Please Stop Religious Hypocrisy!

[Christsfreeservant]

Summary of John 5:1-15

Jesus Christ was now in Jerusalem for the “feast of the Jews.” While he was there he healed a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. He told him to “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” The man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. But this was on the Jewish Sabbath, so the Jews scolded the man who had been healed by Jesus, declaring to him that it was unlawful for him to take up his bed, but with no regard at all for the fact that Jesus had just healed a man who had been invalid for 38 years.

Now, apparently the Jews did not know who had healed the man, although I suspect that they may have had an idea, if they were yet at all familiar with Jesus and his work, but they may not have been at this point. But when asked by the Jews, the man did not know who it was who had healed him. But later Jesus found the man in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” So the man then went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

John 5:16-18 ESV

“And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”​

In another passage of Scripture we read that when the Pharisees were criticizing Jesus and his disciples for plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath, Jesus responded by saying to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (See Mark 2:23-28).

And in a parallel passage to that one, when the Pharisees criticized Jesus and his disciples, and when they were looking to trip Jesus up with his words by asking him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?,” he said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (see Matthew 12:1-14).

Now, it is not my intention here to go into the subject of Sabbath keeping. The Lord had me write on that subject about two weeks ago, and you can read that writing here: Our Present Day Sabbath Rest.

Persecution of the Lord’s Servants

But the subject matter in this writing is the persecution of Jesus Christ for doing good, for obeying God the Father in doing the good that he was called to do, and that he was born as a man and as the only begotten Son of God to do, which is not subject to particular days in the week. And at this very moment, as I am writing this, I am praying and asking the Lord where he wants me to go with this subject. And this is where I believe he is leading me, which has to do with modern-day persecution of the Lord’s servants.

A modern-day parallel to what Jesus experienced, as his experiences were recorded for us in the gospels, is the teaching that “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,” (see Hebrews 10:24-25) is to be used as leverage and as a threat to any Christians who have opted out of “institutional religion,” and in order to try to shame them into attending religious services inside buildings called “church,” regardless of what is being taught and practiced within and outside the gatherings of said “churches.”

And the Lord is leading me to use a personal example here, but this is not just about me. But the Lord led me to leave “Babylon,” essentially, and to come out from her midst so that I don’t share in her sins and in her punishment, for her sins are piled high to heaven. And I am not to be unequally yoked together with the ungodly, and I am not to participate in these modern-day “dens of robbers” called “churches” (see Revelation 18:1-5; cf. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:14-17).

For so much of what is called “church” today is not the church, the body of Christ, comprised of those of genuine faith in Jesus Christ who have died with Christ to sin and who are now living to God and to his righteousness and no longer in sin. For buildings and institutions of men are being called “church,” even though many of them now are businesses (dens of robbers) incorporated under the state which are being marketed to the people of the world just like any other business, and so are conformed to the world.

So, even though I am following the Lord with my life, and my life has been dedicated to serving the Lord in ministry full-time for the past nineteen years, in particular, and even though I am sharing the gospel of our salvation on the internet daily, and I am writing daily devotions, and the Lord has given me Christian songs to write, and poems, and he has me doing video talks (devotions), and even though these are going out to people throughout the world, I am looked down upon because I don’t attend an institutional gathering weekly of something called “church.”

And please, bear with me here, because this is not about me wanting sympathy or me whining and complaining. But this is giving a personal example of what Jesus was teaching here about the importance of doing the good he has called each one of us to do regardless of the day in the week, and regardless of physical location. And it appears to me that most of my opposition is not even reading “not neglecting to meet together” in its full context. For the purpose is to stir one another to love and good works, which I am able to do on the internet, but where there is no place for me to do in these institutional “churches.”

So, what is happening in modern-day Christianity in America is what happened to Jesus in his day, too, where people are hung up on tradition and institutional religion and forms of religious practice that they believe need to be adhered to above genuine walks of faith and obedience to the Lord in doing the ministry to which he has called us to do in taking his gospel message to the ends of the earth. It is more important to them that I sit in one of their pews (or chairs) than it is to encourage me in the work of the Lord to which God has called me. And that is a very sad reality!

