Religions are dictatorships.
The people of religion have no voice, nor vote in policies and programs.
The people of religion do not choose their ministers and priests, who are their commanding officers sent from the Home Office.
The people of religion sit and listen in total obedience to their commanders. They do as they are commanded to do. All of their actions are dictated. They sit, they stand, they kneel, they pray, they sing, or chant---on command and on cue. They never disagree with their commanders.
The people of religion do not have the power to change anything about their religion, and they are expected to train their children to do likewise: to become carbon copies of themselves.
Religion is an assembly line of productivity, which is why religion has generations of families performing the same rites and rituals for hundreds of years, and which is why people of religion believe that their religion is in their DNA: the belief that their religion is transferred to them from their ancestors---as if their religion is a transfusion from gods from above to their forefathers.
Even within religious Christianity, we see a dictatorship at work because the people do as they are dictated to do. And even though they are taught to say "Christ is risen" they never speak a word about the Lord. Why? If they believe that Christ is risen from death, why do they not want others to hear this good news? Why do they not teach their children to speak for Christ instead of living for their religion?
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. (Acts 10: 1-2)
Cornelius was a strange Roman. He did not cling to a religion. He did not believe as other Romans believed. He was not living under a religious dictatorship, and nor was he living under the authority of the priests of Rome while living in Judea. He did not believe in the Roman Way, nor did he kneel to the gods of Rome. Instead, Cornelius believed in God, the Creator of the universe! And though he believed in God, he was not saved. But after meeting Peter, the apostle of the Lord, and after hearing Peter expound on all things concerning Christ in the Scriptures, Cornelius and all of his house believed and were baptized in the name of the Lord.
Cornelius was a Roman and he was the first Gentile to convert to Jesus Christ. He was also the first Roman to denounce the religions of Rome. This was risky for Cornelius to do, but he did it anyway.
As a personal footnote to this story today, I was a religious Christian for most of my adult life. Since I was a child, I believed in God, I believed in Christ, and I believed in the Bible. But like Cornelius, I was not saved. All of that changed, however, when, early in the morning hours of April 27, 1995, Christ came to me and I believed in Him, person to person, for the first time. In so doing, I lost my religion. But losing my religion was because of my gain in Christ. Ever since that day, I have not lived under a religious dictatorship.
Over the past three and a half years, the Lord has enabled me to see the difference between God and religion; and the Lord has enabled me to separate religion from God and God from religion. For God will not mix His holiness with man's unholy religions.
To know Christ, people must come out of religion. To gain Christ, they must be willing to let go of religion. For their religion cannot save them from their sins; neither can the names that are in their religion save them from the sins.
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)
This was the experience of Cornelius, and this was the experience of me.
Because of the power of the name of Jesus Christ, He is the most important person in the universe---including things seen and things not seen, of all things past and all things future.
Christ is the most important name to speak about, to write about, to sing about, and the only Person who is alive after death to hear the prayers of people.
No wonder Christ is called KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19: 16)
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. (Psalm 24: 9-10)
The people of religion have no voice, nor vote in policies and programs.
The people of religion do not choose their ministers and priests, who are their commanding officers sent from the Home Office.
The people of religion sit and listen in total obedience to their commanders. They do as they are commanded to do. All of their actions are dictated. They sit, they stand, they kneel, they pray, they sing, or chant---on command and on cue. They never disagree with their commanders.
The people of religion do not have the power to change anything about their religion, and they are expected to train their children to do likewise: to become carbon copies of themselves.
Religion is an assembly line of productivity, which is why religion has generations of families performing the same rites and rituals for hundreds of years, and which is why people of religion believe that their religion is in their DNA: the belief that their religion is transferred to them from their ancestors---as if their religion is a transfusion from gods from above to their forefathers.
Even within religious Christianity, we see a dictatorship at work because the people do as they are dictated to do. And even though they are taught to say "Christ is risen" they never speak a word about the Lord. Why? If they believe that Christ is risen from death, why do they not want others to hear this good news? Why do they not teach their children to speak for Christ instead of living for their religion?
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. (Acts 10: 1-2)
Cornelius was a strange Roman. He did not cling to a religion. He did not believe as other Romans believed. He was not living under a religious dictatorship, and nor was he living under the authority of the priests of Rome while living in Judea. He did not believe in the Roman Way, nor did he kneel to the gods of Rome. Instead, Cornelius believed in God, the Creator of the universe! And though he believed in God, he was not saved. But after meeting Peter, the apostle of the Lord, and after hearing Peter expound on all things concerning Christ in the Scriptures, Cornelius and all of his house believed and were baptized in the name of the Lord.
Cornelius was a Roman and he was the first Gentile to convert to Jesus Christ. He was also the first Roman to denounce the religions of Rome. This was risky for Cornelius to do, but he did it anyway.
As a personal footnote to this story today, I was a religious Christian for most of my adult life. Since I was a child, I believed in God, I believed in Christ, and I believed in the Bible. But like Cornelius, I was not saved. All of that changed, however, when, early in the morning hours of April 27, 1995, Christ came to me and I believed in Him, person to person, for the first time. In so doing, I lost my religion. But losing my religion was because of my gain in Christ. Ever since that day, I have not lived under a religious dictatorship.
Over the past three and a half years, the Lord has enabled me to see the difference between God and religion; and the Lord has enabled me to separate religion from God and God from religion. For God will not mix His holiness with man's unholy religions.
To know Christ, people must come out of religion. To gain Christ, they must be willing to let go of religion. For their religion cannot save them from their sins; neither can the names that are in their religion save them from the sins.
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)
This was the experience of Cornelius, and this was the experience of me.
Because of the power of the name of Jesus Christ, He is the most important person in the universe---including things seen and things not seen, of all things past and all things future.
Christ is the most important name to speak about, to write about, to sing about, and the only Person who is alive after death to hear the prayers of people.
No wonder Christ is called KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19: 16)
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. (Psalm 24: 9-10)
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