religion

Blog for Podcast # 19 (Forced Righteousness)

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Intro
Welcome again to another study of the Bible. I am Dreamwalker1960.
Today’s podcast will be longer than usual, but the message that is within it is very important to hear. So let’s get into it.
Discussion
Today I wish to talk about something people have not heard described in this fashion. It is “forced righteousness.”
What is “forced righteousness?”
It is what most people have experienced in going to the buildings called “churches.” Especially those raised in a religious household. Please note I am using wording like “religious.”
This is one of the biggest problems with the relationship between God and humanity that is causing the creation of what is called the “lukewarm church,” or more appropriately the “apostate church.” Which explains why we are in the era of the lukewarm as defined in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
Let us define the word “apostate” so we can have a clear understanding of where I am going within today’s Bible study.
Apostate or apostasy is an act of refusing to continue to follow obey or recognize a religious faith per Merriam-Webster.
But what can cause this to take place?
The answer: Forced righteousness.
Forced righteousness occurs most commonly from the children of a religious household as I mentioned before.
Now again I say “religious.”
Why is this?
Being religious is an act of going through the motions and behavior associated with a religion. This religion can be of any type. From Buddhist, to Muslim, to Shinto, to Jewish, to Christian. A prime example can be seen in one of the oldest Christian based sects, the Catholic Church. Here we see ceremonies, rituals and actions that are repeated time and again. Now don’t get me wrong. There have been some great people that are truly Christian that have come from within the Catholic Church. It is the religiousness that is the issue, not the faith.
It is the religiosity of a religion that is causing forced righteousness.
People fall into a routine. Just going through the motions. Then they have children in most cases. These children are taken to church and indoctrinated to the rituals. Yet no one in most cases truly explains to them the reason why this is being done. They assume they will just come to know why they are going to church. Which is the act that Jesus Christ did for all that Passover day just under two thousand years ago. So, they slowly, due to being forced into a righteous existence, rebel against it, because they really don’t truly understand.
This is why it is so important when choosing a religious leader. If their children rebel and misbehave the Bible states this religious leader must be replaced if their rebellion can be traced back to this leader. Yet I hear of stories where this rarely if ever happens in today’s age. Why must they be replaced? Because if they are not teaching their children the true relationship between God and humanity, which in turn causes them to rebel against the religion. Then how can they be a good shepherd to a flock of church goers needing true guidance to God.
But back on the main topic.
Those that live in a religious household see how their parents live and act. They see the weakness of humanity. They see the sin that may enter into their homes, which creates doubt within the minds of these children. As they grow into adulthood, they question religion due to what they have witnessed firsthand from their role models.
The main issue is that a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is not something that can be addressed with religious behavior. It is a personal relationship with the Creator of all. However, how can they establish a relationship if all they have known, in their lives, is the rituals and motions of religiousness? Thus, when they are told that they must live a righteous life without sin. They have no true concept of how to truly live an active vibrant, yet righteous existence.
Why? Because no one truly explained to them about who God is. About who Jesus Christ is, and how He can affect their life and all of humanities lives by His willing sacrifice upon the cross.
All they know is forced righteousness.
They are told they must know this. They must do that. Never having anyone just sit down with them and explain why it is necessary why they are required to do these things.
They are not given the option or even the opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Yes, they are told of Him. Yes, they are given opportunities to accept Him. But has someone set them down and truly explained to them the torment and anguish Jesus experienced the moment He was arrested till the moment He died upon the cross? Did they describe to them the destruction to His back the whip caused, which was a major reason He was unable to carry His cross out of Jerusalem?
Many don’t even understand that it is not rituals that form the relationship for as the Bible states rituals without faith is death as witnessed in Matthew 6:5-15. However, it also states that faith without works is death, as explained in James 2:14-26. It is a combination of works and faith, not one or the other.
Works done with the true Holy Spirit do not include rituals. They are actions of faith. Like helping those in need. Trying to explain how messed up and unnecessary religious rituals are that causes a forced righteousness is an example of a work in faith.
Communion and the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ are the only ceremonies given to us by Jesus Christ. So they are all that is required in the realm of rituals.
Due to a forced righteousness many go through life saying they are Christian. Living a life, they believe is righteous, and in some cases this may be so. Yet when you look into their lives you see it rampant with sin, or lacking a crucial element, a relationship with Jesus Christ. They believe they are saved when they have not even genuinely sought out their Savior. They are living in an apostate life without even knowing they are.
Living in religion doesn’t make you holy. None can make this boast even those that know their Savior and do strive to have a righteous life. For all mess up and sin at some point in their life. It is this element that makes it hard to establish if you are living a life formed from forced righteousness or a true relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Being indoctrinated into a religion, thus making someone go through the motions of a religious lifestyle does not a Christian make. It makes them religious but not truly righteous. For true righteousness comes from faith and faith comes from knowing the existence of God and the belief there in. For living a religious life is like living in the Law of Moses, which we no longer need to do.
Romans 3:21-26 – But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He, Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in and accept Jesus as their Savior.
It is this faith that is key to our ability to identify ourselves as “Christian.” Without this faith and in turn relationship with Jesus Christ and His Father our Creator a person cannot truly call themselves this title. Yet millions do call themselves this, yet they do not truly qualify for this designation. Because they lived their lives in a forced righteousness, thinking they are “Christian” when they are not truly so.
Is this fully their fault?
That is the dilemma. Each person has a different experience with their relationship or lack thereof with Jesus and His Father, God. For many that don’t have a relationship it goes back to having grown up in a household that professed to be religious. They grew to hate what they were seeing and being forced to do. So, they rebelled against this. Why? Because they perceived it to be authoritarian to some degree. In a religious environment that is very possible. However, that is not what is offered by Jesus Christ through believe in Him and His Father.
We are offered freedom. A freedom that was so crucial to people that a few hundred years ago hundreds then thousands fled the countries of their origin. To seek out a new world free of the doctrines and demands laid upon them by the churches and governments they left behind that were filled with forced righteousness. A freedom that was so important to them that when the parent nation they fled tried to impose restrictions upon them they revolted and started a new nation. A new nation with God’s ideals at the forefront. Ideals for this freedom, though not fully attainable for all at first, was their ultimate goal. For through their belief in God, again for the most part, is what inspired these people. Why?
Because they knew that for freedom to be achieved. There must be individual freedom to seek out God or not to seek out God, and not to be locked into a ridged system of rules and rituals. Which in time would become mandates and then laws.
However, due to forced righteousness this nation lost its way. Once causing a Civil War to occur to help return it to a course of freedom for all. Nevertheless, they never removed the forced righteousness, blinded by their own views and in some cases lusts and desire as well as greed. As a result, this mentality of not teaching their youth to seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and through Him His Father. This nation faulted and pulled further and further away from whom they sought to honor and worship in the first place. Now due to not setting down with their children and causing them to come to understand the truth and reality of what took place upon the cross, they are in turmoil.
Due to forced righteousness they allowed people to come to a place of power that did not seek it out of duty but out of lust. For the Bible states that those that wish to lead must have a servant’s heart. (Matthew 20:25-28) Instead many in places of responsibility are there to control and dominate. Their hearts and souls never truly seeking to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ His Son and our Savior for they are of the world and not of God.
Because of forced righteousness “they will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly…….. (2 Timothy 3:5)

