Religious Rituals and Modern Practices!

Have you thought about all the religious rituals we do that God never commanded? Memorials, large weddings, holidays, speaking to the dead, and much more.

If we are to desire only pure truth to be in obedience to the Lord it would be good to go through all the rituals and holidays we celebrate and see if there is any command or basis for them in scripture.

Most things we do that we love to celebrate came out of paganism, added by the Catholic church and other cultic traditions that people wanted to include in their life.

Basically, we have indulged in paganism without even realizing it, merely because it is always what has been done and it is accepted by everyone, believers and non-believers alike.

Mark 7:13 "13Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

Those who have given up the things of the world and of the pagans are often treated disrespectfully for not wanting to join in, even among believers.

Mark 7:3

"Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially."

Mark 7:5

"So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands."

Here in these passages, we have men of God dedicated to following Jesus Christ and even eventually dying for Him, being chastised for not following human traditions of ritualistic handwashing.

If you want to find out who loves you stop celebrating all the rituals, expunge from your life anything that is not commanded by God or based on a very real principle of the Bible and watch who becomes embarrassed by you. You WILL lose friends guaranteed, perhaps not all, but so many that you will feel very alone at times.

John 14:6-7 "6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”…"

When we desire to follow Christ so fully that we remove from our lives those things that do not glorify Him others will become distant and sometimes even angry.

I once heard of someone who decided to remove the television from their house because their children were fighting over it. They felt it was distracting them from good family interaction. They didn't tell anyone they got rid of their television, they just did it without announcing anything. Family members came to their home and noticed the TV was gone. Asking about it they were shocked and upset that the family decided to remove it. They even accused the family of being self-righteous for not having one of these machines in their home. This was one of the silliest stories I had ever heard, being rejected and corrected over the lack of entertainment in their own home. This family didn't go into the homes of others telling them they should remove their television, they merely made their own choice for their own family without announcing it.

By the way, those who were upset at their family decision were Christians......or so they pretended.

This is how people view you when you remove something from your life that is distracting you from Christ. They see you as weird and arrogant when the arrogant ones are those who are angry about what we are doing that is drawing us closer to Christ.

It is possible and likely that when we take a major step to come closer to Christ the world is going to hate us for it. They want us to be just like them, without concern for our spiritual life.

We are living in the end times of apostasy when many people who are in the church are not born again. They will work against our desire to serve and please God. They will chastise those who are growing in holiness attempting to bring them back to their own way of thinking. Those who are pretenders love their traditions, their worldly desires and themselves far more than they care about Christ.

When you are rejected for the way you live your life, praise God, for if we were of the world the world would love its own.

John 15:18-20 "18If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. 20Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecute"

Do not be dismayed or saddened by this, rejoice that you are seeking Christ, His reward is great and our joy is full. Hallelujah!

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Whose Praise Do You Desire?

When Christ comes to dwell in a born-again believer He changes us into an entirely new person, we cannot change ourselves back. We do not have to depend on our own works to keep salvation, we are trusting in Him, that is Christ Who keeps us.

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"

God does not throw away His children ever!!! We are not saved by our works or kept by our own works, it is Christ Who keeps us.

The confusion comes when we see someone turn back after claiming to be a Christian. Those who do this had a false conversion based on only words and emotions. Christ never changed them because they came hoping to get into heaven on their own merit.

Matthew 7:21-23

I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

You should be able to tell often who has been authentically born again and who is not, here's how:

Matthew 7:15-20

You Will Know Them by Their Fruit

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

What is the fruit?

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law."

This fruit is not about deeds, it is the character qualities of Christ that run through our entire being. Those who lack this fruit are not born again. These qualities will produce works, however, anyone who is unsaved can do good works, the works do not prove they are born again.

We will see this wonderful fruit in all born-again believers.

We all have flaws and growing to do after we are born again, this is the process of life long sanctification. The false believer lives a lifestyle of fear, contention and disobedience to God's Word. They love themselves more than they love God or the people of God.

John 13:34-35 "…34 A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples if you love one another.”

John 14:15-16 "15If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…"

Galatians 5:15-17 "15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.…"

Those who continually treat others disrespectfully do not have the Spirit of God or His fruit.

Love desires to be kind and all the rest of the fruit all the time. Love cares more about pleasing God than pleasing people.

