There are all kinds of churches today; one for every kind of belief system a person has about who God is. The number of “religions” continue to grow.
What is a religion? It’s that which a person serves in their belief about God. Jesus said: “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
The apostle Paul followed a religion ‘until’ He met Jesus personally with the LIGHT of Christ that blinded him for a time. The Lord opened Paul’s spiritual eyes by blinding his physical eyes – because the spiritual and the physical are connected!
Paul’s “religion” was destructive as all man-made religions are. In the name of God – Paul hunted and killed the Lord’s disciples believing he was serving God. When the Lord came to Paul on one of Paul’s hunt trips, Paul was changed by the Lord. He saw the truth from Christ Himself: the Truth, the Way and the Life.
Paul was a very ‘religious’ man, one who obeyed and taught the Law of Moses, and who faithfully served in the temple as a leading Pharisee on Sabbaths. But Paul didn’t understand what was happening right around him in Jerusalem with the presence of Jesus Christ, in that ‘prophesied’ time. We can also miss “the time of the Lord coming to us in truth and Spirit” by holding on to traditions of religion, and NOT be ready and prepared for Him as we should.
Jesus had called out men from religion and this was seen as evil by the religious leaders then. It’s happening again where the churches have evolved into different religions. The Lord is calling men (and their families) out – to walk His path only with Him.
The early church, the men who walked with Jesus when Jesus literally walked on the earth, were ordinary unschooled men who were loved and taught by the Lord day and night. Beware of thinking you need to be taught by the hierarchies of religions (seminaries). This is one of the devil’s traps. The devil is very religious. The devil also teaches the Bible.
Jesus taught men about false worship in God’s House. Jesus rebuked it time and time again whenever He went in on Sabbaths.
Paul states after his conversion from ‘religion to relationship’ with Jesus Christ:
“Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men (religions), I would not be a servant of Christ. For I certify to you, brothers, that the GOSPEL I PREACH IS NOT DIVISED BY MEN (of religion), nor was I taught it by anyone; rather, I RECEIVED IT BY REVELATION FROM JESUS CHRIST.
“For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how severely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. (Religion has traditions that are hard to break.)
“But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood (prominent men of religion).” Galatians 1:10-16
If you know the Bible’s account of Paul’s conversion from religion to a personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ (book of Acts), you know why Paul then went on to teach like he did – to teach against false worship (false religion), as seen in Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, and both letters to Timothy. He visited the first churches to make sure they stayed the course of Jesus Christ.
When John (the youngest disciple) was in prison for his obedience to Christ, the Holy Spirit talked to John day in and day out, showing him the future (the day we live in and on) and told him to write down (in terms of his day) the things that were to come that the LORD showed him about our day leading up to Christ’s coming again.
The book of Revelation, that John wrote, starts out with the LORD speaking to HIS churches of the church-age. Jesus had John write how churches would become worldly.
If you read the Lord’s letters you will see the various conditions of churches that all though they start out with Him – they began to get off His course becoming worldly in 5 sorts of ways. They become just another “religion.” Jesus strongly rebukes this, as seen in His letters to 5 out of 7 church types.
Jesus had taught and warned His disciples earlier before He left them: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt LOSES its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Matthew 5:13
Two out seven of Christ’s letters: the Philadelphia church type (the New Jerusalem) and the Smyrna church type (of martyrs) Jesus has NO rebuke for, and only commends them for their faithfulness to Him and encourages them that He loves them and that their suffering will end, and then He tells them what they will receive from Him for their faithfulness. And, He tells the other 5 worldly types what they will LOSE that they thought they had with Him – IF THEY DO NOT REPENT.
The LORD ends each of His letters with “HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT IS SAYING TO THE CHURCHES!” The Holy Spirit is the One who keeps us close to the Lord, doing HIS will as HIS Body locally and world-wide.
You can believe that God loves you (because He does). You can believe in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ for your sins, because He died once and for ALL, but intimacy and obedience is what He requires from us; that is if you want His presence in your daily life, and to enjoy eternity with Him and all His saints in glory. God says we need to worship Him in truth and spirit, and not in traditions of religion.
We do not ‘walk’ with a church organizations/institutions – we each walk with Jesus Christ on His narrow path as we fellowship and work with others who do the same. The time is coming in America as it has already come in other countries where true believers will need to be far less public as they gather together. Yes, it will even cost us our life to preach Jesus Christ and not deny His Word.
Jesus does not call us to be a member of a church institution – we are called to His body as members each doing our unique parts assigned by Him – who is the Head. We fellowship at home with the Lord in His Word and Prayer; having His mind and purpose and HIS compelling love to work and act, which bonds us altogether as One with Him. The church can fail the Lord by being over-organized, and also possessive of what we’ve been so blessed by God with to further His Kingdom.
These words of Jesus should keep us true to Him: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:21-23
Jesus goes on to talk about those who build on “sand” of religion with its traditions and false beliefs, and those who build on the “Rock” of the Lord’s truth and faith that comes from Him alone.
All religion will collapse – but a binding relationship with the One True God, Father/Son/Holy Spirit, will stand through tribulations and the tests of time.