God Bless

Hey you…. Involvement in politics is obeying God

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So once again, since the election is over, I am hearing people say that politics and religion do not mix.
THAT IS A LIE!!!!
I had to use caps to get your attention. First off let’s look at the book of Daniel
4:17 – For this has been decreed by the messengers; it is commanded by the holy ones, so that everyone may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world. He gives them to anyone he chooses— even to the lowliest of people.”
Now let’s look at leadership:
Matthew 20:25 – But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Why bother to mention how worldly members of government behave? Because it is to show how we are to act when we take an EQUAL level within a government. So this servant leadership is not just for leadership in a religion, but within a government as well. And I will take this one step further. It is Jesus giving a prophetic statement to a time when a nation would be founded upon Christian principles and laws. Namely, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
So now let’s look at the first amendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
It states clearly that the government a.k.a. congress, cannot make a state run religion. Why was this so important to the founders?
It was due to the actions of Henry the Eight. He took the next logical step in the digression of those in power to not only sin, but to control the masses. He made royalty the head of the Church of England. As a result it empowered him to live an adulterous live and the death of most of his wives by his order.
We must also remember that other nations in the past labeled those in power as god. The Egyptians, the Romans, the Chinese are just three examples of the many ancient nations that did this very thing. The founding fathers of this nation saw what a state or government run religion would result in. Sin and corruption.
Then the founding fathers state in the first amendment that the government cannot interfere in the practice of your religion when they do not conflict with not only the law, but the Bible. Nowhere does it state that religion must stay out of the government. It actually states the complete opposite in Matthew 20. So Christians MUST be involved in how the government operates to the point of joining it AS A CHRISTIAN. For the government is to be the servant of the people, not the dictator of them. Any who oppose this mentality are working contrary to the teachings of the Bible and thus are against God.