Proverbs 29:25-26 "25 The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is set securely on high. 26 Many seek the ruler’s favor, but a man receives justice from the LORD.…"

When we love through Christ Who lives in us we are more concerned about our brothers and sisters spiritual well-being than we are about messaging their feelings.

Many people who are narcissistic are easily offended because they have themselves on the throne, it is helpful to them if we do not tread too carefully, they must hear the truth.

If we tell the truth through the love of the Holy Spirit they may still claim we were unkind, so not apologize when you have been falsely accused of meanness when you were led by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth in order to help another person.

We have to remember too that one person can ruin an entire fellowship, we must also think of the others who are harmed by the person who is disobedient.

1 Corinthians 5:6-7

"Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed."

Is man more important to us than Christ is? Do we fear man more than we fear God?

Psalm 20:7-8 " 7 Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 8 They collapse and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.…"

When we walk in the Spirit obeying Him, we do not fear what people will say against us or do to us. Why? Because Christ is far more important than the love of man.

Worrying about what men will say or do prevents us from doing what Christ commands us to do. Why? Because man generally most of the time will hate us for our dedication to the truth of God.

Whose praise do you want, that of man or from God, "well done good and faithful servant."?

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Gaslighting a Common Tactic in our Day

If someone does not want to hear the truth they will "gaslight" you to think you did something wrong in sharing the truth to bring them back to thinking about God.

Matthew 11:16-19

16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call out to the other children,

17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a song of mourning, and you did not ]mourn.’

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ And yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

No matter what you do, no matter how good or how true, if a rebellious person does not want to believe the truth they will accuse you of something that is not true so they don't have to listen to you.

Get used to this, we live in a world in which the church has placed friendliness above truth.

Luke 12:51-52 "51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.…"

It is not the truth that divides, it is the lie that is exposed that divides. The truth believed always brings greater unity, the truth denied is what brings the division.

The typical tactic of the devil is to accuse the believer of being divisive when it was the devil who was causing the need for exposing the lie.

The devil is a gaslighter, he tells us we were unkind by speaking the truth of God's Word. Anyone who is being used by the devil to cause division will accuse the truth-teller of the very evil the divisive person is doing.

The devil will say we ought to be able to say and believe anything we want, except the truth-teller, that person is attacked when speaking they are not allowed to speak.

There is nothing new here, life has always been like this, the devil's attempts at silencing the truth-teller through intimidation, gaslighting and manipulation.

If you are led by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth do not be ashamed when attacked. Do not worry that you caused a problem, do not suck into your soul the tricks and demeaning words and actions of the devil.

John 10:10 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

The devil comes to steal away your peace, your conviction and your devotion to Him by diverting your attention to worldly things. He steals away relationships by turning one person against another. He steals your peace when he is able to cause fear over things that should be left in God's hands.

Christ builds peace in us through our faith and trust in Him. Christ builds relationships between like-minded people so they are in solidarity about the truth.

Those who love Christ understand the need to remain squarely focused on Him, they do not fight to defend their sins or wrong focus.

May the Lord bring born-again believers back to trusting in Him rather than trusting everything other than Him.

The Spirit of Divisiveness Comes in Many Forms

We think of divisiveness in the body of Christ as being those who bring a false Jesus. But there is a much more subtle form of division and that is the one that takes our focus off of Jesus Christ and onto other things in a more dramatic but covert way when more attention is paid to these things than to Christ Himself.

Beware of those who are easily offended by correction. Beware of those who talk more about the things of the world than they do about Jesus Christ and His principles.

Remember that what we talk about the most is what we love the most.

As a seasoned born-again believer, I am aware that as we grow in holiness we interpret all things in terms of His Word, His principles, and the way He thinks.

We cannot know the way Christ thinks merely by knowing His Word, we must be empowered by the Holy Spirit to understand His mind. Many people know the Bible but disobey much because they interpret His Word according to their own mindset not the mind of Christ.

John 16:12-14 "…12 I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. 13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"

When we are consumed with the Holy Spirit everything that happens will be interpreted according to the mind of Christ. We will be far less impacted by the world and more impacted by the Holy Spirit leading.

When we are consumed with Christ we think very little about where our food comes from, who is leading the country and about the things that happen to us, except in how Christ works through these things.

