THE RELIGION BOX

[Armadillo]

The Kingdom is now and if you're in the Lamb's Book of Life, you're in it with access to the Tree of Life. To be in the Kingdom you must believe in His Son. No one unholy is allowed in but the gates are open and outside the gates are those that don't believe. Those that believe are to let everyone know they are reconciled to God upon belief of His Son and they will then be led to Salvation by the Holy Spirit so that they can go through the gates and live in the Kingdom. The church that is a building is just that, a building. God doesn't live in a building.

 

[Armadillo]

In Acts, James speaks at the council in Jerusalem to determine what to preach to the Gentile converts on what Jewish law they should observe and be taught. James quotes from Amos, Amos' prophecy is for New Testament, New Covenant times and not sometime, somewhere off in the future.

Amos 9:11, 12

“In that day

“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
I will repair its broken walls
and restore its ruins—
and will rebuild it as it used to be,
so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name,”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.

Acts 15:15-18, The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

“‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’
things known from long ago.

When was there a tabernacle of David? The Ark of the Covenant, 1 Chronicles 15.

David places the Ark in a tabernacle that he pitches for it, 2 Samuel 6:17.

Why would James talk about this prophecy? Under the Old Covenant, God was feared and David looked forward to a better Covenant. We worship a living God, God living in us and in David's tabernacle the blessings are on the Ark, not the tent and so the blessings we get are not from us but from Jesus in us. James says that Jesus and His death on the cross brought back the tabernacle of David. There is not going to be a church built with human hands ever.

Erase Edit Printable version

 

[H. Richard]

From your post:
"Everyone of those boxes say they are the way to heaven." "A person must see that they are lost in THE RELIGION BOX because they are left with the impossible task of trying to do enough works to be saved."

Not every Christian church in the world teaches "they are the way to heaven", or teaches "do enough works to be saved."

888
Does yours??

 

[H. Richard]

This is the worst interpretation of scripture I've ever seen.


o

***

So in your opinion the 99 sheep are not lost even though they no longer have the Shepard to watch over them. They are left to wander any place they wish and they do not know they are lost without the Shepard. These sheep are like the those in the RELIGION BOX they do not know that they do not have salvation because Jesus' work on the cross is not taught as being the reason their sins are paid for. These are trusting in their RELIGION box.

 

[H. Richard]

Year, if the Shepherd is with the sheep they are not lost.

***
But the Shepard is not with the Sheep. He has left them to care for the Sheep that knew he was lost.

 

[H. Richard]

You might want to rethink that. (Matt. 16:18) "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;...." Jesus Christ is indeed the Head of the Church. But He is a Man as much as He is God. And when He builds His Church He does it by both Spirit and human hands, as He is a Man also.

Do not confuse the kingdom of God with the Church.

Stranger

***
Jesus built His church on the rock that He is the Son Of God. It certainly wasn't the person that was going to renounce Him 3 times.

Matt 16:16-20
16 Simon Peter answered and said,"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
NKJV

Jesus told His desciples that they would reign over the 12 tribes of Israel in the kingdom He, Jesus, would set up. It is in this kingdom that He will build His church. He was not able to setup His kingdom on this earth because the Jews never accepted Him and in prophesy it is the nation of Israel that will rule over this earth. God keeps Hid promise. The church today is "the Church of His body." It is a spiritual church seen only with the eyes of faith.

 

[H. Richard]

In Acts, James speaks at the council in Jerusalem to determine what to preach to the Gentile converts on what Jewish law they should observe and be taught. James quotes from Amos, Amos' prophecy is for New Testament, New Covenant times and not sometime, somewhere off in the future.

Amos 9:11, 12

“In that day

“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
I will repair its broken walls
and restore its ruins—
and will rebuild it as it used to be,
so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name,”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.

Acts 15:15-18, The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

“‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’
things known from long ago.

When was there a tabernacle of David? The Ark of the Covenant, 1 Chronicles 15.

David places the Ark in a tabernacle that he pitches for it, 2 Samuel 6:17.

