BREAKING FROM THE SHACKLES OF RELIGION - 2

HOW RELIGION CAME TO BE

Ever since the first man Adam fell from his original position as the ruler of the earth, the earth was sold to religion. This is because when God created man in his image and likeness, man was created a spirit being, and the spirit being was connected to the Godhead.

So when man sinned, there was a disconnection. This is what the bible calls spiritual death. By spiritual death, it does not mean extinction but a disconnection of the spirit of man from the Godhead. Man was left alone.

This produced a vacuum in the heart of man. Man that was designed to function through his Spirit connection by the reason of his transgression died and his death made him carnal, separated from God. He was no longer having the property of God in him, he became earthy.

Right from that time, there had been a strong desire for man to return back to this position and to be connected with God through the spirit again. A vacuum was created in the heart of man.

And then the bible says in Genesis 4:26 that “Seth also had a son, and named him Enosh. AT THAT TIME MEN BEGAN TO CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD” … it was at this time, that the desire was very strong in man. This birthed many stupid things done to in other to reach him. This birthed religion.

We recall how that when Adam and Eve sinned against God, they made aprons for themselves to cover their nakedness of which God provided a better solution by giving them another made of an animal skin. Prophetically, this talks about how man would attempt to provide solutions to his fall through religion and how God will later provide the proper solution through the offering of Jesus Christ.

Since man has lost his relationship with his creator, he was left with no choice than to try all he can to reach him through diverse means. Aside that, the fear of an impending evil became another problem, so man definitely needs and hence seek protection from a supernatural being, which birthed religion.

From that time up till now, (though it was supposed to end when Jesus Christ came into the world) men have tried to reach God through different means. Whether based on myth or reality, religions of different kinds have evolved.

In Athens, Paul the apostle saw the dumbness and ignorance of certain people bound by religion, he said …

“Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD”

He now went further to declare to them how that the God that made the heavens and earth is not made with hands.  How can our supreme God be made with hands in the first place? Can you see the level of their dumbness?

This is what is replicated today in many places as religion. People now worship the creation instead of the creator! They missed it! This is just how some religion came to be, from trying to worship an unknown God through any of his creation.

Although, to these people, it doesn’t look so dumb, they felt since what they worship is producing results, therefore they are okay and fine with it.

Remember how that there is a longing for God in the heart of man, so they devised a means and that means is to worship a creation that has supernatural powers. Since God is supernatural, they felt there must be a link between these things and God. This is just how ignorance has helped religion to prosper.

Now suppose I found a large igneous rock which looks mysterious for example. And suppose I call it Jesus Christ, and every morning I bow down to it, sometimes I read, sing psalms and dance in front of it and do all other sort of things… am I different from these people of Athens up here? NO! I am not! Seeing that I cannot see the creator with my eyes, I do not know where to find him, and so I devised a means to reach him. And ever since I worship this rock which I call Jesus, it has been producing results. I ask for safety, he grants them to me. At times I dream and I see this rock, it shows that there is a supernatural power behind the rock, so I became a worshipper of a spirit Jesus through a stone. If anyone charges me of idolatry I deny it, because I believe there should surely be Jesus Christ somewhere behind the stone since I am seeing results from my worship so far. Even though I cannot vouch for the source of the supernatural power, whether it is from God or Satan, as long as I am seeing results, I can defend it anywhere that I am truly worshipping Jesus. You see?

This has caused problem in the world for thousands of years now; religion has sprung up from so many things and it has birthed foolish and stupid kind worships here and there. Till now, millions of people are still in bounds by it.

Whether Christianity, Islam or Judaism, all are religions designated attempts to worship the creator God.

So Paul declared to the same people of Athens “In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to REPENT”

Well I have said it in many of my teachings that the word “repent” is not associated with sin or sorrow. The word “repent” as used in the passage is the Greek word “metanous”. “meta” means CHANGE, “nous” means the MIND.

Therefore the word “repent” – metanous means to change one’s mind. So in clear terms now, Paul is saying that God commands all people everywhere to change their mindset about him. That no one can reach him by any of those means.

Note that he said all people! Everywhere! This is because God is not the sponsor of any religion!

Until you change your mindset, you will remain a slave of religion forever and its consequences are very devastating.