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This statement by the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon expresses, in a nutshell, some of my recent meditations.

There are so many religions and denominations that claim Christ and yet bear no resemblance to His ways nor obey His commands. As we have written recently, it is no wonder the church has such little power and influence in the world anymore. Man and his religious leaders have traded the true Gospel of Christ for a more man-centered (Humanist) gospel that attempts to bring God down to our level of understanding and in the end, attempts to equate ourselves with God.

It is okay to claim and understand that by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are now “Sons of God” and we have a solid claim on His promises to live victoriously over sin and He will help us meet our individual potentials as His creations. Yet, I see and hear many dangerous claims from professing Christians and their leaders these days saying that “everyone is OK and loved by God no matter what” and that somehow God is obligated to do what we ask Him to. Obviously, He doesn’t and isn’t.

No matter how “spiritual” or advanced we get educationally or experientially, God’s ways will always be higher than our ways, His thoughts over our thoughts. To the point we submit our thoughts to His will and become full of His spirit, we will always know that we are in the center of His will even when we don’t know for sure what He is doing with us or where He is sending us. Most of the time God just expects us to “trust and obey” on a daily basis in FAITH…not knowing or seeing everything clearly or for sure. We can become sure of his love and acceptance of us through grace, but I don’t think we can ever be 100% sure of what His plans are for us tomorrow or the next day. “The righteous will live by faith…” (Romans 1:17).

As I have often stated, religion is man’s trying to bring God down to our level of understanding. “Relationship” is when God brings us up slowly but surely to our potential in a personal relationship based on mutual love and trust that endures all, believes all, and never fails.

Religion tacks on centuries of manmade history, traditions, theologies (true and false), and lots of idolatry when it comes to following men, worshipping crosses, Bibles, or buildings instead of the God those items are supposed to represent. Scripture is very clear that there is no intermediary between us and God…no pope, priest, preacher, books, or traditions…that can save us or bring us into the right relationship with a Holy God. Only by knowing in our hearts and confessing with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and recognizing He is the only way and IS the one true God can we know we are saved from eternal damnation and live eternally in the light of His glory and grace. This is the only relationship that counts!

Spiritual truth and renewal are only found in knowing Jesus and His commandments…not religion. He was very clear when He said…

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6)

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” (John 14:23-24)

Notice when Jesus says “We will come to him and make Our home with him”. This is so powerful that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…WE…make their home with us who truly believe. What more familial connection with God can there be than having Him live within us? There is no other religion or way we humans can truly approach God. It is pure fallacy to think otherwise, and I am afraid that at the end of this life at the judgment seat of God, potentially a majority of people who call themselves Christians today will be sadly disappointed when Jesus says…

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

God is a Holy God, and He will not tolerate our having idols or false theologies controlling our lives. As A.W. Tozer so clearly states towards the end of his book “The Knowledge of the Holy”…

“God is a Person and can be known in increasing degrees of intimate acquaintance as we prepare our hearts for the wonder. It may be necessary for us to alter our former beliefs about God as the glory that gilds the Sacred Scriptures dawns over our interior lives. We may also need to break quietly and graciously with the lifeless textualism that prevails among the gospel churches and to protest the frivolous character of much that passes for Christianity among us. By this we may for the time lose friends and gain a passing reputation for being holier-than-thou; but no man who permits the expectation of unpleasant consequence to influence him in a matter like this is fit for the kingdom of God”.

Christianity is a direct relationship with the Almighty God through the power of His Holy Spirit that authors our relationship to the Almighty. To accept any lesser plan or man-made approach to God is simply false and heretical.

Pursue this relationship via prayer, reading His Word, and fellowshipping with the true family of God who worships Him together “in spirit and in truth”. If you honestly look within your heart and soul, you will know immediately if you are in relationship with Him or not. If you have any doubt, it is time to fall flat on your face before the Almighty God and ask Him to take away any doubt and fill you with faith through the power of His Holy Spirit.