back, i might put someone else in the grip of demons … i guess i’ll just have to burn it on my burn pile …
but wait … you can’t burn demons, can you?
but wait … you can’t burn demons, can you?
Hasn’t stopped ’em from trying. From Witches in the Burning Times (TM) to “demon-possessed” D&D miniatures, Cabbage Patch dolls, and Harry Potter books.
My Little Pony is eeeevil. The different colors have occult significance.
Or so my sister learned when she lived in South Carolina.
I was into Dungeons & Dragons when the first Satanic Panic cut loose. (Thank you, Mike Warnke!) Remember that one?
And now those cute cartoon mares are suffering persecution…
Thanks a lot, Jon H.
I now have this vivid mental image of a My Little Pony being burned at the stake for Witchcraft. Her last coherent words — just as the flames reach her — are “I’M INNOCENT!”
After which comes only the sounds of a screaming horse.
“Exercise that is ‘biblical’”
Like from 1:10 to 1:38 on this video?
“Maybe they invented coffee…” Well, actually, there were some in the history of the church that actually entertained ideas that it should be banned – most specifically because it was a “Muslim (read: demonic) drink”. I hope some crazy doesn’t revive that idea and go on a rampage to remove cafes from all the cool churches in America!
(Source: wikipedia) “…coffee was banned by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church some time before the 12th century. However, in the second half of the 19th century, Ethiopian attitudes softened towards coffee drinking, and its consumption spread rapidly between 1880 and 1886; according to Richard Pankhurst, “this was largely due to [Emperor] Menilek, who himself drank it, and to Abuna Matewos who did much to dispel the belief of the clergy that it was a Muslim drink.
Coffee became more widely accepted after controversy over whether it was acceptable for Catholics to consume was settled in its favor by Pope Clement VIII in 1600, despite appeals to ban the drink. The first European coffee house (apart from those in the Ottoman Empire, mentioned above) was opened in Venice in 1645.”
I live in Seattle, so I have to deal with Driscoll’s crap quite frequently.
It seems to me that yoga has become the latest target for conservative evangelicalism, so it doesn’t surprise me that Driscoll is tackling it.
At this point, I’ve just given up caring.
Yes indeed:
http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/09/20/the-subtle-body-should-christians-practice-yoga/
The irony of this is that the arguments extend are themselves examples of syncretistic in that they depend heavily on the theology of the body taken from another religion.
It seems to me that yoga has become the latest target for conservative evangelicalism, so it doesn’t surprise me that Driscoll is tackling it.
“BECAUSE LIKE HARRY POTTER IS SO TOTALLY DAY-BEFORE-YESTERDAY!!!!!”
“Exercise that is ‘biblical’”
Collecting foreskins?
I always wondered why it got so hot in yoga class . . . just connecting with my demon brothas and sistas. That makes sense.
I did a “Hot Yoga” class the other morning for the first time in years and I DO think that there is a distinct possibility that people were becoming demon-possessed as the class went on; about 45 minutes in, as I stewed in my own juices, people around me began to give off a seriously evil aura…
I’m just sayin’…
I go from Cox’s optimistic the Future of Faith to this piece of crap. Way to bring me down Scott! As a theologian, committed evangelical and sometimes charismatic who practices yoga I have to say WTF! Actually I had a guy attending my congregation who somehow felt I was with it enough to not get demon possessed practicing yoga but that lesser Christians shouldn’t attempt it. Yeah, sprained my head too when he said this to me in a small group. I do yoga because it is a spiritual practice. It was created by men (unfortunately, the poses are based on the male body – go figure) who wanted to be still in the presence of God. So that is evil? How? I’m a fairly ADHD person, I can use all the help I can get being still in the presence of God.
This is the same turd who said that he couldn’t worship a Jesus he could beat up. “Turning the other cheek is for queers, dude!” -something Mark Driscoll probably said sometime
This is the quote from Driscoll, “Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.”
I love it when baby-faced little guys talk about the guys they can beat up…
Funny, I seem to remember that a pretty important part of Christianity was this one time where Jesus allowed himself to be beat up pretty badly…
Words fail me.
Are you sure Mark Driscoll isn’t a Satanic counterfeit launched into the world to warp Christians’ minds and turn non-Christians against Christianity?
Now there’s DEFINITELY a Chuck Norris joke in here!
(If only I hadn’t just woken up and had my wits about me)
Jake…definitely a CN joke in there somewhere!
“Angels sang out
In immaculate chorus
As down from the Heavens
Descended Chuck Norris;
Who delivered a kick
That could shatter bones
Into the crotch
Of Indiana Jones;
Who went down
Writhing in pain
As Batman changed back
Into Bruce Wayne;
But Chuck saw through
His clever disguise
And crushed Batman’s head
Between his thighs…”
— Lemon Demon, “Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny”
Somebody needs to inform Mark that youtube is a tool of Satan. Seriously, yoga? I practice yoga and in my quiet state, I actually reflect upon the goodness of God and thank Him for the blessings that He has given me.
One good ol redneck word to descirbe this video..HOGWASH!
Demons do exist but getting freaked out and seeing nefarious demonic schemes everywhere is a sign of mental illness. Much nicer to see God in everyhing
Dr. Albert Mohler chimes in:
The Subtle Body — Should Christians Practice Yoga?
When Christians practice yoga, they must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their embrace of yoga. The contradictions are not few, nor are they peripheral.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Read it all here: http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/09/20/the-subtle-body-should-christians-practice-yoga/
Yes – and his wider objections to yoga (as physical exercises) assume the truth of the Hindu theology of the body.
