(I promised you Part Two to Radical or Coventional Christianity! Hold onto your seats. This could be a wild ride)…
I’m not sure you know it or not, but “Conventional Christianity” is most often akin to Nominal Christianity and the Religious Spirit, so I’d like to delve into the characteristics since it is so closely associated…Let me clarify also that “Nominal Christianity” is a Christian who goes to church, claims to be a Christian, but there’s very little fruit production, if any…other than fulfilling their religious duties (like church going). Now, what in the world are the characteristics of a Religious Spirit? (Here’s a GREAT STUDY TIP)! Read through the gospels and take note of ever interaction that Jesus had with the Pharisees! You will gain a great understanding of the Religious Spirit! It actually has a very wide definition and I’ll only go into a tiny portion of it here. At the end of this blog I have a book I’ve written explaining it in detail that you can purchase if you’d like)!
The Religious Spirit is most often characterized by “operating in judgmentalism,” which always stems from pride. When we judge we are almost always feeling superior to the person(s) we are judging. It is also characterized by following a set of “Manmade Rules.” Often times scriptures are taken out of context to suit an individuals personal agenda. Other times this can be done blindly, but whatever the case, it is stifling. When we live under a list of Manmade Rules rather than the Scriptures, it will snuff the life right out of us because it is associated with STRIVING and doing things in our own power rather than God’s.
God first began teaching me about the Religious Spirit at a church we attended for six years which I will not give the name of, out of respect. Sometime after we left the church, I was writing profusely and God began downloading books/resources to me about a number of things. (In fact, after this season of my life is when I wrote a book on the Religious Spirit).
God had made it very clear to me through seasons of prayer and fasting that God had called me to the Inner Healing and Deliverance Ministry and yet I knew very little about the subject. God began putting book after book in my hands to teach me about this ministry to which He had called me. (In later years, my husband and I went to a number of trainings on the subject, the most recent one in Anchorage, Alaska 7 years ago)!
Besides the books, He used the church we were attending at the time and several real life examples to teach me about the workings of the Religious Spirit, which by the way, can weave itself in and out of Conventional Christianity. Some, not ALL, Conventional Christians can be very dogmatic about what it means to be a Christian. For instance, some would say a REAL CHRISTIAN can’t have tattoos, have piercings or color their hair different colors. They’ve developed a mindset of how Christians “should look,” just like Jesse when he compared David to his older brothers. As you well remember, David was ruled out for being KING by his own father, until Samuel showed up on the scene. With that said, someone with a Religious Spirit, will often look at outward appearances, make snap judgments and categorize. Granted, all of us are guilty on this one, that is…UNTIL, God deals with us. God will always and forever look at our hearts. A newly born again Christian with tattoos could be walking more closely to God and have more fruit than that of a Christian of 40 years. Just because someone has been a Christ follower many years, does not necessarily mean they are producing fruit for the Kingdom. People often think just because someone attends church 2-3 days a week, that is evidence of a good Christian. Again, we will always and forever know a Christian by their FRUIT (Matthew 7:16). Though going to church often shows DEVOTION and “it appears” as good fruit, it doesn’t mean church attenders are necessarily right, especially if they are not producing good fruit. Scripture is clear: We will know “Christians” by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).
We found a little church in Albuquerque in 1994 when we moved there from Florida that our kids seemed to love, so we settled in and got involved. Though there were many good things about this church, including good memories, after we had been there three years, we began praying and asking the Lord to release us from the church. (Sure we could have just up and left, but we’d learned to consult the Lord on everything, and this was one of them). At the time, my husband and I felt God leading us to stay so that he could teach us “some things.” Those “things” ended up being about the “Religious Spirit.” We dug our heels in and settled in for the ride…and boy oh boy, was it a roller coaster!
One of our first encounters with this malady, was during one of our worship services. Our oldest son, who I believe was 8 or 9-years-old at the time was not feeling well, so he was sitting down during worship. He was approached by one of the male leaders from the church and he pompously spoke to our son: “Don’t you know you are suppose to stand during worship in the house of God, son?” (He totally usurped my husband and my authority over our son). I turned to him and though everything within me wanted to get in his face and tell him off, I respectfully said, “Our son is not feeling well. We have given him permission to sit.” (You see God does not demand a certain posture during worship). Though most people do stand, you can worship while showering, driving, sitting and so on. God is not hung up on posture! And the same goes for prayer. You can pray wherever. God still hears you EVEN IF you are in the bathroom doing your duty! Yes, I just said that. (If you raised your hand to your mouth right now, you may have the dreaded RS)! Our GOD will always and forever care first and foremost about the condition of a man’s heart, both yours and mine.
I distinctly remember during Sunday School one morning mentioning something about the devil, and the teacher immediately told me “We don’t talk about the devil here.” Never mind the scriptures having a whole lot to say about our enemy—the devil, and how we must guard our hearts against him. That very day I went before the Lord in prayer, and asked him about it? His words to me were very clear. He said, I would not have my people ignorant of the enemies devices, for he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Hmmmm? If we are not taught about how to protect and guard ourselves from the devil in the church where we are to be discipled, where will we be taught? Granted, a personal devotional time is essential, but if we can’t talk about these things in church…it’s not a good sign.
