Religion, which one ?

There are only 2 religions in the world, divine accomplishment and human achievement. (John MacArthur grace church)

Religion is defined as the belief in and worship of a personal God or Gods. Re” means to “go back,” and “ligio” means “to bind.” “Religion” therefore means “to bind back. Religions are man's efforts to bind himself back to God. Any individual religion is a particular system of faith and worship. Today there are thousands of religions in the world; some more pagan than others. Nearly 75% of the world's population practices one of the five most influential religions : Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism. Christianity and Islam are the two religions most widely spread across the globe. These two religions together cover the religious affiliation of more than half of the world's population.What most religions have in common is rules and rituals. followers must adhere to these rules in order to be accepted into their religion. For eg : Islam and Judaism focus heavily on rules and Catholicism observes many rituals, all designed in that the individual stays on the righteous path to God.

Since the beginning of the ages man has always searched for God. I believe he has revealed himself to us through the Christian Bible, the most accurate translation being the King James Version (KJV). Through this book he has shown us many aspects of his character including prophesy, salvation and revelation. As religion is so vital to people, it's no surprise that it has caused conflict and division and incited hatred and even lead to civil strife over the centuries. There are so many people who have turned their backs on religion believing it to be pointless and as a result, has left them with no connection to God and ultimately a worn out faith. As different religions have developed, the ever changing church has been wounded and afflicted with corruption, confusion and deception. Truths have been mixed with lies and the sovereign word of God has become less effective and somewhat diluted. Its a fact that in life people are more likely to accept lies when they are cleverly mixed in with truths. The Rev Bert Farias (Holy fire ministries) describes religion below:

"I define religion (without relationship) as manmade expectations enforced upon someone as a means of defining how they may be accepted in a particular religion, church, or denominational system".

A brief history of the Church.

After the death and resurrection of Christ, the apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost spread the word to the local Jewish communities and later outwardly to the gentiles. However followers of Christ were hated and persecuted and some were put to death because of their faith. The true gospel or apostolic church remained underground for approximately 325 years and by the order of the Roman emperor Constantine, the authorities liberated and unified the faith at the council of Nicaea and the Ecumenical or first Christian church was born.

Catholicism, which seemed to be around since the 2nd century adopted the pure doctrines of Christ and amalgamated it with another pagan religion of that era to gain people popularity and it was accepted and practiced by the masses. Although this new religion grew in popularity, as it evolved through the centuries, their hierarchy and rulers started to promote the churches own authority and traditions as equal to biblical scripture. Around the 15th/16th century, reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin pioneered protestantism guiding the Church into reformed theology with the Bible having the final authority, which went a long way to correcting and improving orthodox Christianity. As a result, there are today many denominations of the faith. In the modern era we are now seeing new movements such as contemporary evangelical.

If we could lay all this out in the form of a graph, starting at the Nicaea council in 325 AD, all these church movements have in part Gods truth in them and have served his purpose over a long period. However, today we see churches with their own agendas and many modern prosperity teachers in the charismatic movement teaching a flaky gospel as their ultimate ambition is to put bottoms on seats and get rich. We must be wary of these practises lest we be deceived. And Jesus answered and said unto them :

Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:4-5.

Falsification of the word didn’t just happen overnight. The enemy has been working hard on the vulnerable minds of mankind for thousands of years to ensure that many of us continue to practise a false religion. His ultimate aim is to completely divorce our mind and spirit from God’s word, mainly through deception. If we are unbelievers or atheists, the enemy has us exactly where he wants us, however if we are part of a world religion, he will use his deception in an attempt to leave us spiritually bankrupt and endeavour to shipwreck our faith. Some modern church practises are becoming more and more secular these days and are so concerned with popularity and raising church finance and other so called humanitarian projects that the Holy Spirit has long since departed. God convicts us to keep our eyes of our hearts firmly on him lest we be deceived.

'For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables'. 2Timothy 4:3-4.

Between corrupt world religion and high profile false preachers, it's no wonder that people have embraced lies and deception in their theology. So what religion is the best path to God? Surely there can only one truth, and if so, there can only be one path to God. The Bible calls this the narrow path. Math 7: 13-14. Perhaps we shouldn't be asking what religion? But who should we be putting our trust in? On this, I believe we need to put our complete trust in Christ, and him only. The evidence of Christ is absolutely overwhelming and the first four books of the New Testament attest to this. Whatever prophet or spiritual leader people follow, Jesus Christ is the only one ever to conquer death, and be resurrected three days later and ascended into the heavens.

