Thanks for writing about this — I’ve been trying to tell Christians this for years and no one wants to hear it.
The entire problem with the occult is that it WORKS (which is why me & my wife were deeply involved in the occult/witchcraft/energywork until the Lord came and got us), and often works very well with great accuracy
Posted your article on one such recent comment thread here:
Wow. Crazy to see how you’re being bombarded on that thread, too. I completely sat where those people were sitting LITERALLY like 8 days ago. Only the total conviction of the Holy Spirit was enough to change me. My prayer now is that God would use my work to bring glory back to Himself and the freedom of truth to His beloved Church.
Here's one more for you (coming from an ex-New Ager):
The Enneagram symbol fits all the criteria for a manifestation circle (like the pentagram), as well as functioning like sacred geometry (which is often used with crystals or candles and also underpins astrology natal charts). The number 9 also figures pominently in many rituals and spells.
In other words: it actively puts people in bondage to the enemy in more ways than just taking their eyes off Christ. Those who use this walk right into divination through a cleverly disguised back door.
Thank you so much for sharing! When I was first introduced to the enneagram, I took it to God and immediately saw a very clear picture of the pentagram. I never touched it after that. But every time I spoke to Christians about this, they always dismissed it as a coincidence, saying that it’s probably because the image with the 9 points looks like the pentagram.
Years later I saw Jackie Hill Perry’s story where she publicly renounced the enneagram and repented of her involvement in it. I shared it around, and I was surprised by how severely hostile the response was!
People who are deep in it often feel that they can’t let go because it speaks so deeply to their identity.
Yes. This was me. 100%. It’s the hook that gets deeply embedded into us because we’ve found our identity within it. The hostility with which Christians defend it (myself included) is so concerning.
I came to the same conclusion a year or so ago, after 2-3 years as an Enneagram enthusiast/apologist. It came along with a growing skepticism of therapy. Of course therapy can be helpful in some circumstances if done well; I’ve benefited from it myself in the past! But I’ve also seen it fill the same roll as the Enneagram for some believers. It can draw attention from God to the self, trapping believers in a state of self-exploration that does not lead to good works. My take now is basically that if I look at a godly, elderly saint in the church and think, “It’s a real shame they didn’t have ______ extra-biblical thing,” I should be skeptical of that thing.
I’d never thought about the fact that the eery accuracy of the personality descriptions is likely evidence of demonic involvement.
Wow… thank you for sharing Christina. I’ve veered away from the enneagram over the last few years out of a place of not liking the “boxing” it does to us- and my personal experience with an unhealthy attachement to personality descriptors- but this is deeply convicting. Thank you for sharing truth and shining light on darkness!
This article is a wonderful achievement! Coming from the new age I always knew the enneagram was demonic, and was so grateful for my identity in Christ, that I wanted nothing to do with any type of personality test. I have looked at other resources before but nothing has articulated it as well as your article. It horrified me that Christians see nothing wrong with it. Praise God that your mum showed you the truth and that you were open to hear it! I love reading the comments too and seeing others being convicted. God has truly used your experience for good already. Thank you for the voiceover, it's such a treat, as I never would have managed to read this on the screen. God bless you.
I guess I don’t understand the leap from describing the ideas as from the angel Gabriel to a demonic source. I understand disagreeing with the approach based on the limitations of labels, the ways humans are too complex to be categorized as a number and it may be unhelpful in certain contexts.
But have you read the Bible? The wise men who offered Christ gifts were men like the ones you referenced as the originators of the Enneagram. The myths around angels (read higher beings) visiting people and giving them messages thread through the entire book. Is that considered “occultist?” How do you define “Occultist?”
It seems like a huge leap to say that because someone isn’t a Christian, and they are open to higher beings, that they are necessarily demonic. Did Christ suggest that we need to warn people that they might be influenced by demonic forces for reading a helpful book about personality? Did Mary and Joseph tell the wise men no thanks to their offerings because they were “occultist?”
Hi Kim. These are such good questions from someone who is clearly thinking deeply on this, and I appreciate it! What I would like to say is yes, I have read the Bible. I study it deeply and am actually looking at going to Oxford in the autumn to begin a theology degree because I want to be even better equipped to answer these exact kind of questions.