He is the One in control of all things. There is not one thing that escapes His notice.

John 14:17

"the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you."

Do not expect to get your wisdom from the world, it must come from Christ Who dwells in every believer.

Do not allow worldly people to entice you into fear or acting rashly to protect yourself. Christ in us tells us what and when His way, we have no need to fear or act independently of His Word.

Hallelujah!!!!

The Holy Spirit Speaks through those who love Him!

Have you noticed that the group endorses everyone to speak their mind, except the person who disagrees? That person is chastised for being "divisive or causing trouble."

Keep in mind the person who is divisive is the one who sins, not the one who points out the sin.

A group cannot grow in holiness when they walk in fear of whether or not someone becomes upset at correction.

So many churches today are full of enablers who defend the divisive person while chastising the one who points out the sin in the body.

Those who are divisive do not think about the pain they cause others, they only think about controlling situations and people.

Many kind people are afraid to confront the one who is causing division out of fear of being seen as the bad one. In short, most people are fearful of what others will think of them and not so interested in what God thinks or even the well being of the divisive one.

The divisive person is allowed to be abrasive and rude while the others shrink back in fear of the person, placing that person on a higher level than God.

2 Timothy 4:2

"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching."

Hebrews 3:12-13 "12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. 13 But EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness."

If we love the body, if we love the sinner who is not living correctly, then we will tell the truth. Whether or not they receive it is up to them and not on us.

Ephesians 4:22

"to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;"

Hebrews 10:24

"And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds."

Proverbs 28:26

"He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered."

If we are trusting in our own ability to control our own lives then we are walking sinfully, full of rebellion and not by the Holy Spirit of God.

Proverbs 3:6-8 "…6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. 8 This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones."

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Keep looking up, not sideways, not down and not backward, but up!!!

To my brothers and sisters who are struggling with the knowledge of evil all around them. May the Lord comfort you with the following article. As I was sitting in bed this morning with my coffee pondering all that is happening around us, the Lord gave me this encouragement and directed me to write it down to encourage others.

God wants us to be ignorant of evil. The more we know about evil the more desensitized to it we become.

What happened when Adam and Eve partook of the knowledge of evil, they fell, beginning to think in ways that did not please God.

Why do we not tell our young children all the details of evil going on in the world? We don't tell them because we want them to think in good ways, not worried about the evil or influenced to act like the evil.

God says "bad company corrupts good morals." 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals."

Romans 16:19-20

"Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you, but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent (lacking knowledge of the details) about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you"

The more details we know of evil the more desensitized we become. When we do not indulge in knowledge about the evil we are shocked when it walks in front of us, more likely to reject it.

The more desensitized we are to evil through the continual indoctrination of it, the less we are appalled by it. Even those who think they are not being affected by looking at evil find themselves fearful, angry, and disconnected from Christ.

When evil walks in front of us we will deal with it properly and diligently resist it because it is so foreign to us. The more we are desensitized the less we will be shocked while becoming more accepting of it.

The devil wants us to believe we should know it to fight it, this is not what Christ teaches us, He tells us to avoid the evil entirely, and to resist knowing its details.

Even if you see yourself looking at the details of evil to be informed, as so many think is necessary, we are indulging the flesh and weakening the spirit.

Ephesians 5:11-13 "…11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself.…"

If you are ever criticized for not wanting to know the details of the evil in the world, answer with this; "God told me not to dwell on those sorts of things.

They may say to you; "you just putting your head in the sand to remain ignorant." This is nothing more than the devil attempting to mock and intimidate you into putting filth into your mind that he can use later to disquiet you as he takes your focus off of Christ and onto his filth.

Philippians 4:8

"8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

When we are focused on Christ we can show the world how steady and confident we are because the Lord dwells in us.

When we are focused on the world and all its ills we are showing the world we are no better than them. They are frightened and upset too, and so are the Christians who spend much of their time enjoying the knowledge of evil in the world.

We are living in the end times, everything will be evil continually, we must be different from the unsaved and keep our eyes on Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that we deny something that happens in our sphere of influence or community. However, it does mean that if it is not walking our way then we do not go looking for it.

We need to seek Christ about those things He has given us to do, knowing those details as He leads is far different from going out in the world looking under every rock to see what muck we can scrape up to share and upset our brothers in Christ.

