Part Two ...The Discussion Continues...
We humans, especially the more spiritually inclined among us, find ourselves in a constant state of conflict within the religious system. Because – despite our utter abhorrence of it, whether real or feigned, we find that are still IN the world, using its resources for good or evil. However, at the same time we are exhorted that we should not be "OF" that same world! Meaning that we should resist being influenced by its Anti-God, Anti-Anointing paradigms and mindsets!
This makes life somewhat difficult to the spiritually unenlightened/undiscerning, since there is no “demilitarized zone” wherein everything is either purely one or the other! It has become then, for us all, a matter of spiritual discernment. However, by and large, we seem to have lost our moorings from which that discernment flows. It is an unfortunate, but very real problem in the “Body of Messiah” today. One that I have mused over, and now, along with others whom I greatly respect, am seeing some of the causes and the solution. Teshuvah – which is simply completed repentance – a turning back to The God of Israel, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the God whom Yeshua called Father! And the Word which He prescribed.
Because I have come to believe that this breech between God and His people exists due to the switch from the Hebraic/Judaic mindset to the Greco-Roman mindset. One is God-driven and the other man-driven. One Divine, the other Humanist. One embraces God's Word/Law and the other abhors it, and has had the utter gall to attempt to replace it! Religion has, in fact, despite God's warnings against such “mixtures”, formed a noxious mixture of the false and the true – in areas such obedience, worship, etc. - intending to placate and thereby merge both “sides”, that is, the flesh and the spirit man. However, instead it has formed a twisted deception which is doing a very good job at actually preventing the unity - wholeness and holiness - of the Body of Messiah – from ever coming to completion!
The very religious seem convinced, for example, that they must adhere to a rigid code of dress, and very particular ways of doing everything. The most pious of the religion bound, in fact, very often can not even associate with “infidels”, “unbelievers” or “Goyim” - the (obviously - to them) “godless” or “rebellious ones” - meaning, of course, those outside their (religious/prison) camps who do not conform to their ideas of what holiness must look, talk and act like!
For example I was once “shunned”, that is, blatantly asked to leave a Baptist congregation by the “pastor”, for wearing a pair of slacks in their Sanctuary on a Wednesday evening! Which confused me, because I had seen the women wear slacks to the fellowship building! The excuse given to me (in place of a good reason) was that “Women were not to wear men's apparel in the House of GOD”.
An excuse with which I was forced to take several issues! First of all the slacks I wore had a zipper on the side, which no man in that congregation would've been caught dead in! And the jeans which some of the women wore to the other building clearly belonged to their husbands! Then, wouldn't they be the ones guilty of this religious misdemeanor?! Furthermore, is the fellowship building less “Holy Ground” than the Sanctuary? Why would that be so? Do not the saints, in whom dwells, supposedly, the Spirit of the Most High, sanctify whatever building they were in?! No answers were made to my very real questions, but that I was a cheeky and rebellious soul for deigning to ask! So sue me for pursuing scriptural reality!
They made such a noise of “Holiness”. And yet they would turn away a college student, who was obviously struggling with her Christianity, for their ridiculous, illogical, and scripturally inept doctrinal hogwash! And that is not the only “camp” of which I have been ceremoniously and piously “set outside”! Finally I had taken to just leaving when it began to get “Icky-bad” (Ichabod)! When I sensed that the “grace for me had departed”! It was just easier that way! And now I ONLY darken the door of any of these institutions at the exact command of the Ruach! I may be slower than uphill mud, but I can be taught!
There are hundreds, and I fear that this is a conservative estimate, of these denominational divisions (which is a redundancy, since the very word “denomination” means division!), in every community (inaptly named in my opinion, since there is little actual “communing”) in America these days! And there are myriad divisions within each group, sect or denomination! How can this be the will of a God, whose goal is unity!?
It has become massively confusing to even discern what is deemed “acceptable” by these people – religious people who seemed to have confused Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for “faithfulness”, Codependency Disorder for “Fellowship” and “Accountability”, Manipulative Narcissism for “leadership” and Control issues for “authority”! The religious realm is governed by and large by mental illness, with few exceptions! So that it gets increasingly more difficult to ferret out the actual “rules” from the “suggestions”, so as to keep it straight, in order to have even remote civility with these white-washers; or to keep from incurring judgment from these wolves in shepherd's clothing – unwitting or not – who deem to lead these deceived ones, fleecing the sheep more often than feeding them! They need our prayer more than our loyalty! They are wearing some heavy shoes!
