HEAR YE! HEAR YE!

   People of religion believe with their eyes, but the children of God believe with their ears.
   People of religion believe in the things they see with their eyes, such as temples, shrines, cathedrals, and by the appearance of men in priestly garments; but the children of God believe by faith.
   People of religion believe in the smoke of stovepipes, but the children of God believe by faith.
      "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11: 1)
      "Be still, and know that I am God."  (Psalm 46: 10)
      "And God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light."  (Gen. 1: 3)
      "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the foul of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing and creepeth upon the earth' ."  (Genesis 1: 26)
   Therefore God created man to have dominion "over all the earth", but men of the earth invented religion to have dominion over people.
   People of religion believe in religion, but the children of God believe in God.
      "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  (Romans 10: 17)
   Hear ye! Hear ye! the Word of the Lord!
      "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
      "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.
      "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."  (John 1: 1-4; 10-14)
   Therefore come out of religion, for Christ is not there:  He is risen!
      "Why seek ye the living among the dead?"  (Luke 24: 5)
     

A PAIR OF MAGPIES

   The Bible is about God and Christ and not about religion.
   God, in fact, does not and has never had a religion.
   The writers of the Bible wrote about God and Christ and not about religion.
   When Jesus came to earth, He did not arrive here to launch a new religion.
   Beginning in Jerusalem and to the uttermost parts of the world, the apostles and disciples went forth proclaiming the Good News of Christ and not the views of the newest religion on the block.
   Religion is man's  idea, not God's; therefore, religion is all about man:  his ideas, his views, and the plans that he writes and proclaims in his own books and out of his own imagination, thereby making religion an imaginary system of man's beliefs, which is enough to produce mental disorders in those that bend their knees to imaginary images made by human hands.
   Obviously, religion is a substitute station:  a place to divert the minds of people from knowing God in an environment that man creates to look holy, as well as a place where even men  can appear to look holy---wearing the garments  to play their parts in the program, on a stage, and in front of a paying audience.  After all, the stuff they have to offer is not free, and they must also be paid for their work in their devoted duty of sacrificial service to their god, or gods, or goddesses.  If you like what you see, clap your hands:  then open your wallet.

"See you next week in a brand new show!"

  
   Isn't religion more like an orchestrated program where the script never changes and where the voices sound like a pair of magpies stuck in tree?
   After all, when was the last time anything new came out of religion?
   After all, when was the last time anything new came out of Rome?  Or Paris?  Or New York City?
   When was the last time, in fact, when something new came out of the cathedral on Main Street, from the chapel on the corner, or from the little brown church in the vale?
   About the only thing new we hear these days arrives from the world of politics, movies, music, and sports, while conspiracy theories will raise more eyebrows than a bucket of jalapeno peppers.
   Without something different, something new, we are living in the past:  today is the same as yesterday and tomorrow will be the same as today.
    How, then, can people have hope in the future when they are living in the past in yesterday's news?
         "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:  When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.  Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.  But as he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:  for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.  And she shall bring for a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:  and he shall save his people from their sins'."  (Matthew 1: 18-21)
   The lives of Joseph and Mary suddenly changed in the heartbeat of a child, and every day they lived, from that day forward, was in the future because their future was in the baby, and their eyes were forever on Him.
       "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."  (John 3: 16)
  
  

  

ESCAPE TO CYPRUS

   Of all the men on earth, perhaps it is difficult for people to believe that leaders of religions can have murder in their hearts, but they can, they have, and the convincing evidence is found in the Bible.
   Immediately after Jesus resurrected Lazarus from death, two events happened which reveals to us that not all men in priestly garments are trustworthy as servants of God, or ministers of Christ:
   First,
      "Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, "What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.  If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him; and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.'
        And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, 'Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.'
        And this spake he not of himself:  but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
        Then from that day forth they took council together for to put him to death."  (John 11: 47-53)
   Secondly,
      "But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus."  (John 12: 10-11)
   Thus we can see that these men in priestly garments conspired with Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate to put Jesus to death, for they believed not that Jesus would rise again:  but they could not find Lazarus because God hid him from them.
   According to Ring of Christ, Lazarus escaped Jerusalem and went to Cyprus to live out his second life.
      "According to Cypriot tradition he went to Kition, Cyprus, where later he was met by the Apostles Paul and Barnabus on their missionary journey through Cyprus and was ordained by them as the first Bishop of Kition.
        Lazarus was buried for a second time beneath a tiny church on the site of the present Ayios Lazaros in Larnaca, his sarcophasus was inscribed with:
               ' Lazarus four days dead and friend of Christ'."

St. Lazarus Church at night of Lanarca, Cyprus

    Jesus said,  "They shall put you out of the synagogues:  yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.  And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, or me."  (John 16: 2-3)

                                                                                                        

  

  

  

RELIGION, Inc. $$$

      
     Religion is the greatest financial institution that man has invented on the face of the earth, and religions worldwide have more than an abundance of wealth. 
   Religions have banks to count their money and vaults to store their money for safe-keeping.  They do not want it to get away, and they certainly do not want to share it with people outside their arenas; nor do they want to share it with people within their own religious communities.
   Religions have sufficient funds to feed hungry people worldwide every day and never go broke, but their behaviors demonstrate that they would rather people die than for them to buy another meal for one hungry person.
     While the leaders of religions live rich and lavish lifestyles, people worldwide suffer for lack of financial need. 
     People worldwide suffer for lack of shelter, clothing, and medical attention for sickness and disease while the leaders of religions sit on the money, spending it on themselves, hoarding it in vaults for themselves, while begging their congregations to give them more.
    According to various sources online, the ten richest religions are these:
     1.  The Roman Catholic Church
     2.  Islam
     3.  Judaism
     4.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
     5.  The Church of England
     6.  The Episcopal Church
     7.  Televangelism
     8.  Protestantism
     9.  Freemasonry
   10.  Church of Scientology
   The exact wealth of these ten religions is not known, yet they represent trillions and trillions of dollars in cash, gold, silver, interest earned on stock investments, and real estate holdings.
   According to The Vatican Billions by Avro Manhattan, the Catholic Church by itself is "the biggest financial power on earth.  She is the greatest possessor of material riches than any other single institution, corporation, bank, giant trust, government, or state of the whole globe."

   Obviously, religions are the same as business enterprises, for one of their goals is to accumulate fortunes:  taking money from people while giving nothing in return.

   More than this, however, religions also use the name of Jesus as no more than a building block on which to make money---deceiving people to believe they can be Christians simply because they join a religious institution, to which they will freely give their money.

   How many of these institutions, moreover, do not teach their people about resurrection of Christ, nor are they teaching the return of Christ?  Instead of teaching the truth of the Bible, they teach their people to close their eyes and minds to the Bible:  as if the Bible is forbidden fruit.

      "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:  in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."  (2nd Corinthians 4: 3-5)

   Knowing Christ, therefore, is based on our relationship with Christ and Christ alone and not  on a relationship with an institution built by the hands of men. 

  Neither can this salvation be purchased with silver and gold, for we owe nothing  to the leaders of religions because they did not and could not die for our sins, nor resurrect themselves from death.

      "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."  (Romans 5: 8-10)

     

THE KING OF CHRISTMAS

   Religion is a non-living institution.  It has no love because it has no heart and it has no heart because it has no life. But people will give their lives to it because they believe it will give them eternal life.
   Religion is a hollow tube, closed at both ends, and the only way people believe it is real is because of the power that abides in the minds of human imagination.
   Just as young children will believe in Santa Claus, they will also believe in the idols of religion when fed into their minds in early childhood; for young children do not know the difference between the real and the unreal, nor the difference between the living God and non-living entities.  To them, there is no difference between Santa Claus and idols.
   For this reason, religion desires the children of parents, separated from them in downstairs classrooms for the purpose of religious indoctrination, which is the same as programmed mind control:  to get to their minds early and to keep them in lifetime memberships as slaves of religion.
   But people, moreover, will decorate religion just as they decorate their homes with Christmas lights and make religion look alive and attractive, thereby deceiving themselves to believe that religion must be a wonderful place to be simply because it is warm, cozy, and comfortable.
   In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve saw the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
      "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat."  (Genesis 3: 6)
   When people see things that dazzle their minds, their eyes pop open like pancakes.  They are quick to consume it, after which they desire to share it with others with them, such as their wives, their husbands, and their children. 
   Surely this is a deal that is too good to pass me by!
   When people see the magnificence of regal splendor in the physical engineering of temples, shrines, and cathedrals, their minds are dazzled and their eyes pop open like pancakes.
   When people see men who appear as holy men, dressed in fancy suits and priestly garments, their minds are dazzled and their eyes pop open like pancakes:  after which they treat them as gods upon the earth, walking among them, as they kneel to them and call them holy.
   Christmas is also the season when the minds of people are dazzled by the things they see and their eyes pop open like pancakes, especially the eyes of young children:  after which they will actually believe that Santa Claus is coming to town.
   Since young children will believe that, they will also believe in idols on the walls as well as believe that the souls of dead people can answer prayers.
   Religion is a tree that grows in the garden of cities and neighborhoods, and it is a tree that looks "good for food", a tree that is "pleasant to the eyes", and a tree that is "desired to make one wise".  It dazzles human minds and the eyes of people pop open like pancakes:  after which they "eat of the fruit thereof".
   The imaginations of Adam and Eve were opened in the garden of Eden and they responded with the minds of young children without parents to keep them away from the house of religion.
      "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him'."  (Matthew 2:  1-2)
   Wise men still seek Him and we crown Him, the King of Christmas.
   This year, give Christ for Christmas:  the gift of God that keeps on giving.
     

