                    [Times Square Church PulpitSeries]

                            Down With Religion

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By David Wilkerson
undated
__________

          In a recent survey, young people were asked the
          question, "Where do you get bored the most?" The #1
          answer was, "In Church."

          I agree! The majority of churches today have nothing at
          all to offer young people. Most teen-agers go to church
          only because their parents make them go. And many of
          their parents go only because it's the "religious
          thing" to do.

          It's not because young people have become godless or
          irreligious. In fact, another recent survey showed that
          84% of American young people believe in God and that He
          is personally involved in their lives.

          They are not down on God, just religion. They can't
          understand why there are so many religions - so many
          denominations - so much confusion, fighting and hatred
          - all in the name of God.

          Think of the religions in the world; to name just a
          few: Buddhism, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Catholicism,
          Islamism, Judaism, Protestantism, Shintoism, Mormonism,
          Unitarianism.

          It's almost impossible to keep up with all the old and
          new religious denominations, movements, groups, and
          cults. There are more than twenty Baptist
          organizations; more than twenty-five various
          Pentecostal denominations; Methodists; Presbyterians;
          Church of Christ; Disciples of Christ; Lutherans;
          Episcopalians; Christian Church; United Methodists;
          Free Methodists; Brethren; Plymouth Brethren; Christian
          Science; Seventh Day Adventists; Jehovah Witnesses -
          and on and on.

          Even more confusing are all the new religions: The
          Moonies, Hare Krishna, Kimbanguism, Zen Buddhism,
          Spiritism, Scientology, etc.

          Have you heard it said, "There may be many religions on
          earth, but we all worship the same God"? This is what
          the Islamic Ayatollahs preach. They kill, kidnap,
          torture - all in the name of God! Millions of Iranians
          and other Islamics are ready to die for the god of
          their religion.

          Iraq and Iran are both Islamic religions: the same god,
          the same doctrines, telling the world they are fighting
          a "religious war" against each other. More people have
          died because of religion than any other cause on earth.
          In Ireland right now, Catholics and Protestants kill
          each other in the name of God and their religion.
          Church history books are full of bloody accounts of
          religious wars. In the name of religion, the world has
          suffered the atrocities of inquisitions, burnings,
          beatings, drownings, mass murders, and genocide.

          I heard a Ku Klux Klan leader say in an interview, "We
          burn crosses in the yards of Blacks to show them that
          Jesus Christ was White." This demented man goes around
          preaching that God raised up the Klan to protect the
          Bible, morals, Whites, and motherhood. Klan members
          boast about being "very religious."

          The devil invented religion! Satan is a very religious
          being. The dictionary definition of religion is: "A
          belief in a superhuman power." The Bible makes it clear
          that the devil believes in God, so much so, he trembles
          at the thought.

               "So you believe there is one God; good for
               you: but the devil also believes, and
               shudders because of him..." (James 2:19
               Living Bible).

          Nothing provoked the holy anger of Jesus Christ more
          than empty religion. It was religion that kept people
          from accepting Him as their Savior. Their religion kept
          them from entering the Kingdom of God.

          The religion of the Jews kept them in spiritual
          darkness. It had a strong hold on the masses, binding
          them with rules, regulations, laws. It was a religion
          of bondage and fear. Christ was a threat to the
          scribes, Pharisees, and high priests of religion. The
          scribes were legal experts in the Jewish religion. It
          was their expertise that helped the temple and
          synagogue priests to keep the people under bondage. The
          scribes spent their entire lifetimes studying their
          religion and telling people how to be religious. They
          later became known as rabbis.

          It was religious leaders who turned God's house into a
          den of thieves. The temple of God was supposed to be a
          house of prayer, where people who were hungry for truth
          could find reality. But Jesus walked into the temple
          one day and discovered the religious leaders had turned
          God's house into a carnival!

               "Jesus went into the temple, and began to
               cast out those who sold and bought inside the
               temple and to overturn the tables of the
               money changers..." (Luke 11:15).

          Jesus made a whip and, with a holy zeal, He drove them
          out into the streets. Can't you hear Him, "Out - all
          you religious scoundrels! Out - you religious cheaters!
          Down with your religion; down with your godless forms
          and traditions."

          These same religious fanatics killed the Lord Jesus!
          Keep in mind, Jesus was not killed by a mad mob of
          atheists and agnostics. He was crucified by high
          priests, church leaders, zealous and orthodox religious
          crowds. Churchgoers killed Him.

          They killed Him, nailing Him to a shameful cross,
          spitting and laughing at Him - all in the name of
          religion. The high priests claimed they crucified Him
          to the glory of God! They called Him an imposter.

          People go to hell sitting in church pews. They are
          devoted, pious, and they have a strong belief in a
          superhuman power. They talk much about God. But
          religion without spirituality will damn their souls.
          Christ Himself warned that many who use His name will
          be lost on Judgment Day.

