My Lord:
Not that worldly thing most call religion. The hypocrisy, the leaven, the double minded, saying and doing not. Inventing false images of God, twisting the fact of loving the world that He gave His Son a sacrifice, to loving all just the way they are and no matter what, loved. Robbing God of His image, robbing love of its Truth.
Pure religion is faithful obedience. While the word (religion) is used a whole five times in the book of the Lord, one is instantly faced with a do this and do not do that. Instant stipulations are placed upon the word religion. For it to be what the word is to be, it is as all things, it must possess the quality's, the fruit of what is true religion. As I say and love to do so, that it requires obedience, to be asked to do something and to be asked to do not something is a request, a requirement and they who truly love the Lord actually obey Him and keep His Commandments. If every thing written are the Commandments of the Lord, then it must go without saying that they who love Him obey Him, are faithful to Him, to the Word. Seek Him and you shall find Him. The Commandment is Repent, for all men everywhere to Repent.
Acts 17:30, " And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now Commandeth all men every where to Repent: "
Acts 2:38, " Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. "
First written it is to " bridle the tongue ".
Second is to " visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction ".
Third is to " keep oneself unspotted from the world ".
James 1:26, " If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. "
Each are things that show proof of this. None, no not even one of these things are all done for you in advance. It is said, they, " you ", must do these things. You must bridle your tongue, it is not bridled for you. You must visit the fatherless and the windows in their affliction. Last but surely not least, you have to keep yourself free of spot.
Bridle,
Greek - G5468
Word: χαλιναγωγέω
Transliteration: chalinagōgeō
Phonetic: khal-in-ag-ogue-eh'-o
Part of Speech: Verb
Definition: to lead by a bridle, to guide
- to bridle, hold in check, restrain
Again, God told Cain to bridle himself, to do good. God gave Cain instruction, if you will do this Cain, then you will have this. But if you do this not Cain, then you will have this. Each path has a reward, each path is a free will choice, for all are in the same valley of decisions. To choose Life or death, good or bad, righteousness or sin. This proves without question already, that religion is as the entire book of the Lord expresses over and over again and again, faithful obedience to God or not to be faithfully obedient. That it is a choice to be made by each soul, and that it is absolutely not finished for you, done for you, obeyed for you, or taken out of the way is your need to be faithfully obedient as Christ makes clear in Revelation, " To be faithful unto death ".
The second one I do not believe needs to be defined. Who does not understand who the fatherless are and the widows are that are afflicted? Yet the word " afflicted " can be brought into the light.
Affliction,
Greek - G2347
Word: θλῖψις
Transliteration: thlipsis
Phonetic: thlip'-sis
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Definition: a pressing, pressing together, pressure
- metaph. oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits
Unspotted,
Greek - G784
Word: ἄσπιλος
Transliteration: aspilos
Phonetic: as'-pee-los
Part of Speech: Adjective
Definition: spotless
- metaph. free from censure, irreproachable, free from vice, unsullied...
To be irreproachable, one must be free of spot, sin. To be unsullied, one must be free of spot, sin.
To be free of "censure " one must be free of judgement of condemnation, to be guilty is condemnation.
Free from vice, in the service of ones flesh, what is it you truly serve most? The love of self or the love of God?
I find that when conviction hits the conscience one then looks for a way around it. One way is to say " you do know, that the book of the Lord has errors in it? " To find fault with the book of the Lord is much easier then finding it with yourself and then, DOING, something about that. For it is easy to find fault with self and do nothing about it. The very reason so many love the lie that men teach or sell that says it is all done for you, it is finished, all paid, all obeyed, for you, you are nothing but a born again sinner, who was born in sin and possess a sin nature. Always making the point then, it is the fault of God, that is why He had to find a better Way. Guess God is not immutable!! Flesh commits sin, it is not sin itself, there is nothing imbued in ones flesh that makes one evil. It is affections and lusts, it is desires and passions, it is giving into what is evil and not enduring. Sin is conceived through action, it is not inherit in the flesh. God DID NOT make anyone evil, He made all upright, but all refuse to walk uprightly.
Religion is easily understood to be obedience to the faith one has placed their trust in. It is doing what is understood to be right by Gods will and not by mans. What the world tortured religion into, is not what religion is. The traditions of men, the commandments of men, the vain imaginations of men are not religion, nor christian. Two words that have been been formed into the image of corruption, yet is does not change the Truth of what pure, true, religion is, or what it means to be in Christ.
It is sad that some are confused thinking that walking in disobedience is serving Christ. That this is what Christ purpose is, to allow them to not have to obey. To be the children of disobedience and not have to reap the reward of being disobedient.
