True spirituality (religion) that is pure in the eyes of our Father God is to make a difference in the lives of the orphans, and widows in their troubles, and to refuse to be corrupted by the world’s values. (James 1:27, TPT)
Jesus Christ is the living word of God made flesh and He came to provide a final payment (Atonement) for the SIN of man so that man could reconnect with God the father. By receiving His payment as our own through repentance (Requesting forgiveness for our sinfulness and turning away from our sin) and believing on Jesus Christas our personal Lord & Savior and that He paid the price for our forgiveness in full by His death and resurrection. This is the only way we can receive the gift of grace and mercy from God the Father.We must be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That is the miraculous work of regeneration performed by the Holy Spirit of God . When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and repent from our sins, The Holy Spirit comes to live within us and He reveals the truth of God’s written word to us. He also renews our minds and changes our hearts to become more like Jesus as we live for Jesus Christ and serve Him.
Being “Born Again” IS NOT a religion! It is an experience that God wants all who desire to know and serve Him to encounter. To grow in your faith, it’s more important that you spend time with Jesus in prayer, fasting, MEDITATION, reading the Bible than just being BUSY. Showing compassion in goood works is a result of personal intimacy with Jesus.
It’s not about religion, creeds, rules, being busy with performance-driven anxiety, denominations, but about experiencing new SPIRITUAL (CONSCIOUS) LIFE. As Jesus Christ of Nazareth came as God in human form died on the cross and rose again, we who believe, must die to selfish sinful nature to have the life of Christ. To eat of the tree of life is to overcome the world through living faith in Christ.
What’s Wrong With Religion?
The reality is that worldly systems of thought are corrupted by a Satanic agenda. Lucifer is in competition over Jesus for the throne. We are all caught in this controversy where Satan wants to steal worship from God.
“…worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” (Rev 14:6-7)
Someday, a global world rule will convince everyone to worship the earth all in the name of climate change because they would rather woship creation than the Creator!
Roman Catholic Influences
Much of modern Christianity is corrupted by paganism and Catholic traditions. Much of modern Christianity is full of man-made traditions with origins in the Catholic church (Constantine in 327AD, new age theology, Calvin, Augustine paganized Christianity and created a state religion which caused Christianity to loose much of its zeal which is why state and religion should be separate).
From the 4th century, due to pressure from culture, Christianity accepted many pagan festivals (Christmas, Easter), images (Saturn, Sun, Cross), idols’s names into the Church. The same god or gods were worshipped that pagans worshiped were also included in Christianity with different names. “All gods are only different powers of the sun” (quoted by James Bonwick, Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought).
When Constantine united paganism with Christianity and made it a state religion, true Christianity lost it’s power and became mixed with the culture. It is not good whenever the church seeks to control the government or the government controls the church, they must stay separate.
Example of pagan and cultural influences:
- Idol worship of pagan names and symbols.
- Sun and Saturn worship. It is possible that the reason why sun-worship is actually Saturn worship is because in Genesis 1, God made the earth desolate due to Lucifer’s rebellion who could have made Saturn his seat of the universe. It’s clear sun worship is actually Satanic worship.
- Greek mystery religions practiced counterfeit tongues and prophesied.
- Seeks political control
- Moral superiority, self-righteousness vs caring for the good of others
Pagan (Mystery Babylon) Influences
Many Christians today are in an automatic “lazy” mindset where they they think just showing up in church listening to a sermon once a week is enough to prove they are Christians. This is not what God had intended for humanity. Being a follower of God is not about going to church every week, it’s about being conscious of God’s Spirit every day.
“Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven…” (Acts 7:42)
- All paganism is putting man above God (essentially what the beast in the end-times is).
- Greek pagans also prophesied, spoke in tongues. This is why the Corinthian church was so immature with fornication and such. Paul had to reconcile Christians coming from paganism. His ultimate plea was to love in 1 Cor 13. meaning godly character is more important than gifts.
- Originated in Nimrod (Nimrod means “let us rebel”) building the tower of Babel. Every ancient religion is influenced by Nimrod.
- All American holidays (Easter, Christmas) are pagan.
- Almost all symbols, structures are pagan and sun/saturn worship oriented. Including obelisks, crosses, statues.
- Lawlessness: lack of love others (selfless compassion) and selfishness
- Focus on humanism agenda (earth worship, social justice)
- Traditions, rituals
- Focused on rules, morals, ethics, and self-righteousness
- Focus on church membership and attendance.
- Man-made hierarchy structure of titles. Separation between lay people and leaders.
- Tax-exempt 503c1 status which gives the government power of the church.
- For profit preachers (like televangelists)
- Focus on salvation only (going to heaven is enough).
- Encourages weakness (just submit to your leaders instead of the authority of Christ within)
Revelation and the Anti-Christ
- The anti-christ will need a church-government union to rule. So, the the Anti-Christ’s rule will be a religious rule.
- The anti-christ will work miracles of healings, deliverance. This is why following miracles is dangerous. True religion always focused on selfless charity, godliness, not money grabbing ego driven magic shows.
A Government-church union must exist for the Anti-Christ to rule. The false church will have great power, miracles, signs, wonders and will look very much like the true church. Both will be preaching Jesus, love, unity and claim they have the truth. Deception is very subtle. The false church will have a government sponsorship and will preach a false gospel of man-made rules, morals, “social justice” that leads to self-righteousness. Jesus, love, unity on truth are good things, but not when it’s mixed with humanism (man-first religion/ethics). It’s very easy to see that this church/religion could be the Roman Catholic church and it’s traditions or Conservative Christian 501c3 churches.
Live by the Law of Faith
As soon as God introduced his personal relationship plan to the world, there were those at the ready to oppose it, they are the new Pharisees of this generation. These new Pharisees, men and women alike, trade freedom in Christ for a religious rulebook. They don’t have a personal relationship with Godor Jesus (Yahoshua), but they know somebody who does. Some have been deceived into believing we need to belong to a certain “brand” of Christianity to find God. Nothing could be further from the actual truth. Godtells us himself that He doesn’t live in buildings made by hands, however, he made room to live in our hearts.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Gal 5;22)
The law of the Spirit of God says that love is enough! What is this kind of love? Love is compassion in action, love suffers innocently. Love gives expecting nothing in return. Love is a response to the sacrificial lifestyle Jesus demonstrated in His life, death and resurrection. This is true freedom, to live out of the desires of a new heart born from above by the Spirit! Live by the law of faith, instead of traditions of men.
“for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)
This really means that God, like a loving parent to His children, ultimately desires that we simply trust Him, by responding to His Word (Promises).
FAITH is AN ACT based on a PROMISE sustained by HOPE (Confident Expectation)!
What is the Church then? A Church is simply you, me, and others like us, who believe that Jesus is the son of God. Peter warned us about wolves who would come in and not spare the flock. Our churches have been infiltrated by the enemy, while a battle rages all around us.
Are you a Christian? Are you saved? Do you have a close relationship with God? Are you willing to give up for Him the life of sin you now lead?
- Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
- It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)
Note that Jesus sets us free; period. Sometimes real freedom is scary and men, afraid of this freedom, tend to make limits for themselves and others in order to regulate this freedom. God put only one limit on our freedom in Christ
- You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. (Galatians 5:13)
- Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)
- Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)
To be a Christian is to be “of Christ “or to be a follower of Jesus. The word Christian is all inclusive. It needs no other word added to it for explanation or definition. Men have created denominations (churches) in order to separate and regulate those who profess to believe alike.
In reality, all faith is individual. No person believes exactly like another person. We all have a unifying point of faith and brotherhood: the Lord Jesus. He calls us to love andrespect each other, but never to believe exactly alike. A person who has accepted Jesus as his or her personal Savior has done so just like all other Christians throughout history.
- They have heard of Him.
- They have come to believe He is who he says.
- They have obeyed the condition he set down.
- He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15-16)
- Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
See how simple? As you go through this world, teach others what you have been taught. Those who believe baptize (immerse) them making them disciples. Then help each other to live a life pleasing to God.
Spiritually, to be saved is the single most important thing that a person can desire. To be with Christ for all eternity: to be with loved ones forever: to be in a place of never ending love; is something that we have all dreamed of. God made this possible when he chose to live and die in the person of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross. By being lifted up, He drew all those to Him who are willing to surrender their lives to His direction.
Those who willingly devote their lives to Him find that they are doing more than just following His directions; they find themselves developing a loving relationship with Him. They call upon Him as a friend in times of need and times of joy. He is their constant companion.
Religion | Relationship with God |
---|---|
I obey the rules so that I am accepted by god. | Through God’s grace and mercy I am accepted and I want to obey His commands. |
My motivation to attend church services and participate in my religion are based on fear, obligation & inseaunity. | My motivation to continually pray, study the Word of God, worship God, fellowship with my brothers and sisters in the faith are based on gratefulness, admiration, joy & love. |
When things do not go the way I want them to, I get angry at god or oneself based on the belief that anyone who is good deserves comfortable life without major issues or problems. | When things do not go the way I want them to, I struggle with the circumstances. But I know that all that happens is for a reason and that God is there by my side to strengthen me so I can persevere through it all. |
I am committed and pledge allegiance to my religion because it is the basis of my life philosophy and defines my identity. | I am a servant of God and a follower of Jesus Christ and I identify with my brothers and sisters who believe the same. God’s word in the Holy Bible defines who I am. |
Now, if you have felt that God has abandoned you and that probably everyone else is enjoying this relationship but not you – don’t despair. God has promised never to leave you.