One of my sisters drew my attention to this young man’s poem about why he hates religion but loves Jesus. In it, he highlights different reasons why religion kills. He points out the fact that Jesus reserved His harshest words for the religious scribes of His day, the Pharisees. He often accused them of hypocrisy and putting people off wanting to know God. While I totally agree with this young man’s views in absolutely loathing religion, I am concerned at how some might misconstrue the message he was trying to convey. In saying this, I am particularly referring to people who are quick to find reasons not to attend church or belong to a church family. If Jesus was against such fellowshipping then what would we say about the Early Churches in Galatia? Ephesus? Rome? Judea? Thessalonica? and all the other churches that Paul and the apostles gave their lives to establish.
The problem is not the church. The problem is religion. Religion has crept into the church and shortcircuited its ability to live up to the great expectations God has for it. The concept of church has been warped in my view. Church should not be confined to a building or constrained by its four walls. Church is you and I coming together in His name to establish His will on earth. The bible explicitly warns against abandoning church and the fellowship it provides. In Hebrews 10:25, the bible says, And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
The church should be a place of warmth and love that encourages people to come as they are. The love and power of Christ that should characterise His church is sufficient to transform the lives of those who come to His church to find shelter. It shouldn’t be a place filled with the hypocrisy and judgmentalism that characterises religion and puts people off Christ.
I love this video clip because a young man was brave enough to come out and boldly declare His love for Christ at the behest of religion. My favourite quote from his poem is: “Religion says do…Jesus says done”. All I can say is religion kills but Jesus saves. Just don’t neglect the fellowship of the brethren.
Hi Watchman, yes there is much Truth in what you say we do need to be in Unity in the Body of Christ which is what this Scripture was confirming but this does not always mean in a Church or one Denomination and as Paul tells us if we Love others there my be times when we will need to rebuke, correct and warn. Prophesy foretells in the end times the Church will be in darkness because of people disregarding God’s guidelines and trusting in man’s Logic, reasoning and understanding instead of seeking Him for His wisdom and knowledge . Sad but True.
Christian Love Anne.
Hi Anne, I see the aliens have released you from your captivity! lol. Thanks for your contribution as always. When people ask what denomination I belong to, I simply reply none! I belong to Jesus. I personally find the demarcation and labelling that results from denominations is actually hampering the fulfilment of the great commission rather than doing the opposite. I believe that the church will rise again to what it once was in the book of Acts. In the last days there will be a great apostasy or falling away from God but this will set the stage for the purification of the church. The bride of Christ will return to her former glory in preparation for her Groom (Ephesians 5:27). I agree that the mentality of a church building or denomination is not what God had in mind. I see church as a place where we can receive and give the love of Christ to one another, which includes rebukes and warnings where necessary. From such a place, we are filledand equipped to go out and be agents of transformation in a dark world. As you rightly mentioned, the church is becoming increasingly like the world, with all its emphasis on growth strategies and human wisdom. You couldn’t have diagnosed it any better. Thanks again Anne.
Wow! you are right on Line Watchman, I don’t call myself any one denomination either and we can see the restoration of the Church in Revelation … I do have a very special Church family who I Love in the Lord, who encourage and uplift me, who I can share with and even correct if needed or Learn new things from, even worship with in song they are my wonderful Christian Brothers and Sisters who I Blog with including you ….thank you and God bless you greatly.
Christian Love Anne
God bless you too Anne. You’re indeed a wonderful sister in Christ
“Church is you and I coming together in His name to establish His will on earth. ” Perfectly describes this blogging community.
You have done it again, Watchman. I like this clip, too, but have the same concern. The Lord made us to live in community – in communion. People will mess up and get it wrong. Our sinful nature constantly tempting us to build up something ourselves we can “stand” on (rules, religion). I’m thinking of the tower of Babel. But, the only thing we are to stand on in Jesus. He is building us up TOGETHER into His temple. He dwells in us individually but also collectively. Living together as the body of Christ is imperative. God bless you for this post and for being the Lord’s trustworthy messenger!
Thanks Karin! Keep blessing us with those Hmmm…moments!
Thanks wp! You have done it again. You said: “Our sinful nature constantly tempting us to build up something ourselves we can “stand” on (rules, religion). I’m thinking of the tower of Babel. But, the only thing we are to stand on in Jesus. He is building us up TOGETHER into His temple”. – That’s profound. I spoke to a friend of mine here in Nigeria who was encouraging me regarding the blog and he said he was consistently blessed by your comments! You never know when you are sowing a seed.
Hi Watchman please tell me my friend when will the Church, start to listen to God and stop Trusting in their own understanding, let me please share a few Truths with you that are not being taught in the Church today or shared by many others, there will be a lot of wordage but it is necessary and when I’m finished sharing then lets get back to the basics that were taught and lived in the early Church before it was taken over by Secularism and most Christians were Martyred.
