The Sin Factor - Truth does not bow to our beliefs.

Disbelief can sound like independence, but it can also be the fastest way to lose your bearings. I’m pulling on a hard thread today: your personal beliefs do not create truth, and your comfort does not change spiritual reality. When we treat feelings as authority, deception gets easier, identity gets thinner, and sin starts to look “benign” even while it quietly dismantles peace, purpose, and relationships.

I walk through Scripture to rebuild the foundation, from Genesis 1:26 to the New Testament language of a royal priesthood. We are not meant to live beneath our design. The kingdom of God isn’t just a future hope, it’s a present spiritual reality that calls us out of darkness and back into alignment with Jesus Christ, the Creator described in John 1. That lens changes how we interpret the chaos around us, because it names the real issue: separation from God and the misuse of authority.

Then I take you to Genesis 4 and the story of Cain. Cain’s murder of Abel, his exile, and his city in the land of Nod become a picture of what human life looks like when we reject correction and build a world without God. From there, I connect the same pattern to modern “serving self,” including disordered sex and spiritual shortcuts. I also unpack why practices like yoga and tai chi can’t be honestly labeled neutral from a Christian perspective, because their spiritual roots matter even when intentions feel sincere.

If you want a clear path forward, I end with concrete steps: confession, surrender to the one true God, pursuit of righteousness, and the armor of God from Ephesians 6 for everyday spiritual warfare. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs clarity, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway: where do you see subjective belief replacing truth right now?

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Transcript

Welcome And Core Warning

Dina LaFargue Augustin 0:00

Greetings to everyone that is turning into this week's podcast. The past few weeks I have spoken about the ravages of disordered sex in our lives and how the abuse and misuse of sex can wreak havoc of proportions unknown in our lives, destroying destinies, creating impoverishment, perversions, and trauma. Worse than that is the disbelief that any of it matters. Worse than committing sin or not recognizing sin for what it is is the ignorance we carry about sin and the things we do that we believe to be benign and frivolous, but are not. To demonstrate the gravity of disbelief based on our emotions and base less opinions, the gravity of misguided belief, again based on our own ignorance and apathy towards truth, I will share what happened to the world by sharing the story of Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve. Before I share the history of Cain, I must say that it is a dangerous thing to carry disbelief about a thing that is actually a reality. It can be life destroying, and it is a dangerous thing to believe that what one thinks supersedes the reality of what really is. So it is my prayer that the information and words of God shared today multiply in you, touching and healing your heart, your mind, body, and spirit. It is my prayer that every listener become fertile soil, bringing forth prosperity for your soul and bearing the fruit of truth. So let me talk about believing and disbelieving in this broadcast and how these two acts or positions can lead us down the wrong path. If we believe or not, just because it's convenient is not enough. We live in ignorance about many things, but act as if we know all things when we do not. If we did know better, if we were not so ignorant, we would be so much better in this world and the condition of our lives and the world would be much different. We live in a world of deception, but deception can only

Belief Versus Reality

Dina LaFargue Augustin 2:51

thrive with our own ignorance. If we cannot recognize truth, we are in trouble. Yet if we can recognize truth about a thing, it would be so much harder to be deceived by anything. Our lack of understanding, our lack of wisdom and knowledge are great deficits that allow for our own deception and malfeasance. And I say malfeasance because we are born and called to be kings with an official authority that carries weight. Now malfeasance is defined as the intentional conduct that is wrongful or unlawful, especially by officials or public employees. So how are we guilty of malfeasance? We are guilty because we are created in God's image with dominion and authority as officials. The violation is that we are in denial of our own DNA embedded in us by God. We are in denial of our own spiritual and

