We are a nation of false religion. Other cultures quickly label us as a Christian nation, but this is not based on a biblical view of Christianity but a surface knowledge of spirituality we mistakenly ascribe to Christ.
False religion is anything that has a “form of godliness but denying its power.”
Of course we can include any religion other than Christianity in this. Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and several others have naturally grown due to the larger number of immigrants from certain parts of the world. These do not regard Christ as the only way within their doctrines, however they may honor Him as a good man or prophet.
Humanism, the belief that man is basically good and only requires the right environment for personal success, has grown to be the state-sponsored religion. We worship the idols of self-esteem and equality of situation as a result of this growing religion.
Combining the growth of humanism with these other religions, we come to another type of system commonly called New Age, a belief that tall ways are ways to god or truth or whatever we claim to be good. (New Age is founded in Buddhist ideology in many respects) Hence, we see a growth of relativism in every situation. The only absolute within this system is that there are no absolutes. The greatest sin of the New Age is to state anything or path as the “only way.”
As problematic as all these things might be, we see all them have their influence within the people of God. And here is our biggest concern: not that some don’t worship Christ in name, but that there are many who worship Christ in name but truly don’t worship Him at all.
False religion among Christianity comes from several different sources. Here I will only tackle a few major ones:
The motivation to build a kingdom of man: If a ministry is ever centered around a man, it is not centered on Christ.
The motivation of control: A ministry is too concerned with what the people will do, so the “leaders” refuse the spiritual freedom already imparted by Christ.
The motivation of money: One of the major roots of evil, this motivation includes job security, career agendas, and basically getting rich off of the name of God in some way.
The motivation of organization: The focus here is on the growth of the organization. The ministry, as an organization, is praised and exalted instead of Christ and His cross.
The motivation to change the world: Ministry here is dominated by a need to end the curse and create utopia on this side of eternity, not among the Church alone, but among even those who do not believe.
The motivation to please humanity: If a ministry seeks to give into the lusts of man, or even to capitalize upon them, they are not calling people to righteousness or repentance, therefore, not to Christ.
False religion is any attempt to ascribe godliness to the things of this world.
These motivations lead to the following issues: a gospel that still gives an excuse and expectation for sin, building multi million dollar buildings, placing a man’s name all over literature to validate anything, using godliness as a way to get rich, giving place for self-righteousness over the righteousness by faith, a complete suppression of the work of the Holy Spirit, placing a heavier yoke upon man that given by Christ, placing no yoke (not even the one of Christ), refusing or ignoring those in need, isolation from believers, division, power seeking, pride among those supposedly saved from hell, a total lack of humility, and many others.
False religion among Christianity is more dangerous than any other sin we’ve discussed so far.
We’ll look at some scriptures tomorrow.
Peace.