Millennial outreach #3

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Religion

As we all know there are by category multiple religions, per Wikipedia twenty of them to be exact. The truly oldest of these is Judaism, which is a factor that we will get back too, but you need to remember this fact. At this time though we will center on the word “religion” itself.
Per Merriam-Webster one of the definitions is:
“An organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods”
Now note that it is an “organized system,” with “rules.”
Here is the thing, there is ideals and principles that are taught within the New Testament of the Bible. Now there were rules and requisites established in the Old Testament or by its other name the Torah, some of which the ideals and principles point in the newer parts of the Bible. However these rules were made of a different time and the need for them changed once Jesus of Nazareth entered the picture. But this point is a distraction at the moment even though it was necessary to mention.
What I wish to key in on though where do these rules and need to organize come from?
They come from a need by humanity to have structure and control over any given aspect of their lives. For without some sense of stability humanity as a whole loses control.
Does this desire of humans seeking control of their own existence exclude that there is a God? No it does not even though there are religions that do dictate this very ideal. In fact nearly one billion people think this very way, but they themselves constitute being labeled and counted as religious even though they themselves for the most part will deny this. They have their own organized system of beliefs and their own rules, they just choose to exclude the fact that there may actually be a God.
If you have ever entered into these buildings which are called “churches,” you will encounter a community of people which reflect many of the dynamics you most likely encountered during High School. There is a good reason for this. For those dynamics have been transplanted for the non-religious aspects of the halls of academia into this building people attend once or twice a week, if that. This is a factor in the need for organization that humans seek to have a feeling there is some type of control in their lives.
This however has nothing to do with God, even though there is the pretense of worshiping Him. It is this charade that fills all religions that has turned so many away from God, and it is all due for humanity to have rules and regulations about how they are to act and behave, within the buildings that are called “churches.”
Those that turn away from churches see this hypocrisy and so in turn see the being known as “God” to be lie, a fallacy, a fabrication, a fiction. Not realizing that what they are rejecting is in reality the rules, structure and organizations made by human beings. They are rejecting humanity and the human image of God. They are also rejecting the social system that was transplanted from High School by those attending these social clubs called a “church.”
I cannot attest for most of the other religions in this world, but this I do know. The God of the Bible and the Torah. The God that is the focal point of the longest lasting religion is not nor ever has been what he is shown to be within these social clubs that have stolen the name “church” from.
Many within the religion of atheism have strived hard to remove any portrayal or images of God from the public environment having already come to the conclusion that the hypocrites within the social clubs mentioned above would drive out people that are truly seeking to know what is real. They in turn give their own religious message on the fact that there is no God. They will spout out their own theories and ideals that have their own organization and rules that must be adhered to like spread hate and belittling those that do not agree with their point of view.
One of the methods they do this is to throw out this idea that the Bible and the Torah are myths. Their pretense for this is that anything that is written about any particular person or event in history that is made one hundred and fifty years after the fact is a false narrative since there are none alive to counter this myth that has come into being by the writer.
A prime example, the story of the siege of Troy. The Iliad was written four hundred years after the siege took place and within it are several events that can be said to be mythical. None contest this.
Here is the point though. Those that state there is no God and that Jesus was not a real person or that he did not rise from the dead made these assertions over one and fifty years after the actual event when it is documented that the New Testament was written within twenty to twenty five years, with oral traditions traced back to within eight years after the crucifixion and resurrection. This allows people alive at that time to challenge these statements by those that were the enemies of Jesus like the Pharisees, and those that did see Him after His resurrection including five hundred at one time, and since none did, that shows that those creating the myth are those that state Jesus did not rise from the dead and state there is no God.
It is also after the one hundred and fifty years that many of the rules and rituals created by humanity started to take place and over shadow the truth and the facts found within the Bible.
So those within all religions associated with Christianity have in many ways created an organized and rule oriented mythos and applied them within their “churches” thus leading to many either not going to church, denying the very existence of God or denying the resurrection of Jesus.
So religions for the most part are at odds with the Bible and with God at this time. It is up to each person to fully study the Bible and come to understand that God is real and that His Son did in fact walk this planet two thousand years ago. It is fact that he never sinned and died upon the cross for our sin. If that is the case, which it is. We must then truly learn the Bible and come to understand that through its teaching we can move on from this live into a higher and eternal existence that is no longer, in most cases, truly found in most religions.
A point that does need to be made. Yes you can say there are still “rules” within the Bible. There is a difference between man-made rules and those things which come from God through His Son Jesus. The teaching that come from the Bible are something that when you accept salvation are things you seek to keep and to follow. The rules made by humanity are designed to fulfill the wishes and the desires of that religion that has been made not by God.
Example: the Catholic Church and the requirement to go to confession, using a human to tell your sins to when all that is required is to pray to God through Jesus and ask forgiveness. There is a bit more involved but that is a topic for another time.