THROUGH HIS EYES

   The Bible reveals to us the mind of God and the way God thinks. 
   If we, therefore, will get in the Bible, we will see things through the eyes of God rather than seeing things through our own eyes, or through the eyes of others, or through the eyes of the world, or through the eyes of religion.
   God's eyes see the future, and if we will get in the Bible, we will see the future through His eyes rather than seeing a future that is uncertain, which is always a future of questionable circumstances, and which is a future always filled with if, if, if.
   Wouldn't you really rather know the future that is truthful instead of a future that is based on guesswork and speculation?
      "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
        For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
        For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
        So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:  it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the things whereto I sent it."  (Isaiah 55:  8-11)
   Judas Iscariot, for example, could have had heaven.  He could have become an apostle, a preacher of the Gospel, or perhaps he could have written a book about Christ.  Instead, Judas was looking through his own eyes and all his eyes could see was the power he would receive with a pocketful of loose change.  And on the day when Jesus died on a cross for the sins of the world in Jerusalem, Judas also died and went to hell.
   Jesus said,
      "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?   Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"  (Mark 8: 36-37)
   So is looking through the eyes of God important?
   God wants us to be in heaven with Him.  But do we want to be in heaven with God?
   If so, then we must believe in God and agree with Christ because God's eyes are on His Son.
      "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3: 16-17)
       

MEN IN WHITE JACKETS

   We are standing on a stage of history where people have never stood before, and there is also a mindset that has gripped the minds of people that this generation has not known before.   
   Therefore being led to believe that many people have no interest in knowing truth, we can also believe that this is no mystery when we examine the evidence that is in front of our eyes:
      that people are content to do the things they do today as they did yesterday, and they are content to do those things tomorrow that they are doing today;
      that people are content to believe in the things they believe today as they believed yesterday, and they are content to believe those things tomorrow that they believe today;
      that people are content to know no more today than they knew yesterday, and they are content to know no more tomorrow than they know today.
   If today is no different than yesterday, and if tomorrow will be no different than today, what are people living for?
   Could it be that our routines have become ruts and our ruts have become tunnels?  That we have dug ourselves in holes and all we are doing is spinning our wheels, yet no longer moving forward?
   Routines never change unless we consciously change our habits, and out habits will not change unless we consciously change the way we think. 
   There are two addictions that are common to many people:
       1.  the addiction to government
       2.  the addiction to religion
   Both institutions are inventions from the imaginations of men, and both institutions lead people into captivity. 
   Religion is ruled and dominated by unholy men in priestly garments and they present themselves as holy men, as if they are gods of the universe living on earth, sinless, and not living according to human laws, but serving as enforcers of religious law.
   In fake Christianity, these unholy men present themselves as "servants of God" and also as "servants of Christ" because their desire is to trick people to be believe they are Christians simply because of their acceptance of a Christian religion:  that religion is the reason they believe they are Christians instead of believing in Christ alone.  They are deceivers, making themselves to appear as "holy men" in the eyes of their congregations, and they desire the praises of their people, whom they are holding captive.  People respond by kneeling to their authority, by their submission to them, as they also believe these unholy men have the power to forgive sin, thereby making the death of Christ for sin null and void:  for Christ, to them, is just part of their religious experience, or just another face among many faces within their institution, for they have become institutionalized  by their spiritual doctors, isolated and insulated within the walls of their institution, unable to speak for Christ because their voices have been trained to speak for their religion and their religious heads and not  to speak for the Lord, but rather to remain silent  concerning Jesus.
   Religion, therefore, is like a psychiatric hospital where patients are brought to be examined by men in white jackets.  When their treatment plan is complete, they will be like all other patients in the building.  Not only will they believe that their doctors are gods from above, or "holy men", but they will also be convinced that these humans are capable of forgiving sin as well as knowing the way to a place called heaven after they die.  Their faith and trust has been thoroughly forged in their minds to believe that these men in white jackets are God and rightfully deserving of the title, "Father God".  According to their medical records, Jesus is not needed for salvation since they have submitted themselves to a program that is equal to or even greater than Christ, and their doctors in white jackets nod approvingly---while not one of these men in white jackets died for sin, nor arose from death.
   The writers of the New Testament were witnesses of Jesus, and their stories are their eyewitness accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord.  But without the resurrection of the Lord, their stories would be incomplete:  for it is the Lord's resurrection from death that sets Jesus apart from any and all persons in universal history. 
   The writers of the New Testament never wrote about themselves as "holy men", nor did they claim to be equal with God and capable of forgiving sin. They never expected people to kneel to them, nor to call them "Father".  Furthermore, they never wrote that Jesus came to earth to be the founder of a new religion.  They quoted the words of Jesus and not the words of themselves.
   As Jesus said,
      "I am the resurrection, and the life:  he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:  and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.  Believest thou this?"  (John 11: 25-26)
  