What does the statement below mean? If not that religion is obedience to God. To do the will of God is obedience and those that love Him obey Him. How is this a mystery? How is this perverted into " If I obey, this will not have an effect of Gods love towards me? ". How is obeying the Commandments of God twisted into " if I obey then I am doing it myself and earning my salvation making Christ to no effect? ". Imagine the gap from reality one must have to buy such inventions. Imagine how much of ones own will is involved in such a filthy idea? Where is the weakness by which we are made strong?
God loves whom? Them that love Him.
They who love God do what? Keep His Commandments.
Proverbs 8:17 , " I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. "
John 14:15, " If ye love me, keep my commandments. "
What does the book of the Lord say THE LOVE OF GOD IS?
1 John 5:3, " For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. "
Why do so many find the Commandments of God to be a burden and to rise up against them? To desire to make void His Commandments? Is it their love for God? or, is it their love of themselves and their own affections and lusts that they refuse to crucify? The desire to do thine own will over the will of God. To do this is a religion but it is not the religion of God Almighty.
This is religion defined to its simplest, that simplicity that is only found in Christ. If you love Me, keep My Commandments.
John 14:15, " If ye love me, keep my commandments. "
You can read James and say pure religion is bridling thine tongue, to visit the fatherless and the widow in their afflictions and to keep ones self free of spot. You can say pure religion is obeying, doing what is right, or righteous. Religion is doing the will of God without hypocrisy, saying and so doing. Religion is not turning the Truth upside down for ones own affections and lusts and living soberly, righteously and godly lives in this present world for we are able to through Christ who sets them that Repent free indeed. As always no matter how you slice the pie it is the same pie through and through, faithful obedience unto death. True pure religion is faithfulness unto death, enduring till the end. Taking an oath, making an oath to God and keeping it, that is religion. The purest religion is faith unfeigned and endurance no matter what stands before us. This is the example given over and over in the book of the Lord.
James 1:26, " If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. "
Back to Hebrews 11, it is the epitome of religion that is pure, for it does not play the " well that was old testament game ", it uses the old and the new and says without doubt, "let this be an example ". As written in James 5, the prophets, an example of what one could be faced with and to take it patiently and endure. The severity is given and it ought to make one sober indeed. Also put forth in advance to make it understood, so offense is not found. The religion that is faithful regardless of the mountain that stands before it.
James 5:10, " Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. "
The wrath of God is stored up for the children of disobedience, not them that obey Him. How is this going ignored by so many? Is the wrath of God stored up for them He loves?
Colossians 3:6, " For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: "
Wrath
Greek - G3709
Word: ὀργή
Transliteration: orgē
Phonetic: or-gay'
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Definition: anger, the natural disposition, temper, character, movement or agitation of the soul, impulse, desire, any violent emotion, but esp. anger, wrath, indignation, anger exhibited in punishment, hence used for punishment itself, of punishments inflicted by magistrates...
WRATH, noun [Latin]
- Violent anger; vehement exasperation; indignation; as the wrath of Achilles.
When the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased--Esther 2:1.
O Lord--in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2. - The effects of anger. Proverbs 27:3.
- The just punishment of an offense or crime. Romans 8:1.
Gods wrath in Scripture, is his holy and just indignation against sin. Romans 1:18.
Religion is not disobeying the Lord God Almighty. Where in wrath is love? Whom does God send to hell, those He loves or them that He loves not? Who really thinks God loves them that He is going to condemn from His presence forever? No logic can be found in such an idea, so we get them that make hell into nothing, or not everlasting, or an instant of destruction. Anything but the Truth and the severity of the Truth. Suddenly God becomes the image of man and not man the image of God.
God loves righteousness and righteousness is doing what is right. What is right is the will of God. Then by any reasonable logic they who do righteousness are loved by God Almighty and they will receive a crown of everlasting Life for enduring till the end. For being faithful it is Life, for being unfaithful it is death. They who do righteousness are righteous even as Christ is righteous. So this is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that they who OBEY God are loved by Him, they who do not obey God are not. For blessed are they that ENDURE temptation. They who endure do not receive anything from God. For it rains on the just and the unjust and this does not make it a blessing for the wicked.
Psalms 11:7, " For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. "
Psalms 33:5, " He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. "
If you truly think that obeying God does not warrant His love, then there is no point to any of it. Like the man that can not bridle his own tongue, his religion is truly vain, useless, of no value, no equity. If faith is not to be faithful then the word is useless indeed. The religion that obeys from the heart is an act of love and God gives what is given. Faithfulness for faithfulness, mercy for mercy, love for love, kindness for kindness and evil for evil, frowardness for the froward. One will reap what they have sown, that is eye for eye and tooth for tooth. Yet we are in a time of grace but if one abuses this time, this dispensation of time, and refuses the teaching of grace, they will have stored up to themselves the wrath of God. They will reap what they have sown, for who thinks they may trample the blood of Christ underfoot and there will be no cost for doing so?
