BEWARE DECEPTION

 Deuteronomy 18:9

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there.

Deuteronomy 12:29-30

“When the Lord your God goes ahead of you and destroys the nations and you drive them out and live in their land, do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’

Pragmatics was the downfall of Israel when they took possession of the Promised Land. To the unredeemed eye, it seemed that the fertility gods and agricultural gods of the pagan nations actually were helping the indigenous peoples. Just because something works does not make it right or good.  God promised to prosper His people if they would trust Him to the point of obeying His Word.

God's Word is not empty. When He directs and commands, it is always for the good, preserving and producing wholeness in His people. When He speaks, what He says comes to pass. God's timing is linked to Him and to Him alone, not circumstances. We tend to want God to accomplish His will in our lives within the time frame we have set in our minds and articulated in our requests of Him.

Sadly, there are folks in churches are being seduced by things with pagan roots. It is amazing how prideful and arrogant they can become when they realize that you might not hold to what they have internally enshrined. It's as if folk are asking, "How did the Islamic Sufi mystics develop a system that seemed to enable them to save themselves by codifying their personality types, their liabilities, their emotional and mental "assets". That is what the Enneagram is. I have researched the roots and foundations of this aberrant system and if you look deep enough it claims that you can "fix" yourself if you just have greater knowledge of yourself. There is no need for the Cross of Christ if you can "save yourself" by more knowledge. That reality, embedded int he Enneagram, is a demonic deception that appeals to human pride.

The problem arises in that finite humans can never plumb the true depths of their own spiritual needs. They did not create themselves and they cannot restore themselves by more knowledge to the reality of God's will and purpose for people. The Enneagram establishes the parameters of who you are mentally and emotionally buy assigning a number to you after you submit yourself to the "test." 

Remember, the satanic lie in Eden's Garden was that somehow God was holding out on humanity become its best. The lies stated that we could know the meaning of life with just more knowledge.

The Enneagram seems to circumvent the necessity of time. faithfulness, integrity, communication, and above all, the grace of God, to understand yourself and others. If I knew your "number" the system, then lets you know what that person is like without ever having to invest in the costly reality of building friendships and deep relationships.

I know Christians that would HOWL if I asked if the adhered to Astrology. Being "born under a sign" is meant to set your proclivities and character and folks can then attribute to you specifics delineated in the demonic system knows as Astrology. But the Enneagram is just like this, and demonic at its core. It is paganistic manipulation based on "more knowledge" regardless of its source. "If it works, do it!"

True unity in the Holy Spirit is just that, unity in the Holy Spirit, not some pagan-rooted Numerics! It is a growing oneness in the lives of Jesus' followers as they spend time in the contribution of one life into another, praying together, sharing needs together, working with one another, helping one another and loving one another as Jesus Christ has loved us. That takes time, life-time, not an assigned number.

Our hope is in Jesus Christ and noting or no one else. It is not in "more knowledge about what pragmatically seems to function." St. Paul stated that we are not to go beyond what is written, what is reveled and confirmed by the whole counsel of God's Word. 1 Corinthians 4:6 "Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.”  

The world wants to know the future so as to, perhaps, manipulate it for profit. It wants to have a control over another's personhood by means of a numeric system like the Enneagram or a star alinement like Astrology. If I have your "number" I am the recipient of what seems like insight into who you are, easier to control, manipulate or direct. Oh yes; there are Enneagram "masters" that people call up for advice and direction for the day at hand...just like one trusting in Astrology would consult their astrologer.

God clearly instructed us not to "inquire" how the pagans worship their gods. Idolatry is rampant in our age as people bow down to power, money and self-indulgence of many sorts, and the increase of knowledge. If we look to any other but the Lord Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer, to understand human life, we will begin, ever so subtly at first, sacrificing to idols that promise to answer our questions. Satan never does; he just keeps leading us down a pride-filled avenue that will end in destruction.

Discern! True discernment is telling the difference between what is true and what is almost true. It is not a function of pragmatics but utter reliance upon the Holy Spirit to apply the mighty Word of God.