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)