As He Is: God's True Nature: "Losing Your Religion Part 1"

Losing Your Religion— Part 1

What are you willing to give up in order to truly know God?

Are you willing to be stripped naked of all the religious “sacred cows”, traditions, religious clichés, and commandments of men?

Jesus allowed Himself to be stripped naked publicly so you could know Him. Jesus also said that the traditions of men make the word of God of none effect (Matthew 15:6-9).

Are you willing to risk relationships with your friends, family, your marriage, your church fellowship, your position at your church, or perhaps even your life in order to know God truly? Are you willing to be ostracized, criticized, called a “heretic”, “blasphemer”, “backslidden”, “of the devil” and rejected because you are seeking to know God truly?

I believe many Christians would agree that if Jesus were in His physical body today, preaching and demonstrating the gospel in the same way, He would still be persecuted and crucified by the religious people of this day. I believe the same to be true for the apostles, especially Paul.

In fact, the Scriptures say, Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. [2 Timothy 3:12]

Jesus said, Do not think I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance (discord, dissension, strife, conflict) against his father, the daughter against her mother, and daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. [Matthew 10:34-36]

The Lord is NOT saying that His purpose for coming was to create dissension among people, but the truth of the gospel tends to bring about controversy and division, and the dissension and conflict is incident to or a byproduct of the true gospel, just as Paul writes, All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Why is it then that we are not suffering persecution the way Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles did? Did they mean for this to be true unless you were living in a “Christian” nation like the United States? Hardly.

Or perhaps since we live in such a “civilized” part of the world, unlike countries in Africa where they still live in grass huts and walk around barefooted and dress in skins, carrying spears, the persecution we suffer is much more subtle in nature. That’s not it either. We only have to watch the evening news to learn that we do not live in a “civilized” part of the world to the extent that we could not be murdered, beaten, or thrown in jail without cause.

I believe we are not suffering the persecution the Bible speaks of is because we are simply not living godly in Christ Jesus. We are not being transformed into the image of the Son of God. We are not preaching and demonstrating the same message as Jesus and the apostles did, because if we were, persecution is the natural byproduct of this.

Now lest you think I’m chastening you, please understand that I’m not. The point I’m trying to make is that the reason we are not being transformed into the image of Jesus, and suffering persecution is because we have been lied to about God. We have not been taught His true nature and character and consequently, we are not seeing Him as He is (1 John 3:2-3).

The Pony and the Hamster

Darin Hufford, a ministry associate and friend relates two childhood memories that the Lord ended up using as great illustrations to be used in his ministry. The first was about a visit to a carnival. He and his brother had gone down to the fairgrounds to watch the carnival being set up when they came upon the pony ride. It was typical of its kind where there were about ten ponies chained to a machine that caused them to walk around in circles. Near the entrance gate was a sign that read: DO NOT PET THE PONIES!

Confused about the sign, Darin asked the man in charge why they could not pet the ponies. The man said, “Because they bite.”

Darin was stunned. All he’d ever heard about ponies was that they were nice and sweet. He said, “I mean… c’mon, they’re just ponies!” So Darin ignored the sign and the man’s warning and reached his hand to pet one of the ponies and the pony promptly snapped angrily at his hand.

The second story Darin tells is about his pet hamster Brownie. As many of you know, hamsters are escape artists, and little Brownie was no different. One day, Darin came home to discover that his hamster had escaped from its cage. After looking throughout the entire house, they were not able to locate the hamster. Two weeks of daily searching went by and still they hadn’t found Brownie. Until one night, Darin’s brother called out, “I found him! I found him!” Downstairs in the basement, hiding behind a door was his hamster. When Darin reached down to pick up his wayward pet, Brownie flashed his teeth and attempted to bite his hand. What was once a gentle hamster was now a wild animal.

Two stories and two illustrations. Brownie the hamster was once a gentle little pet, trapped in a cage without a care in the world. But once he tasted freedom, he reacted violently when someone tried to bring him back into bondage. This is how I want you to react when, after getting a revelation of the truth, people try to bring you back into the bondage of religion. I want to produce a population of Brownies who will fight to the death to keep their freedom in Christ.

