B) Religion
Blog webekm.com the ekm.
Download from BIGTheme.net free full premium templates
"By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete;
and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear."
(Hebrews 8:13)
R E L I G I O N
1. With the current chaotic condition of the world, religion fails to fulfill Jesus’ prayer for unity as in this verse:
- John 17:20-21, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
2. Instead religion unites, it divides segregating people that caused the “bad fruit” of world disunity by proliferation of the false prophets, false apostles, and false teachers:
- Matthew 7:15-16, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?"
3. The pure and faultless religion was not preached and was not put into practice:
- James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
In the New Creation (2 Cor. 5:17), faith without love is nothing (1 Cor. 13:2)
4. With the wickedness of men the truth was suppressed (Rom. 1:18). Humans have been polluted by the world because they ignored this command.
- 1 John 2:15-16, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world."
5. The time has come for the worshippers to worship God in the Spirit and in truth:
- John 4:23-24, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
6. God sent signs using nature and people to communicate to humans of His modern commandments for the modern world through the 21st Century Divine Revelation, the brief summary of His commands are presented below:
- 1 John 5:3, "In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,"
- 1 John 3:23, "And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."
As supported by another verse:
- Romans 13:8, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law."
7. God gave humans Spirit, not any living creatures on the planet earth:
- 1 John 3:24, "Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."
8. God put His laws into our hearts and minds:
- Hebrews 10:16, “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
9. Not like in the old times, to glorify God is by good deeds:
- Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
10. Old religious practices are obsolete.
- Hebrews 8:13, "By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear."
11. Not much on burnt offerings and sacrifices but love your neighbor as yourself:
- Mark 12:33, "To love God with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
12. To love & serve Jesus is to love the poor in action & in truth with love:
- Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- Matthew 25:40, "“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"
- 1 John 3:17-18, "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on thm, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."
- 1 Corinthians 13:3, "If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing."
13. Most religions may not include God’s foundational command, to care for the mother earth causing climate change and starvation, not just people but wildlife.
- Genesis 1:28-30, "God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so."
14. The popular or habit is for us to go to man-made church to pray because this was the emphasis in the Old Testament that our ancestors built magnificent temples as house of God, but not in the New Testament, as expressed in the following verses:
- Acts 7:48-49, “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?"
15. And when we pray, we used to go to man-church without knowing this verse:
- Matthew 6:5-6 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Go to a private place and pray in secret."
16. This modern way, to have communion with God is us to live in love:
- 1 John 4:16, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
17. God's love is made complete in us if we love one another:
- 1 John 4:12, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
18. We are liars if we hate our brother or sister.
- 1 John 4:20-21, "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."
19. Another important command is this and if we obey it, we able to fulfill the law of Christ:
- Galatians 6:2, "Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
20. If we obey this one command, we fulfill the entire law:
- Galatians 5:14, "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
21. We are doing it right if we keep the Royal Law: “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”:
- James 2:8, "If you really keep that royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing it right."
22. As for religious leaders or believers who claim to live in God are to live as Jesus did.
- 1 John 2:6, "Whoever claims to live in God must live as Jesus did."
* * * * * * *