Eclectic Spiritualities

If you need a guru to fix your messed up life, just talk to the High Priestess of Talk Shows. Oprah will have just the spiritual guide you need. Whether it’s doctors, psychiatrists, life-coaches, or just a good old fashioned New Age guru, she’s got them all.

In doing some research, I came across a webinar (a seminar on the web—don’t you just love all of this new terminology) done by Oprah and one of her newest gurus. This particular guru, Eckhart Tolle, is a new age “spiritual guide” (read “blind guide”) who has no problem quoting Jesus. Tolle believes that Jesus was a good spiritual teacher. So one of the participants in this interactive webinar asked Oprah how she could reconcile Tolle’s teachings with her Christian beliefs. Oprah then informed her that Oprah herself was a Christian who did just that. How did Oprah reconcile it. She simply prefers to call the life-force (or whatever he calls it) “God.” That’s basically how she reconciled the two. After all, according to her, who’s to say there’s only one exclusive way to understand and access God?

Um...Jesus Christ!!!! The One Christians claim to follow! He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). That’s a rather exclusivist claim, isn’t it? But that’s the claim He made. If you claim to be a Christian, then you claim that there is only one way to God. That’s what being a Christian is all about.

Oprah’s words should tell us all we need to know about her. She does not have the words of life or even the “guides” who can give them to us. She is a contemporary syncretist extraordinaire who has a melting pot of religious ideas.

Syncretism is the new “spirituality.” It leads folks to borrow ideas from all kinds of religious and philosophical sources to create customized, “have-it-your-way” spiritualities. In reality, these are just ways to avoid the commandments of Jesus Christ and still feel “spiritual.” But syncretism is nothing more than “empty deceit” (Col. 2:8). These eclectic spiritualities won’t fix your life.

Only Jesus can fix sinners.

YOU TURN

I’ve been doing some thinking about repentance lately. Something sparked the thoughts and I’ve spent some time considering what the Bible has to say about the nature of repentance. I believe the topic is worthy of discussion in the church today.

I’ve noticed a terrible trend about folks dropping out of the assembly for some time, presumably because they’re immersed in sin and worldliness, and then dropping back in like nothing ever happened. They might come forward during the invitation, but even then they might or might not use the word repent to describe what they’re intending to do. Perhaps how people describe it isn’t really all that important, but I think it’s symptomatic of a deeper problem.

Repentance is about turning away from sin to serve God. Those who have never responded to the gospel must turn from their sin and come to God in an acknowledged and demonstrated faith that obeys the Lord’s command to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. But a straying Christian must also turn away from his sin and worldliness before he turns to God. Repentance is a change in direction. If you’re walking the wrong way, you need to turn around!

Perhaps the reason why folks don’t feel the need to speak of repentance is because they’re not all that serious about it. They know they need to get back to church, but they’re not always willing to abandon their worldliness and they’re not very interested in giving up unrighteous practices. John the Immerser was clear about the nature of repentance when he said, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Mat. 3:8).

Have you turned away from sin to serve God? Have you really changed the course of your life? Have you changed your purpose in life? Have you repented?

It's a Love Issue!

“Is it a salvation issue?” I don’t how many times I’ve heard or been asked this question. I’ve even asked it a few times myself in the past.

I don’t like it anymore. Too many times it’s asked by people who either want to add something to God’s clear directives in Scripture or to get out of doing something they don’t want to do. It’s really more of an excuse than a question.

“Am I expressing my love to the Lord Jesus Christ in this?” This is a better question. It’s not merely a question of our affections for Jesus. Jesus determined for us how we go about expressing our love to Him. Quite simply He said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15 ESV). This is the motivation for all we do in our Christian walk.

Too many times we’re worried about what infraction will send us to hell or what small list of things we must do to ensure our place in heaven. This is not what Christianity is all about. This misses the whole point of what Jesus came to do and to call us to in the gospel.

We’re called on to trust Him to save us on the merit of His sacrifice and to entrust ourselves to Him by obeying Him in everything He commands us. We’re called to follow Him wherever He leads and to do whatever is required to glorify Him and exalt Him in the gospel before a lost and dying world. Simply stated, we’re called to love Him more than anyone or anything else in this world.