In the case of the ponies, what the Lord showed Darin was that many Christians are like those ponies at the carnival. Because they, like the pony, are chained to their religion and all they do is walk around in circles, never getting anywhere, and all they see is the back side of another pony. Likewise many Christians are in bondage to their “god” or religion that has made so many promises to them, but has kept very few. They hear all the catch phrases and clichés; they’ve gone to the seminars and prayer meetings; they’ve bought the teaching series and countless devotionals with guarantees to “change your life” but it never seems to work—they never seem to get anywhere!

Conforming to the Image of their Father?

The other reason why many Christians are like the pony is because they ARE being conformed to the image of who they believe their God is. Note, I said, “who they believe their God is.” Remember what I said in “Perception is Reality”… that our lives will be directly related to the way we perceive God. Many Christians are mean, self-centered, judgmental, discouraged, depressed, fearful, sick, sinful, filled with worry and doubt because their perception of God has taught them to be that way. They are being conformed to the image of the god that has been presented to them.

The “god” that has been presented to them is a mean, judgmental, self-seeking, glory-mongering, ego maniac, who on a whim just might send another hurricane or tsunami, or smite you with sickness or tragedy to teach you a lesson or draw you closer to him, or just because you haven’t paid your tithes, he would withhold his favor, and allow tragedy to fall upon your head. And at the same time, these poor people truly believe that their god loves them. In their eyes, “God the Father” is the same as “the Godfather.” In other words, they have been terribly deceived.

Because, after all, if we had been taught the true nature of God and were currently seeing God as He is, which is Jesus Christ, we would be like Him—conformed or transformed into His image. Jesus was never mean; He was the epitome of selflessness; Jesus didn’t judge or condemn people; Jesus was never discouraged, Jesus was never depressed; Jesus was never fearful; Jesus was never sick; Jesus never sinned; Jesus didn’t worry and did not doubt. Therefore, we must come to conclusion that we are not being transformed into His image because we have been deceived about who He really is.

Take Heed that No Man Deceives You!

And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. [Matthew 24:4-5]

This is a radical passage. Jesus is teaching us that the primary source of deception will come from those who are believed to be Christians. Now, I am NOT saying that anyone who is teaching error is of the devil, because they are deceived as well. What I’m saying is that we shouldn’t be on guard for someone in a red suit carrying a pitchfork, or someone coming in the name of Mohammed, Buddah, or any other religious figure, but rather to beware of someone carrying a Bible. Jesus is saying that the deception will come from people who come in HIS NAME; and shall deceive many. Sad to say that this is a great truth because many have been deceived.

The apostle Paul said this, But none of these things move me, neither do I count my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them who are sanctified. [Acts 20:24-32]

Paul is confirming the Lord’s warning that many shall come (from among yourselves) in the name of Jesus Christ and would speak perverse things. In other words, they would be teaching things contrary to the gospel, which is why Paul stressed that the gospel or the good news is about the grace of God. Furthermore, Paul underlines the truth that he had declared to them the whole counsel of God—not just a portion of it. It was the whole counsel of God! Sad to say that many Christian churches are NOT declaring the gospel as the grace of God, which is why so few see it as “good news”, and to a greater extent, most are not declaring all the counsel of God. Rather, they have developed their own doctrine for a specific denomination, omitting the entirety of what Jesus has done for us, and how He wants to be represented in this world.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul uses very strong language to make this same point about deception:

I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (or condemned to hell). As we said before, so I say now again, if any man preach any other gospel to you than that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. [Galatians 1:6-10]

The deception comes from those who will teach things that are contrary to the gospel of Christ. For example, the gospel teaches that God loves us unconditionally, and that Jesus died and paid for the sins of the world, but we have many churches teaching that we (as Christians) must confess our sins daily and repent (change our actions) in order to be “right” with God—to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. Otherwise, God will not fellowship with you and you could be punished or face the “judgment of God”.

This teaching is a perversion of the gospel! But yet it is taught and believed almost universally within the church, regardless of denomination. If Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world with His one atoning sacrifice, then why would God then require us to bear the burden of sins we have committed when Jesus has already born them? This would mean that righteousness is based on our actions, and not entirely upon what Jesus did for us. This also means that in their eyes, what Jesus suffered for us wasn’t enough.

