What Kind of Spiritual Guidance Do You Want?

Today I want to briefly revisit the question of spirituality—once more from the peculiar view of the Bible. Here's a passage that rather narrows it down.

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14).

In earlier postings I pointed to the Biblical teaching about how one determines if a person is guided by the Spirit of God . Today I'd like to focus upon those so-called teachers who claim to give guidance on spiritual matters. Here's a partial list:

• Spiritual guidance - trance channeling by Abby. 
• Spiritual guidance and personal growth from the Tarot
• Free online psychic readings
• Spiritual growth through cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Spiritual guidance through Magic
• Spiritual guidance through Yoga

The list goes on and on and on.
The warning from Scripture in spiritual matters comes from the Lord Jesus Himself: "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

I know we live in a multi-cultural world. I live in Houston where there are over 100 languages and dialects spoken. I can go to any public place and hear people speaking in tongues that have no meaning to me. In such a situation we are urged to be ecumenical and open to spiritual guidance from many directions. There are, we're told, many paths to God. Consider what Lee Strobel wrote a couple years ago in a very interesting blog: Are There Many Paths to God? It's a very good response. His answer: No. Impossible. To even suggest so is to deny everything that Jesus taught.

All that sounds very narrow, but the truth is, unless we die with Jesus we can never find life (Romans 6:1-14). To deny this truth is to choose death, regardless of how spiritual any teacher claims to be.