Here’s what I will say: the Bible warns about pagan practices and false prophets a LOT. And I think we have to apply Scripture in good faith by taking it in its full context — the Magi who offered gifts to Mary & Joseph were bowing the knee to Christ. These men who I have described (and you can go on to read my sources in the footnotes), were ACTIVELY seeking out spiritual guidance outside of Christ. They did not acknowledge Christ as Lord. They wanted “extra” guidance. Their practices included MANY other New Age and pagan practices which go beyond the scope of Christian belief and which God actively warns against, specifically in the Old Testament, when telling the Israelites not to even inter marry with the pagans who border their country for risk of engaging in their practices. (Which frankly, for me seemed a little over the top).
I guess what I’m trying to say is that while I can understand, from the outside, why it would seem a big jump from “Angel Gabriel” to “demon,” the reality is that many occultists actually appropriate language in order to “Christian-ify” their practices to make it more acceptable to the outside world and make it easier to infiltrate Christian circles (which Naranjo’s philosophies later did). But the one thing their (by “their,” I mean these occultists) vernacular is usually missing is Jesus. That’s a big red flag to me — not because I don’t appreciate that people can be on a spiritual journey and not yet have arrived at discovering Christ, but because they were ACTIVELY looking everywhere OTHER than Christ. Ichazo, especially, was engaging in every other esoteric practice. It wasn’t so much a “he hasn’t met Jesus yet” as it was a “he was clearly a universalist, and no practice was off the table.”
You’re absolutely right that angels visited people, both in the Old & the New Testament. But if we use the Bible to help us discern the difference between when a demon speaks to us versus when an angel (or even the Spirit of God Himself) speaks to us, Scripture shows that angels and the Holy Spirit always have a common denominator: they are calling us to obedience to Yahweh. Whatever the message, the angel or Spirit always communicates something which would point us to look to God, to carry out His will, to repent (so many of the prophets were sent purely to call people to repent from their pagan ways), and so on. The information that was communicated from the spirits who spoke to Gurdjieff, Ichazo, and Naranjo did not share a message in keeping with the messages shared from true angels as we see in Scripture. Their message directed us to deviate from God to discern ourselves. That’s just not consistent with anything God has asked His people to do in Scripture. It is, however, consistent with what Satan asked Eve to do in the garden.
All of this to say, I sincerely appreciate your critical thought and questions here, Kim! Truthfully, I didn’t want to write this article at first because I am someone who prefers writing about faith in the grey areas of nuance, and this topic felt a little too “black and white” for me. But I promise you that it was precisely because of my study of Scripture that I saw the inconsistencies between these “angels’” messages versus the messages of the angels in the Bible.
These finite distinctions are so important to discuss, though. Because you’re right: angels can speak to us too. How are we to discern the difference? It’s so easy to be deceived, and it’s why I feel so deeply committed to actually going back to school and learning how to study my Bible better. Without a robust ability to apply Scripture appropriately, I’d be totally inept at discerning false prophets from the real deal. Thank you for putting your questions forward, though! I tried my best to answer them, but I appreciate that there is so much more to be said on the topic, and my little brain is limited. 😂
Same! I truly appreciate an honest conversation. I could tell by your writing that it was not a waste of time to offer a different point of view. I certainly don’t have the answers, and I want to learn from others. I guess my approach is to invite more people into the story, and I think a lot of people would turn away from this type of storytelling. I want spiritually curious people to be curious about Jesus too. They may look to other practices and be open to a variety of sources, like the Enneagram. If we call it demonic and use words like occultists, will they feel like there is a place for them inside the story? I’d love to hear how this storytelling bears fruit for yourself and others. It very well could! And I genuinely am curious if you find this has brought life, encouragement, healing and hope to those around you.
Hi Kim. I so appreciate your heart of love for others that is clearly showing here. And I get it! The last thing that I want to do is alienate people. I live in a very secular nation, and for a time, I was the only Christian I knew, yet I loved my friends SO much and never wanted them to feel isolated or uncomfortable based on how I spoke or who I was. I still try to walk in that tension of truth and love, and it’s HARD. Only Christ has done it perfectly:
What I would say in regards to this specific essay that I wrote is that word choice here was very intentional for me. One of the pillars of my faith is that truth, by its very nature, has to be objective. We don’t get to say that truth is true sometimes and not true other times because that would negate its definition as “true.” There are, of course, areas that are morally neutral, neither true or false. But when something does make itself known as objectively true, I’ve felt challenged by God not to shy away from that (an uncomfortable challenge, I might add).