When the Father sent his son into the world, he brought to fruition his greatest plan for us under a new covenant. Christ came and preached to us and gave us wonderful miracles, he taught us about the character and love of God and most importantly he came to 'Save us' from ourselves and from our inherent sinful nature, this is why he is called the redeemer, or the saviour of the world. What differentiates Christianity from other religions is that Christianity is based on what God has done for us through Christ i.e: divine triumph. Every other world religion is based on what we must do to earn God's favour and forgiveness i.e.: human achievement.

'For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God'. Eph 2:8

Christ fulfilled all the scriptures and completed Gods ultimate plan of Salvation for mankind. When he came, he brought a purity of truth, like a pure wine. A wine that had been maturing since the beginning of the ages which originated from the fruits of heaven. Some modern day churches have mixed the pure wine of Christ with vinegar, resulting in false doctrine and heresy. When Gods people heard the truth, they immediately loved the word and God opened up their hearts and revealed himself and they were blessed and saved. When others heard the word, they despised it, especially the Pharisees. The Pharisees of that era were the vanguards of the law and Jesus hated their hypocrisy. They were so self righteous and slammed shut the gates of heaven to many of their own people.

These high priests considered themselves to be the ultimate religious authority of the day and through their pride were never going to accept Christ as divine or the son of the living God. In fact this caused so much indignation that they eventually crucified him. Ironically enough, their evil plan to crucify Christ fitted perfectly into Gods plan for the salvation of all his saints. In a world of mass religious confusion, perhaps the other question we should be asking is 'Not which religion' or 'Christian denomination', rather how should we present ourselves to God ? I believe we should pray solemnly from the heart and pray in the Spirit -

'God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth'. John 4:24 .

Someone once asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment; he replied with :

'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment'. Matthew 22: 37-38.

Sitting in a church feeling guilty with contrived responses is not necessarily a good exercise for the soul nor your spirit. Ask yourself if you are a ‘born again Christian’. Didn't we hear Jesus say ; verily verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again' he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3.

If you don't feel you are 'born again' then I'm convinced your not in a proper spiritual relationship with God. We hear Jesus saying; Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Mat 7:22-24

I'm not saying stop attending your church nor that good churchly people don't love the Lord, but we must remember that the real church isn't about bricks and mortar, or rites and rituals as these modern churches are by no means the ultimate authority. Instead the real and true church is the body of Christ, and the body of Christ are the true followers of the word, the saints, The high priests, and those that truly love and understand through the Holy Spirit the work that Jesus carried out at Calvary. So just to be clear, Jesus is the head of the Church and we as Christians are the body of Christ.

'For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit'

1 Corinthians 12:13.

He died for us that we may receive the free gift of salvation and eternal life in heaven, this is the new covenant that God has commissioned and is being delivered to many as we speak. God charges us with a responsibility that we should grow in fellowship with him, we shouldn't rest on our laurels, or rely on any man made religion, or completely trust a pastor, priest or minister to deliver our souls to Gods kingdom.

Your relationship with the Lord should be demanding, fanatical, sincere and continuous like a never ending journey.

It's not about religion, it’s about relationship and we should put all our trust and faith in Christ, as God promises us the greatest gift anyone can ever receive; salvation, justification ,sanctification, and a promise of glorification. As we climb the mountain of wisdom and continue on this journey, through genuine prayer, communion and worship, we receive an understanding directly from the Holy Spirit that cannot be found anywhere else, and through this Spirit the Bible takes on a new life force and our desire for holy scripture and power of the word becomes overwhelming.

'But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all'

1Corinthians 12:7

We need to see far and beyond a Sunday service and realise that a service to God extends into Monday's and through to Saturday's. We must shake off this general perception that world religion is the ultimate authority in our lives and get back to the pure wine of Christ and the Apostolic teachings. God charges us with a responsibility to seek out the truth, and as Christians we owe it to ourselves as we must repent and address the sin in our everyday lives. I must emphasise :

Self examination and repentance of your sins is a priority

Without this confession and an acknowledgement of Christ, there can be no salvation and no life. There will be a day of reckoning/judgement, a day when we all stand before the Lord to account for what we have done. This day is coming to us all soon. We must be prepared. As Jesus welcomes those through the narrow gate, to others who paid lip service to faith but who do not possess the Spirit will hear Christ himself say to them,

I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers Matthew 7:23.

We must as Christians realise that the cross is not only to be worn around our necks but also carried on our backs. Christ is the way, the narrow way. Christ is truth, the whole truth. Christ is the word, the final authority. No man or woman can please God with any amount of good works prior to salvation, instead good works, rules rituals and commandments should be obeyed as a result of our salvation which is a free gift from God for those of a humble heart.

True religion is therefore receiving 'Jesus Christ as Saviour' which will lead to an eternal loving and peaceful relationship with God.