TRUE VS. FALSE RELIGION

A while ago, while teaching the Word in a meeting, I said “Christianity is not a religion” supposing that was already a well known and understood expression but was amazed as a lady couldn’t help but responded immediately “then, what’s it?” That really got my attention because so many times we make certain assumptions that are detrimental. A lot of people, even Christians, have been thrown into confusion by that expression. I also grew up with the view that Christianity was a religion and even when I started hearing from certain ministers of the Gospel that it isn’t a religion I believed but didn’t really get it until I started studying the Word for myself. Today, there’s so much talk about how Christianity is not a religion and this has put a lot of people into confusion as to what then it really is. This ought to be properly explained. According to the dictionary, the word ‘religion’ simply refers to the belief in the existence of a god who is in control of a thing or things. Based on this definition, the world sees every form of belief in a god, whoever he or it may be, as a kind of religion and so they say there are so many religions in the world and they go ahead to name them including Christianity. So in dealing with the world (e.g. filling a form or legal documents etc.), we can go by their definition of religion. But then, we must be careful about using the dictionary to define spiritual things. Dictionaries are written by men. However, when you study the Bible critically you see that there’s more to Christianity than just being one of the groups of people who believe in a ‘god’ just like every other groups believe in their own god. You see, religion actually came into existence after the fall. After the first man, Adam, fell, he lost his spiritual consciousness as a result of spiritual death and gradually men started searching for ways to satisfy their desire for the presence of God in their lives. But now man was being controlled by his senses instead of his spirit because he died in spirit (was separated from God. Death means separation). Now man wanted to feel, see, touch and relate with God in a tangible way. And this is the same reason we still have idol worshippers of different kinds today. Now, it is impossible for those who are outside Christ to understand this but we who are in Christ, having been enlightened by the Spirit of Truth, can have an understanding on the matter. The word ‘religion’ or ‘religious’ appear only 7 times in the entire Bible. 4 times used in relation to Judaism and 3 times to express God’s view on the subject. God’s definition of religion is found in James 1:26-27. It says “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Christianity is not a religion but there is a religion (devotion) that is practiced in Christianity. It would be wrong to use a part to define a whole. The fact that there is a religion we practice in Christianity doesn’t make Christianity a religion any more than having a baseball pitch in a school makes the whole school a baseball pitch. Now, if there is a pure religion then there are impure religions. If there is an undefiled religion then there are defiled religions. We equally see the definition of impure and defiled religion in 2Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” False religion has two dimensions. The first is man’s effort to reach God when God has already reached out to man, that is, not accepting God’s solution – Jesus Christ. And so they have various methods, traditions, and figures (idols and other stuff) which they believe they could use as a medium in their efforts to reach that ‘unknown God’ somewhere. This is found among the unsaved people of the world. The second dimension of false religion is found among nominal Christians. They have the form of godliness but deny the power thereof. These can pray but never expect God to actually answer, they pray as a form of ritual. They go to Church just because they are ‘supposed’ to go to Church, they don’t really expect anything. They lack the influence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. This dimension deals with stubborn ignorance. Apostle Paul, by the Spirit, describes this in Col. 2:20-23. So then, what is Christianity if it is not a religion? Well, no-one can really understand why Christianity is not a religion until they first understand what Christianity really is. Christianity is Christ Himself, living and expressing Himself on earth through a surrendered man (or woman). Christianity is defined explicitly in Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” When you come to Christ you cease to exist, it is now Christ living and expressing Himself in and through you because God wants more Christ-like sons on the earth, Jesus Christ being the pattern-Son (See Romans 8:29). Whenever you think of Christianity, the question you must always ask yourself is why did Jesus come? For what purpose? Why was it important that He came? Jesus didn’t come and die for the world just to give the world another religion or a superior one – the world already had a lot of them. Jesus didn’t only bring reality as the answer to the endless search of man for God but He Himself was and is The Reality (John 1:17; John 14:6). The word ‘truth’ in those Scriptures actually means ‘reality’. If Jesus came as God’s answer to humanity’s search for the true and living God through religion, then He must have come with something superior to religion. That’s why whenever anyone gets born again the search ends – he’s found the reality. Understand that every man born into this world is naturally in search of reality. That’s the reason for philosophy, science, religion etc. These are man’s way of searching for reality. You can study for yourself to see how Apostle Paul handled the subject of religion in Acts 17:16-34. Christianity is not a religion. It is not, has never been and would never be a religion. The Bible is not a religious book; it’s the Book of Reality. Christianity is not a religion; it’s a living relationship with the Living God – the sole Creator of Heaven and earth. Religion has never saved anyone! Religion has never imparted eternal life to any soul but Christ came to save the world and to give men eternal life. Praise God! According to the Bible, religion is what we do and not what we are. As we, Christians, practice the pure and undefiled religion we must always remember that our focus is Christ Himself!