I used the words “occult” and “demonic” because my research backs up, factually, that these men were occultists, and my many years of studying scripture and spiritual warfare backs up that these men were engaging in practices that historically incite the company of demons — not angels.
What I mean is that I’m not using the words “occult” and “demonic” hyperbolically as if they’re just trigger words to back up my opinion. I picked those words carefully based on research, which is why I footnoted this essay so heavily to show that I am earnestly trying to stick to the facts.
What’s more, I felt a DEEP conviction from the Holy Spirit to write on this topic. By no means from a place of fear but from a place of total surrender into the new freedom the Lord is offering me as I see the truth.
All of this is to say that I truly hear you when you say you don’t want to exclude other people from the story. Nor do I. That hunger for all to be welcomed in to the fold reflects the hunger and heart of God to bring everyone in.
Yet, if Jesus is our example, and we’re meant to model him, he did not shy away from uncomfortable truths, even with those who deeply needed his compassion. I think of the woman at the well and the woman who was nearly stoned for adultery. Both of those women, by Jewish standards, should not have been welcomed into the story. Jesus, on the other hand, welcomed them in, showed them love and compassion, but then said “go and sin no more.” He did not soften his language of the word “sin,” yet he never once ceased to show them love.
If only I could be exactly like him! That’s what my heart LONGS for! To share all truth in love is the ONLY way to welcome everyone into the story.
I understand that I do this so very imperfectly, but I mean it when I say that I did my best. I tried to make sure that I was not watering down what God revealed to me to be true, but I also wanted to know that this truth is only to point people towards something BETTER. More freedom. More love. More being known and seen. God offers everything and MORE than what the enneagram could ever offer. It’s not a fear of the enneagram but a hunger for Christ and all the freedom he offers us which prompted me to write this essay.
Anyway, I’ve enjoyed chatting with you, Kim. I have gotten a bit overwhelmed by the number of people engaging with this post (wasn’t expecting this, ha!), so I’m struggling to keep up with threads of conversation. But thanks for weighing in. Bless you, sister, and peace be with you.
And I had one more thought, which is that I think it is my faith in the Holy Spirit that allows me to approach these ideas with confidence and without fear. She is so much greater than our enemy!
Whew, this was a lot. But thank you for your diligence, research, and dedication to the true, good, and beautiful here. The Enneagram was so helpful to me for a time, but I’ve since moved away from it because of similar experiences idolizing my type over Christ in me. Now that I see the chilling evidence of its origins, I’m happy to be away from it. Thank you.
In a way, around 2020, I had to “divorce” the enneagram. I was so into it and was preaching it. It was such a tool in the Christian dance community I was in. Eventually I was only known as “the 3”. So after the Lord shook my world up and I did the biggest detox of everything, the enneagram just was this toxic thing I had to get rid of.
To this day I say that phrase when people ask me what I am. (My first sentence). I actually lost so many friends over this.
Sounds like another form of gnosticism rearing it’s old and ugly head. Ugh….. 😣 Thanks for the honest write up, I deeply appreciate your story and personal revelations!
I appreciate your thorough explanation of the Enneagram’s occultic origins. Whenever I’ve tried to carefully share this information with other Christians, they’re often dismissive or indifferent. Thanks for creating a resource that gathers the relevant details of its history into one place, as well as for sharing your own personal journey in light of the truth you’ve discovered.
I was just as dismissive to my mom (who I LOVE and respect so much). I find it so interesting how some of us who have been taken in by this are so invested in defending it. My earnest prayer is that this essay can serve as a resource to people who are the shoes that I was in mere days ago. I hope I have written it in such a way that I can show how deeply I understand their resistance. I don’t judge them. It’s hard to surrender something we’ve found our identity in. Pride digs its heels in. But our Father beckons us to freedom. ♥️
From an early age I have had profound mystical experiences and have always had a deep spiritual hunger. I was raised in the western churches, mostly Presbyterian and Episcopal. I did not find any spiritual depth in the Presbyterian church and insufficient spiritual depth in the Episcopal church. So, in my early 20s (1970s) I went hippie Hindu, experiencing nirvana bliss which was not totally fulfilling but was better than what I found in the western churches. In 1974 I found Arica Institute. I did most of the levels of training and had even deeper and more profound levels of spiritual experience, but still not what I was looking for. After several of these Arica trainings I could say I became evil. I was rescued by God back into the western churches. The dilemma I faced was insufficient spiritual depth in the western churches and no Jesus Christ in Arica or Hinduism. So, I went back and forth between Arica and the western churches until 1993 when I found the Orthodox Church. Here I found depth and breathe and height of spirituality that infinitely and eternally exceed anything I have experience in Arica, Hinduism, or the western churches. I commune with the HOLY TRINITY so completely that I neither want or need anything else. I am completely fulfilled in CHRIST JESUS.
