When Jesus endured the Pharisees, he was offended for they were quite religious, not only as keepers of the Law but policed others. They had the idea that they were the enforcers, albeit they were persecutors. In a manner, the misuse of the Law of God killed Jesus.
Jesus called a group of
Pharisees, “vipers.” Of course, that was metaphorical, but their brand of
religion was a viper cult since they used the Law to their own advantage. They
were “vipers” in two scenarios: (1) They were of their father the Devil whose
deeds they would do, as well as they spoke, not for God, but on their own (John
8:44), and (2) they were cunning.
In other words, they had created a new
religion with themselves as the enforcers. They had become the “gods” who kept
peace and judged who should and should not live! They decided that Jesus should
die, and die He did.
They had already killed God vicariously;
now all they needed to do is to make it reality. Indeed, religion kills God. James
the brother of Jesus spoke about religion. Besides Jesus, he was the one of the
few who had the courage to condemn religion; he warned:
If any man among you
seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart,
this man's religion is vain. (Jas 1:26)
Even I fear religion. Am I
religious or genuinely a Christian? Thoughts from elsewhere say, Larry, you
are a fake! but another Thought tells me; No, you really believe that
Jesus is God. A good guess is that you might be hampered as well because religion
and truth is much different. Jesus warned about religion:
Then Jesus said to the
crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees
are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. so practice and obey
whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice
what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never
lift a finger to ease the burden.”
“Everything they do is
for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses
inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels, and they love to sit at
the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. They
love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to
be called ‘Rabbi.’”
“Don’t let anyone call
you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as
brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for
only God in heaven is your Father. And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for
you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a
servant, but those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble
themselves will be exalted.”
“What sorrow awaits you
teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door
of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you
don’t let others enter either.”
“What sorrow awaits you
teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and
sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of
hell[ you yourselves are! “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! (Mat 23:1-16; NLT)
The Pharisees were very
religious, just like Jesus accused, but they had no love, grace, or even
tolerance! They led the charge to crucify Jesus just because He told the truth.
Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, “What
is truth?” (John 8:38). Jesus did not answer but showed Pilate the truth in a
very Platonian way. He revealed that His “Shadow” (selem in the Hebrew;
Gen 1:27) was a fragment of Himself and was as real as His Person.
The Holy Cross is another place
that Jesus overcame the world, as His Shadow moved independently of His Body.
Pilate asked Jesus for the truth;
not the Pharisees; not even the chief priests of the Pharisees.
Believe it or not, for the Romans
to crucify required evidence, and nobody there even attempted to provide
evidence that Jesus was not God.
Pilate washed his hands of the
trial because he recognized the religious leaders as frauds. It was them who portended
to be gods and Pilate probably feared for his own life. The religious leaders
were indeed serpents who were of the Serpent in the manner of Cain (1 John
3:12). It seems that the Messianic belief had become Kenite in the manner of
Cain who also killed the “Son of God,” Abel, because it was him who worshipped
in truth.
(My bet is that you have never
had the crucifixion compared to Cain’s murder of Abel, but that is why we have The
Old Testament; Tanakh).
Believing one thing and
practicing another is hypocrisy. The Church has always been full of
hypocrites and church buildings are where they practice their religion; even in
the Temple in the time of Christ religion was practiced very formally with
every jot and tittle (Mat 5:18). [1]
In truth, hypocrites belong in
church buildings until they are set free from religion. Then they can go into
the world to spread the truth. As such, like the Temple long before, the church
buildings and ecclesia have become the “gods.”
People are generally born into
certain religions. Although Catholicism and Judaism are the most obvious, Protestant
are as well. As such, Protestants are various organized religions that broke
away from both the Roman Catholic and Reformed Churches and continue to
degenerate as time passes. The Apostolic Church began to crumble as Jesus faded
away into the heavens and Paul chastised them all. In modern times, how can churches even be
called “churches”?
One of the most profound splits
was between John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius who split Christ in half. In brief,
their religious systems pierced Christ in the same manner that the Roman
Centurion pierced His side. Who is right or who is wrong is not a topic of
debate in this commentary, but that religion split the Universal Church again.
Jesus had “Church” on Calvary.
What was the only topic to be discussed at that Council? Is Jesus who He said
He was?
The centurion saw the truth,
saying, “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39). The repentant malefactor
(Dismus) already had concluded that when he compared the Tanakh to the events
that day. He believed the truth before God even revealed it!
What church doctrine was debated
that day? It was not The Law that they used, but truth. As the Law condemned
Jesus, the truth absolved Him, at least to Pilate and a few others. Most still
refused to believe the truth, albeit they had seen it with their own eyes.
Dismus was saved that day and his
soul taken to Paradise. That did not resolve the Calvin/Arminius Controversary.
He died when he first believed and he was saved as he died. Now the Church is
split over some non-essential controversary.
How to tell which church faction
is right? By which church congregation welcomes the other despite non-essential
differences. Deciding who is saved when is not up to the church faction,
but Jesus. In a manner, some churches have become the gods who accuse and
acquit. Heaven will not be divided, so quit dividing it here.
One sincere church preacher,
after I quit going there, told a friend, “The Herrins did not fit in here.”