Why Scripture Calls Us Kings

Dina LaFargue Augustin 4:03

soulful inheritance because, again, as I have mentioned before, we are created in God's image. So no matter who you are or where you are or how you were raised, God said it first before any other voice or spiritual being entered into the picture. How do I know we are called to be kings? Well, God says so. And we are to exert dominion over God's creation, as stated in Genesis 126. And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Aha. We are created in the image of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And you can read that in Revelation in the Bible. We are created with authority, for dominion requires authority. Revelation chapter one verse six says, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, and to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. And first Peter chapter two verse nine says, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So with that said, what is a king? What makes one a king? Well, here are some key aspects. Being a king involves a political position. A king is the chief ruler of a kingdom, usually the sole authority over a kingdom with power that can be absolute and unlimited by law. There is succession. Kingship is typically hereditary, meaning it is passed down through family blood lines. More often than not, that is how a king comes into position. It is also figurative and meaning signifying one with unmatched power, popularity, excellence within a domain. And symbolically, kings are often historically associated with divine authority, having the divine right of kings, meaning by God they are endowed with power and sovereignty to act as the protector of their realm. Therefore, my listeners, when we live outside of this knowledge and are ignorant of our true identity as kings as God has created us as children of God by not accepting the fact that we are essentially denying who we are and why we are. Indeed, we are failing to live up to the responsibility that comes with being kings. We are thus living a lie and living beneath who we are created to be, living beneath how we are supposed to be living. We are essentially breaking kingdom principles, denying these principles, as we all belong to this kingdom and are heirs of Christ once we've accepted Christ as our Savior. We have inherited poisitons ,our blood line positions through His shed blood. Through that blood we become heirs and part of his kingdom once again. And I say once again, because in the beginning, or a little after the beginning, I should say, we fell out of grace. Before anything was, there was a God, the living word of God, Jesus Christ being that living word, and in him, by him and through him, everything was created, seen and unseen. And then we have Adam and Eve, who were created in God's perfection and likeness, with power. Yes, they once

The Fall And Christ’s Restoration

Dina LaFargue Augustin 8:48

lived as more than merely humans as we know humans to be. They were more supreme and exquisitely created with power and with a pure connection to God. When they fell, their supremacy was lost on earth, their authority was relinquished on earth, and death entered in. However, Jesus Christ, their creator, God, came to reestablish mankind in their rightful position, in their original position as having dominion and authority. Jesus became man. He came into this world becoming flesh to prove that as a man it is possible to overcome temptation and to crush evil and live in perfection and live in the power, authority, and beauty that man was once created with. And the Bible reads it and says so in chapter one of John. It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Now there was a man sent from God whose name was John, and he came as a witness to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of men, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, from the Father, full of grace and truth. And John bore witness about him and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me rings before me, because he was before me. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, God the only Son who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. Therefore, listeners, before there was anything at all besides God, that is, it was created and established by Jesus Christ, being God. Hence an earthly government was established. God's kingdom existed, and God's kingdom reigned and was established on earth through Adam and Eve. Before the traditions of men, the kingdom of God established order, dominion, harmony, peace, and the ability to be fruitful, prosper, and multiply. First Chronicles chapter 29 reads, Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heavens and the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. So before religious systems came into being, there was only God, his spiritual beings, the animals and plant kingdoms, to name a few, and mankind, all created by him and for him. The kingdom on earth represents the act ive reign, rule, and will of God manifesting on earth, rather. It is both a present spiritual reality within believers and a future, fully established physical kingdom to be realized upon Christ's return, merging heaven and earth. Yes, I'm giving a little background and a little history. I believe this will lend to our understanding of where we came from, where we're going, and what we're to expect. So the key aspects of the kingdom of God on earth now is this there's a present spiritual reality. The kingdom of God, yes, dwells

