religion

Most people erroneously refer to any group who seems to represent God as “religious”.  There are a few references to religion in the Bible and they all point to organizations that were established by men.  Religion has a prescribed set of rules that men follow closely without deviation.  As a Catholic I attended thousands of masses and it was same every time.  Mass has never made sense to me.  I was told it was holy and I must honor it, so I did.
 
Mark 7:13 You make the Word of God of none effect through your traditions, which you have delivered:
and many such things you do.
 
The Jews took the liberty of adding their personal traditions to the Word of God, and Jesus called them out over it.  The Jewish leaders claimed that they were exempt from honoring their parents because their titles gave them more important things to do with their time and money.  Today we call the traditions of men religion and religion nullifies the Word of God.  Religion will always present doctrine as holy and demanding,  thinking it will lead men to fear God.  It is quite effective on the gullible and on those who want to please God.  How do men come up with all these silly traditions?
 
1 Timothy 4:1 The Holy Spirit said that in the last days, many will depart from the faith(God’s Word),
giving heed to spirits and doctrines of devils.
 
The devil will do anything to disrupt men from worshipping God, he will give them his doctrine in order to impede their relationship with God.  Men are deceived because religion sounds like God is being credited with holy things.  When I was a kid, eating meat on Friday would send you to hell.  God was cruel and mean and I feared Him.  The doctrine of devil’s made it very easy for the devil to control and manipulate us.  Men would write a bunch of stupid religious laws and then sign God’s Name to them.  Religions vary according to the doctrines of the men who founded and lead them. The doctrines of devils are still being added today.  The devil has published a doctrine that claims you can do whatever you wish to do and it will not be held against you because of God’s grace.  Many of the religious churches accepted this doctrine and now the power of God will not manifest in their churches.  The devil has published another doctrine that emphasized love so two men could be married together.  Now some churches have a male pastor that is married to another male and people are touched by their love!
 
1 Timothy 1:19 Hold to your faith and a good conscience; which many have put away concerning their faith and have been made shipwreck.
 
When I was in the Navy, I saw several ships that had beached themselves.  They were a wreck.  They were partially submerged and useless.  They will never go anywhere and they will be disabled forever.  Jesus came to give us the uncompromised Word of God and the devil came to steal it away from us.  The devil cannot take the Word away from us unless we let him.  Who wants to be shipwrecked?  Religion is like the leaven Jesus warned us about, a little leaven will affect the whole batch.  He was warning us about religion, a little religion can contaminate our faith so we must be vigilant and sober.  The devil is out to contaminate the faith of all men, but if you know his tactics you can remain unspoiled.  Use your Bible to weed out any doctrine of the devil, man, or your own.  Hold fast to sound doctrine and you will never wreck.