There is nothing more purely of the devil than the religious spirit. Jesus during his ministry saved all kinds of sinners. His ministry was one of reconciliation and not judgement. There was one group however that he called “sons of hell.” They were the religious leaders of the day. He was telling all of us that this is going to be the problem.
Religious hypocrisy is the enemy and the western world has this as a foundation that extends its tentacles into all aspects of society. Whether it is government, school, workplace, church, or relationships. The subtle message is sin can be defeated by covering it up and follow a bunch of rules. That does bring law, order and civility (not a bad thing) and so meets the purposes of the world.
The problem is this has nothing to do with Christianity, salvation, and spiritual freedom. In fact, it sells you a false salvation with the underlying false narrative “follow the rules and everything will be okay.” Truthfully if this were the case, Buddhists would be saved and make it into heaven, since admittedly they are better at following the rules than you or me. By all accounts they live a quiet wholesome life of peace and do not get mixed up in moral corruption.
Have you noticed families that outwardly seems like a perfect picture of Christianity have children that radically rebel. This is the work of a religious spirit that causes frustration, guilt, anger, and finally rebellion. The corrupted seed planted in their heart is one of “rules are more important than Love.” The lie progresses to “If you do not follow all the rules all the time then you are bad and undeserving of God’s love.
This is how the death spiral works:
1. You are told to follow (worship) the rules.
2. You realize in your heart that you cannot.
3. You learn how to put on the cover of hypocrisy.
4. You now start trying to earn your salvation.
5. You become self-righteous and that destroys your faith.
6. You either become angry with God and rebel or worse start afflicting others with accusation and judgment.
Jesus said – “I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (religious leaders), you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Matt 5:20
The religious leaders were self-serving rule followers however they were also hypocrites. They would steal from widows and criticized Jesus when he had healed a woman on the sabbath. They had an outer display of their righteousness, while neglecting love, mercy, and kindness. You can tell a hypocrite by the fact that they spend a lot of time talking about others sins and flaws instead of their own.
The Greatest Commandment of Love
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. -Matthew 22:34
Jesus was saying the commandment of love is the fulfillment of the law. For example you are not going to steal from a neighbor if you follow the commandment of love.
There is the false belief that salvation is by faith and works. Wrong! The thief dying on the cross did nothing to earn salvation, however he unlike the other thief, did repent and made it into heaven.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” -Luke 23:39
The meaning of works is following the commandments. So it is a contradiction since we are all sinners and cannot follow the law perfectly all the time. So what happens when we fail to do that?
Of course you should follow the commandment of love, and if you love God then you will do that, although not perfectly. The point is you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone and nothing else. If this bothers you, then maybe you have been following religious (false) beliefs.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” -Ephesians 2:8
As a new Christian, the first thing that the devil will do is attack you with legalism. Sadly in the western church what is said and what is conveyed are two different things. They preach love but convey a righteousness from the law (rule following). The problem is that kills your faith and the freedom in Christ, and puts you into a spiritual battle to get out of that self-righteous prison. This is the problem with the western church.
We have no righteousness of our own. Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
Your salvation is 100% based on your faith in Jesus. In fact, Jesus also distinguished between what you believe in your mind versus your heart. God looks at your heart to know what you really believe. Your mind can sometimes change based on emotions and circumstances.