               "Not all who are religious are really godly
               people. They may call me Lord, but they still
               won't get to heaven. At the judgment many
               will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not preach
               in your name; and cast out demons, and do
               many wonderful deeds in your name? But I will
               answer them, Depart from me..I never knew
               you...you workers of iniquity..." (Matthew
               7:21, 22 Living Bible).

          In other words, it's going to take a lot more than
          religion to get you into heaven!

          Christ does not live in church buildings, either! Every
          church that has ever been built has been dedicated to
          "the glory of God." But God does not live in any
          church, cathedral or temple.

          Like so many people to day, the disciples were
          awe-stricken by the huge, beautiful temples and
          synagogues. But Jesus said:

               "See all these great buildings? There shall
               not be one stone left upon another. They will
               all be cast down..." (Mark 13:1,2).

          Brick and mortar cannot contain the power and glory of
          God. The Bible says,

               "The most high dwelleth not in temples made
               with hands..." (Acts 7:48).

               "You are God's temple... Know you not that
               you are the temple of God and that the Spirit
               of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians
               3:16).

          There is absolutely nothing sacred about a church
          building or a temple. What makes a building sacred are
          the two or three spiritual people who gather there in
          His name! He is there - in them! They bring Him into
          the building!

          Thank God there are churches where Christ is very
          present and people's needs are being met. But take
          these Spirit-filled people out of that building, and
          you may as well turn it into a bar or dance hall.
          Christ lives only in the hearts of the church members.

          God will not send a single soul to hell for not
          attending church. Going to church can't change you
          anymore than walking into a barn changes you into a
          horse. We are commanded to join together with believers
          and assemble in His name! But that can be anywhere. If
          it is in a live, Christ-filled church, then go! But
          Christ is not going to judge you on church attendance,
          but rather on seeking after Him. He prefers you find a
          true body of believers and worship with them.

          Paul, the apostle, could also cry out, "Down with
          religion." Before his conversion, he was known as Saul,
          the persecutor of Christians. What a religious man he
          was. He admitted:

               "I belonged to the strictest group in our
               religion. I was a Pharisee."

          He furthers states,

               "I was one of the most religious Jews of my
               age in the whole country, and tried as hard
               as I possibly could to follow the old,
               traditional rules of my religion..."
               (Galatians 1:14,15 Living Bible).

          The most religious man in all the country - this
          regular church goer - this clean, moral, religious
          fanatic loved God but didn't know Christ, His Son. One
          glorious day something happened to this religious man!
          He junked his religion and discovered the Man, Christ
          Jesus! <

               "...but then something happened to me... God
               revealed His Son in me..." (Galatians 1:15
               Living Bible).

          I say as Paul did, away with your religion! Knowing
          Christ is the only thing that counts. Jesus said,

               "If you had known me, you would have known my
               Father..." (John 14:7).

               "If you have seen me, you have seen the
               Father..."

          What the world needs is a new revelation of the power
          in Jesus Christ! What made Saul give up a lifetime of
          religion to follow a Man? What made him say:

               "Everything is worthless when compared with
               the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my
               Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it
               worth less than rubbish, in order that I may
               have Christ, and become one with Him..."
               (Philippians 3:8 Living Bible).

          What a change! Suddenly, all the religion that once
          meant so much to him is now worth nothing; it's all
          rubbish! Now he has found reality. In Christ! A man who
          knew God - found Christ!

          God did not reveal himself to Saul because he was
          religious. The other men with him must have also been
          very religious, to embark on such a traumatic journey
          to enslave Christians. They were probably also
          commissioned by the priests, chosen for their religious
          fervor. They, too, heard the voice. If Christ reveals
          Himself only to people who are religious or zealous
          they would have all been converted.

          God is no respecter of persons, so he could not have
          "chosen" Saul arbitrarily, out of the blue, over all
          the men traveling with him.

          Christ explains why the revelation came to Saul. His
          spirit in him was "kicking up." He was in turmoil in
          his soul. His conscience was smiting him. He was under
          the knife of conviction. Revelation follows conviction
          for sin. You can't be made whole until you begin to
          admit sickness. Only the sick need the physician.

          The Great Physician was responding to a very sick
          spirit. This man, Saul, was sick on his feet. He later
          stated that he persecuted Christians "in ignorance,"
          and that is why he got the revelation. But Saul's
          ignorance did not make it right. God does not respond
          just to those who sin in ignorance. The heathen sin in
          ignorance and do not see the Light.

          It was more than that. Saul was doing and saying one
          thing outwardly, but thinking something else in his
          mind.

          "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

          A person can be outwardly a persecutor, an outright
          rejector of Christ; also outwardly wanting nothing to
          do with Christ. He may sound like the worst
          Christ-hater on earth. But inwardly he is stricken. He
          is in a war! A battle is raging!

          Even now, there are people all over the world who talk
          and act like cold hearted sinners, but they are just a
          lightning stroke away from discovering Christ as Lord.
          Man judges you on your outward appearances; God looks
          at the inner man. If a man can't get Christ out of his
          mind, he will never keep Him out of his life.