The Kingdom Now And Later

Dina LaFargue Augustin 14:17

within his people, operating through the church as God takes root in us. It represents a shift from living under worldly systems, meaning sinful systems, satanic systems, to serving as Christ's ambassadors on earth despite those systems. The future physical kingdom is the final outcome, the ultimate restoration, which involves Christ returning to rule, transforming the earth into a state where God's will is done perfectly, akin to a renewed Garden of Eden, sin being conquered. And those in Christ will be ruling to some degree with Christ, no longer living in sin, no longer committing sin. Therefore, there will be a restoration of man's dominion on earth. The kingdom seeks to restore the original divine order where humanity acts as stewards of God's rule, reversing the acts of sin and destruction. The nature of the king re-established. God sent a king to rule, not merely Jesus as a political leader, highlighting that the kingdom is focused on divine authority, God's authority, Jesus' authority, and the transformation of mankind and the world through Christ Jesus, the creator of everything seen and unseen. And now mankind will be operating in his name and in his nature through the power of the Holy Spirit. So believer or non-believer, the kingdom and its principles are in motion now and have been fully activated and in full operation. Hence, we all have a way out of the depravity, violence, and lewd and lasciviousness and greed and impoverishment that has overtaken the world. All the ills of the world are a result of our turning away, but through Christ we can reverse it. Believing in this or not is irrelevant. It's a moot position. Just as calling a tree an animal or a lion a flower is merely a metaphor rather than reality. Our personal beliefs don't change these facts. We don't dictate truth. Truth exists independently, regardless of whether we accept it or want it to be true. The problem is that most of the world has been deceived. We accept more what is not of God than what is. We have been seduced into believing false gods and evil religious systems that have everything to do with separating us from our Creator, blinding us to his truth, and deafening our ears to his voice, causing us to forget who we are and why we are. We seem to prefer to believe in ourselves these days, in our own imaginations, than a creator God, and that he says he is and will always be. At this point in my commentary, many of you might be tempted to stop listening because the information I'm sharing is contrary to your comfort level or how you live and believe. However, I encourage you to continue as I build a foundation for your understanding. Follow me as I lead us to understanding how Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, ties into my point. Before the fall of Adam and Eve, there were never any ceremonies, no religious sacrifices, no traditions, no religious rituals of any kind. They were not necessary because the relationship between God and man and the relationship between men and the earthly kingdom were perfect. Everything was in order. There was peace, tranquility, and clear communication between God and man, between God and Adam and Eve. And Adam and

Before Rituals And Religion

Dina LaFargue Augustin 18:48

Eve were exerting the authority and dominion that God had given them. Godly kingdom order was in operation, and life everlasting was Adam and Eve's reality. It wasn't until Adam and Eve stepped out of position and failed to follow godly principles that problems arose. It wasn't until Adam and Eve submitted to deception and their fleshy desires by eating of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge that disorder, strife, and other ungodly systems developed that caused mankind to eventually and continually distance themselves from God. New ways of living developed that ignored godly principles and desecrated the once beautiful relationship God had with mankind. The evidence and impact of Adam and Eve's sinful, life-altering decision is made apparent through their son Cain. It became obvious that death had entered the earthly realm and a stronghold on man when Cain, their first son, entertained murdering his younger brother, and he followed through with it even though God had warned him to get a hold of himself and to master sin, which was seeking to master him. Sadly, this first son did murder his younger brother Abel,