Indeed, I did not because soon the preacher’s and the church secretary’s affair
was exposed. There was something there that did not fit, and it turned out to
be the deeds of Nicolaitanes which God hates (Rev 2:6). That you can actively
practice sin without guilt did not seem to be a good doctrine, so I was happy
that I had split!
Truthfully, even I was born what
I am, religiously. Albeit that is what I was, after careful study, I am no
longer what I had been. I was always religious, but now I am in Christ because Christ
is in me. What happened? Religion was expelled from my mind and replaced with
truth.
Nicodemus asked how to be born
again. Jesus responded, “Aren’t you a master of Israel, and know not these
things?” (John 3:10). Nicodemus was a religious leader. but he failed to
discern between religious and Christian.
As a Jew, Nicodemus was born into
a religion, but Jesus taught him that his birthright was not the way but only
by Himself. Jesus said to him, “Marvel not; you must be born again” (John 3:7).
His birth nationality and religion would not get him to heaven, but the truth
would. Jesus had said to marvel not; literally, you must be engendered
from God above
Nicodemus’s parents had made him
Jewish but Jesus, as God, would make him a Christian. He did not argue with
Jesus about when, how, or where. Neither did he argue about water or its mode of
application. God would do all the work that neither his parents nor ancestors could
do.
Rebirth is throwing away all the
ideas that you have and settle on one way: About Jesus, Paul wrote, “Neither is
there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Paul did not say when salvation occurs
nor the process. That’s what errant Christians do. We are all Pharisees, at
least most of us! It is Jesus that decides when and it must be by Him
and no other person, sect, or thing.
Jesus was somewhat inclusive, but
only to the degree that Christians must adhere to the truth. You cannot be an
unrepentant sinner and still be a Christian. That is unnatural in the Doctrine
of Jesus.
Neither is a church leader more
eligible for eternal life. Jesus made that clear to Nicodemus.
Nicodemus was baptized after he
ceased marveling, sometime later after Jesus had dealt with him. It was Jesus
who first baptized him.
It is often forgotten that “baptism”
has two modes: by water and by the Spirit of God. Jesus had just told Nicodemus
about the Spirit of God and rebirth, so then he sought baptism to cleanse his
flesh to suit the innermost man that he had just became.
It is imperative, and I admit
doctrinal; Jesus is the Way, not us nor any substance except the Spirit of
Jesus. To think otherwise blasphemes the Holy Ghost (Mark 3:29). Why so? Rather
than the one true Baptism of the Holy Ghost (Ephes 4:5), the water becomes the
efficient substance.
Baptism cannot be repeated; it
occurs only one time. Baptism is of God and preachers are not God. To baptize repeatably renders the Holy Ghost
useless.
Note also, that Nicodemus had to
dismiss what he had always believed. He was born a Jew, and he would remain
a Jew. He failed to understand that he was religious but not a Christian. He
came to understand that a new person in Christ has Christ in him. It did not
matter the sources of his genes, but who regenerated him. Christ did
that to the man who questioned his own religion.
Always question your religion as I
do mine. I have always been a very religious hypocrite, but I am now a sinful
Christian. To deny my sins would make me both a liar and a hypocrite, to wit: “If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”
(1 John 1:8). Indeed, I am a sinner whose soul will be saved by grace.
When might I be saved? That is
not up to me for I am not God. Note that the body of Dismus died on his cross
but that day his soul was in Paradise alongside the Holy Ghost of Jesus.
Indeed, for Dismus, Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).
Church denominations search the Bible for other ways to Paradise. For them,
there must be some backdoor to sneak in without rebirth!
To be born again, you must first die.
Nocdemus shed his old beliefs and his inner man died. He gave up the falsehoods
of his church (synagogue) in favor of the invisible Church with Jesus at its
head. Death is scripturally abandoning false beliefs. Adam’s kind died because they
put away the truth in favor of deception. Just like liars must always take care
not to be trapped in their own web of lies, many sincere people get caught in
the web of their own false beliefs.
Face it, you are probably a Calvinist
because you were born a Calvinist and the same applies to Arminius. In the same
manner, most of you are either Lutherans or Roman Catholics because you were
born into those religions. The same goes for Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and all
the rest. Whatever religion in which you were born; you must be born again!
Some either explain away rebirth
or take it in vain because, like Nicodemus, they fail to understand it.
Surprise, God does it and if it has been done by Him, then you should understand
it; put away old thoughts and ways and know your muse.
I use the word “muse” there on
purpose. Jesus must be the “Muse,” but for so many Christians, muses are music.
They go where the music suits their natural inclinations. They get emotional
when the right tunes are played but may sit lifeless when the preacher reveals
truth.
Note that when Nicodemus sought
Jesus, there was no music playing in the background, and neither was it an
emotional event. He heard The Word and knew it was the truth. He did not
marvel, dance, raise his hands, go to the altar, or anything else. He just
stood there as if nailed to a cross and trusted The Word of God.
This is not to criticize the
Church so much as it is us. Just as rock stars get you into the world, the
Church uses the same tactics to get you into heaven. If it works for you, so be
it; but Nicodemus did not need anything but Jesus and the truth that He
revealed.
The doctrine of your church is
not sacrosanct, but The Word of Jesus is. Let’s go His Way.
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