What Are Spirit Guides? Should People Consult Spirit Guides?

What are spirit guides and is it Biblical to supposedly identify and consult various spirit guides?

According to Encyclopedia.com, spirit guides are “nonhuman or human entities that reside in the spiritual realm and make their wisdom available to the living. They take a variety of forms, including guardian angels, animal or nature spirits, elves and fairies, saints or ascended masters, and ancestors or descendants who have crossed over to the spiritual realm.”

Another definition of a spirit guide would be a spiritual entity that remains as a disincarnate spirit to supposedly serve as a guide, advisor or protector to a living human being.

The belief in spirit guides is mostly associated with New Age spirituality, sorcery, paganism, spiritism and various traditional customs. The word “spirit guide” may not always be used to define such entities, however spirit guides are known by many names depending upon the culture, religion or belief system.

For example, in the traditional African customs there is the belief in dead ancestors or ancestral spirits who are believed to have a direct or indirect impact on their living family members. In African tradition, ancestral spirits are seen as being superior to humanity and they supposedly also serve as mediators between God and man in addition to providing guidance and knowledge to their living family members.

Another example would be Native Americans and various eastern religions which believe in nature spirits or animal spirits who are called upon by the living to give guidance, knowledge and protection.

Within the New Age there is the belief in ascended masters or spiritual entities that give New Agers secret wisdom, knowledge and guidance about both the natural life and the spiritual realm. For example well-known New Age gurus such as Alice Bailey and Helen Blavatsky were believed to directly receive inspiration for their writings and theosophical doctrines from various spirit guides or ascended masters.
Therefore many New Agers believe in seeking a spirit guide that can protect and guide them in their daily life. Just like Alice Bailey or Helen Blavatsky, there are many new age and occult practitioners in the world today who directly receive information or communication from their supposed spirit guides.

However, what does the Bible say about spirit guides or seeking the help of spirit guides? Should people trust spirit guides?

In Leviticus 19:31 NKJV God says: “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.”

Deuteronomy 18:11-12 NKJV says that there should not be found anyone “who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord…”

God does not encourage humanity to seek after spirit guides whether such spirit guides are identified as ancestral spirits, ascended masters, fairies, animal spirits, saints or even angels.
Many who seek the help of spirit guides do so for various reasons. Many do so because they seek secret knowledge; they seek to know the future; they seek wealth or riches; they seek to communicate with dead loved ones; they seek a supposedly happy or problem-free life; or they supposedly need a spirit guide to help them solve various problems in their life.

It is important to understand that spirit guides do not ultimately serve God and nor do they seek to glorify God.
Instead spirit guides are dangerous and deceptive entities known in Scripture as “familiar spirits”.
Familiar spirits are demonic entities that basically deceive humanity through such occult practices as divination, astrology, fortune-telling, witchcraft, spiritism, necromancy or through any kind of attempt to communicate with the dead.
In most cases people who are known to be spirit mediums, astrologers, witch-doctors, necromancers, false prophets and occult practitioners will experience demonic possession. These people who are usually possessed by familiar spirits / spirit guides so that they are able to give and receive secret knowledge and psychic premonitions. They also act as a human channel on behalf of these demonic spirits.
Furthermore anyone who participates in occult activity or seeks after spirit guides exposes themselves to demonic deception and possession.
Ultimately familiar spirits have one master – satan, who is the father of lies. Therefore spirit guides do not exist to serve or guide humanity – but their purpose is to deceive humanity and to serve the devil himself.

The Bible says that even satan is able to disguise himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

Therefore whilst spirit guides may appear to be helping individuals to achieve their personal desires and objectives, these demonic entities will subtly draw people into more bondage and deception so that people do not seek after God, but instead they involve themselves in demonic practices and teachings.
Many spirit guides have been the originators of various demonic knowledge, philosophies, customs, doctrines and religions which exist in the world today.

1 Timothy 4:1 says: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons

Even if spirit guides or their human channelers appear to be giving truthful or correct information, it is necessary to avoid any occult or New Age practice that involves such demonic entities. Demonic spirits are capable of mixing the truth with lies in order to subtly draw people into spiritual bondage.

In Acts 16:16-19 there was a slave girl who was possessed by a spirit of divination and she made money for her slave owners through her fortune-telling. Whilst she appeared to be telling the truth about the identities of Paul and Silas, the slave girl’s source of information was from a demonic spirit. Hence Paul then commanded the demonic spirit to leave the slave girl in the name of Jesus.

The devil is a counterfeiter. Ultimately spirit guides are evil spirits which attempt to counterfeit the work and the purpose of the Holy Spirit in the life of individuals. It is only the Holy Spirit (the 3rd Person in the Trinity) who truly works in the life of people in order to lead individuals to a knowledge and understanding of God’s truth. The purpose and the work of the Holy Spirit is to convict people of sin, righteousness & judgment (John 16:8-11); to lead us to Jesus Christ; to glorify Jesus Christ and to enable us to live according to God’s will and truth found in the Scriptures.

In John 16:13-14 Jesus says the following about the work of the Holy Spirit: When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.

The purpose of every human being should be to seek a genuine relationship with God. It is only God who can ultimately give us the spiritual guidance that we need.
The Bible also gives us what we need so that we are able to be equipped for life and for every good work.
We do not need spirit guides to supposedly guide us through life. We ultimately only need God and His word to be our true guide.

Psalms 119:105 says: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

2 Timothy 3:16 says: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Furthermore there is only one Mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5).
Therefore we do not need anyone whether it be a spirit medium, necromancer, prophet or a spirit guide to mediate between God and man.
In 1 John 4:1 we are told the following: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We should therefore avoid consulting spirit guides or anything that involves the occult or demonic entities.