SPEAK LIFE

If you knew that every word you ever spoke would become a reality, what would you rather speak? What would be your communication? If you knew you could create anything with your words, what would you rather speak? But that’s just the truth. Our words become reality in our sphere; our words created the things that now exist in our sphere. When God created man, He imparted the same word-ability He has in man so that he could continue the creation by calling forth those things that are not from the realm of the spirit into the physical world. So then you might be responsible for the good things or the mess in your life because of the words you have been speaking. The words we speak today create our tomorrow – that’s just how it works! The Word of God tells us in Proverbs 18:21 that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” (NKJV). Years ago when I got to see this I changed my communication and made up my mind never to voice out the devils desires to make them a reality in my life. I would rather be silent about a matter than to co-operate with the devil to wreck my life!

The first thing you must understand about words is that there are only two kinds of words; life words and death words. The Words of God are life words. Jesus says, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63). Words from the devil or from our negative experiences are death words. Words work for or against us. In every situation, we are faced with the choice to either speak life or death. It is important to know that every word you say is a tool in the realm of the spirit. When you speak life, you put angels to work on your behalf, but when you speak death, you give the devil a big opportunity to operate in your life. You get exactly what you say (Mark 11:23,24) – you harvest what you sow. Words are powerful seeds and they never die! Words are spiritual! Words are the coin of the realm of the spirit. Words are the seeds for change. If you don’t like what you are getting, change what you are saying! 1 Peter 3:10 says “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:”

Angels respond to The Word when spoken from the mouth of the saints and they see to it. Even so the devil listens for negative words to make them real. If the devil wants to attack a saint easily, all he does is to get him to talk negative so he could have a legal right to carry out his evil works in his life. The devil doesn’t have the ability to torment a saint without his permission. Many folks bind demons in their time of prayers and loose them with their words few minutes after the time of prayer. They bind sickness during prayer, then the next minute you hear them say “I am sick” – they give the devil a legal ground to afflict them. They empower the devil to work against them. They talk wrong and they are wiped! We must avoid dual confessions. When you declare: “by His stripes I am healed”, stay with that confession! Refuse to weaver or stagger at it, maintain the confession, do not cower in the face of opposing circumstances. The question you should ask is: “what informs my confession or communication – The Word or my experiences?” Philemon 6 declares “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Always stand on The Word and make it your response to any situation. It is your responsibility to know what God’s Word says about the various areas of your life. If you are ignorant of The Word, you’d become vulnerable, you’d be limited in your faith confessions because faith begins where the will of God is known. What you say is the communication of your faith. Words build, words destroy!

In Hebrews 3:1, the Word of God tells us that Jesus Christ is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. It says: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,” (NKJV). What does it mean? It simply means that Jesus Christ Himself is the surety that the confessions of the saints (which line up with His Word) are a reality! Jesus takes our faith confession very personal. We must take this confession thing very seriously – it is everything! We see in Matthew 28:18-19 and Luke 10:18-19 that Jesus gave the Church the authority to act in His stead here on earth. It is important for us to know that there is no other way by which we exercise this power except through our words – faith-filled words! Ecclesiastes 8:4 says “Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?” That authority is exercised through our mouth – our words! Revelation 1:6 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests unto God. Whatever you say about your life or situation is your confession about it and that word will stand, it will greatly determine how things would turn out for you. You don’t just say what you see; you say what you want to see. When the Word of God becomes real to us we would see things differently – from God’s perspective. It wouldn’t then matter how things appear in the physical. Romans 10:10 tells us that by our confession of Jesus Christ as the Lord, we are saved. This is the way other heavenly blessings are received, we believe in our hearts and confess what we believe with our mouth then we have it.

We must also be careful about the words that are released from our mouths towards others. James equates good communication with perfection. James 3:2 says “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” Also, Colossians 4:6 admonishes thus: “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Our words can build or destroy, heal or afflict our hearers. We must think before we speak if we must always maintain good communication with people. I want to leave you with these words from Solomon: “Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” (Eccl. 5:6). Blessings!