A CLONE OF RELIGION

   The human brain is born without knowledge.
   Who began to fill your brain with knowledge?
   Who, for example, began to fill your brain with the knowledge of religion?
   How do you feel about having this decision made for you and to know that their religion is your religion---built in your brain by others and without your permission?
   How does it feel to be a clone of religion?
   Do not be deceived:  for the knowledge of religion is not the same as the knowledge of God.
   The knowledge of God begins with God, but the knowledge of religion begins with man.
      "In the beginning,
          God created the heaven and the earth."  (Genesis 1: 1)
   In the beginning, God did not create religion because religion was created out of the imaginations of men.
  

SPORTS & RELIGION

   Professional sports is all about money.  The games, the wins, and the championships do not matter, for these are illusions  they use to get fans hooked to get their money.
   Religion also uses illusions  to get people hooked to get their money.
   Sports teams and religions are rich and stay rich because of the power of illusion:  none of it is real, but it looks real in the eyes of the fans and in the eyes of the congregations of religion.  They believe it is real and therefore they keep giving their money.  They have been deceived and they have been tricked.
   But if the money of professional sports and religions disappeared, the teams and the religions would collapse and fall because they operate under the power of money. 
   The only difference, however, between professional sports teams and religion is found in the fact that religion gets their souls.
      "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of this world, and not after Christ."  (Colossians 2: 8)

WILL A MAN ROB GOD?

   Is Jesus Christ real in your life, or is He no more than an image of your imagination?
   We must admit that Santa Claus and Easter Bunny have great power. 
   Created in the 20th century, these two animated characters have accomplished everything they were invented and sent forth to do:   to rob Christ of His glory---
         To rob Christ of the glory of His birth
             as well as to rob Christ of the glory of His resurrection.
   In the minds of little children, adults have done an excellent job of teaching them to believe in Santa Claus and Easter Bunny---while ignoring the teaching of Christ.
   To be honest,
       Do you know more about Santa Claus than you know about Christ?
       Do you know more about Easter Bunny than you know about Christ?
   If this is true (and if you will be honest) would it be fair to say that Christ is a stranger to you?  That He is a stranger because you have never met Him?  Because you have never met Him you have no desire to know Him better?  Because Christ is not real to you, is this why you have never told your children about Him?  After all, what would you tell your children about a stranger?
  Is it also possible that the same people who taught you about Santa Claus and Easter Bunny are the same people who taught you about Christ?  And because Santa Claus and Easter are images in your imagination, would it be fair to say that Christ is also no more than an image in your imagination?
      "Will a man rob God?"  (Malachi 3: 8)
   To answer the question, yes, a man will rob God.
   As long as people devote their attention and affection to Santa Claus and Easter Bunny, instead of Christ, they will not devote their attention and affection to Christ, for Christ, to them, is an image and not real.  For in their minds they see three images:  Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Christ.
   In so doing, they will rob Christ of the glory of His birth as well as rob Christ of the glory of His resurrection.

STUCK ON YOU

   Are you living the life you want to live for the rest of your life?
   Chances are, you are trying to live the dream you have imagined your life to be.
   If this is your dream, you will dream no more.
   If this is your dream, you have closed the door to an endless list of possibilities of the life you could live, an endless list of things you could do, and an endless list to the person you could become that is greater than you are today.
   In five years, you will still be dreaming the same dream you are dreaming today.
   In five years, you will still be believing the same things you believe today.
   In five years, you will still be doing the same things you are doing today.
   If this is your dream, all you are doing is watching the sun go up and watching the sun go down.
   If this is your dream, all you are doing is waiting for things to happen because you will never make things happen.
   If this is your dream, then you are stuck on you.  You are a prisoner in your own mind, shackled to a dream that leads to nowhere but to yesterday.  You are thereby stuck in yesterday's news, yesterday's blues, and yesterday's views.  The things that thrill you today will be the same things that thrilled you yesterday. 
   If this is your dream, nothing has changed since yesterday:  and nothing never will!
   Tomorrow morning, you will awake to begin a new day.  But tomorrow will not be a new day for you because you lived it yesterday.
   But what about faith, you ask.
   What about it?
   Faith is for the future, not for yesterday. 
   To have faith in God for the future, you must come out of your imagination, for it is there where you are stuck on you and still dreaming the endless dream of yesterday.
      "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11: 1)
  