          I hear teen-agers everywhere saying, "I don't need Him;
          don't want Him! Let everybody leave me alone." But a
          battle is raging inwardly. The knife of conviction is
          pricking them. They are thinking about their life,
          their future, and their emptiness.

          Is it possible to be religious and persecute Christ?
          Yes! Saul did it! Jesus said so! "Saul, why do you
          persecute Me?..." Others persecuted Him. The priests,
          the Pharisees, Herod, the Roman soldiers - but only to
          one persecutor did Jesus ask why. Not, "Why persecute?"
          but "Why you?"

          "Of all people, Saul, why you? I could understand the
          soldiers, the priests, the Pharisees. They are all
          spiritually blind. They do it because of hatred. But
          why you? You are spiritually hungry; you are
          different."

          Christ was trying to show this sincere man he had no
          reason to go on rejecting! This is the question that
          comes to all sincere souls - "Why you?" The cold
          hearted addict, maybe! The blinded unevangelized,
          maybe! But you? WHY? What reason?

          You see, Christ Jesus was not a stranger to Saul! When
          Jesus asked, "Why do you persecute me?", Saul asked,
          "Who are you - Lord?" There is the clue! He already
          sensed Christ in his heart. That would be like saying,
          "Who are you - David Wilkerson?"

          You don't call Him Lord without respecting Him! You
          don't call Him Lord - except by the spirit.

               "No man calleth him Lord except the Spirit be
               in him."

          The Holy Spirit had been working on Saul. He may as
          well have said, "Is that You Lord? So You are the One
          making me so miserable!?" Here is a man under Holy
          Ghost conviction, with a growing disgust for his
          rejection, knowing what was right in his heart, but
          still going through the motion of a rejector.

          Christ met Saul on that Damascus road because Saul was
          ready to give up his religion and find reality. The
          first thing he did when the light struck was to fall on
          his face. The other men stood speechless! They heard
          the same voice and didn't move a muscle. They stood
          unmoved, blind to the meaning of it all. Saul gave in
          and surrendered at the first call. This outwardly hard,
          calculating persecutor had a tender heart.

               "To this one will I look; to him that hath a
               broken heart and a contrite spirit."

          The light cuts right through our religion to reveal
          Christ. "Suddenly there shined a light." This light was
          a sudden revelation - not about the power or love of
          Christ, but a revelation of what he had been doing to
          Christ. Suddenly it hit him, so hard, so traumatically;
          he literally went temporarily blind! He also lost his
          appetite. When it suddenly dawned on him, he could not
          stand it. To think, Paul reasoned, "My religion almost
          kept me in darkness. I was rejecting the very One who
          could meet all my needs. I've been so blind. This is
          what I've been wanting all along. All along it was Him!
          How could I have been so blind? How could I have held
          out so long? Why didn't I see it before?"

          Saul was simply in the throes of repentance! It was his
          soul crying out, "That's enough! I can't hold out any
          longer. I've hurt Him enough! I need Him! I've had
          enough of dead religion."

          Repentance is not just sorrow for sin! It is sorrow for
          rejecting His love, sorrow for putting Him aside for so
          long! Repentance is saying, "Lord, I've been shutting
          You out too long. I need You now."

          The light didn't strike in Jerusalem. The Spirit did
          not wait until He rounded up the Christians and herded
          them to the jail. Wouldn't that have been more
          spectacular, a greater witness, to smite him in the
          sight of all those witnesses, in front of the priests
          and before all His Christian prisoners? Wouldn't it
          have been more powerful if about a thousand of his
          Christian prisoners saw him fall on his knees and get
          converted?

          No! No minister! No Christian witnesses! No counselors
          begging! No other human voice! He was all alone in
          front of his own crowd. His friends, his associates,
          had to be the first to see and know about the miracle
          in his life.

          He was going to have to forsake that bunch of Christian
          haters. He was going to have to walk away from his
          crowd and walk alone for a while! They saw their best
          friend turn spiritual, rather than religious.

          "Poor Saul," they must have said. "He's lost his mind;
          gone crazy. No one will ever hear from him again. He's
          given up everything he's worked for. Poor man."

          If you go with Christ, your old friends must be the
          first to go, even if you must walk alone!

          The religious Saul became the spiritual Paul - and a
          whole new world opened up to him. Instead of empty
          religion, he was "Filled with the Holy Ghost." Where
          once he was filled with bitterness, hatred, and
          blindness, now the power of God dwelt in him! He now
          had power to live life as it was supposed to be lived.
          He was given strength. He discovered new friends - "the
          disciples of Damascus!" Those he once hated - he now
          loved. Those "fanatical" Christians were now his best
          friends! He found he had everything in common with them
          now.

          Most important of all - he was given resurrection life.
          This once-dead religious Pharisee became alive in
          Christ! This is what we get instead of religion! We get
          life - as it is supposed to be lived! Life in heavenly
          places in Christ!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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