Mark Driscoll Reiterates that Yoga Is Demonic

UCN:  You've heard of gateway drugs, but what about gateway exercise? (We're talking about the gateway to hell, of course.)

Well, hear this. Christians who show up for yoga class are sinning, according to Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll.

The controversial head of the Seattle-based mega church is taking on yoga for the second time, publishing  a long blog post that equates yoga with devil worship.

"There is nothing wrong with stretching, exercising, or regulating one's stress through breathing," Driscoll wrote. "But when the tenets of yoga are included, it's by definition a worship act to spirit beings other than the God of the Bible."

He wrote that yoga stems from the Hindu religious practice, and therefore must be demonic by nature. And given yoga's prevalence in American society, Driscoll thinks his  burgeoning congregation should be especially wary.

    Giving sound teaching on yoga is important because there is increasing adoption of yoga by our culture, with over 15.8 million people practicing yoga and nearly every store you go into selling all kinds of yoga products. It's gone mainstream. As such, Christians are also adopting it as a healthy aspect of exercise and lifestyle--complete with things like "Holy Yoga," which is an oxymoron. Saying yoga can be Christian because you do it for Jesus is a bit like going into a mosque, going through the worship practices, and then saying you're not a Muslim because you're doing it for Jesus. They don't mix.

He went on to explain why every popular form of yoga is anti-Christian.

Bhakti yoga? A form of paganism. Hatha yoga? Opening you up to evil spiritual influences. Jnana yoga? Replacing Christ with the concept of karma.

The list goes on, chiefly saying that it's impossible to divorce yoga from religion.

Speaking of divorce, Driscoll also equated yoga with sexual infidelity.