Although informed Christians know that Lent, Easter and Christmas are holy days that really have nothing to do with Biblical minded believers and that these so-called religious festivals have their roots in Paganism, they can nevertheless serve as reminders for what Christ has done for us!
- What is the difference then between those who blindely follow after the traditions of men and those who are led by the Spirit and Truth?
- Who is your intermediary between you and God the Father?
- Is it the traditions of men or is it Christ as revealed in Scripture?
We must never forget that Satan, the deceiver of mankind is a deeply religious being, who craves to be worshipped. If he can infiltrate the hallways and inner sanctums of places of worship and lead the minds of men down the paths of idolatry, he can do the most damage. But praise God there is one weapon against him he can never refute, and that is Biblical truth! That is why Jesus Himself quoted Scripture during His worse moments of temptation.
What exactly do we mean when we refer to idolatry? Well in the broadest context it means the worship of some earthly object or idea instead of the worship of the only true living God. In order to put things right in the minds of men who through the aeons of time did deviate from worshipping YHWH or Jehovah, He had it planned all along to pay us a personal visit to set the record straight. Hence I AM incarnated flesh as Jeshuah or Christ Jesus, as we know Him more commonly. His first message after the wilderness temptation was; " Repent!" Shortly thereafter He preached the Sermon on the Mount in which He strongly attacked the traditional teaches of the elders of Zion. These teaches brought about religious bondage in the minds of the Jews in the sense that their religion and its teaches became more important than the essentials of God's heart towards mankind.
Because He loves us He promised to be our Saviour. Judgment would fall upon the Son of God so that those who trust in Him could be forgiven, born anew and be changed. After the fall into sin God promised mankind that He would intervene by venting His wrath upon Jesus so that the Spirit of God could come and indwell those who put their trust in the promise and Word of God.
The resurrection of Jesus was the evidence that God has fulfilled His promise. And so now we know that we have been raised together with Jesus into a new way of believing and living. Our spirits are made alive through regeneration and we worship God in spirit and truth. What is more is that we too can live in that resurrection power because our authority over the physical world has been restored because Christ dwells in us! We do not chase after images and icons or holy days, we know Him not after the flesh but in the Spirit and in Truth.
Is it not amazing to realize that the High Priestly prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17 has direct significance for hardcore Jesus followers. I and Christ and God are One. In Heaven Jesus is our High Priest but it just so happens that Heaven is in us and we are already in Heaven in the Spirit. I need no mediator as Christ is dwelling in me and so to the Father. All the promises, blessings and all the victory over the enemy is already yeah and amen because of the resurrection. Nothing can seperate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Is it too much for the fleshly mind? You bet! That is why I have to be renewed in the spirit of my mind by the washing of the Word of God.
Oh! how glorious the temporal sufferings that drive us to the Word in search of answers to our present calamity only to find that God is changing our thinking processes throug the trying of our fatih. Where else is faith found except in the Word? Most people will quote every Scripture reference but I am going to leave it up to the reader to search the Scripture for themselves to see whether what I am stating is so.
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