Cain’s Murder And Exile

Dina LaFargue Augustin 20:31

and as a result, Cain, the oldest one, was banished from God's presence. God did not kill him, but showed him mercy by letting him live. Cain lived, but he left the land and the presence of God in fear and became a wanderer on the earth. Genesis chapter four tells us the history. In verse ten it reads, The Lord said, What have you done, Cain? Listen, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground now, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence. I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. But the Lord said to him, Not so. Anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over. Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, East of Eden. The name Nod originates from the Hebrew word nod, meaning wandering, exile, or fugitive, thus representing a place of alienation from God and a life without roots or belonging. And this is according to the website, Got Questions.org and its interpretation. Therefore, as the history goes, we'll see the disconnect, being estranged from God, as many of us do when we willingly deny God's authority, existence, and relationship. Cain rebuilt his life based on his own understanding and desires. He built a city, a place that was not of God, that was unlike God, as Cain had turned away from God. God will not force anyone to accept or love him or do his will. Hence, Cain was given the green light to go far from God. When you don't want God, you essentially remove yourself. When you ignore God, you're not living in his presence, peace or provision as it should be. Hence Cain built on his own. He built a godless place, a place void of God. Was there love, peace, and tranquility? Not perfect love, not true peace, and not real tranquility. No, because Cain never sought God. Cain did not seek forgiveness from God. Hence, God would only observe him from a distance from afar and let Cain do his own thing. The evidence is real. Cain's descendants violated godly principles by taking on multiple wives and committing more murder and bragging about it. The city of Nod was an actual reflection of what it's like to live outside of God's presence. It was a reflection of mankind's sin nature rather than God's image. Cain made a conscious decision to serve sin when he premeditatedly killed his brother Abel, and he made a conscious decision to continue in that state of mind as he built the city of Nod, void of God. Instead of exercising his God-given authority to put sin down and to cast down his sinful nature and lust, he gave in to that lust what led him to murder. He essentially built a fortress of sin and evil that would feed his fleshy desires, his fears, and depravity. God did not create men with fear. God created man in his likeness and saw that it was good, but free will was abused. God did not create man with fear, no, but with power, love, and a sound mind. But sin gives birth to fear. Sin moves everything out of godly order or transforms everything, and it becomes the opposite of what God intended. Cain lived in fear of being murdered, and that fear breeds anger. Thus, Cain lived a life trying to satisfy his fears, and he fed his anger. He was trying to fulfill what he has lost, trying to ensure that he would live and not die, but he could only fail. And it says so in the name of the city. Cain created Nod, a city of fugitives. Cain lived in a city of exile. So what you create or what you think or how you want to be, you make. Your reality and your mind becomes where you live. Who you hang with and where you lay your hat speaks to who you are. Have you ever heard of that saying? I have many times in my life. Now, Cain named his son Enoch, and that name speaks volumes about Cain's commitment to his new life because the name Enoch means dedicated or committed. The name means everything. And in those times, names were very significant and were chosen carefully. So what Cain acquired and built was a city built on sin and godlessness, and he was dedicated and committed to it. What Cain really lost when he killed his brother was spiritual power, true peace, true love, and his God-given destiny because he had violated kingdom principles. Cain, when he violated those principles, demonstrated that he did not have love for God. It demonstrated that he did not value or honor God. It demonstrated that he did not subdue sin as God has suggested. And it is obvious that he did not use his God-given authority to crush sin, to overcome the temptation, to not fulfill the desires of the envy in his heart. He did not value his brother's life; that was obvious. He dishonored his mother and father by killing their son, his brother. And he obviously fell into subjection to a spiritual force that was greater than him by committing that murder. And he did nothing to prevent himself from committing the murder, even though God showed him the way out. And he did it all premeditatedly. So listen, how are we unlike Cain? Well, maybe we haven't murdered anyone, but how many things have we destroyed? How many people have we hurt? How much havoc have we wreaked on the lives of others by living in rebellion to God when we partake in things that we should not partake in? Think of how we serve sin daily, day in and day out. The list is long. We create ungodly traditions and habits and cultures that are far from God the more we move away from God. We partake in things that have nothing to do with God every day. Think about the standards of living we've established over time that violate kingdom principles if you even know of godly principles. And if you don't know, I'm proving my point through you. Not in judgment, but it just supports the fact that we have moved so far away from God that most of us don't even know who this real God is. We become absolutely rebellious, selfish, self-centered, and reckless in life. Many of us have no clue as to what we're doing wrong because we haven't heard, we haven't been taught, or we just don't care, or don't even know that we should care. I know I didn't always know or follow God or do right by God. That's a fact. And I still have moments where I fail and come short. But I am thankful that I do know what to avoid. And I am thankful that I know I can call on the power of God and the love of God, the mercy of God and the faithfulness of God to protect me, to help me, and to lead me out of darkness and back into his light and in his loving presence. In an article entitled City of Cain by Peter Lehart, posted on Theopolisinstitute.com, theologian Gerard digs deeper into what Cain in a city of Nod is really all about. He says that, and I quote, the Bible unveils the victim mechanism that lies behind polytheism and mythology, but not only behind polytheism and mythology, for its full expression underlies everything we know as human culture. The Bible recognizes this in the story of Cain and Abel. Because Cain murders his brother, God bans him from the soil, making him a wanderer on the earth, and God puts