I find myself regularly praying the psalm (I forget which one) that reads; " for the sake of Your name lead and guide me, free me from the traps set for me."
I didn't engage with the enneagram, but I am susceptible to falling into being deceived and not realizing it. this article, while very thorough and helpful about a specific thing is helpful beyond that and I appreciate your honesty and humility and willingness to share the journey. I find that to be very relatable and inspiring even if the details of my own journey differ.
What a beautiful psalm to pray, Melony. And thank you for your kind and humble words. Genuinely blesses me to know that God is using this to go beyond the scope of just the Enneagram to draw us closer to Himself. This essay was hard to write and gave me a headache, so I’m glad it’s doing its job. 😂
Thank you. I have not liked it when a friend keeps bring up how I am a four, no maybe a two. I don’t like being boxed in. There are other traits that need tending like being loyal to a fault. When I taught I let my students show me who they were without judgement or categorizing. That seemed best to me. Also all those wings etc seem too complicated for my brain. Your words confirm my instinct about this from the beginning. Thank you so much.
Thanks for writing about this — I’ve been trying to tell Christians this for years and no one wants to hear it.
The entire problem with the occult is that it WORKS (which is why me & my wife were deeply involved in the occult/witchcraft/energywork until the Lord came and got us), and often works very well with great accuracy
Posted your article on one such recent comment thread here:
https://thesundaybestco.substack.com/p/why-you-secretly-never-spend-time/comment/94871010?utm_source=activity_item#comment-94997457?utm_source=activity_item
Praise God for dealing with this.
Wow. Crazy to see how you’re being bombarded on that thread, too. I completely sat where those people were sitting LITERALLY like 8 days ago. Only the total conviction of the Holy Spirit was enough to change me. My prayer now is that God would use my work to bring glory back to Himself and the freedom of truth to His beloved Church.
Yep. I agree with your prayer 🙏🏻
Here's one more for you (coming from an ex-New Ager):
The Enneagram symbol fits all the criteria for a manifestation circle (like the pentagram), as well as functioning like sacred geometry (which is often used with crystals or candles and also underpins astrology natal charts). The number 9 also figures pominently in many rituals and spells.
In other words: it actively puts people in bondage to the enemy in more ways than just taking their eyes off Christ. Those who use this walk right into divination through a cleverly disguised back door.
Oh my SWEET word. 🤯😳
Good grief! It is incredible how easily many are deceived. The LORD's sheep know His voice, so we must listen well and listen closely.
Thanks for sharing! And praise God, from whom all blessings flow, for delivering you into His marvelous light!
Amen! "Hell lost another one, I am free!" For six years, now. ❤️
Rejoice in the LORD, always! Again, I say rejoice! His mercies never cease 🙌
Thank you so much for sharing! When I was first introduced to the enneagram, I took it to God and immediately saw a very clear picture of the pentagram. I never touched it after that. But every time I spoke to Christians about this, they always dismissed it as a coincidence, saying that it’s probably because the image with the 9 points looks like the pentagram.
Years later I saw Jackie Hill Perry’s story where she publicly renounced the enneagram and repented of her involvement in it. I shared it around, and I was surprised by how severely hostile the response was!
People who are deep in it often feel that they can’t let go because it speaks so deeply to their identity.
Yes. This was me. 100%. It’s the hook that gets deeply embedded into us because we’ve found our identity within it. The hostility with which Christians defend it (myself included) is so concerning.
I wish I could unread this. Ignorance is bliss. But alas…. Wow. Just….wow.
I know. It’s been rocking my world for a week now.
I too wish I could unread this. But thank you.
Just going to repent and with the help of the Holy Spirit undo everything in my heart and mind related to this.
I am still actively asking God to rewire my mind. So deep has the Enneagram shaped my thinking that I can only be renewed by the mercy of Christ.
Ignorance is bondage.
Welp, I have been feeling uneasy for the last four or five years about the enneagram after being all in on it. This is the nail in the coffin for me.
Praise God for His mercy on us both!