What people call self-righteousness has become very confused today, the Pharisees had it and lived it, they were trying to commend their own works as justification for being saved and although they studied the Scriptures they did not come to Jesus to know The Truth but depended on their own understanding, logic and wisdom sadly today if you claim the promises of Jesus your called self-righteousness
People say they believe they have been set free in Jesus Christ but they really don’t know what that means, yes we will no longer be punished for our past sins but what does Jesus say we have freedom from….
John 8:34-36 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are to confirm we are no longer under the control of sin instead people say they will sin till they die but thy are forgiven the Scriptures do not tell us this, they tell us because we have accepted Salvation and are Born Again of God’s seed we will no longer sin…..
1John3:1-11 (9) No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been Born of God.
Freedom in Christ Jesus needs to be understood but people would rather believe in their own understanding Logic and wisdom or someone else’s and to do so they reject God’s Truth as shown in the Scriptures.
Colossians 3:4-6 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
People love themselves more then God so they go on hurting Him instead of doing what He asks them to do so they can be set free from sin, they don’t really believe He will give them the strength to overcome, yes they say it but they don’t really believe it.
2 Corinthians 1: 21-22 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Christian Love Anne
Hi Anne! Wow…I’m loving your response to this. Like me you are clearly fed up with the state of the church today. so many profess Christ and yet deny Him by the way they conduct their lives. I will have to spend some time really digesting the nuggets you have shared in these comments. I’m grateful to have such passionate Spirit-filled brothers and sisters pouring their hearts out like you just did. It blesses other readers much more than you will ever realise. May we continue to sow those seeds humbly as our Lord waters and causes them to germinate in people’s hearts. Thank you Anne.
Dear Watchman thank you for your very Loving responses it’s a change from how people usually respond to my sharing Freedom in Christ Jesus but I would like to say that although I don’t like the Church meaning what is so often being taught by the Shepherds and accepted by the sheep but I Love passionately God’s people or they would not be able to hurt me as they do. I’m not an Iceberg anymore, it hurts greatly when you offer your friendship and Godly Love and advice to have it thrown back at you and be slandered, abused, moderated, deleted, blocked and ignored as well as not treated as a person of worth and then for them to say your being contentious and arrogant, perhaps they need to look at their own behaviour and why they are doing what they do.
I know what I’m sharing is differant to what has been taught and believed for many years, when God first shared it with me I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t seen it before but He has confirmed it over and over again in Scripture as you can see by the few nuggets of gold as you call them that I shared and there are many more.
What I believe has happened is that people have only been taught part Truths, let me show you what I mean with Roman’s 8:1 what you mostly hear is… There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, what is not taught is …….who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit… this is just one of many Scriptures that have been taken out of context and to overcome their lack of understanding and sinful actions, they have then denied this Scripture and some Translations have even deleted it but it is confirmed later in Romans 8 and many other Scriptures.
Watchman this could end up a book if I continue but if you are really interested in understanding more about Freedom in Christ Jesus please contact me on anne.7423@yahoo.com.au or if you have questions my hidden Blog http://shiningbrightlights.wordpress.com/2011/11/12/the-unmasking-of-halloween/ but if you want me to continue sharing here and others would also like to respond without abuse, I would be blessed to pass on the most wonderful Truth that God has given us to hold onto in Christ Jesus so we can walk in perfect Love and Victory, which means we will be God’s Church and the pure Bride of Christ. .
Christian Love Anne
Hi Anne, please don’t think anything of it because this is the first opportunity I’ve gotten for a while to visit the blog. Once I approve someone’s comments the first time, it’s not supposed to come back to me for moderation. I’ve never withheld anyone’s comments on this blog except for one individual who was using swear words and blaspheming. In your case I wouldn’t do that evenif ur opinions differed from mine so I was a bit hurt that you would accuse me of deliberately withholding your reply that I found to be beautiful and very thoughtful. It’s ok though. I understand how it would have come across to you earlier. It’s just been one of those days.
I’ve been accused wrongly for the third time in a row! Not to worry though. On a brighter note I was really touched to read ur msg. I’d like to take you up on your offer sometime. I’ll email u directly but pls feel free to keep sharing on the blog as much as you like. This is not about me but everyone who will be blessed by your words. Thanks again Anne. Apologies for the misunderstanding.
All glory and praises to God! He gets ALL the credit. I always say that if you see anything good in me it is JESUS! Blogging has given me a better awareness of the power of words. You never know where they might go or who they might affect, and many times you may only have one encounter with a person. I want every encounter people to have with me to give them a taste of Jesus! I am constantly encouraged by the way you and your blog do this so well. You walk that narrow path of obedience to Christ very well. I see and feel that you are led by the Spirit in all you say here. Lord, let every seed we sow spread your love!!
