Part 1: Understanding Its Spiritual and Occult Roots At the time of this writing, it’s been close to 15 years since my repentance from the alternative health practice of muscle testing, which I once considered my lifeline and even my mission. How could I, a devout Christian who desired with all my heart to serve the Lord by helping others, become a slave to divination? It was simple, really. I had unknowingly traded the truth of God for a lie. My pride provided fertile ground

Do you know the tactic Satan used to deceive Eve in the Garden? It was simple really. Simply by referring to God by an impersonal name, devoid of His character, the enemy caused her to question much about God and therefore, the rightness of His singular command. You can see this by taking notice of Satan’s subtle, yet strategic, shift of language in Genesis 3. Except when Satan speaks, every time God is referred to in the second creation account and story of Adam and Eve, two

Part 3 in Christians Beware of Muscle Testing The temperature must have been well over a hundred, but after several weeks in India's summer heat we hardly noticed it anymore. On this particular day of my summer mission trip experience, my team biked to a remote village to share the Gospel. With only dust-packed ground and round, thatched huts the villagers had little and gladly welcomed the Americans who would pray for them and tell them about the one, true God of the Bi

Part 2 in "Christians Beware of Muscle Testing" Like walking down a dark alley alone evokes wariness, a tremendous sense of unease enveloped me when I began my journey into the world of Applied Kinesiology (muscle testing). In the days following my first appointment that sense of unease motivated me to think and pray a lot about muscle testing and NAET (Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique). These branches of alternative medicine claim to be effective in determining a

Part 1 of the series, "Christians Beware of Muscle Testing" None of us likes to be deceived. As much as I hate to say it, I'm ashamed to admit that I unknowingly fell prey to one particular case of deception--muscle testing (otherwise known as Applied Kinesiology). I was introduced to muscle testing during a time when I desperately needed answers and relief from unending health problems. To someone living with constant pain and no hope, the claims of Applied Kinesiology to

Recently I’ve had marriage on my mind. A number of things have brought that about, some good and some bad. To begin with, right before Christmas my husband and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary. About that same time I learned that someone I love left her husband and began divorce proceedings. Then, while visiting some friends who married a couple of years ago, my husband, Seth and I were briefly questioned about our twenty-three years of marriage. Being a melancholy indi

Facebook provides an almost constant flow of words of kindness, praise, and encouragement. As a praise junkie, I initially found these snippets of kindness like a piece of chocolate that one lets slowly melt in the mouth, so as to savor it as long as possible. The problem became that the candy melted and left me wanting more and then saddened if more couldn't be found. "Only 5 people "liked" my post, and no one wrote a personal comment." "But wait; 2 people said I was bea

After an angry roommate at the local nursing home where I visit turned down the ear shattering volume of her television, I was able to continue the weekly reading in the Gospel of Luke with my new 94 year old sister in Christ. Reading the Bible to this frail but spunky woman is a bit like reading to a child due to her apparent dementia, and so the progress is slow and with much explanation and discussion. We came upon a simple statement in Luke 6:12: "Jesus went out into t

In preparation for speaking at a church retreat, I studied the Scriptures regarding the work of the Holy Spirit and tried to put into practice my understanding of what I learned. An intriguing concept emerged. The Bible speaks of life with the Spirit as being a walk. The King James Version says in Romans 8:4 that Jesus met the requirements of the law so that we can walk, not after the flesh but after the Spirit. The NIV uses the word “live” instead of walk, but the origi

This morning I relished the developing plot of my latest Christian novel as I ate my traditional bowl of granola for breakfast. My interest piqued when the characters turned to a discussion on truth, which has recently been a topic of interest in our family, as discussions on the nature of truth seem to be cropping up in many a movie of late. I, therefore, read on with keen interest. Not surprisingly, the secular character argued that each generation should determine what