Man Made Religion

The Church has tragically followed the Leaven of Pharisees (Matthew 16:6), creating institutions and orders that are man made, rather than spearheaded by Christ and His Apostles. Since Constantine Conquered at the Battle of Milvan Bridge having seen "In Hoc Sig natius" the Church has plummeted into man made religion, rules, and rites. Everything that a Christian is suppose to do, believe, and implement should be found in the Holy Bible, specially in the Books of the New Testament. Not content with such simplicity as "Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself," (Matthew 22:37-39), the religious elite and experts have invented traditions of men that stamp on the souls of the saints. Man Made religion is dangerous, firstly it makes God out to be distant perfectionist with impossible demands and it makes the ecclesia or clergy appear to be more divine and holy than regular people.

Jesus Christ addressed man made religion many times. He rebuked the Pharisees, some of most esteemed religious leaders of the day who sat on Sanhedrin or Senate of Ecclesia (Clergy). Christ said this about them and their ways, "Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God, You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men," (Mark 7:6-9, cross reference Matthew 15:7-8), "They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.  And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted," (Matthew 23:4-12), "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte (convert), and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves," (Matthew 23:13-15), and, "When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. Jesus replied, "Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are innocent? But I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath," (Matthew 12: 3-9), "Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:28), "You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy--full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness," (Matthew 23:24-28), and "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect," (Matthew 24:24). Our God and Savior Jesus has strong words for the religious elite who were perpetually twisting the Law and following the traditions of men. They turned God into a hard task master as evidenced by Matthew 23:4, and Jesus Christ contrasts Himself with those who lay heavy burdens on others, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30).

The Apostles have many unkind words for the traditions of men and man made religion. The Apostle Paul says, " See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority," (Colossians 2:8-10), "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God," (Colossians 2:16-19), "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations, “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used) according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.," (Colossians 2:20-23), "so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes./Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth," (Ephesians 4:14), "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear," (2 Timothy 4:3), and, "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,  if you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed," (1 Timothy 4:1-6), "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths," (2 Timothy 4;3-4), " For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds," (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed," (Galatians 1:8-9), "Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.," (Romans 16:17-18), and "As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, ^[d]we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ," (Ephesians 4:14-15).

The Apostle Paul makes a strong case about listening to anyone who preaches a different Gospel or path than he and the Apostles in the Holy Bible have. Many churches both High to Charismatic violate the Scriptures, by imposing man made religion, "These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh." (Colossians 2:23). I think often of the Roman Church when I read Paul's corrections and response in above letters. In Roman Catholicism they forbid marriage to priests, but Paul says this is sear conscious (1 Timothy 4:1-6), and the same church does teach contrary gospel to the one preached by the Apostles (Galatians 1:8-9) the Roman Church and Orthodox Church, preach a Sacramental works based salvation when salvation is free and we are saved according to following verses, "It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:10,12), "Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me," (John 14:6), "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture," (John 10:9), "If you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you shall be saved, for it by confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that you are saved," (Romans 10:9-10), "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son and who so ever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life," (John 3:16), "They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household," (Acts 16:31), and "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day," (John 6:40).

Jesus and the Apostle Paul are not the only one to tackle this man made religion. Other apostles take on the traditions of men, "Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world/Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world," (1 John 4:1), "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep," (2 Peter 2:1-3), "Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so," (Hebrews 13:9), "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ," (Jude 1:4), and, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness," (James 3:1, here James is saying teachers beware for you will be held liable if you teach falsely or wrongly). We must beware of false teaching. To do this you must know the Holy Bible, especially the Epistles of the Apostle Paul like Colossians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Corinthians. We must test what men at pulpit, at meetings, or in a liturgy teach. We must test all teaching with the Scriptures, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 4:3:16-17).