Why would James talk about this prophecy? Under the Old Covenant, God was feared and David looked forward to a better Covenant. We worship a living God, God living in us and in David's tabernacle the blessings are on the Ark, not the tent and so the blessings we get are not from us but from Jesus in us. James says that Jesus and His death on the cross brought back the tabernacle of David. There is not going to be a church built with human hands ever.

Erase Edit Printable version

***
I think there will be somewhat temple but not as a building. In the wilderness it was a tent like structure. It could be again.

 

[Armadillo]

Who is Israel? If Israel, a geographic location in the middle east, some piece of land is what God is really interested in then what do you make of 1 Peter 2:9,10?

 

[H. Richard]

Who is Israel? If Israel, a geographic location in the middle east, some piece of land is what God is really interested in then what do you make of 1 Peter 2:9,10?

***
Jesus came from the line of king David. Jesus is to set on David's throne. Sound like a nation in the middle east to me.

 

[Armadillo]

It doesn't take faith to live in the natural. Do you not believe God has a land in us and that the nation we belong to is not of this world and we as God's children are not by physical descent?

 

[Job]

So in your opinion the 99 sheep are not lost even though they no longer have the Shepard to watch over them. They are left to wander any place they wish and they do not know they are lost without the Shepard.

It's not my opinion, the Word of God.

John 10
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.
26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30 I and My Father are one.”



To equate the 99 of being lost, is to say the adversary snatched them from the hand of the Lord.


j

 

[Helen]

It doesn't take faith to live in the natural. Do you not believe God has a land in us and that the nation we belong to is not of this world and we as God's children are not by physical descent?

Excellent..AMEN!!

 

[H. Richard]

It doesn't take faith to live in the natural. Do you not believe God has a land in us and that the nation we belong to is not of this world and we as God's children are not by physical descent?

***
I posted a writing that says the Jews were promised a heavenly kingdom on this earth. The Gentiles are not part of this promise. The Gentiles under grace are promised to be children of God with God in heaven. The spirit of those that die under grace are with Jesus who is sitting at the right hand of God the Father.

 

[H. Richard]

It's not my opinion, the Word of God.

John 10
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.
26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30 I and My Father are one.”



To equate the 99 of being lost, is to say the adversary snatched them from the hand of the Lord.


j

***
Not true. They are not in the hands of the Shepard (Jesus). He told them but they did not believe. That is the problem of religion. The spirit of God's children are with Jesus in heaven. The ones on this earth that are alive have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. They certainly know and hear Jesus. All of these stepped out of THE RELIGION BOX into the grace of God by placing their faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross where He atoned (paid) for ALL the sins of the world. But it seems the religious do not want to believe He paid for ALL their sins and add man's works to do it. I suppose that means they really don't trust in Jesus' work on the cross.

 

[Job]

Not true. They are not in the hands of the Shepard (Jesus). He told them but they did not believe.

Who was He speaking to when He made that statement? It certainly wasn't the 99 sheep.

k

 

[Stranger]

***
Jesus built His church on the rock that He is the Son Of God. It certainly wasn't the person that was going to renounce Him 3 times.

Matt 16:16-20
16 Simon Peter answered and said,"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
NKJV

Jesus told His desciples that they would reign over the 12 tribes of Israel in the kingdom He, Jesus, would set up. It is in this kingdom that He will build His church. He was not able to setup His kingdom on this earth because the Jews never accepted Him and in prophesy it is the nation of Israel that will rule over this earth. God keeps Hid promise. The church today is "the Church of His body." It is a spiritual church seen only with the eyes of faith.

You stated that no man was head of the Church. But a Man is head of the Church, that is Jesus Christ. You said the church is not built with the hands of a man, but they are because Jesus Christ is building His Church and He is a Man.

The Church is spiritual. But the Head of the Church is a Man, Jesus Christ. And the Church is built by a Man, the Man Jesus Christ. (Matt. 16:18)

Stranger

 

[Truth]

If you can see it religion is a box that men of religion have built. It was built by Emperor Constantine in about AD300. It was called the “Roman Catholic Church” Their doctrine was established on a mixture of law, grace and what ever they could come up with to get people to come into it.. They then kept them there by threaten them with being put out of their church. This is their religion box

Put this box inside of a bigger box which I call THE RELIGION BOX.