Civilization Born From Fear

Dina LaFargue Augustin 30:59

a mark on him, a sign to protect him from suffering, what he made Abel suffer. Then Cain builds the first city, and so civilization begins. The story of Genesis 4 tells us, in effect, that the sign of Cain is the sign of civilization. Cain's city is a city of wanderers, a civilization outside of God, those who have been disconnected from the soil. Modern cities are proverbially full of rootless wanderers, but this is not only the modern city. The city as such, he says, is a city of wanderers, people cut off from the soil. The city is a city of fear. Cain is afraid that whoever finds me will kill me. And though the Lord assures him of protection, Cain immediately goes and builds a city, walling himself in from the dangerous outside, creating the sacred, protective space of the city. The city is founded on the oppression of the innocent victim, on the founding murder. Gerard again says the name Cain designates the first community gathered around the first founding murder. This is why there are many potential murderers, and there must be something to keep them from killing, he says. The thing that keeps them from killing is the establishment of sevenfold revenge, which replaces a cycle of primitive vengeance with a ritualized sacrificial reputation of the original murder. This, he says, is the beginning of human culture. Leon Cass in the same article, in his intriguing study of Genesis, makes similar points about the condemnation of civilization in the story of Cain and Abel. Concerned with his position as number one, eager to establish himself as Lord and Master of his domain, Cain, like Romulus, the mythic founder of Rome, commits the paradigmatic crime of the political founder, fratricide. For the aspiration to supremacy and rule entails necessarily the denial and destruction of radical human equality, epitomized in the relationship of brotherhood. To wish to rule, to dominate, to be in command means by its very nature, the wish not only to remove all rivals, but to destroy the brotherly relation with those under one's dominion. The ruler as ruler has no brothers. Out of both safety and pride, ambitious men cultivate prowess and fighting. They build city walls to protect them from their enemies, but the existence of walls creates new enmities and invites attack. The city begun in fear proudly begs one heroic ambition. There is a direct line from the plowshear to the sword. Thus, it says, the Bible takes sides in an ancient quarrel about the origin and goodness of the city of civilization. According to a more optimistic view, the city is rooted in need and comes to be by a process of natural growth, beginning with the household, then the tribe, then the village, then the merging of several villages to form the city. According to Aristotle, the city is the first true self-sufficient community. It comes into being for the sake of life, but it exists for the sake of living well. According to the most pessimistic view shared by the Bible, the city is rooted in fear, greed, pride, violence, and the desire for domination. These questionable beginnings continue to affect civilization as such. And as a teacher of world history, I will interject that we see kingdom after kingdom falling because a brother kills another. Or the new king rises and only rises once he has killed the those others in his family line that my try to take hist throne. Hence the rivalries must end, hence, other potential heirs must be killed. And that crosses cultural lines. And the article continues: Cain's city is founded on violence, the violence of Cain's assault on his brother, and it is maintained by violence as only it knows the violence of revenge and threaten revenge. It is a city of justice, but it is a city of violent justice, peace established by means of violence counter against violence. End of quote. So, as I've stated in previous podcasts, one of the most egregious sins we can make is satisfying self. We make decisions outside of God's will to satisfy our lustful desires. And the most common way we satisfy self is in a physical way, and that is by sinning against our own bodies, by having or committing or engaging in a disordered sex, creating ungodly unions, exchanging power, giving up power through those acts and justifying all of it because we believe we have become God ourselves.