Psalms 18:24, " Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
Psalms 18:25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
Psalms 18:26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
Psalms 18:27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. "
James 4:8, " Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. "
Matthew 10:32, " Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. "
Luke 12:8, " Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
"
Again, doing the will of God is righteousness and they that FOLLOW after righteousness He loves. For blessed are whom? They who do at all times, judgement and righteousness.
Proverbs 15:9, " The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. "
Psalms 106:3, " Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times. "
Religion, pure religion is efficacious, power to have a desired effect, it is filled like any other word is filled to produce a desired effect in ones life. To obey the Truth and Go and Sin No More. It is my mantra, the dead horse beaten for lack of a better expression. It is what I can not say enough, and what can never be said enough, righteousness is doing what is right, what is right is the will of God and to do His will is right. God loveth righteousness and them that do righteousness are loved. Yes God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son a sacrifice for us all, but if you trample that blood where do really think you will stand in that day to come? Loved just the way they are? Or rightly condemned? Who really thinks they will be met with a " well done thy faithful servant? ", they who trample this time given and them who came to know the Truth and turned back from it.
Religion is endurance, to keep yourself free from spot is all out warfare. It is the true image of God to be projected at all cost. It is the Way to the Truth to have Life eternal. It is to share like minds and rejoice in the knowledge that Christ did give His life freely a sacrifice for sins and all have been called to Repent, to be washed in the blood and turn back from wickedness and turn to God that they might be saved in the end. In the resurrection of Life and not the resurrection of damnation. Religion is counting it all but dung, to give it all, all thine heart and run the race set before all mankind.
Who has cut into this pie? Who does not realize it is the same through and through. Who knows not that the Lord God changes not, never has changed, never will change. Same yesterday, same today and the same forever, just and righteous and all His ways are judgement, truth, immutalbe and infallible.
Who knows that the ideas men create are not His, to be made in His image does not make you think like Him or go in the Way that is Him. Our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His Ways. Religion is not to change God into our own image because it makes us feel better about evil or justify our ways. Turn not the image of God into an image of corruption. Has grace not shown us to be sober, to have severity, gravity, sincerity, ability, warring a good warfare, striving for the mastery, that high calling. Not becoming that tv version that oppresses, but simply you doing what is right and living a good Life in Christ, blameless, without spot, obeying from the heart, which is being perfect. Is not obedience better than sacrifice?
Isaiah 55:8, " For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. "
What is that Path laid out again for us? Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity. From faith to love and all that is in between, true religion is faithful obedience unto death, till the end. God loves whom? them that love Him. Them that love Him are doing what? Keeping the Commandments. The Commandments are what, love. God has shown His love, if you will do this, you will know Him and be able to walk with Him. Enoch walked with God and did not taste death, for he loved God and obeyed Him. Who thinks God loved Him not back because Enoch obeyed His Commandments?
The very soul of the Lord hates the wicked and them that loveth violence, for sin is violent. God so loved the world that He was willing to give His only begotten Son, but do not let that be twisted into the image of the corruption of men. Loving all and wanting, hoping they will Repent, is not the same as being loved. For true religion is obedience and they that love Him, He Loves and they that love Him keep the Commandments.
Psalms 11:5, " The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. "
That is sever and that is the Truth. I do not reconcile my thoughts with the book of the Lord. I reconcile the book of the Lord with what I ought to think. I do not reconcile my ways with the book of the Lord. I reconcile the ways in the book of the Lord to the way I must walk. I understand wanting to change the image of God into that image that allows for sin, allows all to enter, to be loved no matter what, that unconditional lie so many love. I understand these things for it is the easy path with the least resistance and I surely in my life I took the path of least resistance to please my own fleshly desires. If one can not see that is wrong, evil and not the Way to the Truth to have Life, and that the book of Lord expresses this Truth endlessly, then truly your religion is vain.
If one can not hear that obedience is love, that they who obey are loved, then truly your religion is vain.
This is the Lords day, it is a day He created for man and not man for it. It is the very day He rested from all His works, sanctifying it and making holy. It is the fourth Commandment and the seventh day, the last day of the week. This is the day of rest, this is the Sabbath of the Lord God Almighty. This day is forever, it is not a day created by the imaginations of men and it will never be any other day.
While every word written are the Commandments of God. I will write the Ten that He thought ought to be understood and obeyed, for love is the fulfillment of all the Law and the prophets. In these Ten Commandments one fulfills love. Love towards all by keeping them and most important love towards God, it is the true image to be projected by anyone who loves Him with their all.
Have no other gods before Me.
Make no graven images.
Take not the Name of the Lord in vain.
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
5 Honor thy father and thy mother.
Thou shall not kill.
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Thou shall not steal.
Thou shall not bear false witness.
Thou shall not covet.
It is remission and not permission.
We are the words we speak.
Seek, Repent and Sin No More...
Blessed be the Name of the Lord Amen and Amen...
