Jesus Came to Do Away with Religious Systems

Since coming to office in 2013, Pope Francis has made a few statements that must be classed as anti-biblical. Each time it’s happened, his minders have quickly come to his aid saying he’s been misquoted. They have not come to his aid this time with the following statement however, because they and he believe it absolutely. Quote: “There are those who believe you can have a personal, direct and immediate relationship with Jesus Christ outside of the communion and mediation of the Church. These temptations are dangerous and harmful. They are in the words of the great Pope Paul V1, “absurd dichotomies.” The old Protestant saints said, “The Vatican never changes.” They were right; it does not.

So what is it Frances is saying? He’s saying that unless you are or become a Roman Catholic it’s not possible for you to get to Jesus Christ because the Roman Catholic Church is the only one mandated to mediate the Lord to you. That is why they say they are the one true church. God help us all if that were true, but all praise to God, it is not true. Imagine placing your faith in such an unholy, unrighteous, religious organization riddled with corruption, sexual perversion and pedophilia for the salvation of your soul! The very thought of it makes me want to vomit! What a slap in the face this is to a holy and righteous God and to the living Lord Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and men (people) 1 Timothy 2:5. 

For the person who’s unsure how to come to God, the Roman Catholic Church is a religious system. Jesus came to do away with religious systems. Why? Because religious systems are godless systems! The four gospels of the New Testament show us it was a religious system that fought Jesus tooth and nail when He was here and it is religious systems fighting Him tooth and nail today. Numerous religious systems are in the fight, but it is and has always been the Roman Catholic Church leading the charge. The Roman Catholic Church stands between you and Jesus Christ and denies you access to Him, Jesus. Jesus Christ stands between you and God and grants you access to God through Himself alone. That’s the difference and, the meaning of the one Mediator.       

In his statement, Pope Francis also said, “Remember, being a Christian means belonging to the church.” That’s true, but what is the church? It is not his church. And less and less is it now the church of Presbyterians, Protestants, Anglicans, Baptists, Pentecostals, Assemblies of God, Charismatics, Reformers, Orthodox … and the list goes on. Submission to political correctness has turned them into religious systems too. If you read their Statements of Belief, you will probably find Jesus Christ is Lord written somewhere Philippians 2:10, but in discerning the overall spiritual condition of most people within, then comparing that with the first Church spoken of in the New Testament Book of Acts, Jesus is not Lord – the system is!

There are multitudes of people affiliated with denominations and all sorts of fellowships around the world professing to be Christians, but they are not. Why not? They do not know Jesus Christ personally as their Savior. They know of Him as Savior, but they don’t know Him as Savior. In other words, they haven’t been to Jesus for the cleansing power; they and their sins have not been washed in the blood of the Lamb. They are trusting in their efforts to please God; they are not fully trusting in His grace. Their sins are like scarlet, they haven’t been made white as snow Isaiah 1:18. They don’t walk daily by the Savior’s side, they don’t rest each moment in the Crucified. That’s how you come to God; repent, then turn to Jesus. That makes you a true church member.

It is Pope Francis’ theology that is “dangerous and harmful.” It clashes with Jesus’ theology! Jesus declared, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me John 14:6. That’s exactly what He meant. He had no Pope, no priest, no Roman Catholic Church, no pastor and no Protestant Church in mind as Mediator or Magisterium. Jesus declared, All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out John 6:37. It was God the Father He was referring to, not a religious man claiming to be the “Holy Father.” The “Vicar of Christ’ is another one of the Pope’s titles. As far as biblical Christianity is concerned there’s only one such Person – God the Holy Spirit John 14:26.

Pope Francis is an extremely popular man; the media loves him and the world loves him, which is rather interesting given they no have love at all for the Man they believe he represents, Jesus Christ. So why him and not Jesus? Two different messages. The Pope’s message is pleasing to the ear and non-threatening to the heart – it costs you nothing. Not so, the message of Jesus. It is displeasing to the ear, very threatening to the heart – it costs you everything. But when fully embraced, it is the only message with authority and power to set you free from yourself, free from guilt and condemnation, free from the opinions and expectations of others and free from fear of the future! There’s not a religious system anywhere that can deliver those goods!

“If that is so,” someone asks, “Why then have more people not embraced the message of Christ?” People don’t like to be free! Communism, Socialism, Cultural Marxism etc. etc. etc. gives testimony to that every bit as much as religious systems do. People love rules! To have someone else do the thinking for them “frees” them up to chase after all sorts of pleasures and leisures they ordinarily wouldn’t have time to chase after. Take many of those “reality” and gossip/talk show television programs, for example. If one had to think for themselves they wouldn’t have time to watch them. Then again, if one did think for themselves, one wouldn’t give those types of programs the time of day to begin with!

Jesus told those in the Jewish religious system that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, …….to preach deliverance to the captives…… Luke 4:18. Did they respond with joy and jubilation? No, they responded with fullness of wrath! Their love for the religious system was much greater than their love for freedom. It’s no different today. People love their prisons! Roman Catholic religious system or Protestant religious system, it wouldn’t make any difference; if Jesus walked into either one or both with the same message today, He would get the same response. They would throw Him out! Truth is, they threw Him out years ago. When taking the gospel out into the streets as I did for some years, my staunchest enemies were always those from religious systems.

Pride is what keeps people from embracing the message of Christ. Those in religious systems are not seen as proud though, they’re seen as humble. It is false humility. In the New Testament pride means: ‘haughtiness’ ‘boastful’ ‘high minded’ ‘self-confidence’ ‘self-conceit’. It’s easy to detect these behaviors in world systems; it’s not so easy to detect them in religious systems for religious people work mightily hard at covering them up. The only true way of detecting who’s proud and who’s humble is to know what they say about the Jesus revealed in the Scriptures and what they say about the Scriptures over all. But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word Isaiah 66:2. That’s the test!

One of pride’s close relatives is fear. This will keep people from embracing the message of Christ, especially fear of what “others will think of me.” For members of religious systems, “others” don’t give them a lot of thought. They certainly don’t persecute and ostracize them, so they can rest knowing they’ve got the best of both worlds – a little bit of God on Sundays and a lot of self on Mondays! But not so, those who stand for, speak for and live for Jesus Christ. “Others” think the very worst about them. Too, they say the very worst about them and should the Lord’s return for His Church not be as soon as many believe it could be, their intent will be to do the very worst to them! ‘Gospel’ means “good news” but it’s bad news to many who know it calls for a heart change.

In the Book of Revelation, five churches turned into religious systems and Jesus rebuked them for it. He gave each one a set of instructions to put them back on track but history shows they failed to obey Him. Geographically they have gone; spiritually they have never gone. Loveless, compromising, corrupt, dead and lukewarm churches are still with us today and they remain more popular by far than persecuted and faithful churches. But you see, the latter are the only churches Jesus Christ is truly Lord of, because they’re the only churches the Holy Spirit gets free reign in to give clear witness to this reality. Jesus came to do away with religious systems. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God Romans 10:3.