Today I grieve a little at the ritualistic traditions that occur every Sunday in churches all over this country.
The preachers in these gatherings teach the unresponsive congregations what to think in terms of many false doctrinal explanations while negating most of God's word when it comes to relationships, ours to one another and ours to God Himself.
When we claim God never said something or that He didn't mean something we are denying Jesus Christ.
I have heard people agree with me about what God said but go off and live their lives as though the truth was only something we say and that is enough, no changed heart and no changed actions must occur in their minds.
Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘ These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”…"
If you have ever had a family member tell you they love you but do not value anything you say and do you may have an inkling of how God must feel when we do this to Him.
Following Christ by rote, ritual and tradition is not pleasing to God. He wants our obedience to His written word. The Holy Spirit has ceased to speak to most people who say they are Christians because they will not obey what He has already said in His Word.
John 14:15 -16 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…"
1 John 2:3
"By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments."
What we really need to hear from the pulpits today are not more ideas to ponder without reference to our own heart conditions, but rather principles Christ gave us in His Word. The entire Bible from Gensis to Revelation teaches us how to live for God.
We don't do the same things the Jews did under the Law but the principles taught in the Old Testament remain, the lessons that are there still have weight and are a picture of the fulfilled new testament.
1 John 5:3
"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,"
Those who become angry at a correction with the word of God, even punishing the one who brings the correction, are not seeking holiness.
The preachers in the pulpits think they should have power over those in the pews, dictating to them what they should believe while spurning anyone in the pew who corrects them through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In all my years in church gatherings rarely was a time when people were admonished to seek the Holy Spirit while reading the word of God to determine how to live their lives or for God to reveal in them anything that does not honor God so that they may live a life submitted to Christ.
The preaching these days is an exercise in telling the people in the pews what to believe but not how to seek the Holy Spirit. If someone steps forward to correct a wrong teaching or a wrong attitude that person is summarily rejected becoming the avoided one from that point forward.
God clearly taught that we are to be subject to one another, listening to one another as brothers and sisters, while each person is grateful for the admonishment going to Christ in them to be sure if what was said is true.
In our day, the preacher up front discourages disagreement, allows wrong doctrine to be spoken and rejects anyone who wishes to go deeper to discern truth.
John 14:21-24
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him…"
God's principles in His Word are not suggestions they are commands to be sought after like fine gold.
James 1:5
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."
God never once said if you lack wisdom go to the pastor, the elder, or the family friend, He told us to go to Him for wisdom. If we never go to the Holy Spirit in prayer just believing what others tell us we will not gain wisdom. This will only cause us to develop a religion based on man's thinking but not God's.
Just recently an elder man brought a young man to my door to speak to me about the JW religion. I spoke to the young man encouraging him to not believe any person or read any writings by men and to read the Bible by himself while asking the Holy Spirit to show him truth.
My hope is that the older man will also take my advice but it is more likely the young man who is still somewhat pliable may do what I suggested. They both got the gospel message while they were on my porch. Sadly the older folks who have been in the JW system all their lives are so locked in they are difficult to reach with the truth.
The longer a person has the false gospel the harder they are to reach because it all sounds so right. Damaging the soul over and over again for many years with false teaching leaves scars that are difficult to penetrate with the truth.
There are so many ways and times we have to share the truth of God's Word just in daily life, let's not be shy. If we are confident in the Lord we will be more concerned about what God thinks and what pleases Him than we are about the reaction of those who hear the message.
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