Over a period of time, I noticed that our church never seemed to bring in many speakers that were not associated with our denomination, so again I asked in Sunday School if that was the case? I can honestly say, they did not directly answer me—(probably because they were tired of all of my questions which I was asking innocently). In my Christian walk I had learned to listen to a broad variety of speakers, so this speaker thing really bothered me. I would occasionally bring up varying speakers and it didn’t take long to realize they seemed to have something against every single one of them! Many of them they said were FAITH TEACHERS, so they didn’t listen to them. By the way, my entire list of speakers was shot out of the water! The Bible clearly tells us “Without FAITH it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).” Was I to assume I was not to listen to these teachers that walk in accordance with God’s word?
It wasn’t long after that I learned that this church prescribed to the teachings of a gentleman whose whole ministry seemed to be geared towards exposing both teachers and preachers for supposed false beliefs, even the “Faith Teachers” that I chose to listen to, many of which I received great teaching from— all in line with scripture. When my husband and I searched out this ministry, we found that this man seemed to annihilate them all. Didn’t sound like the love of God to me! If we find a brother or sister to be in error, we are to approach them lovingly showing them what we believe to be false. There are numerous scriptures about how to handle personal offense, conflict, error, etc… Matthew 18:15 is one of them. Quite honestly, the fear of God came on me for this man. I was literally grieved in my spirit as he pridefully placed himself on his own throne—as a God himself. (Sounds like someone I know with double horns)! The Bible is clear: We are not to touch God’s anointed and those whom He has called into the ministry (1 Chronicles 16:22 & Psalm 105:15).
My husband held a board position in this particular church for three years. Being in leadership in any church can be quite eye opening. I remember a precious older Spanish lady in our church whom I will deem “Mary,” who had ecstatic joy in her relationship with the Lord. During worship she would often dance in the spirit, which the book of Psalms speaks of. You may remember the story of King David and how he danced before the Lord with all of his might (2 Samuel 14:16-22) but there are other scriptures pertaining to this form of worship. I remember sitting in the back of the church during worship while Mary was dancing before the Lord. (Honestly, I knew full well, she didn’t dance for attention. She did it strictly for God’s enjoyment, because I knew her heart). I happened to look over to the left of the church and saw three board members wives laughing and openly mocking her. I wanted to cry. It made me so sad. Just because they didn’t partake in this form of worship, gave them absolutely no right to judge Mary who was honoring God with worship from her heart.
When my mom committed suicide is 1997, our church and our closest friends donated the monies for us to travel back to Nebraska to take care of her arrangements. (There were no words for their generosity. We will always hold that gesture deep in our hearts and remember them with fondness).
Sadly however, around the same time, I had two people come up to me in the church and tell me something unthinkable! They told me that my mom went to hell because she chose to take her own life. (I presume they were basing their opinion on the Ten Commandments and “Thou Shall Not Murder.” Because Suicide is a form of Murder, they felt justified in giving me their opinion. Thanks, but NO THANKS!
While my daughter was in Sunday School, one student raised her hand and asked the teacher where people go when they kill themselves? Without missing a beat, the Sunday School teacher said “Well, they go to hell.” I cannot tell you how excruciatingly painful it was already being entrenched in pain as we walked through my Mother’s untimely death, but to then to have these insensitive comments spoken after the fact, only added to the deep grief and pain we already felt. My Six-year-old daughter and Eight-year-old son were traumatized even further and lived in fear after this teacher’s snap judgment. I too was devastated after those that felt it their duty to tell me my mom had gone to hell.
Thanks to our Gracious Almighty God, both our son and daughter had beautiful visions of my mom in heaven at youth camp. Our daughter had gone to the altar when all of the students were asked to come forward if they were carrying a heavy burden. As she obeyed, God graciously gave her a vision of Jesus with His arm around my mom, saying “See Michaeli (Mikayli), Your Grandma is with ME!” My mom had surgery on her knee some time before she took her life and could no longer run. Our son Shawn had a vision of my mom running in heaven, and she said, “See Shawn, I can RUN AGAIN.” I praise God for God’s graciousness and love! He cared for my children so much that He wanted them released from the horrible burden perpetrated on them by man!
I too had a very in depth vision of my mother IN HEAVEN which I may talk about later. All three visions brought us closure and relief that my Mother and the kid’s Grandma was in fact in HEAVEN, and not in HELL, as alluded to by the three insensitive comments made to our family.
Now folks, I must tell you that the perfect church simply does not exist, and if we set out to find one, it’s not gonna happen. Time and time again the Lord has witnessed to my spirit, GET YOUR EYES OFF OF MAN AND BACK ON ME. I AM THE ONLY PERFECT ONE. The church is made up of imperfect people like YOU and ME! The church is for the broken. We all need healing. We all need deliverance. We all need ministry. At the same time, as witnessed in my blog, it’s probably advantageous to stay away from a church that is heavily influenced by the Religious Spirit. (When God downloaded the Book below, he made it clear to me that the Religious Spirit is in EVERY church in different measures).
My sole purpose for sharing what I did was strictly to show you the workings of the RELIGIOUS SPIRIT so you are aware and can perhaps guard yourself from it. If you’re going to be anything, I hope you will choose to rid yourself of CONVENTIONAL CHRISTIANITY AND BE RADICAL! It’ll change you from the inside—out, and reap high rewards, my friend! It will be worth everything that is within you!
You can find this and a couple other books by messaging me and/or soon to be available on www.carolediannedesigns.com ! BLESSINGS YA’LL! -carole-