ALL THAT GLITTERS

And the devil said unto Jesus, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."  (Matthew 4: 9)

      Perhaps more people would believe in God and Christ,
          but then---
          religion gets in their eyes and clouds their minds,
             and all they can see are the things that glitter.

   Over the past two thousand years, men have built religion around Christ in an attempt to keep the Lord in a tomb, and people, therefore, see religion before they see Christ---if they see Him at all.  To them, the works they do inside religion is more important than the Lord's death on the cross, leaving them to believe that they are in good standing with God because they have fulfilled the letter of the law inside the walls of religion.
   Not only is it important that their religion looks good to their eyes, it is equally important for them to see how good they look wrapped in the cloak of religion as well as to think how good they must look in the eyes of others.
   There is a fine line between right and wrong, just as there is a fine line between good and evil.
   As stated previously and many times, evil always appears as icing on a cake, but beneath the layer of icing is devil's food:
       a handsome young stranger suddenly appears from out of nowhere;
       a pretty young face suddenly appears from the other side of town on a street where you live.
   Just as a prostitute gets all decked out before going to town, so does evil:  in fake perils and cheap perfumes.
   Nothing can prepare people for war except war, and nothing can prepare people to understand all that religion pretends to be until they come out of it.
   Why does religion always appear on the choicest piece of land in the choicest part of town?
   Why is religion the biggest building with the biggest seats and the biggest chandeliers?
   Religion, like the prostitute, has an expensive appetite: she is never satisfied as she is always desiring more.
   The imaginations of children are easily attracted to things that glitter:  such as the sounds of marching bands, the look of movie stars and music stars, and the belief that Santa Claus is the reason for Christmas. 
   Have you ever heard Republicans or Democrats in Washington take responsibility for their failures?
   Of course not!  For confession would tarnish their image of perfection.
   Likewise, men of religion never confess their faults before men, for this would tarnish their golden image, which they use to persuade people to follow them in the world of religion.
   Judas Iscariot sold his soul for thirty pieces of silver.  Some people have made the exchange for less, some for more, because evil is always negotiable since evil appears as glitter.
      "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"  (Mark 8: 36-37)
   The things we render our hearts to are the things that glitter, thereby producing an emotional attachment.  This explains why people weep when legends or heroes die, such as movie stars or music stars, because "gods" should not perish in front of their eyes.  Or when a politician fails to win the presidential election, or when a college football team fails to win the National Championship, or when a professional sports franchise does not win the World Championship.
   People weep because of their emotional attachment---when they become one with the glitter---because they believe their idols were denied that which was rightfully theirs:  further complicated by the false premise that the crowns for their idols were stolen by the competition in a rigged system.
   But if we should take away the majestic buildings of religion, such as temples and shrines and even cathedrals, religion would collapse and disappear, for pagans are dependent on buildings as places to store and display their collections of gods and goddesses on the interior Walls of Fame where people gather to worship and pray to gods that are not living.  More than this, religion keeps the minds of adults as the minds of little children by never allowing them to grow up, to mature, nor to make decisions, for their choices are made for  them all the days of lives by the dictatorships that rule over them.  When the bells ring, they come running.
   Religion is the same as a prostitute:  all decked out in silver and in gold, dressed in purple with fine linen.  She has franchises all over the world:  in every nation, in every language, in every city, village, or hamlet, and on every street where people live.  She is, by far, the greatest institution that man has invented on the face of the earth.  She glitters by day and she glitters by night, for she is, by far, the greatest seducer of the souls of people.
   Jesus said,
      "Enter ye in at the strait gate:  for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."  (Matthew 7: 13-14)
   Jesus also said,
      "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities."  (Revelation 18: 4-5)