I am reminded of a story I heard years ago about a person who worked for the treasury. This person was taught how to spot counterfeit bills when they came across the desk.

He was not shown any counterfeit bills in this education, he was shown only authentic ones and all the intricacies of the authentic bills. The reason he was not shown the counterfeits is that the treasury instructors knew it was best to deeply know the real bills so that when a fake one comes along they will know immediately that it is a counterfeit.

Knowing God intimately, seeking Him continually for all things will make us so connected to Him and His principles that we will know when something or someone false crosses our path. We have much greater discernment by seeking Christ and far less discernment when we seek to know the evil.

The same principle holds true to knowing God and His Ways. When we know Him so well that our minds are deeply entrenched in His thinking, we will know anything that crosses our path if it is not authentic.

The devil says things like; “you need to know the ways of evil.” God says; “know the ways of God and evil will not come into your thinking.

Have you noticed how utterly desensitized to sin the modern church is today? It's because they do not know their Bibles and are so immersed in the thinking of the world that they have a hard time telling the difference between truth and lies.

Sadly many Christians today know the ways of evil far better than they know the Bible, so their response to life is more about accepting what they see in the culture because they do not know the authentic heart of God.

God cannot look upon evil, this is why our bodies stay on earth when we die, they are corrupted, only those who have the Spirit of Christ in them go to be with the Father. Why would we seek to know the filth of this world when our Father cannot even look at it Himself.

Genesis 2:16-17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

God told Adam and Eve to resist eating the forbidden fruit that divulges both good and evil. They disobeyed and it condemned the rest of mankind. Are we not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil when we indulge our curiosity about evil? I think we are returning to the ways of Adam and Eve when we indulge in seeking out the details of evil on the internet.

This practice of seeking out evil to know about it is causing desensitization to the evil, even if it burdens those who look at it they seem to keep looking as though it has become an addiction they cannot break.

What did God say;

Jeremiah 29:12-13 …12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

I see no scripture that says; “seek out all the filth of the world you can find and make sure you tell everyone.” God says to seek Him, those who do not know the Lord will wonder why we are so steady, joyful, and unaffected by what is going on in the world and perhaps will want to know more.

The world has no reason to ask us anything when we are walking around worried and nervous just like them. Our peace comes from within from Christ, it will never come from without in worldly knowledge.

Deuteronomy 4:29 “But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

When we seek the Lord our peace returns and we are unaffected. Yes, we do feel something as we yearn for souls to be saved, but the world does not rob us of our joy and peace because we are deeply connected to the Holy Spirit Who dwells in us.

Our food should not come from the newspapers or other media, it should come from the Holy Word of God. So many are worried about what they put into their bodies but not concerned about what they put into their minds. Our mind is far more important than what we put into our bodies.

Matthew 6:31-34 “ 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Hallelujah…. Keep looking up, not sideways, not down and not backward, but up!!!

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Fearful People are Easily Deceived

1 Timothy 6:20 20 "Guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,"

Isaiah 41:10

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

1 Corinthians 3:18

"18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise."

Fearful people act in ways that devalue the ways of God. They are so much in protection mode that everything they do and say is based on that fear that is ever-present.

When we are not fearful we are fearless, meaning we can move forward in obedience to God whether or not anyone supports us. We have no need to force others into submission or intimidate them because we are secure in the Lord.

When we find ourselves becoming insecure and beginning to fear things in life, the Holy Spirit brings us back to reality and back to confidence in His protection.

We need not fear anything in life when we know all things have a purpose and Christ goes through with us.

There are things that are overwhelmingly frightening, I get that, been there a few times too, but if we pray our way through eventually the fear diminishes even leaves and we can become stronger than we were before.

Never be ashamed that you have feared at times, only be concerned if that fear turns into debilitating worry that pushed communication with God out of our life.

Our first response to our fear is to seek God in the name of Jesus Christ, for His help to get through.

Matthew 7:7-8 " 7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.…"

Ask in the will of God and He will not ignore us. If we do not know what His will is then we must ask for Him to do His will even if we don't understand it.

Romans 8:28

"28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

I am so grateful to God that Christ lives in me and that He is accessible every moment of my life. So many times He has been there for me when no one else was or could be. He is my best friend. Hallelujah!

John 15:15 "

No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you."