UNTIL THEN

   The Bible is the most important document the world has ever known, yet only a remnant of people on the earth today read it and believe it.
   But if people will read and believe the Bible, they will come to know God for the first time.
   Until then, Christ will be no more than a stranger they have heard about---and of less value than Santa Claus and Easter Bunny.
      "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.  Amen."  (John 21: 25)

CHARACTER

   Character is not built in the arenas of life.  Character is an inside job, built by ourselves.
   If a golfer, for example, never changes, his game will never improve; and the most he will accomplish will be no more than a hitter of golf balls because the arena of golf will not change his character.
   If a church member refuses to change, he will do no more than he is doing now because the arena of church will not change his character.
   If a person lies and cheats in life, he will lie and cheat in golf because his character remains the same; and if he lies and cheats in life, just as he lies and cheats in golf, he will also lie and cheat in church because his character remains the same.
   Thus we can see:  just because a person moves from arena to arena, his character will remain the same until he chooses to change himself on the inside.  Until then, no real change is possible.
   Jesus said,
      "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  (John 3: 3)
   And again,
      "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."  (John 3: 5)
   Therefore, the born again experience of the believer in Christ must be internalized by the believer.  It is a change that will be produced on the inside of people, not on the outside.  It is a change that will be wrought by Christ, and not by ourselves.  It is a work that we are incapable of doing, and it will only happen when people submit their minds and their hearts to Christ and Christ alone.
      "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:  it is the gift of God:  not of works, lest any man should boast."  (Ephesians 2: 8, 9)
   Knowing, then, that the Word of the Lord is true, we should be able to believe that it is impossible for people to permanently change their character by themselves, for this change must be produced from heaven above, and which they must be willing to accept.
      "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  (2nd Corinthians 5: 17)

COOKIE-CUTTER CHRISTIANITY

   Would it be fair to say that we have manufactured churches to be exactly as we want them to be and to be no more?
   We have carpet floors, padded pews, and padded kneelers, and we like that.
   We have statues and statuettes, portraits and pictures, and we like that.
   We have dangling chandeliers and candles that glow, and we like that.
   We have golden vessels on communion tables that reflect the light, and we like that.
   We have heating and air-conditioning systems, for our comfort and pleasure, and we like that.
   We have musical programs designed to fit, on time and on cue, and we like that.
   We have ministers and pastors, dressed in fancy suits and priestly garments, and we like that.
   We have tidy little messages wrapped in tidy little bows, and we like that.
   We add a word of fun, a spark of laughter, to sermon and song, and we like that.
   We like to repeat the words we have been taught to repeat, in unison and harmony, and we like that.
   We like to be in and out in sixty minutes, and we like that.
   After that, we like to drive our fancy cars to our fancy houses, turn on our fancy televisions, and watch our fancy sports teams delight our souls.
   If the pulpit is supposed to be the place where the Bible is taught and preached, where is the Bible in churches today?  Where does the Bible rank from the pulpit to the pews?
   Is there really much difference in churches across America today?
   Does any church across America stand up and stand out as different from all the rest?
   If people in churches believe the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible is a myth, what message does this send to people outside churches from those within who say they are believers in Christ?
   Have we reached the age of Cookie-Cutter Christianity?
   Have we reached the age when every church looks like every other church all in a row?
   Have we reached the age when the behaviors of the people outside church buildings are no different than when they are on the inside?
   Have we reached the age when the behaviors of people inside church buildings are no different than all the people gathered together in the same congregation and under the same roof?
   Have we reached the age when people in churches are simply not interested in evangelism?
   When was the last time you prayed for Christ to save the soul of one person?