This is what Paul is talking about—teachings that are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ—that contradict what Jesus did in His flesh to make us “right” with God. And this is just the tip of the iceberg concerning all the perversion that is in the church today. I’ll be covering many of the perverted teachings in the days to come.

The apostle John wrote it this way:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try (or test) the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit the does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already it is in the world. [1 John 4:1-3]

I want you to begin thinking why the Scripture reads the way it does. At the time John wrote this epistle, he was addressing a prevalent thinking among a sect called the Gnostics, who believed that Jesus came to earth in a spirit body instead of human form. However, today I doubt many would argue or testify that Jesus did not come in the flesh or ever truly live. Many people today will interpret this from what John is saying. So, does that mean that the Muslims, who hold Jesus as a prophet, and the secular atheists who believe that Jesus was a real man, and all the other religions who acknowledge Jesus, that they are of God simply because they say that Jesus was real? God forbid!

No, that’s not what John is saying. John states his initial purpose for writing this letter—and that is so that your joy may be full [1 John 1:4] and then in closing, he writes, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. [1 John 5:13] Because he does not specifically refer the doctrine of the Gnostics, we must look beyond the superficial and dig deeper.

There are two ways you can look at this and both are important. The term Jesus Christ is come in the flesh can be referring to what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3:16, And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. This, and many other passages like Hebrews 1:3 and John 1, declare Jesus as God manifested in the flesh. Therefore, if anyone is teaching that Jesus is not God, then they are not of God. This is a basic teaching in the Christian church—that Jesus is God. And outside of the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, most churches that say they are Christian believe this to be true.

Therefore, I don’t believe John is speaking entirely of this. Rather, he is saying the same thing that Paul is saying—that if anyone teaches anything contrary to what Jesus accomplished in His flesh, this teaching is not of God. Again, look back to the example I gave about sin—Jesus accomplished the “sin problem” on the cross when He took in His body our sins and shed His blood so we would be cleansed. He did this only once. Therefore, the teaching that we (as Christians) must confess and repent over and over again is in direct opposition to what Jesus accomplished in His flesh, which means this teaching is anti-Christ. Since Jesus died to sin once, likewise we should die to sin once (Romans 6:7-12).

I know this is strong language to many of you, but it needs to be said this way. We have swallowed too many lies for too long. The truth needs to be declared!

The mindset of a continual focus upon sin—even to the extent of daily confessing and repenting is EXACTLY what the Jews did in bringing their sacrifices to the temple for sin. We must see this clearly as it is. It completely negates what Jesus did, meaning that His suffering didn’t really accomplish much. I will cover this in detail later on, but if you read Hebrews 10 (the whole chapter) you will see that by His one sacrifice, our consciences should have been purged of sin, meaning that we should not be remembering them anymore. God’s not remembering them (Hebrews 8:12; Hebrews 10:17) so why would He require us to? If anyone is teaching you that the Lord requires you to remember your sin and make you sin conscious, then this teaching is a perversion of the gospel; it is anti-Christ—against and contrary to what Jesus accomplished in His flesh.

Jesus also said, Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. [Matthew 7:15-16]

The “sheep’s clothing” the Lord is referring to means that they will appear to be Christians, coming in His name, as Peter wrote, they shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not. [2 Peter 2:1-3]

Unfortunately, many have followed the ways of false teachings, and because of this, Christianity is perceived in a negative light by many, which as Peter wrote, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

Jesus or Christians?

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." —Mahatma Ghandi

If you were to ask most people about Jesus, I believe the universal perception of Him would be good. Throughout the world, Jesus of Nazareth is presented and perceived to be a religious leader who taught about loving your enemies, doing good to others as you would have them do to you, that He taught about God and that He healed sicknesses and diseases, and did other kind things for people.

Why then does the world perceive Christianity and Christians as the exact opposite of Jesus? Could it be that the world is not seeing Jesus in His followers? I believe this is true. The quote above from Mahatma Ghandi speaks volumes related to this.

