The true church is infected; the religious spirit prospers in the body. Religion gets passed off as the gospel every day and all it does is make people "sons of hell", as Jesus called it. The work-yourself-saved message is the greatest deception ever pulled off because it co-opts terms like Jesus, Christian, salvation, etc. Jesus told the Pharisees "the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of you." People are lied to about God receiving them, and on what basis. We are the religious leaders.

Religion and relationship are at odds with one another. Ex: Head pastors- no friends, don't tell people your weaknesses. Does your faith center more on relationships (you with Jesus, then you with others with Jesus in the center) or religious concepts and activities? Do you feel like you need to learn a method to share your Christianity, or can you just tell your friends about Jesus, with whom you have a real relationship? When I ask you the question, "How's your spiritual life?" do you immediately start thinking of the activities you're involved in, or would you consider how your relationship with Jesus and his Spirit is going?

Religion forces people into pride/efforts (self-righteousness, false holiness) or shame/fear (not good enough for God- that feeling is a dead giveaway!) Either way, over time, we become embittered and resentful toward God in the end--because we're making a deal with him. It's about respectability and the appearance of spirituality. I Sam 16:7.

Religion makes us conclude that we can do something, apart from Christ. "If we decide then, together, we can change the world!" Humanism. John 15:5 It plays on the fleshly response to God. The RS is the source of division and denominationalism (opposes pastoral). Spiritual ambition without surrender (= anarchy). Babel (Gen 11:4) Eph 2:1-3 says that when we were lost, we were bound by what we could know and understand. Prov 3:5-6. This pride opposes all correction, service, and humility (unless it will make you appear humble), and is so violently self-defending that this is the spirit that crucified Jesus, because he said the entire religious system based on the law had to be destroyed. It is murderous and vindictive, unforgiving and violent. Matriarchal control often has some alliance with Jezebel.

Satisfying the law would mean 3 hours of study a day. It would mean days punctuated by prayer times. It would mean strategizing ways to help the poor and needy. It would mean sharing our 'faith' (i.e. our organization-based belief system) with co-workers daily. It would mean more discipline, more observance of the sacraments, more meditation, more mentoring, less sinning, and generally better overall citizenship. It perverts zeal for the LORD (Rom 10:2), and ties a heavy burden onto men's hearts. Good deeds are never a goal; they are the fruit of being with the LORD. Don't act out love; receive love and let it flow!
ILLUSTRATION: Martin Luther's greatest challenge was to root out the religious spirit. He was told by his religious teachers that there were stringent requirements for receiving the favor of God. "Remember Martin, just to pray by yourself is not enough. The church has to pray for you too. Even when the priest has asked that you be forgiven, God will not listen unless you do good works. The more gifts you give to the church and to the poor, the more trips you make to Rome and Jerusalem, the more pleasures you give up, the better will be your chances for heaven. The best and safest way to do all this, and the one that is most God pleasing, is to give up everything and become a monk." That temptation, and lie, hasn't gone anywhere.

It attacks the feminine, seeking to subject women. Women, you see, prophesy to the world about what it's like to be the Bride, the holy Object of God's affections. (Think of Islam: What about those full-on, cover-me-up burkas? The clear message these women live under daily is, "You need to be put away. You are human in shape, but not in position or in expression. You will carry a hole with you and you will reside inside that hole. You are to come out only when commanded to do so.") Through women, we learn how to submit and yet be strong, how to revel in sensitivity, and to explore creativity and the depth of relationship. The religious spirit is insensitive. John 7:3-6 - "For you, any time is right"

The religious spirit uses people. John the Baptist said, "the bride belongs to the bridegroom". The job of ministers is NOT to use people to accomplish their goals; it's to serve people by setting them up to know God and equipping THEM to minister. Jezebel sets up her spokesmen in pulpits, and they convince people over time that they can't know God without hearing what the preacher has to say. In this way, they become an intermediary between God and his people. This is Jesus' role. Yikes. The RS is anti-anointing: "Not everybody can hear God, so you should just listen to me. I'll tell you the rules."

The religious spirit creates phony hierarchies that advertise themselves as having spiritual authority. They are organizations and properties, and certainly those things need administrative leadership. But they cannot possibly be the kingdom of God, for reasons listed below*. Did you know that, in Egypt, you're allowed to meet in your official, government-approved building for religious ceremonies and they'll keep their hands off, but if you get nutso and meet in homes, or in a public, non-sanctioned place, or share your faith out in the street, THEY WILL FIND YOU and begin persecuting you? Fascinating, no? The Egyptian powers-that-be seem to be suggesting that non-institutional meetings and activities are more dangerous. Our signing over of our relationships to God to church organizations is a very common adultery.

"Repentance" is just self-abasement. Service and sacrifice are done not out of joy or obedience, but to make up for sins. We sacrifice ourselves or our families for God's pleasure. This is conjuring and occultic. This need to sacrifice to please God is suicidal and glories in death, not life.

Bible examples: Babel; Jezebel, who rules over Baal's prophets and kills the LORD's prophets(I Kings 18:13-19); Eli, in I Sam 3, ministered from a religious spirit based in guilt. He was zealous but wanted to sacrifice to compensate for his failures as a father.

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