When Christianity Becomes a Religion
Dearly beloved of God, there is so much more to Christianity than religion teaches about it. Christianity revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ, and his accomplishments. Religion revolves around man, and his works.
Christianity becomes a religion when the God-breathed truth of His Word is replaced with man-breathed doctrines, traditions, and creeds. This is the basis for the misconceptions in Christianity, and the cause of the divisions of the Church of God into the denominations of men.
The Word of God reveals the Will of God. Dearly beloved of God, God desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. This is the goodness of God toward us in Jesus Christ. It is His Will, His desire for people, but not all choose to accept His invitation.
God marked out the Lord Jesus Christ as His Son by resurrecting him from the dead. He is the only man to be raised from the dead, and that dies no more, so far. [Read Romans 1:4; 6:9]. He is the only man in heaven today according to John 3:13. According to God, there is salvation in no other.
Romans 10:9 tells us how anyone can be saved. “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Salvation squarely rests on Jesus Christ, and his accomplishments, not ours.
Ephesians 2:8, 9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [salvation] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
How could God state it any plainer? SalvatIon is the gift of God. In spite of the clarity of God’s Word, religion says, “yes, Jesus died for us, but….” It teaches that salvation is by our goodness, or by our works.
Religion treats people of the Church as though Jesus Christ did not completely accomplish salvation, redemption, and reconciliation with God for us. It denies that God freely gives us all things with His Son [See Romans 8:32].
God gave us the spirit from Him so “that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” I Corinthians 2:12.
We are complete in Christ Jesus, who is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:10; see I Corinthians 1:30; Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2:4-10, 18-22.
Religion refers to God’s people as sinners. God calls those that are saved His children, His heirs, and joint-heirs with Christ. God our Father says we been justified from sin, forgiven by the riches of His grace, which He abounded toward us. Jesus Christ delivered us from the condemnation of sin, and from the guilt of sin.
Religion preaches sin-consciousness, while God says that Jesus Christ washed us, we are sanctified, we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God. God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. The One True and Living God instructs us to practice the presence of God, not sin.
Religion preaches that you can back slide out of your salvation and lose it, instead of teaching that we are born again of the spirit from God. We are born again of incorruptible seed, and you are sealed for the day of redemption by the promised holy spirit received in the new birth [See John 3:3-7; Romans 8:8-10, 15-18; Ephesians 1:13, 14; I Thessalonians 5:8-10].
Religion asserts that death is the entrance to eternal life, and that upon death you immediately go to heaven. This contradicts the truth that God gave the Lord Jesus Christ alone the power and authority to raise the dead in Christ at his coming. He is the only one that can provide the release from death and corruption, and he will only do this at his coming, not at death. [See I Thessalonians 4:15-18; I Corinthians 15: 19-23, 50-57]. Death is an enemy, not a welcomed friend that is a doorway to life. It is the last enemy that will be destroyed.
Religion proclaims that God, Who is the Holy Spirit, is Jesus, who was a man. It says that God the Father is somehow God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They say that this is a mystery. It even proclaims that the trinity is the foundation of Christianity instead of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his accomplishments.
Religion teaches that there is no such thing as the devil. It blames God for death, and suffering, and that somehow these are God’s Will. The Word of God teaches that God is Light, not darkness; He does not even cast a shadow like the changing moon.
God delivered us from the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son. God does not afflict, and kill people; the devil does. He does not oppress people with sickness, or mental illness. The devil kills, steals, and destroys people’s lives.
Jesus the Christ went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. He always did His Father’s Will, and he never made anyone sick, or killed them.
"Who His own self [Jesus Christ] bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by Whose stripes ye were healed." I Peter 2:24
These are only a few perversions of the truth of God’s Word by religion.
Jesus Christ said that to those that believed on him, “If you continue in my Word, then are you my disciples; and you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” It is still true today, dearly beloved of God.
The right way of believing comes by hearing; by hearing the Word of God.