I came to the same conclusion a year or so ago, after 2-3 years as an Enneagram enthusiast/apologist. It came along with a growing skepticism of therapy. Of course therapy can be helpful in some circumstances if done well; I’ve benefited from it myself in the past! But I’ve also seen it fill the same roll as the Enneagram for some believers. It can draw attention from God to the self, trapping believers in a state of self-exploration that does not lead to good works. My take now is basically that if I look at a godly, elderly saint in the church and think, “It’s a real shame they didn’t have ______ extra-biblical thing,” I should be skeptical of that thing.
I’d never thought about the fact that the eery accuracy of the personality descriptions is likely evidence of demonic involvement.
Wow… thank you for sharing Christina. I’ve veered away from the enneagram over the last few years out of a place of not liking the “boxing” it does to us- and my personal experience with an unhealthy attachement to personality descriptors- but this is deeply convicting. Thank you for sharing truth and shining light on darkness!
You were smart, sweet Madison! I wish I’d been as discerning. ♥️
This article is a wonderful achievement! Coming from the new age I always knew the enneagram was demonic, and was so grateful for my identity in Christ, that I wanted nothing to do with any type of personality test. I have looked at other resources before but nothing has articulated it as well as your article. It horrified me that Christians see nothing wrong with it. Praise God that your mum showed you the truth and that you were open to hear it! I love reading the comments too and seeing others being convicted. God has truly used your experience for good already. Thank you for the voiceover, it's such a treat, as I never would have managed to read this on the screen. God bless you.
I guess I don’t understand the leap from describing the ideas as from the angel Gabriel to a demonic source. I understand disagreeing with the approach based on the limitations of labels, the ways humans are too complex to be categorized as a number and it may be unhelpful in certain contexts.
But have you read the Bible? The wise men who offered Christ gifts were men like the ones you referenced as the originators of the Enneagram. The myths around angels (read higher beings) visiting people and giving them messages thread through the entire book. Is that considered “occultist?” How do you define “Occultist?”
It seems like a huge leap to say that because someone isn’t a Christian, and they are open to higher beings, that they are necessarily demonic. Did Christ suggest that we need to warn people that they might be influenced by demonic forces for reading a helpful book about personality? Did Mary and Joseph tell the wise men no thanks to their offerings because they were “occultist?”
Hi Kim. These are such good questions from someone who is clearly thinking deeply on this, and I appreciate it! What I would like to say is yes, I have read the Bible. I study it deeply and am actually looking at going to Oxford in the autumn to begin a theology degree because I want to be even better equipped to answer these exact kind of questions.
Here’s what I will say: the Bible warns about pagan practices and false prophets a LOT. And I think we have to apply Scripture in good faith by taking it in its full context — the Magi who offered gifts to Mary & Joseph were bowing the knee to Christ. These men who I have described (and you can go on to read my sources in the footnotes), were ACTIVELY seeking out spiritual guidance outside of Christ. They did not acknowledge Christ as Lord. They wanted “extra” guidance. Their practices included MANY other New Age and pagan practices which go beyond the scope of Christian belief and which God actively warns against, specifically in the Old Testament, when telling the Israelites not to even inter marry with the pagans who border their country for risk of engaging in their practices. (Which frankly, for me seemed a little over the top).
I guess what I’m trying to say is that while I can understand, from the outside, why it would seem a big jump from “Angel Gabriel” to “demon,” the reality is that many occultists actually appropriate language in order to “Christian-ify” their practices to make it more acceptable to the outside world and make it easier to infiltrate Christian circles (which Naranjo’s philosophies later did). But the one thing their (by “their,” I mean these occultists) vernacular is usually missing is Jesus. That’s a big red flag to me — not because I don’t appreciate that people can be on a spiritual journey and not yet have arrived at discovering Christ, but because they were ACTIVELY looking everywhere OTHER than Christ. Ichazo, especially, was engaging in every other esoteric practice. It wasn’t so much a “he hasn’t met Jesus yet” as it was a “he was clearly a universalist, and no practice was off the table.”
You’re absolutely right that angels visited people, both in the Old & the New Testament. But if we use the Bible to help us discern the difference between when a demon speaks to us versus when an angel (or even the Spirit of God Himself) speaks to us, Scripture shows that angels and the Holy Spirit always have a common denominator: they are calling us to obedience to Yahweh. Whatever the message, the angel or Spirit always communicates something which would point us to look to God, to carry out His will, to repent (so many of the prophets were sent purely to call people to repent from their pagan ways), and so on. The information that was communicated from the spirits who spoke to Gurdjieff, Ichazo, and Naranjo did not share a message in keeping with the messages shared from true angels as we see in Scripture. Their message directed us to deviate from God to discern ourselves. That’s just not consistent with anything God has asked His people to do in Scripture. It is, however, consistent with what Satan asked Eve to do in the garden.