While in exile in Africa, Ghandi wanted to learn more about Christianity’s claim that Jesus was God manifested in the flesh. The story goes that after reading the New Testament, Ghandi was convinced that Jesus was the Son of God. Desiring to make a public confession, Ghandi made his way to a local church where he was denied entry because of the color of his skin. Hence, the quote, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ” is a tragic reminder of what could-have-been in India. Had Ghandi not been rejected by people who claimed to be representatives of Jesus, perhaps things in that part of the world would be much different than they are today. If only they would have revealed Jesus to Ghandi.

In fact, this is God’s heavenly vision for His children… for the world to see Jesus in them. If you turn over to John 12:21, you will see that the Greeks who came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, approached Phillip, one of Jesus’ disciples and said, Sir, we would see Jesus.

That’s all they wanted! They just wanted to see Him. It’s so simple, but because of religion, we have been moved away from this simple truth—that our mission is to reveal Jesus to the world. Not through programs, commitments, imitation and clever slogans like “What would Jesus do?” But as a byproduct of seeing Jesus as He is, we will be transformed into His image and correctly represent Him in the earth. Jesus came to truly reveal God to us—and it is our commission to truly reveal Jesus to the world, so that they too can see God correctly and actually desire a relationship with Him. Can you fathom the thought that the world should actually desire what we Christians have? Are we presenting a message that is such good news that the world is falling over themselves to get what we have? Are the people of the world ripping holes in the roofs of churches because they are so packed with people wanting to see Jesus? Why isn’t this happening?.

The apostle Paul writes about this same truth, Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly; and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. [2 Corinthians 11:2-4]

How did the serpent deceive Eve? By questioning the integrity of God’s word. He said, Has God said…? [Genesis 3:1] In other words the serpent was saying, “God really didn’t mean that…” and sadly we have a long list of doctrines in the church today that says the very same thing.

Paul writes that if someone were to come and preach to them another Jesus, another spirit, or another gospel, that they would probably accept it. Sad to say that this is what we’ve been fed for generations. We’ve been fed another Jesus, been given another spirit, and have accepted another gospel—all perversions of the truth.

Jesus made a similar statement to the Jews, I am come in my Father’s name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. [John 5:43]

On two more occasions, Paul makes this same plea…

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. [Philippians 3:1]

The concision refers to someone who was mutilating people through circumcision. The concision were false teachers that were teaching a perverted gospel, which resulted in spiritual mutilation of the private parts. Similar to castration, a person injured by the concision was no longer able to produce offspring; and this is what spiritual concision does—it prevents a person from being fruitful in the Lord—it emasculates them.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of man, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. [Colossians 2:8-10]

A philosophy is a way of thinking or believing. Paul was warning them about people who would come and try to spoil them; or in other words: plunder, pillage, ravage, rape, or rob them through the traditions of men, the ways of the world, and most importantly NOT according to Christ.

Here’s a profound truth… every deception contains an element of truth. Otherwise, it would not be believable.

Get a Case of Montezuma’s Revenge

Most people are familiar with Montezuma’s Revenge—when someone goes to Mexico and gets sick because they drink the contaminated water. The symptoms are very clear—vomiting, upset stomach, and diarrhea. To say it simply—the poison causes the body to react violently in an effort to get rid of the poison. The body does not like poison. But what I wanted you to consider is the fact that the people of Mexico can drink the same water that makes us sick, but yet experience no effects. Why is this? It’s because they have developed a tolerance for the poison, and we being no different than they, would also develop a tolerance to the water provided we ingested enough over a period of time.

This is what I’m trying to teach here… we’ve been deceived through religious teaching for so long that we have developed a tolerance for it—just like Mexicans have developed a tolerance for their water. When in our early Christian lives, we may have questioned some of the “contradictions” presented as truth, but over time, and perhaps due to chastening of our Christian “elders” we no longer react the same way. We just go with the flow. Don’t rock the boat. We swallow it hook, line, and sinker!

This is why I want you to be like Brownie, the escaped hamster. Once we are finished with this teaching and you are free from all the religious bondage, don’t you dare allow anyone to bring you back into bondage again. Fight with all you have.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. [John 8:36]

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. [Galatians 5:1]

Other Articles in this series

Perception is Reality

Losing Your Religion Part 1

Losing Your Religion Part 2

Losing Your Religion Part 3