To Hell With Religion

To Hell with religion. There, I said it. No apologies made, for religion is the worst thing that's ever happened to Mankind, outside of the Garden of Eden. Why is this? What's so bad about religion? Religion is bad for several reasons. Here are a few of them:

1.  Religion bases belief on experience. Every religion is based upon someone's personal experience that he/she came to embrace as truth. Enough convinced seekers later and, voila, a new religion is born.

2. Religion has no relationship. In religion, people pray, at best, to some mystical, far-off deity who no one knows on a personal basis. No conversation, no personal interaction, no intimate knowledge of a Living God because, in religion, none exists.  Fables, fabrication, and fairy tales, yet millions around the globe give their possessions, time-even lives-to follow what someone else told them is truth.

Spiritual blind leading other like-blinded.

3. Religion maintains its status quo through fear, intimidation-even death. With no relationship to draw from, religion  resorts to fear to keep its members. Fear of being isolated from those you're leaving. Fear of failure to merit approval of those in the know. Fear of forfeiture of reward in the afterlife. Intimidation-even death-is another tool religion uses to prevent once ardent followers from revealing insider secrets of the truth about its plans, purposes, and pursuits.

Do you have religion, or a relationship? Does your god love you as you are, or is unconditional love still on your bucket list of things yet to accomplish?

Check out my next post, as I talk about the opposite of religion, and what it means for you.

Protect Your Identity

Identity theft. It's a problem that's growing in our world today. Television, print, and social media warn of the problem and apparent ease of identity theft. What is identity theft? Identity theft is the act of assuming the identity of another for financial and/or other benefit (s). This usually takes place in the form of stolen identification cards,  as well as credit/debit cards,  The victim's assets are often stolen and a good name ruined by the perpetrator's malicious deed. Those who have suffered at the hands of an identity thief know full well the hurt, harm, and anger experienced from this experience. In some cases lives are negatively affected for years, even life.

The worst identity thief is the devil. How so? Because the devil goes around seeking to rob us of our true identity, in Christ. This means who we are in the sight of God,  Jesus purchased for us a standing with God, as new creatures in Christ. Regardless of our background-murderer, porn star, thief, atheist, or religious church goer, being a Christian means having a new identity, in Christ.

Our identity includes being overcomers, more than conquerors through Christ, and righteous in sight of God, This is what the devil tries to steal from us. The Bible says that the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). One way is by trying to steal the knowledge of who we are, in Christ. Satan tries to get us to see ourselves as unworthy, weak, poor, and sickly-unfit to do anything for God. Those who listen to the devil's lies aren't living the life God sees them having,  in Christ. That's identity theft of the worst kind.

You can't stop the devil from trying to steal your identity, in Christ, but you can surely stop him from succeeding.  The Bible says to resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7). Don't let the devil take what belongs to you. Who you are, in Christ, is the real you. The devil knows that better than you. This is why he works so hard to prevent you from learning the truth of who you really are, or steal what knowledge you already have.

Protect your God-given identity with more diligence than you do with your physical identity.

Can you identity with this post? If so, in what way?

Is tolerance acceptance?

Some things remain the same: the sun rises in the east, setting in the west. Roosters crow, babies cry, and too many potholes remain to be fixed. On the other hand, some things have changed in meaning. For instance, the word awful. Upon gazing at the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame, the king of France reportedly exclaimed, "My God, it's awful." When the Cathedral was completed in the 13th century the word awful meant full-of-awe, just as the word beautiful means full-of-beauty. Over the years the word awful has come to mean something bad; terrible-a far cry from full-of-awe. Unfortunately, the same is true concerning tolerance and acceptance. Once upon a time tolerance meant putting up with, without agreement, without acceptance of what's being tolerated. Not so now. Society, as a whole,  has shifted to holding tolerance and acceptance as synonymous terms. In other words, to tolerate means to accept; to be intolerant is to not accept. But, is this really true? Is tolerance acceptance?

According to the Bible we are to love the sinner, while hating the sin. Jesus did. He told the woman caught in the very act of adultery to go and sin no more (John 8:3-11). Jesus wasn't accepting what the woman did as alright-He called it sin. What Jesus did was not condemn the woman (verse 11)-and neither should we-when confronting sin. Like Jesus we tolerate the person, not the sin. We shouldn't tolerate sin in our own lives, either.

The world's view of tolerance is accept everything which they think is OK. If you don't, you're being intolerant. At the same time, those "preaching" tolerance are the most  intolerant of them all, for they are intolerant of Christians, those standing for Biblical principles of absolute truth. More and more, the world is growing increasingly intolerant and unaccepting of anyone who opposes what they believe.

Is tolerance acceptance? Not according to the Bible no, in reality, according to what the world shows towards those with differing views. Without agreeing,  I practice tolerance towards those with viewpoints contrary to the Bible. I don't agree with them, but I don't force my viewpoint on them. My manner of life speaks louder than my words. Does yours?

How about you? Is tolerance acceptance, in your life? How do you practice tolerance, without acceptance of that with which you disagree?

Truth or counterfeit?

Years ago I was part of a nationally known ministry. Each summer we held an indoor campmeeting, three services a day, that drew thousands of people from around the world. One year I was assigned to help supervise this ministry's book table. Due to an influx of counterfeit bills being introduced into this country from abroad an agent, trained in identifying counterfeit bills, came to our table to educate us in how to spot the counterfeit from the real.

What the agent proceeded to tell us was simple, yet so effective. In training bank employees to spot counterfeit bills, participants saw only authentic ones throughout the course; they never saw the counterfeit. When asked why, the answer was simple. The instructor wanted those taking the course to become familiar with the true , making it pretty easy to spot the counterfeit.

The same is true in our walk with God. We have the Bible, God's Word, to guide us in life. We have God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to lead us in line with the Word, which is the Truth, according to John 17:17. The Holy Spirit will never lead us apart from His written Word. It is, therefore, very important that new believers are taught the truth from birth, spiritually speaking. From the time someone becomes a Christian it is other Christians' responsibility-not just pastors-to teach the truth to that new believer.

In teaching basic truths to Christians, I've found that the sooner I can reach new Christians with the truth of God's Word, the easier it is for them to be rooted, built up, and established in Christ. That's why it's so important to teach God's Word to children, who'll then have the privilege of growing up with the Truth, rather than counterfeits. God, our Heavenly "Instructor", wants children of all ages to be able to distinguish truth from counterfeit, in every area of life.

How, then, do I distinguish truth from counterfeit, right from wrong? In math, 2+2=4, not 3.9,  4.1, or some other close number. Pretty simple, right? In teaching the truth of God's Word, Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). This being true, anything contrary to what Jesus said is not truth; it's counterfeit.

Can you see the importance of filling our hearts, mouths, and minds with the truth of God's Word? What would happen if our focus would be on the simplicity of what God is saying in His Word, rather than opinions, theories, and experiences out of line with New Testament teaching? How can today's post help you to stay focused on the Truth, rather than counterfeits?

What are your thoughts on this subject?