All of this to say, I sincerely appreciate your critical thought and questions here, Kim! Truthfully, I didn’t want to write this article at first because I am someone who prefers writing about faith in the grey areas of nuance, and this topic felt a little too “black and white” for me. But I promise you that it was precisely because of my study of Scripture that I saw the inconsistencies between these “angels’” messages versus the messages of the angels in the Bible.
These finite distinctions are so important to discuss, though. Because you’re right: angels can speak to us too. How are we to discern the difference? It’s so easy to be deceived, and it’s why I feel so deeply committed to actually going back to school and learning how to study my Bible better. Without a robust ability to apply Scripture appropriately, I’d be totally inept at discerning false prophets from the real deal. Thank you for putting your questions forward, though! I tried my best to answer them, but I appreciate that there is so much more to be said on the topic, and my little brain is limited. 😂
Same! I truly appreciate an honest conversation. I could tell by your writing that it was not a waste of time to offer a different point of view. I certainly don’t have the answers, and I want to learn from others. I guess my approach is to invite more people into the story, and I think a lot of people would turn away from this type of storytelling. I want spiritually curious people to be curious about Jesus too. They may look to other practices and be open to a variety of sources, like the Enneagram. If we call it demonic and use words like occultists, will they feel like there is a place for them inside the story? I’d love to hear how this storytelling bears fruit for yourself and others. It very well could! And I genuinely am curious if you find this has brought life, encouragement, healing and hope to those around you.
Hi Kim. I so appreciate your heart of love for others that is clearly showing here. And I get it! The last thing that I want to do is alienate people. I live in a very secular nation, and for a time, I was the only Christian I knew, yet I loved my friends SO much and never wanted them to feel isolated or uncomfortable based on how I spoke or who I was. I still try to walk in that tension of truth and love, and it’s HARD. Only Christ has done it perfectly:
What I would say in regards to this specific essay that I wrote is that word choice here was very intentional for me. One of the pillars of my faith is that truth, by its very nature, has to be objective. We don’t get to say that truth is true sometimes and not true other times because that would negate its definition as “true.” There are, of course, areas that are morally neutral, neither true or false. But when something does make itself known as objectively true, I’ve felt challenged by God not to shy away from that (an uncomfortable challenge, I might add).
I used the words “occult” and “demonic” because my research backs up, factually, that these men were occultists, and my many years of studying scripture and spiritual warfare backs up that these men were engaging in practices that historically incite the company of demons — not angels.
What I mean is that I’m not using the words “occult” and “demonic” hyperbolically as if they’re just trigger words to back up my opinion. I picked those words carefully based on research, which is why I footnoted this essay so heavily to show that I am earnestly trying to stick to the facts.
What’s more, I felt a DEEP conviction from the Holy Spirit to write on this topic. By no means from a place of fear but from a place of total surrender into the new freedom the Lord is offering me as I see the truth.
All of this is to say that I truly hear you when you say you don’t want to exclude other people from the story. Nor do I. That hunger for all to be welcomed in to the fold reflects the hunger and heart of God to bring everyone in.
Yet, if Jesus is our example, and we’re meant to model him, he did not shy away from uncomfortable truths, even with those who deeply needed his compassion. I think of the woman at the well and the woman who was nearly stoned for adultery. Both of those women, by Jewish standards, should not have been welcomed into the story. Jesus, on the other hand, welcomed them in, showed them love and compassion, but then said “go and sin no more.” He did not soften his language of the word “sin,” yet he never once ceased to show them love.
If only I could be exactly like him! That’s what my heart LONGS for! To share all truth in love is the ONLY way to welcome everyone into the story.
I understand that I do this so very imperfectly, but I mean it when I say that I did my best. I tried to make sure that I was not watering down what God revealed to me to be true, but I also wanted to know that this truth is only to point people towards something BETTER. More freedom. More love. More being known and seen. God offers everything and MORE than what the enneagram could ever offer. It’s not a fear of the enneagram but a hunger for Christ and all the freedom he offers us which prompted me to write this essay.