So, if you are someone who is pushing institutional religion on people, please stop. If you are judging people who don’t attend institutional religious gatherings, please stop. The whole point of Christians gathering together is to encourage and exhort and instruct one another in the Lord and in the teachings of the Scriptures, and to speak truth, one to the other, so we are not led astray by false teachings (false gospels) and so we are not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And wherever we have the freedom to do that we should be doing that, even if we can only do that on the internet.

Lamb of God

By Twila Paris / Michael Paul Bethany / Kevin Turner

… Your only Son no sin to hide
But You have sent Him from Your side
To walk upon this guilty sod
And to become the Lamb of God

… Your gift of love they crucified
They laughed and scorned Him as he died
The humble King they named a fraud
And sacrificed the Lamb of God

… Oh Lamb of God, Sweet lamb of God
I love the Holy Lamb of God
Oh wash me in His precious Blood
My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God…

Caution: This link may contain ads

 

[Carl Emerson]

I was out of church about 7 years after I bought a word to a Pastor revealing his son was sleeping with a lady in the congregation.
I was very careful, keeping the matter before God prayerfully for 12 months then delivering it in writing.
The word was rejected and our whole family left the church, concluding it was not safe.
I later found out an other couple of folks had the same word.
Presently it ensued that the word was correct.

So 7 years later after being out of church that long and seeking fellowship home based, all of a sudden one night at about 2am a very strong visit from the Holy Spirit first powerfully healing me from rejection and then revealing that I have a ministry to serve in the church.

It was a dramatic shift in my mind and attitudes to the extent that my confession about church changed immediately and I was surprised at what I was saying. Rejection gone, criticism gone, I was again open hearted to His leading.

So we prayed that through and were led to a different church altogether where He intends to move and I need to be.

Just saying that this testimony does not condone the many issues that need review in the church.

Each must be convinced as unto the Lord and obey accordingly. (Romans 14)

 

[Christsfreeservant]

I was out of church about 7 years after I bought a word to a Pastor revealing his son was sleeping with a lady in the congregation.
I was very careful, keeping the matter before God prayerfully for 12 months then delivering it in writing.
The word was rejected and our whole family left the church, concluding it was not safe.
I later found out an other couple of folks had the same word.
Presently it ensued that the word was correct.

So 7 years later after being out of church that long and seeking fellowship home based, all of a sudden one night at about 2am a very strong visit from the Holy Spirit first powerfully healing me from rejection and then revealing that I have a ministry to serve in the church.

It was a dramatic shift in my mind and attitudes to the extent that my confession about church changed immediately and I was surprised at what I was saying. Rejection gone, criticism gone, I was again open hearted to His leading.

So we prayed that through and were led to a different church altogether where He intends to move and I need to be.

Just saying that this testimony does not condone the many issues that need review in the church.

Each must be convinced as unto the Lord and obey accordingly. (Romans 14)

Thank you, Carl, for sharing your testimony. But "church" is the body of Christ and wherever and whenever we gather together with the body of Christ to fulfill the Lord's purposes for his church. "Church" is not institutionalized religion that meets in a building called "church." So if you were in fellowship with other believers in Christ in those seven years, you were not "out of church," biblically speaking. I didn't leave the church. I left institutionalized religion which most are not the church, the body of Christ, but which are conglomerates (mixtures) of Christians, professing Christians (lip service only), and those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ at all. And most are just businesses being marketed to the world, and altered to appeal to the world. I meet with the body of Christ on the internet daily, and this is my church, where I get Christian fellowship and where I am able to be used of God in the body part he assigned to me. But you are right, we each must be convinced as unto the Lord and obey accordingly unless what we are obeying is contrary to the word of God. Thank you! It was nice hearing from you again.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Summary of John 5:1-15

Jesus Christ was now in Jerusalem for the “feast of the Jews.” While he was there he healed a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. He told him to “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” The man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. But this was on the Jewish Sabbath, so the Jews scolded the man who had been healed by Jesus, declaring to him that it was unlawful for him to take up his bed, but with no regard at all for the fact that Jesus had just healed a man who had been invalid for 38 years.

