The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God." - Numbers 15:37-41 (ESV)
I have heard the name of Marlin Hickey in passing and saw her mentioned on Charisma News in the past. Today however she had a piece up declaring that prayer shawls allow one to enter into the presence of God. I was taken back to my days in the Charismatic church I was saved in and for a time, the super-spirituals all would show up for church, sit in the first two rows of their section and all were equipped with Jewish prayer shawls. Hickey always struck me as on the periphery but her own bio reveals that her daily television show potentially reaches over two billion households! Her ministry has been fleecing the flock for over 45 years! So, buckle up and let us reason once more as we discuss a topic that is usually ignored, performative Christianity.
So, what is performative Christianity? It is the state of the modern apostate charismatic church. The false expression of the gifts runs rampant and are all designed to "look at me." Random shouting out of baby babble, false prophetic clairvoyance, multiple flaggers and any number of other distractions are designed to draw attention away from God and onto ourselves. Another popular trend is the Jewish prayer shawl. The root of these garments is found in the key verses today and it reveals ironically that these were designed to remind Jewish people to keep the 613 Mosaic laws. As it turned out, none could keep these laws and breaking one meant you broke all of them, which is why God sent His only Son to die for us. I of course say ironic because we are not yoked to the law, as our Jewish friends were. We are still to honor the law but thankfully we are under grace. I fear that most Christians wear these in church out of pride and a desire to appear more pious than their peers, and not to solemnly remember to obey the 613 Mosaic laws, the majority of which were undone on the cross (except the moral laws). So, let's see what Hickey has to say about it.
"Do you know what a prayer shawl is? It is supernatural mantle that will help you enter into God's presence and receive the miraculous." - Marilyn Hickey
Well, no need to ease into the heresy. May as well jump in headfirst! A prayer shawl of course is not a supernatural mantle, at all. It does not transport anyone into the presence of God. Hickey appears to be setting up a grift here. So, what is the core teaching here? That God does the supernatural miracles only for those who wear prayer shawls? It is just a shame that people are so gullible when they have the bible at their side to debunk such nonsense. We see the set up though. Hickey is going to try and sell prayer shawls and in order to make cold hard cash, but she needs to turn them into something special, or filled with all sorts of hidden meaning and deep import. Except they are not. They are very special to Jews, who have used them to remember the law, or mitzvahs, for centuries.
"Traditional prayer shawls are white, blue and gold. There are reasons for those choices. Blue has to do with divinity, and the color blue is always included in the tassel. When the woman with an issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus' garment, His prayer shawl, she touched the blue portion, which was the provision of what God had for her, and she instantly received her miracle. The gold represents the supernatural life, and the white represents the righteousness of God." - Marilyn Hickey
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