Serving Self Through Disordered Sex

Dina LaFargue Augustin 36:43

We act as God to self. Cain again had no regard for God, and thus today many of us don't either. And if you take the time to read Genese chapter through and through I would say, starting with Genesis Chapter 1, especially through Genesis Chapter 6, it would become evident how manking turned away from God and gave up their authority. Cain became his own man, doing his own thing doing it his own way. When God tried to intervene and give him guidance without imposing himself on Cain, because God allows for free will, Cain made a conscious decision, rejecting God, shutting his ears to reason and help. Thus Cain built a city, creating a way of life for his family and generations to come that have contributed to our present-day conditions, our depraved conditions. As now, much of the world lives outside of God, much of the world ignores God to a great degree, and others feel there's no need to even believe, to accept, or acknowledge God. Hence, ungodly habits, ungodly traditions, cultures, religions, and lifestyles have been formed and fed and established generation after generation after generation. And they say it is okay to serve self. It is okay to serve a satanic god, a demonic god, or a system that has eradicated God from the framework altogether, leading people to believe that all there is is energy, impersonal energy. Has most of the world become NOD? Are we ENOCH committed to Nod? To being fugitives from God? Are we a godless planet living oblivious to God Himself, our loving creator and Father? I believe many people in the world are disillusioned and godless because they have seen or experienced so much evil that they believe God does not or cannot exist. And I get it, trauma will do that. But what about without that? And then again, witnessing the degradation of mankind will do that. But we have to take responsibility for our actions and the condition of the world. It is our fault. The fact is that over time, man has become more self-centered, more prideful, and seemingly self-sufficient, thus creating a vacuum of faith, thus manifesting more evil as time goes. The more time we spend satisfying our wants and our needs outside of God, without God, the more turning away from God, the more room we make, the more room we allow for evil to have its way. Isaiah chapter 59, verse 2 says, But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Therefore, listeners, it is our doing that separates us from God. It is our doing that has created the evil. It is our doing that has hidden us from his sight. It is our evil that causes us to not be heard by him. When we justify evil, we say we don't want God. It is our voices that we hear. It is the voice of temptation that we listen to. It is our voices filled with self and disingenuousness that deafens God's ears. If we call to him without a true desire for him, he will not hear us. He will turn a deaf ear. Psalm 66verse 18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. Proverbs 28 verse 9 says, One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 15 says, When you spread out your hands, I will hide my ears from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Talking about being deaf or stubborn, talking about doing things our way, I was reminded of a conversation I had a little over a week ago. I was disheartened when I was speaking to a neighbor that I thought was really a strong Christian, sold out for Jesus. And maybe he is, but he and his wife started practicing tai chi to improve their health and spiritual life. And it is sad that many believers alike this couple are ignorant of the fact that yoga and tai chi expose them to harmful spiritual forces regardless of their intentions.

