Religion and the Church

Religion and the Church

As I was praying for the Church The Spirit of GOD (Holy Spirit) caused me to think of the woman caught in adultery and then the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. He showed me that they both were victims of false religious teaching and practice.

The Samaritan woman was divorced five times and living with a man she was not married to; this was adultery and/or fornication; since we do not know the details of her marriages and divorces.

We do not know the details of the woman caught in the very act of adultery; was she married or single, was the man married or single or even who the man was since he was not present for judgment and punishment along with the woman.

The Samaritans were mixed Jews in both blood and religion, whatever her sins the woman at the well knew both and was able to talk with Jesus bringing up both points in her conversation. What Jesus did was speak truth to her and reveal Himself as the coming Messiah. While we do not see her asking for forgiveness for her sins we do see that she became a believer and immediately went into the town where she lived and started testifying about Jesus as the Messiah. This led to the citizens of the town coming out to see Jesus and inviting Him to stay and teach them. The result was that in two days the citizens of this Samaritan town became believers in Jesus as their Messiah.

The woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus as a test of His adherence to the Jews interpretation of the Law of Moses. She was brought alone and accused of being caught in the very act, this meant that there should have been a man accused with her; according to the Law of Moses; both persons caught in the act of adultery were to be judged and stoned to death, not just the woman. Jesus spoke to her accusers and the crowd the truth of their sin: I have read an account of a Church leader in the early 20^th century who in a conversation with Christ where Christ revealed that during this confrontation what He wrote in the dust was the sins of her accusers. I have not had the LORD tell me this personally but I would not doubt the veracity of this statement because He told them, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” After all of her accusers were convicted and left there was just Jesus, the woman and the crowd. Jesus knowing the truth did not ask her if she had committed adultery but, “Where are your accusers, has no one condemned you?” When she answered no He told her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Then He spoke to the crowd, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Today we have too much religion in the Church and not enough light (truth)! Our doctrines come from religion not light, our lack of unity comes from religion not light, our structure comes from religion not light.

Jesus commanded us to do the will of GOD: which is to seek GOD and His Kingdom before everything else, to store up treasures in Heaven not on the earth, to love one another as He loves us, to love our enemies, to take up our cross and follow Him to the exclusion of everything and everyone else, to preach the gospel to all the world, to lay hands on the sick and see them recover, to cast out demons, to tread on serpents (demons), to raise the dead, to make His enemies His footstool, to make disciples of the nations of this world. Only some Christians are doing some of these in some places in the world.

Jesus did not call us to go our own way and do our own thing! He called us to be filled with His Holy Spirit and to do His will in the earth as it is in Heaven, where He has prepared a place for those who serve Him: not those who just say a prayer asking for forgiveness or those who serve GOD only doing what they want to do. As the heir of GOD’s Kingdom He came to serve the will of His Father not do His own thing. So as joint-heirs we are to be bondservants to Him doing the will of the Father in the earth as it is in Heaven!

Study the gospels, pay attention to the words in red! Don’t just believe what others tell you the Bible says, study it for yourself! There is a test, you will be held accountable, if you claim to be a Christian Jesus will expect you to prove it by how you live your life in the flesh. Lose it for His sake and save it for eternity, save it for your sake and lose it for eternity.