Spiritual things are the truth in God's word rightly divided. They are NOT:
• Religious (self-righteous) works of any kind (from Christendom or anywhere else!)
• Mysticism
• Old wives tales and superstitions
• So-called Metaphysics and any kind of new-age teachings
• Man-made traditions
• Man's wisdom and philosophy
• Science falsely so-called
• Emotionalism
Let's look at some verses. **In the parentheses is my personal commentary.
Romans 8:6-8 KJB
6 For to be carnally minded [Unbelievers but also believers who choose to walk after the flesh] is death [It doesn't produce anything of eternal value; for unbelievers it leads to eternal death in the lake of fire; for believers it leads to loss of rewards and not having Christ living in and through you in that moment]; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace [produces things of eternal value; rewards in heaven; Christ living in and through you; we can ONLY be spiritually minded once we are saved because we need God's Spirit in us in order to truly understand God's word].
7 Because the carnal mind [Unbelievers but also believers walking after the flesh] is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh [Unbelievers but also believers who choose to walk after the flesh] cannot please God.
*The context of Romans 8 is more specifically addressing the issue of a believers walk - teaching us to walk in the Spirit instead of after the flesh.
Carnally minded thinking is following after the lusts and the wisdom of this world.
1 Corinthians 3:19 KJB "For the wisdom of this world [Religion, newage teachings, man-made philosophies, science falsely so-called, etc] is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness."
We are either controlled by the world's wisdom of whom Satan is the "god of this world" [ 2 Corinthians 4:4 KJB "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."] or we are yielding ourselves to be led by the Spirit and walking in the truth of God’s Word rightly divided. There is no in-between! Every moment of every day we are yielding to one or the other. If you aren't studying God's word rightly divided regularly and believing it, then you will automatically be controlled by Satanic worldly wisdom, even as a believer! This is the true meaning of "our daily bread" and that man isn't to live by physical bread alone "but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt 4:4 KJB) Gods word feeds, sustains, grows and nourishes us spiritually.
Galatians 5:16-17 KJB
16 This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Galatians also says in 5: 19-21 KJB
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God [speaking about Unbelievers; believers who do these things will have loss of rewards].
Newage teachings therfore are NOT spiritual, but are carnal. Idolatry and witchcraft which are mentioned in Galatians 5, are newage/pagan teachings and practices. Even if they (a newager) are praying to God, it's not the God of the Bible. God wouldn't hear their prayers because they are still spiritually lost having never believed the Gospel of their salvation. And if they happen to be believers who are praying in the same way as newagers do (such as asking God for an increase of money, for a new job, for their "soulmate" or for miraculous healing, praying to angels, etc all of these things are focused on the FLESH and the things of this world or are idolatry) their prayers are fruitless because they are not praying in the spirit and in the truth (praying about spiritual matters like the edification of a fellow believer, praying in thankfulness, praying based upon the truth of God’s Word rightly divided and what God is doing today, etc). We have to learn how to pray differently than how we prayed as newagers. This takes time.
Interestingly, legalism is also considered a form of witchcraft (carnal; works of the flesh). The book of Galatians addresses believers who have put themselves back under the law. This means that they are believing and teaching others that works like circumcision [today you can equivilate this with water baptism, tithing, joining a church, communion, praying a rosary, confession, etc that Christendom tries to teach is either required for your salvation or in order to maintain your salvation] is required to be a "good Christian". They have even begun to teach works as a requirement for salvation (most of Christendom teaches a false gospel of requiring works for salvation or works in order to stay saved).
Gal 3:1 "O foolish Galatians [they have been fooled! Duped!], who hath bewitched you [like a spell put over them], that ye should not obey the truth [Gods word rightly divided; believing and living out the gospel of the GRACE of God], before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?"
Newage is also very legalistic. If you don't participate in the religious practices then they believe that you will not "evolve" spiritually. They have an almost endless list of things to do to "grow spiritually". All of it is just man-made efforts to be righteous, which of course fail. These are NOT spiritual things. They are CARNAL, earthly, fleshly things and never lead to any kind of spiritual growth!
What is True Spirituality?
“He that is spiritual [a believer who has Christ living in and through him] judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man” (I Cor. 2:15). This means that through Gods word working in and through us as believers, we can judge things properly according to God's word rightly divided.
C.R. Stam in his book " True Spirituality " wrote,
"Hence it is not enough that our lives be dominated by our spirits. The whole man, spirit, soul and body, must be dominated by the Spirit of God. Spiritual men, in the Bible sense of the term, are those who possess “the Spirit which is of God” (I Cor. 2:12) appreciate and respond to “the things of the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:14) are “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom. 8:14) and thus bear “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22).
That Scriptural spirituality has to do with the work of the Spirit of God in the believer, is clear from I Corinthians 2:11, where the Apostle Paul points out that just as no one could understand “the things of a man” if it were not for “the spirit of man which is in him,” so no one can understand “the things of God” except by “the Spirit of God.”
The mere fact that fallen man himself is, or has, a spirit does not help him to understand God or to be more like Him. This fact should be carefully noted by those who seek to please God by constantly—and vainly—attempting to attain to their “higher” selves."
So really, to be truly spiritual, you first must be saved! Then, we are to read and study God's word rightly divided so that we can continue to mature spiritually. That is true spirituality!
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