Anyway, I’ve enjoyed chatting with you, Kim. I have gotten a bit overwhelmed by the number of people engaging with this post (wasn’t expecting this, ha!), so I’m struggling to keep up with threads of conversation. But thanks for weighing in. Bless you, sister, and peace be with you.
And I had one more thought, which is that I think it is my faith in the Holy Spirit that allows me to approach these ideas with confidence and without fear. She is so much greater than our enemy!
Whew, this was a lot. But thank you for your diligence, research, and dedication to the true, good, and beautiful here. The Enneagram was so helpful to me for a time, but I’ve since moved away from it because of similar experiences idolizing my type over Christ in me. Now that I see the chilling evidence of its origins, I’m happy to be away from it. Thank you.
Bless you, Wendi. Thank you for reading. ♥️
In a way, around 2020, I had to “divorce” the enneagram. I was so into it and was preaching it. It was such a tool in the Christian dance community I was in. Eventually I was only known as “the 3”. So after the Lord shook my world up and I did the biggest detox of everything, the enneagram just was this toxic thing I had to get rid of.
To this day I say that phrase when people ask me what I am. (My first sentence). I actually lost so many friends over this.
Thank you for writing this 👏
Sounds like another form of gnosticism rearing it’s old and ugly head. Ugh….. 😣 Thanks for the honest write up, I deeply appreciate your story and personal revelations!
Thank you for reading, Pastor Sierra!
Gnosticism indeed—it does seem to be popping up everywhere, doesn't it! Nothing new under the sun.
I appreciate your thorough explanation of the Enneagram’s occultic origins. Whenever I’ve tried to carefully share this information with other Christians, they’re often dismissive or indifferent. Thanks for creating a resource that gathers the relevant details of its history into one place, as well as for sharing your own personal journey in light of the truth you’ve discovered.
This is a gift.
I was just as dismissive to my mom (who I LOVE and respect so much). I find it so interesting how some of us who have been taken in by this are so invested in defending it. My earnest prayer is that this essay can serve as a resource to people who are the shoes that I was in mere days ago. I hope I have written it in such a way that I can show how deeply I understand their resistance. I don’t judge them. It’s hard to surrender something we’ve found our identity in. Pride digs its heels in. But our Father beckons us to freedom. ♥️
From an early age I have had profound mystical experiences and have always had a deep spiritual hunger. I was raised in the western churches, mostly Presbyterian and Episcopal. I did not find any spiritual depth in the Presbyterian church and insufficient spiritual depth in the Episcopal church. So, in my early 20s (1970s) I went hippie Hindu, experiencing nirvana bliss which was not totally fulfilling but was better than what I found in the western churches. In 1974 I found Arica Institute. I did most of the levels of training and had even deeper and more profound levels of spiritual experience, but still not what I was looking for. After several of these Arica trainings I could say I became evil. I was rescued by God back into the western churches. The dilemma I faced was insufficient spiritual depth in the western churches and no Jesus Christ in Arica or Hinduism. So, I went back and forth between Arica and the western churches until 1993 when I found the Orthodox Church. Here I found depth and breathe and height of spirituality that infinitely and eternally exceed anything I have experience in Arica, Hinduism, or the western churches. I commune with the HOLY TRINITY so completely that I neither want or need anything else. I am completely fulfilled in CHRIST JESUS.
WOW! Thank you for sharing this, George!
I find myself regularly praying the psalm (I forget which one) that reads; " for the sake of Your name lead and guide me, free me from the traps set for me."
I didn't engage with the enneagram, but I am susceptible to falling into being deceived and not realizing it. this article, while very thorough and helpful about a specific thing is helpful beyond that and I appreciate your honesty and humility and willingness to share the journey. I find that to be very relatable and inspiring even if the details of my own journey differ.
What a beautiful psalm to pray, Melony. And thank you for your kind and humble words. Genuinely blesses me to know that God is using this to go beyond the scope of just the Enneagram to draw us closer to Himself. This essay was hard to write and gave me a headache, so I’m glad it’s doing its job. 😂
Psalm 31, perhaps?
Yes, it is Psalm 31!
Thank you. I have not liked it when a friend keeps bring up how I am a four, no maybe a two. I don’t like being boxed in. There are other traits that need tending like being loyal to a fault. When I taught I let my students show me who they were without judgement or categorizing. That seemed best to me. Also all those wings etc seem too complicated for my brain. Your words confirm my instinct about this from the beginning. Thank you so much.