Now, apparently the Jews did not know who had healed the man, although I suspect that they may have had an idea, if they were yet at all familiar with Jesus and his work, but they may not have been at this point. But when asked by the Jews, the man did not know who it was who had healed him. But later Jesus found the man in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” So the man then went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

John 5:16-18 ESV

“And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”​

In another passage of Scripture we read that when the Pharisees were criticizing Jesus and his disciples for plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath, Jesus responded by saying to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (See Mark 2:23-28).

And in a parallel passage to that one, when the Pharisees criticized Jesus and his disciples, and when they were looking to trip Jesus up with his words by asking him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?,” he said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (see Matthew 12:1-14).

Now, it is not my intention here to go into the subject of Sabbath keeping. The Lord had me write on that subject about two weeks ago, and you can read that writing here: Our Present Day Sabbath Rest.

Persecution of the Lord’s Servants

But the subject matter in this writing is the persecution of Jesus Christ for doing good, for obeying God the Father in doing the good that he was called to do, and that he was born as a man and as the only begotten Son of God to do, which is not subject to particular days in the week. And at this very moment, as I am writing this, I am praying and asking the Lord where he wants me to go with this subject. And this is where I believe he is leading me, which has to do with modern-day persecution of the Lord’s servants.

A modern-day parallel to what Jesus experienced, as his experiences were recorded for us in the gospels, is the teaching that “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,” (see Hebrews 10:24-25) is to be used as leverage and as a threat to any Christians who have opted out of “institutional religion,” and in order to try to shame them into attending religious services inside buildings called “church,” regardless of what is being taught and practiced within and outside the gatherings of said “churches.”

And the Lord is leading me to use a personal example here, but this is not just about me. But the Lord led me to leave “Babylon,” essentially, and to come out from her midst so that I don’t share in her sins and in her punishment, for her sins are piled high to heaven. And I am not to be unequally yoked together with the ungodly, and I am not to participate in these modern-day “dens of robbers” called “churches” (see Revelation 18:1-5; cf. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:14-17).

For so much of what is called “church” today is not the church, the body of Christ, comprised of those of genuine faith in Jesus Christ who have died with Christ to sin and who are now living to God and to his righteousness and no longer in sin. For buildings and institutions of men are being called “church,” even though many of them now are businesses (dens of robbers) incorporated under the state which are being marketed to the people of the world just like any other business, and so are conformed to the world.

So, even though I am following the Lord with my life, and my life has been dedicated to serving the Lord in ministry full-time for the past nineteen years, in particular, and even though I am sharing the gospel of our salvation on the internet daily, and I am writing daily devotions, and the Lord has given me Christian songs to write, and poems, and he has me doing video talks (devotions), and even though these are going out to people throughout the world, I am looked down upon because I don’t attend an institutional gathering weekly of something called “church.”

And please, bear with me here, because this is not about me wanting sympathy or me whining and complaining. But this is giving a personal example of what Jesus was teaching here about the importance of doing the good he has called each one of us to do regardless of the day in the week, and regardless of physical location. And it appears to me that most of my opposition is not even reading “not neglecting to meet together” in its full context. For the purpose is to stir one another to love and good works, which I am able to do on the internet, but where there is no place for me to do in these institutional “churches.”

So, what is happening in modern-day Christianity in America is what happened to Jesus in his day, too, where people are hung up on tradition and institutional religion and forms of religious practice that they believe need to be adhered to above genuine walks of faith and obedience to the Lord in doing the ministry to which he has called us to do in taking his gospel message to the ends of the earth. It is more important to them that I sit in one of their pews (or chairs) than it is to encourage me in the work of the Lord to which God has called me. And that is a very sad reality!

So, if you are someone who is pushing institutional religion on people, please stop. If you are judging people who don’t attend institutional religious gatherings, please stop. The whole point of Christians gathering together is to encourage and exhort and instruct one another in the Lord and in the teachings of the Scriptures, and to speak truth, one to the other, so we are not led astray by false teachings (false gospels) and so we are not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And wherever we have the freedom to do that we should be doing that, even if we can only do that on the internet.