But, setting-aside oneself for religion is different than being set apart by God unto Godliness! We are told that we must be “salt” and “light”, which implies a mixing in – so as to alter the world, so as to bring it the Life of God. But instead, Religion mixes the world into their worship! And then, thinking themselves holier than the heathen which they tore up God's Word to placate, they hole up in fortresses, lest the world alter them! Sadly ironic, and grievously true! It is madness. It is a demonic plot against the true Church of the Living God!
It is written that “The gates of hell can not prevail” against the “Church”, the called out or believing ones! Yet the religious seem to cower just outside those gates, as close as they can get, expecting and enduring wave after wave of attack, thinking this is a good thing! Thinking they are doing a brave warfare for the Kingdom of God! But the Church is supposed to be conquering and overcoming! And she is! Though it doesn't look like we thought it would! Sound familiar? Messiah was rejected for the same reason! Religion looks with disdain on the lowly and unclean sinner, and discourages all contact with them! Lest their self-made “whiteness” get besmirched, or their white-wash be rubbed off. My brothers, this ought not to be!
This is why we have multi-million dollar “ministries” built on the backs of grannies who can barely pay their power bill - because they are now taking care of their grandchildren! And - who are pressed into caring for their grandchildren because their own children are laid waste – a tragically large number of them casualties of the religious system – in one way or another! Religion is rarely moved with compassion toward the fallen state of their fellow men. Nor do they really try to convert those “heathen” to “The Way”! They have – in practice and attitude - set themselves up as judge and jury, and apparently have already condemned these “heathen” as “unworthy” of redemption! They build monuments to themselves while feigning glory to God!
They do, of course, make a great noise about “evangelism”, but what they do under those auspices is clearly ineffective! In fact, it seems to have the opposite effect of the intended efforts. At the best they make unwitting “Converts”, who fearfully sign on to escape the bad news of an angry disapproving god! One who is painted as dangling them over the fires of an ever burning hell! Rarely do they make actual disciples of Yeshua – a Torah observant - God loyal, people loving, Good News preaching, joyfully obedient, Jew – who came and brought the anointing to release us from such bondage! And to make us, once more, into His Father's surprisingly Loving and Merciful Image!
These overly religious ones will flatly deny the accusation that they "oppose evangelism", however. In fact they will vehemently state that the “Great Commission” is among, if not the very first of, the many items on their self-righteous “to-do” lists. But then why do they not win the lost more often? Why do their actions consistently drive people away - dividing, shattering and fracturing them, until they are more broken than when they came to them - looking, searching,longing and hoping for redemption!? Hence, they are not making disciples unto the Anointed One, but are making lifeless, hopeless, broken, hopeless, imprisoned clones of the religious system – or – even more broken, now rebellious, social rejects of it! Either way, another point is scored for the kindgom of darkness, and another soul lost to the Kingdom of God!
In this way religion is clearly Anti-Anointing – a.k.a. - “anti-christ” in nature – and intent - having thwarted or complicated every purpose and intent of the anointing! And must, as such, be shunned by all who love His appearing! They are not preaching the good news of deliverance, but pedaling a veiled bondage, many times the spawn of hell than the much feared “legalism” of “the Law of Torah” - which they so hotly rebuke and so ignorantly, religiously, avoid! And in these Last of Days we must hotly rebuke and determinedly avoid this practice of profanity! We must turn back to God's idea of what is Holy Living. We must become true disciples of the Anointed Yeshua!
But religion has succeeded this far because those bound up in it have themselves lost “The Way”, in their hurried compliance to the rigid standards by which they have chose to govern themselves! I am convinced that they behave this way because they have been deceived into thinking that those rigid rituals are what would be pleasing to God. And in my astute observation, most of them truly do want to please God! Most of them honestly believe that they are pleasing God with this choking hypocrisy! The deceiver is quite good at what he does. And religion is his most effective tool! Hence we are repeatedly instructed to beware!
Religion, however, is failing, and it always will, because it is a fraud! It tends to preach only the bad news – such as - “Your many sins will take you straight to hell!” But never seems to get around to the Good News - which Yeshua commanded His followers to preach – which was that Yeshua came to settle all outstanding accounts, so that our sin nature doesn't have to take us to hell - That the anointing breaks the yoke of sin - forever! But, rather than freeing the captives, each religious sect simply works to bind them to itself. It is all that system can do.
But again this writing grows long! So I will discuss this more thoroughly, when I return with part three. Thank you for your patience in reading my blogs. They are lengthy, and not light fare, and often strung out over days. It is just the way it is flowing these days. Please stand by. Soon we hope to offer some of these writings as cohesive mini-books through our web-site, Lost Art Publishing. Which is currently under construction - as Gene is taking his excellent Graphic Art skills into that arena these days! New ground. But it must be taken! So, for now, I leave you with....
Shalom Chavarim, have a good rest of the week....
SCD 7/10/14
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