It’s s though They’re Doing it behind God’s Back

Lately I’ve been giving some thought to the  theologies of two Christian people who, to me seem to represent the reason why Christianity is increasingly unattractive to people.  One is strongly doctrine-based and the other is strongly works-based.  It is as though the first person is saying, “If you don’t believe this…….then maybe you need to reflect a lot more on where you are at in God.”  With the other it is as though he is saying, “If you don’t do this … then maybe you need to………..”  However, both of them fail to give any witness that they are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.  On the other hand, plenty of witness is given that they are clothed with self-righteousness.

Each person demonstrates a certain smugness and self-satisfaction as they speak of the beliefs that motivate them.  But, both are exceptionally joyless – little to no evidence of the Holy Spirit within them 2 Corinthians 3:17. I am reminded once again of the tremendous hold or grip that the religious spirit has upon the church.  The doctrinally-based person speaks non-stop about sin.  She is extremely sin-conscious but not at all redeemed-conscious.  In other words self-conscious, not Christ-conscious.  When challenged about this, fear shows up in her speech, not love. This woman holds to the tenets of Sinless Perfection.

Sinless Perfection is a teaching that says all true Christians will be completely free of sin before the Lord Jesus returns for His church.  Like all religious deceivers, they twist the Scriptures so as to arrive at such a belief.  One example only: “Before Jesus comes back for His church He has to come (manifest Himself) in His church.”  2 John 1:7 is cited to support this lie, which I believe comes from the very pit of hell itself.   This is a “doctrine” that makes religious slaves of all who drink its poison.  No wonder this woman is joyless, her obsession with sin couldn’t possibly bring about any other outcome in spite of her efforts to convince otherwise.

Even if it is possible for mature Christians to become increasingly free of conscious, willful acts of disobedience to God in their speech and activity, we have to ask about the thoughts, motives and intents of their hearts.  In other words, the unseen which we can’t view, but God can – what’s going on there with those?  I’ve had a bit to do with people like this woman who hold to sinless perfection and, just like her their thoughts are always focused on self.  And although they give the appearance of being joyful, in my spirit I know them to be rather joyless.  It always shows up in the spiritual realm.  It has to, because comfort can never be found by looking within, unless we are looking solely at Christ within.

The works-based man fails to realize that he is controlled not only by a religious spirit, but also a manipulative spirit.  He has a habit of saying, “If you truly love Jesus, you will……..” Example: he loves to send emails plus messages on social media telling people that if they love Jesus then they will “pass this message on to five people today and five more tomorrow etc.”  This is what I call the “chain letter mentality.”  He is also fond of saying, “If you truly love Jesus, show your love by speaking to three people about Him today.”  The implication being that if one doesn’t do those things then, “perhaps you don’t really love Jesus at all – at least, not as much as I do!” 

I originally witnessed this behavior and speech in the first church I became associated with and although it didn’t come from the pulpit, neither was it addressed from the pulpit.  For a time I got caught up in the guilt of all of that, which did not leave me until I pressed into God and learned that this is not the way He operates.  When Jesus said in John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments….” it was in the context of His promise to send us the Holy Spirit, not the religious spirit nor the manipulative spirit.  Therefore, the Christian who fails to discern the difference nearly always falls victim to the slavery of man’s religious and manipulative tactics.  Prisoners themselves as they’re used by Satan, naturally they seek to make prisoners of others.

In thinking about the beliefs and behavior of these two people, I can think of no better words than those quoted by C H Spurgeon.  He once said, “They who love God with all their hearts, find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace.  Such joys, such brimful delights, such over-flowing blessedness do the saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving Him from custom, they would follow Him though all the world cast out His name as evil.  We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty.  No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.”

Christians under the bondage of religious and manipulative spirits may well speak of their piety (respect, worship) as their pleasure, their hope (confidence, expectation) as their happiness and their duty as their delight, but they give lie to it because of the striving or strenuous efforts they’re forever applying.  Such Christians come under lots of guilt and condemnation and Satan will always use these to place upon all who come into contact with them.  For example:  if you should find yourself feeling guilty, unworthy and inadequate when in the company of Christians who doctrine-bash and/or works-bash, those feelings have been placed upon you by Satan the devil using those people.  They have not been placed there by the Lord God Almighty.

As Christians we must learn to discern between the voice of the Holy Spirit and the unholy spirit.  Or, as others have said it, we must know the difference between the voice of conviction versus the voice of condemnation.  The tone of the voice is everything.  When the Holy Spirit speaks, He is never nagging, accusing, confusing or causing you to doubt His promises, power and reality – but Satan the devil does – always!  With his pet doctrine of Sinless Perfection, for example, you’re never going to be good enough, therefore you can never rest in the blessed assurance that Jesus is yours.  He might be today, but what about tomorrow? 

He’ll tell you something like, “Yes, the Bible does say that your sins are washed away, but look at you.  You’re just habitually sinning, particularly in this one area…..haven’t you just, “trampled the Son of God under foot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he (you) was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?……….It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:29, 31.  Satan centers his attack upon you as a person, forever putting you down and pulling you down.  The Holy Spirit on the other hand, centers His attention towards you by affirming that,“…..if anyone is in Christ, he (you) is a new creature (building, creation); old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Whenever one turns to the Lord Jesus, God goes to work on the new.  He’s got nothing to say to the old, He’s finished with it, it’s as dead upon that cross with Jesus, as Jesus Himself was upon it.  And God help the person who becomes Satan’s instrument in causing that new creature to think & believe otherwise.  The Holy Spirit is an encourager, Satan is a discourager.  The Holy Spirit tells His child to forget the past, Satan tells him to remember the past.  The Holy Spirit brings to mind positive Scriptures, Satan brings to mind negative Scriptures.  The Holy Spirit draws His child into fellowship with Himself, Satan isolates you.  The Holy Spirit fills us with faith, Satan fills with feelings. 

It is always the feelings-based Christian who becomes the works-based Christian.  They believe themselves to be operating by faith as they see “needs” all around them, but more often than not, it is not faith it is presumption, as a result of some feeling that arose within them.  They operate out of what I call “good ideas,” but not God ideas.  For example; they hear the pastor preach on evangelism, so they rush out and try to evangelize everyone they come across.  When they see no fruit for their efforts, they drop that now “not-so-good-idea” and grab another one.  When the same thing happens with this, they move on to the next idea … and so on. 

In all of their efforts though, not once have they sought the Lord for any of them.  Like the doctrine-based Christian, the works-based Christian does not deeply seek the Lord personally for himself.  Each person operates from second-hand knowledge about God, at the expense of any first-hand knowledge from God.  When Christians do this, it’s as though they’re doing it behind God’s back.  How many of us are not pleased when this happens to us?  Is God any different?  No, He’s not, He hates the sin of presumption.  It was the practice of this sin that brought the most trouble upon the people of God in Old Testament days and it is no different today. 

God is not looking for doctrine-based or works-based Christians.  He’s looking for faith-based Christians, those who’s faith is developing as a result of daily placing it on the Lord Jesus Christ alone, as He reveals Himself in the Bible, plus nothing else.  There is no other way to knowing the voice and mind of God for ourselves.  Out of such faith as this, the Holy Spirit can then be relied upon, in His time, to teach us His doctrines and lead us into the works that He has specifically set aside for each one us to engage in.  “………for whatever is not from faith is sin.” Romans 14:23.  “…….let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…….” Hebrews 12:1-2.