“Religion and morality are indispensable supports”

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These are the words of the first President of this United States of America, George Washington.
He was also one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
He and all those that were members of the Constitutional Congress knew of the importance of God in their lives as well as their desire to keep Him in their nation.
This is reflected by the fact that the first amendment to the Constitution dealt with religion, and was even the first topic of the first article.
This is what it says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Just so we understand this. When Mr. Washington was writing his farewell address he stated the words in the title of this article. What he was referring to what needed support was politics.
Now you must also understand that England, due to Henry the VIII had made it that the head of the Church of England was the ruler of that country, Henry himself, when he made the law. At the time of the Revolutionary War it was King George. This is a religion made by a government. This is want Mr. Washington and the rest did not wish to see happen ever again. There is not separation of state and religion. There is only the rule that the government cannot make a religion, or for that matter the removal of any religion from politics. This is witnessed and supported by the fact that the president felt religion and morality were supports and indispensable.
If they are “indispensable” then they should never be removed. Yet that is exactly what has been done and as a result this nation is in turmoil and distress. All because humans wish to remove and replace God.
Those that use the government to interfere with the free practice of religion not only within the government and schools and universities are in fact in violation of the constitution. For they are in fact infringing upon God and those that wish to follow Him.
So what is it to be?
Return God to His rightful place within this nation, or continue down a road that will lead to nothing but tragedy for the entire nation.

What constitutes the free exercise of religion?

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Per dictionary.com
Exercise – a putting into action, use, operation, or effect:

Per the first amendment, Congress (i.e. the government) cannot impose any law that blocks the free exercise (practice) of religion.
Now it states religion, which can mean any religion. That can mean Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hindi, so forth and so on.
This means that if someone states per religious reasons that they cannot do something that violates said religion, then the government cannot force them to go against their believes, per the first amendment.
Yet that is what is being done.
The sin called homosexuality is just that a sin. To force a religion that says it is not a sin is a violation of the first amendment.
If someone wishes to live a sinful live that is his or her choice, but to try to force a religion to condone said sin is again a violation of the first amendment.
Those that truly follow Christianity do not turn their backs on the people living in sin, but we should not be force to say that something we consider bad for the person to be good.
We do not hate the person committing the sin. We condemn the sin itself. We ask that you do not continue to live in this sin, for we only wish what is best for you. There is really going to be an eternal life. ALL are promised to have immortal bodies, but not all are promised to live in happiness. Those that follow the teaching of Christ and the Bible believe in the White Throne Judgment. This happens after the thousand-year reign of Christ upon earth. This is post rapture and post Armageddon. At this time those that lived righteous lives without knowing of the existence of God or the salvation promised by Christ upon the cross, will find that their mere actions will most likely gain them access to God and His Son.
It is those that know of God and His Son that deny Them both, or live in sin will at this time find it the hardest to get past God’s judgment. Of these most will fail and it will be by their own doing. On Mount Sinai God did not just hand down stone tablets with ten rules. He gave a huge list of laws and rules to follow.
One of these is that men shall not lie with other men as if they lie with women. The same is said of women. These are laws given by God. These are sins. To force those that believe this to accept your life choice is wrong. If you wish to live in this sin, go right ahead it is not my job or place to stop you if you do not wish to listen. It is also not your job or place to stop us from believing it to be true.
Do not think that by forcing your way into our Churches you are getting God to condone or approve of your choice. This is the furthest thing from the truth, but as I said, I am not here to force you to stop living in this sin unless you are willing to acknowledge what is written in the Bible. I am here to shine the light of God upon you and tell you that what you are doing is wrong and can lead you to standing before the Great White Throne. This is not where I wish to see. I would rather you be in the court audience. Watching as all the actions of someone’s life pass before all to see and witness.
One time someone said to me. If no one would know, would you commit a homosexual act for $5,000,000 dollars? I said no. He could not believe me and kept pressing me. I said God would know. Not only will God know but also EVERYONE will know. I am in no way perfect, but I will not give in to sin even for money. For your soul is more important to me then money ever could be and the glories of an eternal life that will allow us to explore all the creation of God is more rewarding then paper made by man. Give me what God creates, for He created the entire universe.

