NT Bible was also in Greek. Many words were adopted but not always with the same meaning. Mystikos in Christianity:
No there is no a single scripture in all the bible that teaches mysticism which has it's origin in pagan teachings and the occult. It is not biblical. You have to go outside of the bible to learn about mysticism. This alone should tell you not to go there.
You are mixing things up. Every major religion has its own mysticism. It's a natural part and development.
"Mysticism is the practice of religious ecstasies, together with whatever ideologies, ethics, rites, myths, legends, and magic may be related to them. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences".
(Wikipedia)
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"Mysticism, the practice of religious ecstasies (religious experiences during alternate states of consciousness), together with whatever ideologies, ethics, rites, myths, legends, and magic may be related to them". (
Encyclopedia Britanica)
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As posted earlier it has its origins from the occult and is
not biblical. The difference is that the occult knows what it is doing and retains knowledge and consciensness and mysticism does not. Let look at the facts when comparing the occult with mysticism from the occult writings of
MAX HEINDEL.
"Etymology can shed light on the two terms of our study. Both refer to that which is hidden. Occult comes from Latin occultus, concealed, and the verb occulere, to cover over. Mystic comes from the Greek myein, to shut the eyes. In the ancient mysteries the candidate’s eyes were actually opened (either after long sensory deprivation to effect heightened impact of the mystical scene, or, more esoterically, the spiritual vision was opened). In common usage, occultism reveals the hidden while mysticism only refers to the hidden.
Heindel retains this sense: Occultism is a rational presentation, a public showing of invisible or meta-physical truths. It identifies the causes for physical phenomena existing in the world of thought and, importantly, the path by which the invisible worlds can be consciously accessed and known. Mysticism describes the path of uniting with the first Cause of creation through faith, devotion, and love. Mysticism does not seek knowledge per se, it seeks God. It would surpass “mere” knowledge, however lofty. It wants total immersion in Divinity.
Mysticism, though having its origin in the revelation of higher knowledge in pre-Christian Mysteries (Greek, mysterion) of Asia Minor, Egypt, and Ancient Greece, during the Christian era it increasingly referred to a state of heightened subjectivity by which the religious seeker attained an ecstatic and ineffable union with the divine Presence. The content of this experience thus virtually defies transmission.
In occult experiences, on the other hand, the seer retains his ego-awareness when experiencing realities of the higher worlds and is able to give them a form that human reason can comprehend, without having to experience them first-hand. Therefore direct experience in the higher worlds is prepared for by studying the occult knowledge derived from those worlds. Mystic knowledge cannot be taught in this manner; in fact, the term is somewhat of a contradiction, if we understand knowledge precisely as that which can be taught or verbally communicated.
The word occult or its derivatives (occultist, occultism) occurs 145 times in the Cosmo, mystic appears nine times. Clearly Heindel was presenting occult, not mystic, truths, as the first and second editions of the book make clear, for its full title was Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Christian Occult Science. In the third edition, Heindel changed the title to Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity. That the Cosmo is a presentation of occult, not mystic, Christian truths, is confirmed by both the book’s contents and by many statements made in Heindel’s other works, as this study will show.
The Cosmo’s purpose is to shed occult light on “the World-Mystery” (248) so that, as the concluding sentence to the first two editions explain, “faith can be swallowed up in knowledge dedicated to the service of Humanity.” The mystic “feels rather than knows” (478). But the “main efforts” of the Rosicrucians “are expended in reaching the intellectually minded, for their need is greater” than the mystics’, who travel the heart path" (
Mystic and Occult in Max Hendels Writings)
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What does this mean exactly? It simply means all mysticism is the practice and experience of the occult without a knowledge of what you are doing! This is not biblical and does not have it's origin in the scriptures or the teachings of JESUS and the bible!
Of course there is mysticism in the Bible. Moses, "fathers" and prophets didn't have a Bible. According to scripture they had first hand experience that was passed on and recorded. So it's the very source of the Bible. Jesus taught ascesis (fasting, prayer and good works), purity of heart to see God, spending time in stillness, "secrets of the kingdom of heaven", "rivers of living water" etc. Remember how did Paul meet Jesus...
None of what you have listed above is mysticism as defined earlier. The only mysticism spoken about according to the definitions provided are that of BAAL worship from paganism and the occult. Notice in 1 KINGS 18:17-38 that all the prophets of BAAL when challenged by Elijah to get their God to bring down fire from heaven to burn their sacrifice, they worked sought BAAL from morning to evening jumping up and down on the alter of sacrifice working themselves into a frenzy and cutting themselves practicing their mysticism and occult teachings. Then we see also the sorcerers and magicians that tried to copy the signs of God given to Moses through their magic and mysticism. All of these are a part of mysticism according to the definition we have provided above. Also of note every form of pagan religions, new age and occults all practice mysticism. This alone should tell you it is not of God let alone it not being biblical for God's people to practice. Then there are these scriptures...
Deuteronomy 18:10-12
There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.
Leviticus 20:6 “
If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.
Those who practice magic and pray and consult the dead (Mary and the Saints) the scriptures teach are an abomination with God.
More interesting reading...
Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation
3rd Angel said: Martin Luther's insistence on the superiority of Scripture to mystical experience is seen in his rejection of the theology of Thomas Müntzer (1489-1525, executed for his role in the Peasants' War), who was heavily influenced by the Rhineland Mystic, Johannes Tauler (1300-1361).
Your response...
Tauler wrote his sermons in German for the Dominican nuns he counselled in Strasbourg. His thoughts are held to have influenced the young Martin Luther. The same can be said of
The German Theology [
Theologia Deutsch], an anonymous fourteenth-century tract written in vernacular German. Luther, who published this text in two annotated editions in 1516 and 1518, apparently remarked that, after the Bible and
The Confessions of St. Augustine, this book had taught him the most about God, Christ, man, and the world. Luther cited both
The German Theology and Tauler’s writings as evidence that his own teachings were not innovations but a continuation of orthodox ideas. (
GHDI - Document - Chapter)
As posted in the quote you are quoting from Luther renounced mysticism and proclaimed his insistence on the
superiority of Scripture to mystical experience which is seen in his rejection of the theology of Thomas Müntzer (1489-1525, executed for his role in the Peasants' War), who was heavily influenced by the Rhineland Mystic, Johannes Tauler (1300-1361).
"In him we live and move and have our being." "But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it."
This very scripture only supports what I am sharing here and what Luther also proclaimed the Word that is very new you is how we are to live and have our being. We need to love it and it needs to be in our heart so that we can do it.
Again it is not Eastern. It's an early Christian practice of prayer. Even if it's called a mantra because of similarity it is actually meant as a prayer not a mere repetition.
Nonsense. Mysticism predates Christianity and was practiced in the old testament occult and pagan religions as shown in the scriptures already provided above. Mysticism has roots in Shamanism, Buddism, Hinduism, the occult and other pagen religions. Go do your homework.
3rd Angel said: God does not work in the silence, but familiar spirits do.
Your response...
You may be familiar wit the "still small voice".
Indeed the "still small voice" is not "
silence". Goodness I write this with all love and genuine concern. I hope you can receive this in the Spirit it was given. I believe that those who reject the Word of God in order to practice mysticism are being lead away from God. Run as fast as you can before it is too late.
May you receive God's Word and be blessed.