Yoga And Tai Chi As Spiritual Systems

Dina LaFargue Augustin 42:08

We must acknowledge that truth is not determined by our personal comfort or desire, and that these practices do indeed conflict with the spiritual truth found in Christ. And the real irony is that Christians, more specifically, engage in these arts to seek a higher level of peace, to overcome strife, to defeat illnesses, or to find spiritual balance and/or power, or all of the above. And from a Christian perspective, we must understand that Hindus and Taoists and other Eastern religions or practitioners are deeply entrenched in these spiritual systems. And these systems and practices cannot be separated from the religious traditions. They cannot be made secular. It's a fact. And any yogi or Daoist or Taoist will tell you that it is totally contrary to those practices to believe that they can become secular in nature. If you believe that they are secular, they are not. And if they truly could become secular, then it's not yoga. It's not tai chi. It is contrary to the entire practice. Without spiritual energy, without spiritual forces, there is no tai chi and there is no yoga. Therefore, for a Christian to practice any such art is contrary to God and the provision and power that God has created in mankind to have through Christ. And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Again, yoga and tai chi cannot be separated from spirituality in any way, shape, or form. The word Hindu actually means to bind, and that binding is to the spirit realm. And Tai Chi's core purpose is to develop core strength, inner and outer spiritual strength and power by harnessing energy, by harnessing qi. Qi is energy. It is impersonal to the Taoist and can be harnessed, they believe, with practice and meditation. But the energy and power that is harnessed and exercised is outside of God. It is not merely from within. And it is indeed impersonal to say the least. But if you really want to understand it, the personal level of it comes from a being that is not of God, from the spiritual side or the spiritual realm that has separated itself from God. Therefore, the true crime is a Christian practicing any one of these or either of these or both of them, because by doing so, they are contradicting everything they should have learned from and received from Christ. And many people have told me they do not believe that yoga is religious, that Tai Chi has nothing to do with Taoism or any form of spirituality, or that either of these are violating godly principles. People have argued that yoga can be practiced outside of Hinduism and that Tai Chi is a way to access the inner God within you. And despite having shared much information and research with many people, and particularly with this neighbor, in depth, people continue to be stubborn and to argue their points because of what they believe. And I have researched many sources and have taught World Religions at the college level and have a decent understanding of the reality of partaking in certain spiritually rooted practices. And to prove my point to this person, to my neighbor, who is a great guy, Tai Chi is best explained by Got Questions. Their article states Tai Chi is more specifically called Tai Chi Chuan, which can be translated as Supreme Ultimate Fist. Tai Chi is a martial art, though it's often called a moving meditation, since the movements are done slowly and deliberately, and it is taught more as a meditative and health-enhancing practice than as a martial art. Though its origins are unclear, the foundation of Tai Chi is the Taoist belief in a universal energy called Qi. Qi is believed to be the binding life force in the universe, existing both externally and internally, moving through invisible channels in the body called meridians. Taoism teaches that strengthening and reinforcing one's inner chi will bring good health and long life as well as spiritual benefits. Certain breathing techniques, meditations, and bodily movements are taught to cultivate and enhance the Qi. This belief is the basis of Tai Chi. There is no supreme God or creator in Taoism. All originated from the Tao, which is an impersonal principle or source of creation. Hence we have the contradiction. Jesus Christ created and holds the world together, not the Tao, not an invisible force called Qi. God says, and I quote the Bible in Colossians 1 16 and 17, or the article does, for by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Doing Tai Chi, even for physical purposes, is paying homage to a spiritual belief system at odds with God's word. End of quote. Foolishness and ignorance are spiritual killers. I maintain that personal belief does not dictate objective truth. Believing something doesn't make it real, just as disbelieving something doesn't make it false. This individual, my neighbor, argued that his personal convictions superseded the factual historical connection between certain practices as their originating religions. And so he did, and so he believes as many other people do. While he holds a firm belief in Jesus as the only way to God, he failed to provide a rational argument when I asked how he would respond to a skeptic who disbelieves in Jesus based on their own convictions. And he fell silent. Yet I pointed out that he would likely label that skeptic as ignorant or foolish for not doing the research, for not believing. Therefore, I challenged his assertion that practicing things like yoga or tai chi is not spiritually compromising, questioning why his personal belief excuses him from participating in a system outside of God. You see, a personal belief is not a substitute for evidence, fact, or truth. Yet his stubbornness provoked him to continue arguing that his belief was enough to defend his participation in Tai Chi. I realized his mind was made up even as I confronted him on the hypocrisy of practicing Eastern spiritual disciplines while calling them religiously neutral and claiming that it wasn't offensive to God if he meditated on Jesus all the while. In trying to end the discussion, I asked him to reconsider how his personal belief could justify participating in non-Christian spiritual practices. I pressed in and I asked him, what could he and his wife benefit from Tai Chi that God did not offer them? And there was silence. And I pressed again, explaining that ultimately his position and arguments stemmed from his own pride as he was placing his own authority above God's word. I told him that this desire for more physical, spiritual health, and strength was the same disobedience that caused the fall of Satan, of Adam, and of Eve. It is the same stubbornness that causes us to do anything outside of God. And 2 Timothy 2, verse 12 says it, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him, he also will deny us. So when we partake of things that are not of God, God sees it, God knows it, God feels us. We are really turning away first because we are denying him, and therefore he will turn away from us. As fallen creatures, we cause our own problems and struggles when we choose to do things and partake of things that are not of God, that are idolatrous in God's eyes, that cause us to seek a false sense of peace and power that can only truly be offered by the one true God of peace. Meaning that if we are seeking peace and power, we can only get true peace and power through God. Everything else is false. Everything else is less than. The God that is all powerful and all knowing is that God that established the principles of living, that established true benefits for all humanity, for his kingdom and the health of the world. Mark chapter 16:17 and 18 state and these signs will accompany those who believe in my name, they cast out demons they will speak in new tongues, they will pick up serpents with their hands and if they drink any deadly poison it will not hurt them, if they lay their hands on the sick and they will recover. Is that not power? 2 Peter chapter 1, Im sorry, verse 3 says, His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, throught the knowledge of him who called us to His own glory and excellence. Acts chapter 1 vs 8 states, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Hence what more could we want? God has given it to us freely. And His peace is the true peace- the peace beyond all understanding. Therefore, when we continually seek to do things of God outside of God, like practicing witchcraft, believing there is white witchcraft, and using witchcraft to help others, is okay, it is not okay. When we dibble and dabble in spiritual practices outside of the authority and guidance of the Holy Spirit, when we abuse our bodies by committing the most common of all physical sins, such as extramarital, premarital, and disorderly sexual living, we are no better again than Satan or Adam and Eve, because we have made a conscientious decision and a conscious decision to satisfy our flesh and not God. Subsequently, we fall into the trap right where the enemy wants us, and that is in his hands and under his influence. And in that state, that can mean one of many things: that we have divorced ourselves from God, that we have been totally ignorant of God, that we are separated from God, or that we are delusional, that we become deluded and corrupted creatures of God, no longer operating as his children in his power, authority, and love. Therefore, I will continue to argue that subjective belief does not alter objective truth, the truth of God. John chapter 8, verse 32 says, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So what do we do? How do we overcome? How do we change our lives for the better? One step at a time, I say. And that is by acknowledging that we have sinned. We have sinned against God, we have sinned against our own bodies, we have sinned against one another. So step one, accept the principle. This principle. It is writtend in 1 John chapter 1. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. And if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness,

