Faith   versus   Religion

Some parts of the Church have become like a strangler fig. The fig looks like a tree but all you really see is the vine that wraps itself around a tree and sucks and strangles the life out of it until nothing remains of the original tree.

Religion is strangling these parts of the Church and strangling Faith.  

Christianity is not a Religion; it’s a Relationship!  

Religion is doing things and repeating them; like mowing the lawn, serving tea & coffee, doing church the exact same way each week! Religion is living under the ‘Law of Moses’ which has 613 laws and if any one is broken, punishment is due.

Jesus came to the down and out and chose biblically unskilled and un-learned fishermen to be His disciples. He rebuked on the Pharisees for being more concerned about the rules and upholding the Law, rather than expressing the Love of God.  

Religion is about RULES.

Religion is about worshipping God for a reward; if I do this… then God will do that for me. This is FALSE doctrine, but it is what is being preached from too many pulpits.

400 years ago, the Churches were power hungry, corrupt and governed through FEAR.

There was no Holy Spirit awareness, so men put aside faith in Almighty God and began to put their trust in science; ‘if it can’t be proven to be a fact, then it won’t be believed.’ Science replaced faith.

Freemasonry was birthed as its own Religion. Freemasonic and Rosicrucian philosophies infiltrated the churches and highlighted the rules and ceremony at the expense of worship and faith. Their belief is that man can become his OWN god. These rules and traditions are still strangling some of our  churches today.

As  Religion is the opposite of Faith and Fear is also the opposite of Faith it reasons that Religion is FEAR. Living under FEAR produces shame and condemnation.  

Faith, however, is having a relationship with God through Jesus. Jesus took the punishment for ALL our sins, past, present and future. God looks on us as He sees Jesus, His precious child.

God loves us as individuals, he knows the number of hairs on our head. He knows that we sin, but He forgives us as a loving earthly father forgives the mistakes of his son or daughter. Our names are already written in the ‘Book of Life’.  God knows us by name.Refusing to accept Jesus as your Saviour, means that you want to pay for your own sins and Hell is that punishment.

In Christ there is mercy while under the Law of Moses there is no mercy. Jesus intercedes for us.We can ONLY come to God through Jesus. Christians are the followers of Christ.

Faith is believing that God has provided every good thing for us and we thank and praise Him for what He has already done for us.

When we become Born Again, the Holy Spirit encourages us to change our ways and to move away from sin. The job of the Church is to provide CLARITY on how to know God and Jesus better.

The job of a Christian is to love others. It’s God’s job to change others.

When will we stop going to God with lists and start going to Him with gifts?

The Strangler Fig