LTRP Note: This letter to the editor was written to us this past weekend.
I can identify somewhat with [the LT May 5, 2025 article warning about Yoga]. Want to share part of my testimony but can’t do so without referring to myself. I live in a suburb of London, England and used to visit a second-hand bookstore in my little area. Was searching for spiritual books, esoteric, yoga etc. Surprisingly found a lot there. The store owner was a conspiracy-theory type of person into UFOs and weird things. Had a Tarot card reader in a tiny booth inside the tiny store. Well, I found Gods of the New Age by Caryl Matrisciana in there one time and actually purchased it because I wanted to know what “crazy” Christians thought about Hinduism etc. At the time (around 2007), I remember thinking while reading this book that it was absolutely crazy and stupid. But for some reason I didn’t throw it out.
I think it was because of some similarities between Caryl’s story and my own that I kept the book. But a seed was planted that sprouted 6 years later in my life. I had forgotten completely about that book until my meditation practice came to a dead end due to having automatic movements of my body while sitting down still. All I wanted was for the movements to stop so I could concentrate while meditating. But they continued against my will. I had a huge collection of New Age type books—more Hinduism and psychology than New Age—and had recently purchased another book about Bhaktis in India who go into trances and get “Divine” possession. I noticed similarities between these automatic body movements, which included strange breath holding stuff, and it felt like a force was trying to rise up out of my throat and speak, so I made a guttural sound with my throat, and I’d heard that type of noise in some trance mediums I had listened to on the Internet. So basically, I suspected I might have been possessed.
I started searching online about all this. I kept on coming across Bible references. Then I strayed upon a YouTube video of a girl who was Indian who had left Yoga and come to Christ. Her experiences were very similar to mine so I emailed her, and she replied. She was extremely gracious to me even though I was rude to her initially. I kept on thinking about that; and it wasn’t so much what she said to me but that she never retaliated or got angry with me, and that really impressed me. I was a lost person of course and antagonistic towards Christians. (My interactions with them over the years online was negative, but I followed the teachings of a Yogi who blended Hinduism with Christianity—interesting isn’t it?) So this girl recommended I read a book called Occult Invasion by Dave Hunt. I got the book. And boy did that hit me over the head! I had a collection of around 3000 spiritual books on most topics—science, psychology, yoga, philosophy, Hinduism, Buddhism, and a few New Age ones. As I read Dave’s book, my eyes were opened to the fact that practically all these books I had were being debunked by Dave in every chapter of his book, and he linked loads.
So I decided to buy a King James Bible when I searched on Amazon. I didn’t know anything about translations or that there were big study Bibles. And I don’t know why I chose a KJB. It was just plain text, no notes, no concordance, nothing. But Dave Hunt mentioned prophecy in the Bible so I started to check out the places in the Old Testament that predicted Jesus. The more I read, the more excited I became. I couldn’t believe that right there, in front of my own eyes, in black and white print was a real, verified, evidential and blatant supernatural phenomena that was printed and unalterable. I had experienced some odd things in meditation, but it was all subjective. I had even experienced demonic things in various ways, some of which was semi-objective. But now I had real proof, real evidence of the supernatural, and it was in the Bible! God drew me in, and I remembered Caryl’s book at that time too. Then I discovered that she had been friends with Dave Hunt. What a surprise! There I was, years earlier, mocking the whole thing, and now I couldn’t deny what I knew and was seeing. As I read the Bible a little more, it started to actually take on the quality of being alive; with my own eyes, I was staring at the pages, and light was coming off of them! Living light! Then God regenerated me, and I was born again. Praise be to God! It was a most awesome thing. God changed me in only the way God could have. Otherwise I would probably still be a lost person today.
God is magnificent, majestic, Holy, light, life, peace, joy, perfect, pure, good. The peace of His presence was utterly beautiful; I could feel it tangibly. Heaven will be flooded with that tranquility forever and ever, what a mind-blowing thing! What utter beauty and bliss and joy! We down here on Earth can’t even fathom how awesome eternity will be; our minds cannot really contain it.
What a blessing Dave Hunt was. And Caryl. And some others. Sadly, Dave Hunt passed away a few months before I was saved so I never got a chance to talk to him. I look forward to seeing him and telling him that his influence led to my salvation. And to think—he grew up in California around the corner from the Yogi’s church, the guru I was stuck with before. What an amazing set of coincidences.
So if you want to know if yoga is bad, yes it is—it creates demon possession. Yogis hate Jesus, and they hate Christians and Christianity. I know that, because that used to be me.
David
(Images from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)