The RCC religion box had many spin off into other religion boxes which I call the SECONDARY BOXES, plural because there are so many of them. Put these boxes inside of THE RELIGION BOX with the RCC religion box.

Everyone of those boxes say they are the way to heaven. Join anyone of them and they will tell you that you are going to heaven, if just do as they tell you. If you join you will be told what to believe and do. If a person doesn’t make it they must not have done enough what they were told to do.

This is the condition of those in THE RELIGION BOX. Everyone of them has a different theology. ----

Question == Is this what Jesus left us with?

Afterward those that had started with Paul’s gospel of grace fell victims’ to the believing Jews and started to include the works of the Law of Moses. This created a blended, mixed gospel of two different plans of salvation. One thing is certain from what I’ve read -- the Asian fathers largely failed to acknowledge the uniqueness of the revelation Christ gave to Paul. Why? Because, as Paul himself wrote, Asia had already turned away from him even while he was yet alive. Those in Asia were even then “turning aside unto myths.” These church “fathers,” with their compounded mythical doctrines, are only the fruit of the apostasy that began in the first century before Paul died.

2 Tim 1:15
15 This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
(NKJ)

Act 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

This is exactly what happened: from among the Gentile believers of Asia, false teachers DID arise, DID speak perverse things and DID draw away disciples unto themselves. All within 100 years of Paul's death.

For anyone, today, to find salvation in THE RELIGION BOX is betting their eternity on the ideas of other men who say their idea is correct. But what if it isn’t?

According to the scriptures a child of God has been given the Holy Spirit to indwell them and teach them. They are not left to man’s ideas since the holy Spirit will open up the scriptures for them. He does this through revelation just as he did for Paul.

But THE RELIGION BOX is a trap. It is hard to step on the outside of this box and see the things that God wants you to see. The god of this world clouds the mind of men so that they will not see the truth or even try.

The only way to escape THE REIGION BOX is to step out of it and see it for what it is. A person must see that they are lost in THE RELIGION BOX because they are left with the impossible task of trying to do enough works to be saved. They must see that they are lost and with all their heart pray that God will lead you to understand the grace gospel in it purity, Faith + nothing.

Now I want you to see Jesus’ story of the “LOST SHEEP” and connect it to those in THE RELIGION BOX.

Matt 18:12-14
12 "What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?
13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.
14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
NKJV

Knowing about sheep helps to understand this teaching. The one who is lost KNOWS he is lost while the 99 have strayed and do not know they are lost too. So they do not call out that they are lost. This is the trap of THE RELIGION BOX. The only way to escape is to know you are lost.

Written by H Richard

WELL SAID! WELL SAID!! My Wife and I climbed out of that very BOX 15 yrs ago. Rev 22: 14 Blessed are those who do His Commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the City!

 

[H. Richard]

You stated that no man was head of the Church. But a Man is head of the Church, that is Jesus Christ. You said the church is not built with the hands of a man, but they are because Jesus Christ is building His Church and He is a Man.

The Church is spiritual. But the Head of the Church is a Man, Jesus Christ. And the Church is built by a Man, the Man Jesus Christ. (Matt. 16:18)

Stranger

***

The Son of Man died on the cross. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is siting at the right hand of God. Have you not read where it says "flesh and blood will never enter into heaven? Since He is in heaven with the Father He is no longer a flesh and blood man.

 

[H. Richard]

There are some that have gotten out of THE RELIGION BOX and understand that it is not what man accomplishes in religion that saves them but is the work of Jesus on the cross where He set man free from his/her sinful nature, not by taking away sins of the flesh but by atoning (paying) for then with His own blood. That is the love of God that gave mankind a free gift of salvation. Why don't those in a religious box not see that the Religious simple will not believe or except that Jesus paid their sin debt on the cross with His own blood.

 

[H. Richard]

1 Cor 1:18-25 --- Christ the Power and Wisdom of God (cf. Isa 29:14)
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
NKJV

1 Cor 1:26-31--- Glory Only in the Lord
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption —
31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."
NKJV

But the religious only believe in their religion where they think they are doing for God and He owes them a place in heaven because of it.