He also assumes that there is only one way to navigate the spiritual aspect of yoga and couples this with a flawed understanding of meditation (which seems to cause him a lot of fear).
The question I have is if we can pick and choose how we navigate Christian traditions and scripture interpretations, if we seem to feel confident in our ability to do those things, then why is it that we cannot have the same confidence in navigating other religious traditions. Or is it that we arrogantly assume God has left all other religions without a witness? A better way, as Trailerparkbarbie suggested, is to look for the great story in other stories. Historically Christianity begged, borrowed and stole its spiritual practices – part of being a post-Judaic religion, so it is not implausible to continue that practice in a religiously plural society. Just as historically this has not meant Christianity was subsumed into other religions, but that Christianity has the elastic ability to baptize practices into itself in order to reveal a pre-existing witness.
Calling forth the good is always a better tactic than hunting after demons. In my experience this goes for work with demonized individuals as well as for our approach to other religions and traditions.
EricW – thanks for the link to Dr. Mohler (President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary). It’s interesting reading his take on Stephanie Symons book “The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America”, and how he twists the information in that book to make it say what he wants it to say.
It’s much the same way that many pulpiteers treat Scripture – wanting to make a point and then finding something in the Bible they can use to “prove it – so I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised since this is a school where many of those pulpiteers get their speeching skills.
In the transcript of Mohler interviewing Symons on the radio show “Thinking in Public” (now there’s an oxymoron!), he continually tries to skew the conversation towards his point, and then asks her directly, “Let me ask you another question which is going to press upon you perhaps something that you didn’t intend to address in your book but I just have to ask in the purposes of this interview and for my own personal interest, when you have this background in yoga an almost unprecedented knowledge of how it came to the United States and was received here, when you hear someone talk about the possibility of something like a Christian yoga, does that make any sense to you?”
Oooooh, interesting, “didn’t intend to address” the question of yoga and Christianity in her book – this is something that is for “the purposes of this interview” and “my own personal interest (read: agenda)”….
Symons answers, “In some ways it does, in some ways it does, I mean if you look at yoga as a technology that can be used to transform your consciousness, used to get closer to the divine, then it does make a lot of sense. If you’re looking to have this specific realization outlined in the yoga scriptures I think it makes a little bit less sense because you have to then take on some more of the metaphysics and theology that those scriptures….and those are a bit different from what you’d find in Christianity or Judaism for that matter or Islam.”
OK, fair answer – if you are doing “yoga” and it has a positive affect on your consciousness (God knows how many Christians need their consciousness cleansed of guilt and manipulation and a sense of worthlessness and…) and that gets you closer to “the divine”, then, in her words, “it does make a lot of sense”.
But, she goes on to say, if you get involved in “yogic” practices with a view to integrating yogic thought and spirituality into your own personal version of Christianity, then no, it doesn’t make sense because of the difference between the theological and spiritual world views and understandings.
Mohler and his other guest, Professor Douglas Groothuis – Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary, thank her, dismiss her, and then go on to make the point they wanted to make in the beginning – YOGA IS BAD, OF THE DEVIL, A DEVIANT SPIRITUALITY, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH”
Why even have her on the program at all, except that it gives an appearance of having a well-researched foundation for what you believed well before you ran across information that could be used to “prove” the point you were committed to begin with????
Trust me, no one in my 5:15 am hot yoga class thinks that the instructor is offering us a way of salvation. Most of us think, “You’re killing me!!!”
No one has ever offered me ritualized tantric sex (thank God, since over half of the class is male!) and we’ve never meditated on our belly buttons to enter a higher plane of existence.
Are there specific yogic experiences that are still deeply tied to their Hindu spiritual roots and which promote and seek to spread that philosophy through using yoga as a spiritual discipline? Of course – but if physical yoga stretching is “of the devil” then a Christian can’t be a vegetarian because the same Hindus used that as a spiritual discipline too…
What’s hilarious to me is, the same people who will promote this BS will schedule an Easter sunrise service where they serve hot-cross buns, and never one time consider the occultic roots of everyone of those practices.
C’mon, Dr. Mohler, you HAVE to be able to do better than that! Is our best Christian thinking nothing more than “a mile wide and an inch deep” – trying to comment on and control everything with thinking that is tragically philosophically shallow and transparently agenda driven?
But, then again, I use acupuncture in my clinical practice, so what do I know…
Ooops, sorry about the italics everywhere – I guess I know how to turn them on, but not turn them off – yikes! They kinda lost their effectiveness there…
Did anyone else notice that Driscoll claimed even if you chant to Jesus, the demons are still winning?
Is he saying that if you are intentionally talking TO JESUS, but just DOING IT IN THE WRONG FASHION, that demons can HIJACK that prayer and make it a doorway for them to enter your life?
At this point I really have to wonder what his grasp of scripture is.
And another thing, Mark Driscoll!
The Bible does talk about humans being “false teachers”, wolves in sheep’s clothing, leading other humans away from the truth. Those roles are always ascribed to people in the New Testament.
Any time that actual demons show up in the New Testament, it is a case where IT IS VERY CLEAR TO ALL INVOLVED THAT THIS IS AN EVIL DEMONIC FORCE. Possessions, violence, terror, etc.
The New Testament does not present demons as being spirits that routinely trick people into thinking something is good.
So I’m not even sure how Mark can back up his ideas about the nature of demons in the world.