What is morality?

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Why I am making this post is because another person posted the other day that, and I quote: “Christian were attacking the morality of ordinary citizens who love who they want to love.”
The definition of morality is per Merriam-Webster: beliefs about what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior. But where do we find what is right and wrong? Where was this context first placed upon human beings? That would be the Bible and those teachings that was first given unto Abraham, several thousands of years ago.
I also wish to challenge the word “ordinary” it is defined as: 3: the regular or customary condition or course of things —usually used in the phrase out of the ordinary. “The regular or customary condition.” Here is an interest point of view. What has been the regular and customary again for thousands of years? Those very same principles found within the Bible and taught again for thousands of years. Now all of a sudden these same ideals are not “regular or customary?” the answer to this question is no. So I can say that the sentence I quoted originally above is flawed and inaccurate as are the believes that allowed this man to come up with this very thought. The sentence should read when you follow true common logic that has been in place within civilization for thousands of years as follows:
Christians are defending the morality of those un-ordinary citizens that love who they want to love, because these “un-ordinary citizens” are perverting those principles upon which all good civilizations were founded upon. If any are having their morality attacked, it is those of the Christian believes for thousands of years out ways a decade or two. The mere fact that the true morality has been around so long is testament to the fact that it is the real morality not this “new morality,” which is in actuality old sin and has been shown to be the destruction of many civilizations.
To defend what is right is the duty of Christianity as a whole. Especially within the United States of America whose very foundation comes from those Christians that fled nations where morality was being perverted. As an example, we give you King Henry VIII that could not live under the morality required by the Catholic Church at that time, because he wished to divorce and remarry. Therefore, he removed all churches within England from the Catholic Church and formed the Church of England. This allowed him to live in sin and to commit murder.
These are the things Christians, especially those in the United States; do not wish to happen here. For thousands of years same-sex behavior has been a sin. It is only within recent years that those in power wish to change this. Just like King Henry VIII. Unfortunately, they are winning. Are Christian destine to be like Sir Thomas More? Martyred for their desire to adhere to their faith rather than allow the nation they love fall into sin? It appears that may be what is required when people think that those that live in extreme sin to be “ordinary.”

A friend’s post

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Today I read a friend’s post on Facebook. The more I thought on it the more it bothered me. In the first part of it he said “how does someone that calls themselves Christian act.” This is paraphrased by the way.
The word “act” which was not paraphrased bothered me.
Now I must say that he went on to state that the only way into to heaven is through Jesus and asking Jesus into your heart. This I fully agree with for those that have been exposed to Christian believes and teachings, but there are still those out there that have never heard of not only Jesus but also the Bible. For these people their actions will be how they are judged at the white throne judgment, but this is not how those that have heard of God, Jesus and the Bible will be judged at this time.

Those that have heard of the Trinity, God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Ghost. These people must answer if they have asked Jesus into the heart and souls. Those in the United Stated have heard of the Trinity. Many believe they are Christian. Many others have turned their back upon God and denied that God even exists. There are even those that call themselves Christian but in reality are not.

When someone accepts Jesus and you ask Him into your life a real change occurs within you. You begin to change. For some a change that completely created a new person immediately. For most, it is a gradual change that can take days, months or even years to fully see how you have become a new person.

If you truly stand before God, pleading for His Son to come into your life you will see and feel the difference. There will be no need, want or desire to “act.” For you will do it because you know it is the right way to behave and act. Sure, you will slip and fall time to time, but if your faith is real, you will pick yourself up and once again continue that journey that will in time lead you first to heaven and then finally passed the white throne to an eternal life in an eternal body.