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Here’s some more info on phylacteries:

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12125-phylacteries

http://rekhavi.karaitejudaism.org/phylacteries.shtml

The first article has pictures. The second raises some interesting questions about how old the practice really is. They conclude it probably arose during the first or second century BC, which I believe corresponds to the rise of the Pharisees. In other words, yet another example of traditions of men usurping authority over the commandments of God. That there should be a later association with Cabbala and Gnosticism is not surprising. As one leaves behind the shelter of a childlike faith in God, just taking God’s word at face value, the need for alternate forms of spiritual protection arise, amulets, magic, techniques, etc.

Another good resource I found yesterday:

http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles.html

One of the articles discusses Kabbalah:

“Kabbalah “predates and transcends” any religion or nation, according to Philip Berg of the Kabbalah Centre (Rav P. S. Berg, The Essential Zohar [NY: Bell Tower, Crown Publishing Group: 2002), 61, 211]. It is not about “rote obedience of laws and commands,” but is rather a spiritual tool to enable us to regain unity with God, “to reenter the Eden from which we were exiled” (Berg, 4). “Linear, mechanistic” ways of “rational thought” need to be set aside in order to fully grasp Kabbalah teachings (Berg, 3). Yehuda Berg states that Kabbalah is the “hidden wisdom” that has been kept secret for centuries but now this teaching is coming into the open for a society fraught with social and spiritual problems “

From (Yehuda Berg, The Power of the Kabbalah [Kabbalah Centre International, 2001], xix, xxv, xxvi).

Sounds eerily familiar, doesn’t it. And there’s that “rote” word again. Shows a common set of talking points.

Here’s some more discussion of “Be Still:”

http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_MeditationPsalm.html

http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_BeStillDVD.html

Of interest to our discussion:

“It is a Zen Buddhist concept that truth is beyond words (this is also a Taoist view; Zen’s roots are in Taoism and Buddhism). Zen teaches that truth must be realized as one practices sitting meditation (zazen), cultivating an empty mind by letting go of thoughts so that rational thinking is transcended; or perhaps, as in the Rinzai school of Zen, one’s awareness is triggered by koans such as, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” or “What was your face before you were born?” According to Zen, Buddha’s “real message remained always unspoken, and was such that, when words attempted to express it, they made it seem as if it were nothing at all.”

From: http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_ContemplativePrayer1.html

Again, notice the common talking points, especially how such a variety of New Age teacher have used the “Be Still” passage to make their message more attractive to Christians. The really good cult leaders know how to use various biblical passages as a hook to entice Christians into error. This is actually a demonstrably Satanic technique:

Matt 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, [6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. [7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

The passage Satan quoted was here:

Psalm 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. [12] They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

BTW, notice how the Devil left out a critical clause, “to keep thee in all thy ways.” Jesus could expect angelic help in anything he did, but the passage in context assumes he is being totally obedient to God, and would therefore not presume to do something so self-serving as trying to force God to give him an angelic glide ride down from the temple tower.

Also note the Satanic penchant for inappropriate absolutism, by which I mean transforming carefully qualified truths into false absolutes. The supernatural angelic help promised in Psalm 91 was qualified by the righteousness obedience to God described in the context.

Likewise, though we know John teaches we have a changed nature as believers, a newness of life that loves to practice good and not evil, we also know John qualified that by admitting that we still do sin, despite our profound change of heart. This is the truth that every believer from the time of Christ has lived and experienced, and why it rings so true to us but does not register with those who have not yet experienced the new birth of which Jesus spoke.

Half a truth is worse than none. So it is with all those driven by the Father of Lies. Even fragments of truth, in their false hands, turn into weapons of mass deception.

Nevertheless, God is not limited by the designs of the evil one. By God’s grace, I was delivered from a life of evil that would have certainly destroyed me, in this life, marriage and all, possibly with local headlines. But God intercepted my pursuit of evil. One evening in LA, a street person liberated me from my money, very politely, and as he walked away, said “God works in mysterious ways.” I went to my hotel room, and as much as I wanted the “silence,” everywhere I turned I found God pleading with me. I could not shut him up.

Then, like the prodigal son, I woke up in my pig sty and thought, if there was any way out of this, I would take it. When I arrived home, I found that God had got there ahead of me and I was in big trouble. Yes, it all worked out. The trouble was just what I needed. God delivered me. My life changed dramatically after that. Things I didn’t initiate, a change in my job that kept me off the road and able to be home with my family, the sudden departure of an old friend who was, at that time, a bad influence on me, etc. I’ve told people, it was like I was suddenly in God’s witness protection program, whisked away from my old life and set on new, high, and solid ground.

Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

That is the song of my life, along with this:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

T’was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T’was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.

When we’ve been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise...
then when we’ve first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

Peace,

"As one leaves behind the shelter of a childlike faith in God, just taking God’s word at face value, the need for alternate forms of spiritual protection arise, amulets, magic, techniques, etc."

Amen total Bullseye!

"...as much as I wanted the “silence,” everywhere I turned I found God pleading with me. I could not shut him up."

A very similar thing happened to me SP,after reading the Book of Revelation.Those words would not go away,my sleep departed from me and (I felt)my sanity was departing from me! The whole episode had me wondering why oh why didn't I take the blue pill? I was an airheaded new-ager that would read anything 'mysterious'and so the book of Rev eventually crossed me eyes.I'm so thankfull God scared the hell out of me.His Word does indeed cut to the heart and is indeed a lamp to our feet.

I posted the following on another forum during a similar discussion.I don't care if people think I'm being 'over the top' or not but the more I read the Bible and the more I think on it and the more I 'watch' the more I believe the following.

"I think what so much of it boils down to is that people simply do not realize that what we possess in the Bible is the message of the Creator,the cosmic observer,to those who He created in His own image and that it is,in every sense of the word a bonifide extra-terrestrial artifact.Try wrapping your head around that! Never mind little green men.The living God has placed it right under our nose! If that fact actually sunk in people would bust a gut laughing at any and all so-called 'secret knowledge' because in reality,compared to what God has revealed to us,it amounts to little more than flatulence in a hurricane."

With as much "childlike faith" as I can muster...I believe the following is the source of what ails us and those Masters thinks he is helping... Hebrews 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage

"That is the song of my life, along with this..."

Beatifull thankyou and we rejoice with you!