Lamb of God

By Twila Paris / Michael Paul Bethany / Kevin Turner

… Your only Son no sin to hide
But You have sent Him from Your side
To walk upon this guilty sod
And to become the Lamb of God

… Your gift of love they crucified
They laughed and scorned Him as he died
The humble King they named a fraud
And sacrificed the Lamb of God

… Oh Lamb of God, Sweet lamb of God
I love the Holy Lamb of God
Oh wash me in His precious Blood
My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God…

Caution: This link may contain ads

The beautiful thing about the New Covenant is we can worship in any gathering or any situation.

Where two or three are gathered...

The thing about the Old was worship could only be done in a set location. Unfortunately, many even today still believe that they are only required to worship inside the walls of their church.

It's a beautiful thing when two or three get together in the name of Jesus to just worship him. In a park, on a plane, at work, it doesn't matter. Thank you for the reminder!

 

[Christsfreeservant]

The beautiful thing about the New Covenant is we can worship in any gathering or any situation.

Where two or three are gathered...

The thing about the Old was worship could only be done in a set location. Unfortunately, many even today still believe that they are only required to worship inside the walls of their church.

It's a beautiful thing when two or three get together in the name of Jesus to just worship him. In a park, on a plane, at work, it doesn't matter. Thank you for the reminder!

You are welcome. Glory to God! Yes, Jesus told the woman at the well that a day was now here where we would no longer worship on this mountain or that mountain, but that we would worship God in spirit and in truth. But the real confusing part comes into play when so many people identify "church" with a specific building or location or church denomination, and it isn't any of that, for it is not an "it." We, the people of God, are the church. And we can meet together with other believers in Christ anywhere, any day, at any time of day, as long as what we are doing is what the Scriptures teach is the purpose of our gatherings, which is to worship God, yes, for prayer, for the teaching of the word, for fellowship, and to minister to one another using the gifts God has given us and the body parts he assigned us for the encouragement (including exhortation, holy urging, and provoking) of the body of Christ and so we are not led into sin by false teaching and so we help one another to spiritual maturity in Christ, and not necessarily all these things at all times. And thank you for your kind and thoughtful response.

 

[Carl Emerson]

Yes we are all familiar with the different ways we use the word church.

Sorry I didn't mean to give a wrong impression, I guess we must bloom where we are planted - in a house. in a building, on the beach, but whatever the venue there are guidelines to be followed in order to function as the Body was intended.

Some resist the idea of being accountable to leadership and want a loose structure with no leaders - this can be dangerous.

It is easy to assume that all meeting in buildings are somehow no longer of God but of man.

 

[NBB]

its important to congregate, because the presence of God manifest a lot better when his childs get together, because Jesus promised it, without this i will go and say that i believe we can't survive as christians, we need to be with God presence and we can't get this on our own most of the time, good church leaders are also imporant, you just need to read the bible a bit to realize that. And meetings online is not the same ihmo.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Yes we are all familiar with the different ways we use the word church.

Sorry I didn't mean to give a wrong impression, I guess we must bloom where we are planted - in a house. in a building, on the beach, but whatever the venue there are guidelines to be followed in order to function as the Body was intended.

Some resist the idea of being accountable to leadership and want a loose structure with no leaders - this can be dangerous.

It is easy to assume that all meeting in buildings are somehow no longer of God but of man.

Carl, the location is not the issue. There is nothing inherently good or bad about buildings. The point is that the church is people regardless of where they meet. And this has nothing to do with not wanting to be under authority or not wanting to follow biblical guidelines. This is the opposite of that. It has absolutely everything to do with wanting to follow biblical guidelines and to submit to biblical authority. The problem is that most of what is called church today is not operating as God intended for his church. Most seem to have compromised with the world and they have turned their gatherings into businesses which they are marketing to the world. And so they are not the church by biblical definition nor by practice, and when that is mostly all that is being offered, those who want to serve God in ministry end up having to meet on the internet where they can serve God according to his plan for how his church is to operate. If you have found what works for you, praise God. I know I am where God is using me.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

its important to congregate, because the presence of God manifest a lot better when his childs get together, because Jesus promised it, without this i will go and say that i believe we can't survive as christians, we need to be with God presence and we can't get this on our own most of the time, good church leaders are also imporant, you just need to read the bible a bit to realize that. And meetings online is not the same ihmo.

Please read my response to Carl in #8. Thank you.