Sorry for being so long-winded
Pls don’t apologise wp! I appreciate it when you guys are just open and honest about these things. I and countless others find it refreshing to the soul. Your desire to want people to have a taste of Jesus everytime they encounter you is exactly what I want too. I humbly ask for the grace to keep walking the narrow path like the rest of us who love Him. We will undoubtedly fall from time to time but a righteous child never stays on the floor. His Spirit beckons us to carry on with the journey, even if He has to carry us all the way to the finished line. Thanks again wp! Keep sowing those seeds of love!
I did forget to add Watchman and yes as wordprocessor said sometimes comments have wordage when you give detail like Scripture etc. So what does it mean to walk in Christ Jesus, how did He walk, did He sin? did He Hurt God? or did He commit idolatry by putting himself or something else first? or did He do any evil thing? no as the Scriptuers tell us He walked in righteousness and when we are in Him so do we in both our words and actions..
1John3:1-11 No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous.
Christian Love Anne.
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Sorry Watchman but you have just done what the others did to me and that is not Trust my responses even though I trusted you but It seems I was mistaken you are like the rest so this is sadly goodby, I will not allow myself to be hurt by you or anyone else who call themselves Christians but walk in the flesh.
Interesting why my second comment was not moderated on but my first was even though I have used this e-mail address quiet a few times now on your blog, it seems someone who has access to peoples dashbords is playing hurtful, evil games or did you click not to be moderated with the previous comment Watchman but to be moderated with the first, I would like to find out just who is responsiable for what is happing both on my Blog and on others.
Christian Love Anne
Hi Watchman please let me apologise I am sorry I accused you but I was also deceived someone at WordPress or someone else is manipulating my replies and changing my settings and hacking my Blog. When I left my reply it had said to be moderated on , this hurt as I felt you didn’t trust me and I believe as a Christian we need to do this, if we have nothing to hide then we will not need to moderate or delete comments, but of course I also delete bad words, abuse and slander or spam and so we should but we can do this without moderating.
So being very upset I responded to this I do not apologise for expressing emotion even Jesus showed this when He was hurting but I didn’t realise it wasn’t you but someone else until it happened on another Blog I was coming back to tell you when I received your reply… thank you.
I’m going to the contact the International Police Communications about the harassment as WordPress Security will not respond to my last call for help even though I sent then a webshot of how someone was using my e-mail address I have also asked at least 4 times now to have communication with someone in Authority but have been ignored.
I’m sorry my problems had to cause you distress Watchman but I think that who ever is doing this intends for it to cause division so yes please keep in contact or ask questions on your Blog about Freedom in Christ Jesus and I will respond, don’t worry if they seem to disagree with what I have been sharing, just be honest I will reply with Scripture.
You may need to remove this comment and the other 2 small ones so your Blog is in order. Christian Love Anne
It’s ok Anne. Thanks again for your apology. Water under the bridge. Let’s get back to glorifying His name.
Thanks for your understanding Watchmen and yes I have decided to move on, one day at a time with Godly dreams and planes for tomorrow. Someone said to me Satan doesn’t worry about those who don’t rattle his chains, perhaps we should all seek to deafen him with the noise of them rattling, then he won’t be able to hear us…. but then perhaps it’s better he does since we are glorifying God and not him, either way God will always have the Victory, he will never win.
Thanks again – Christian Love Anne..
FreedomBorn,
IF someone has hacked into your membership, or pretending to be you, you better be fast, change your password, the longer the password, the better it is. Make it long random letters with numbers and symbols, that way no one can guess it or crack it, okay.
Pray that the hackers will wakes up and repent their sins, so they may understand that Jesus LOVES THEM just the same, unconditionally, and wants them to cease and desist their hacking evil ways, so they’ll go straight and helps close down more hackers out there, and brings Jesus to them to save them and bring them to Jesus.
Praise Jesus!
Thank you defmanbogeyman for your advice, I’m sorry for the delay in replying I just noticed your comment. I have changed my PassWord a few times but I believe now it is someone who works for WordPress, only they could have the access needed to do what they have been doing but I didn’t know how to stop them ( long story ) I have been advised to contact the Police here in Australia and they will contact the American Comunications Security Department that deals with people like hackers, as it is against the Law, that is what I was told yesterday by someone connected with Communications, so I will do so on Monday.
Thanks again – Kind Regards Anne.
so sorry to hear that Anne. I hope you find a good solution to all this. Be strong in the Lord. God bless
Hi Watchman, thank you and yes the only real solution to anything is to be strong in the Lord as you said and as my post and video yesterday talks about, I have given it all to God now and He will work it all out for good and show me what needs to be done, in the meantime, please pray with Ron and me for this Hacker who is so lost in deception, bitterness and resentment.
Christian Love Anne.
Hi Anne. I certainly will put that in my prayers. The enemy will stop at nothing to frustrate the advancing of the Kingdom but he is fighting a lost battle. We have victory in Christ and this hacker will lose too. Take care Anne. Will reply your other comment in the morning as its way past my bedtime now!