Four Steps Back To Truth

Dina LaFargue Augustin 56:03

we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Step two, acknowledge the one and only God. Acknowledge him who made us. In John 14, verse six, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Step three, acknowledged the reality of who we are and what we must do to live prosperously. And that is written in 2 Timothy chapter 2. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. And practice what is written in Mark chapter 12, verse 30, and Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 5. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and all your strength. We are to choose to fall in love with God and not with self. And step four is written in Ephesians chapter 6, be equipped with real spiritual power and not counterfeits. Ephesians chapter 6 states, finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. And it continues to dress ourselves in his helmet of salvation, the belt of truth girded about our loins, to wear the iron shoes of the gospel of peace, to dress ourselves in the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, and that is to deflect every fiery dart of temptation that the enemy sends our way, and to cut down every ungodly thought and attack of the enemy before it takes hold. In closing, I hope this message was food for thought, and I hope that it is given great consideration and meditation by you. I hope that something rings true in your spirit that will awaken you to the love of God that will cause you to want to draw closer and to know him better, to even believe and have faith and hope because he has created us in love and in power. And he says he knows the plans that he has for us and it is not to harm us, but to give us hope in a future.

Final Charge And Blessing

Dina LaFargue Augustin 59:52

So do not be offended by the name of Jesus Christ. Do not be offended by the fact that there is a God above that dwells within us if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. For He has created us with joy and in His likeness. Amen. Until next time, be blessed, be at peace, be in Him, live for Him and in His way, knowing that you are created by Him and for Him, again in love and power to do great things. Truth drips.