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The term religion is never used for Christian but only for false object and subject of worship. There are two words for religion. THRESKEIA used to denotes unreal and deceptive, false reverence [Acts 26:5, Col. 2:18], this is because Satan is the inventor or religion. He loves religion and religious people, and he uses both to further his deception of men and nations. The word religion, from the Greek qrhskei/a (threskeia), appears four times in the New Testament, always in contexts dealing with things which are external or ceremonial, and legalistic. It speaks of ritual and formalism, even to the point of superstition. There are twelve classical major world religions. These are the religions described most often in surveys of the subject, and studied in World classes of Religion.
Threskos, religious, means occupied with religious observance, careful of the externals of divine service While the world may applaud this, and while the world may stand in awe of religion, of legalism and asceticism, nowhere doesthe Bible suggest that any amount of care in the externals of divine service can make a person acceptable to God, either before or after salvation. Religion is man by manˇ¦s own efforts trying to gain the approbation of God; Christianity is an eternal relationship with God through the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. DEISSIDAIMONIA used to denotes fear of gods and also refers to superstitious practices [Acts 25:19, James 1:26]. James made a clear boundary line between unreal, deceptive reverence and THEOSEBIA that is the reverential worship of God [James 1:27]. All religion is demonstration of false reverence, superstitious practices and pseudo love toward God or gods. Religion is a masterpiece of the devil. He taught man the principles of human religion (superstitious, deceptive, and unreal) and made them accept it with open arms [Genesis 3:5, 4:3-5]. Satan gained great advantage in misleading and deceiving people.
Entry into Christianity is based solely on the work of Christ on the Cross, accepted by faith. Growth and production in the Christian life are based solely on the work of Christ on the Cross, accepted by faith. Christianity is a total grace operation. Man neither earns nor deserves anything from God. In grace, God does the work, God gets the credit, the honor, and the glory, and man gets the blessing. This is definitely not a plan that man, or that Satan, being the father of religion that he is, would have devised! Christianity is absolute; it stands or falls totally and completely on the immutability of God, on His faithfulness, not ours. Because it is an absolute, there is no place for dialogue, argumentation or debate in Christianity. Satan has his own system of counterfeits which includes; false gospel with a counterfeit Jesus who is not the Jesus of the Bible, false doctrines (1 Tim. 4:1), and false ministers who tell people what they like to hear, not what they need to hear. Religion is the futile effort of men to reach God. It is trying to find God. It is trying to please God through human means and systems, human standards and self-righteousness. Religion is trying to be good to win Godˇ¦s favor- trying to gain God's love and approbation by giving more, doing more, praying more, serving more. Religion is blinded by its arrogance to see the work of Christ from the cross down inside the soul of every maturing believer. Religion lacks the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in leading, teaching, and renewing the heart and mind through Bible doctrine. Religion is blind to see the traps laid by Satan to destroy both the ignorant believers and unbelievers. Satan is loading them into the ecumenical ship ready to sail in the ocean of religious heresies. Religion is a satanic trap to hook all sects and denomination into ecumenical bandwagon preparing them to form the one world UNITED RELIGION of the Great Tribulation. Religion is blind to realize that theirs is another gospel, another Lord, another faith, another Christ. Religion is humanistic in its viewpoint and practices. Man is exalted above God and above the Word of God. It rejects the Bible as the final authority of truth and reality. When religion is opposed by any system or by Christianity, it becomes hostile and antagonistic. When threatened, it exercises intimidation, when uncertain, it emphasizes tradition. When suspicious, it employs interrogation. When corrected, it retaliates by destroying their persecutors. Satan is the author of religion. God is not the author of any religion, sect or denomination. Religion is imperfect work of imperfect man. God is perfect and He demands perfection from imperfect man. That perfection is possible only through the perfect Work of Christ for man. God accepted us based on that perfect Work, not because of what we are or not. God accepted us on the merits of Christ. Our merits are not acceptable because of our imperfection. Religion are the arms and legs of the false prophets and false teachers (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). The righteousness¨ which they preach is not the ˇ§righteousness which {comes} from God on the basis of faith,ˇ¨ it is an arrogant self-righteousness. Theirs is a gospel of social action,¨ not the Gospel of Grace. Their doctrine is designed to white -wash man's corrupt conditions, improve his environment or his lifestyle. Religion is the counterfeit of Christianity but can not produce life or faith. Everything that God has created for believers are counterfeit proof. Satan has no capacity to fake the eternal life, salvation, filing of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit or spiritual maturity. Religion can invent too many human good works but can not replace the finished work of Christ on the Cross. In addition, Satan has invented false communion table (2 Cor. 11:19-20), false spirituality by means of legalism and dogmatism (Gal. 3; 2-3, Col. 2:20-23). The phrase self-made religion¨ comes from a Greek word coined by the Apostle Paul for this very purpose which occurs nowhere else in literature. The word he uses here, ethelothreskeia, means a religion, or form of worship, which one devises for himself, i.e., you create it, but and the negative aspect is part of the meaning- its a cosmic religion, contrary to Bible doctrine and counterfeit spirituality. This religion of fake spirituality cannot provide victory over the lust patterns of the old sin nature, the devil or of the world. Satan introduced his own system of religious vocabulary, taking the original biblical and theological terms but replacing their meanings with distorted and manipulated meaning. He also introduced false definition of good and evil to promote social action while neglecting the divine institutions. He uses human philosophy as tool of deception according to the tradition of men (Col. 2:8). Satan is providing his advocates with false power (2 Thess. 2:9) which they mistaken for Godˇ¦s power. Power is from dunamis- dynamic spiritual power. Dunamis is often used in the NT for the omnipotence of God, but God is not in view here, Satan is, so what it means here is supernatural power.Signs are supernatural events which are contrary to the course of nature. The word means a distinguishing mark by which something is known; a token; a proof of the exercise of that dunamis, that supernatural powerˇ¦. False wondersˇ¨ are lit., pseudo-miracles, miracles designed to deceive. Teras is Greek for miracle,ˇ¦ pseudos is a noun meaning a lie, a conscious and intentional falsehood. The miracles themselves are not false; they are real, only accomplished in the power of Satan. As the day of his destruction draws nearer, Satan intensifies his deceptive activity. The Word of God lists at least nine denials that he will sponsor and promote in the last days
In short, Satan's religion rejects anything that is genuinely designed by God in relationship with man. Religion is the most deviously genius of Satan's invention for deceiving and robbing people of the truth of Bible doctrine. JR Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries
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J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries |
