These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
(Jude 1:16-19)
There are many professing followers of Christ who are not true followers of Christ, but are religious. They treat following Jesus like a religious leader, and Christianity like a religion. However, that is not what true Christianity is. True Christianity is not about being religious, but about being truly spiritual. Religion enslaves, whereas true spirituality in Christ, as opposed to the false spirituality found in false religions, sets us free.
The spirit of religion is the spirit of carnality. It is a wicked, evil and diabolical spirit. The spirit of religion relies on the works of the flesh, and hence can only be nothing but carnal, sensual and fleshy:
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
(Romans 8:5-8)
All the so-called 'righteous' works of those under the spirit of religion are false and an abomination to God, for such people have not been made righteous by God. As the Scriptures says:
But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
(Isaiah 64:6)
For how can one please God if one is unrighteous? Yet, that is exactly what those under the spirit of religion try to do. They are unrighteous, carnal, sensual and full of lusts, but yet they try to wrongly convince themselves that they are righteous when they are not. To seek to do righteous works when one is not righteous is itself hypocrisy. That is itself carnality.
The hypocrisy of religious people is particularly evident in their lack of love. Their opposition to evil is not because they truly love God, but because they are only trying to convince themselves of their righteousness, and achieve their own righteousness. That explains they love to target certain sins in others, and rebuke them for criticism, but yet never see other sins that are at least just as evil, not least their own sins that are just as evil, carnal or vile.
For example, those under the spirit of religion love to target the sins of homosexuality, abortion and fornication, as well as the heresy of Islam, but yet are themselves full of carnality. Many such people are full of lust, especially sexual lust.
Many of them not only secretly watch pornography on a regular basis, but encourage others to do so, in particular, their wives, so that they can do all kinds of sick perversions with them. Many such people are also willing to justify the brazen and unrepentant adultery of their favourite pastors, giving all kinds of excuses for his extremely wicked behaviour.
Many women under the spirit of religion appear very conservative and decent on the surface, but are full of the spirit of Jezebel. They appear nice, but they are not at all kind or decent. They are full of manipulation, intimidation and control. They attack anyone who makes them unhappy, by accusing them of the evil which they themselves commit in making that accusation.
Just as the Pharisees committed blasphemy when they accused Jesus of blasphemy, likewise these religious Jezebels commit the sin which they accuse others of committing. The spirit of religion is the spirit of perversion, perverting what truth is and is not. The spirit of religion despises all truth, because it despises the Truth, the Lord Jesus Christ who is Truth Himself: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
The husbands of these Jezebels tend to appear very kind and decent, but they are really just Ahabs, men full of spiritual apathy because they are too busy chasing mammon and all that comes with mammon. Such men often are 'good providers' for their families. The tragedy is that they use 1 Timothy 5:8 as an excuse to justify their love of mammon. They work hard, not out of a desire to serve God, but ultimately for the material comfort of their families and themselves. It is this love of material comfort itself that is the problem. The love of mammon leads to all kinds of self-centred lusts for all kinds of things, such as power, status, career and position. That itself is a manifestation of being under the spirit of mammon. This leads to the rise of the Jezebel spirit in the family.
The Ahab is a man under the spirit of religion. He is not a irreligious man who does not believe in religion, nor a man who is truly spiritual. He is a religious man, that is, full of self-righteousness, hypocrisy and carnality. If he is married, and most Ahabs are, he appears to be an excellent husband, who is kind and loving towards his wife, but inwardly, he is full of fear of his wife, because she manipulates, dominated and controls him in all kinds of ways, especially by her sexuality.
She is full of carnality, and uses Scripture to justify her manipulation, intimidation and control over her husband, by twisting the meaning of what it means for him to love her as Christ loved the Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27). She misapplies it deliberately, by constantly nagging that that he does not truly love her if he does not buy her what she wants, give her as much sex as she wants, or allow her to do the things that she wants.
Owing to the carnality of both the Jezebel and the Ahab, their relationship will be one based on mutual manipulation, intimidation and control. They two ways in which control is used is by money and sex. Owing to this mutuality, this explains why many such marriages can last for a very long time, even until death - because both sides love to use and control the other person for his or her own ends. Even where it is unhappy, they still stay together because they can use each other for their own benefits. Their marriage is not a godly one, but an ungodly, carnal, and sensual one, all justified under all kinds of false perverted doctrines, be it on love, forgiveness and self-sacrifice, while having the appearance of godliness (2 Timothy 3:5). This is another manifestation of the spirit of religion in that especially evident in many so-called 'christian' married couples, both of whom are full of sensuality, and who married just to have sex to indulge their lusts and use marriage as a canopy for such lusts, rather than for God-honouring reasons.
Some have responded to this situation by saying that women need to be taught to 'submit to their husbands' (Ephesians 5:22) to the point of performing all kinds of sexually perverted acts that he demands, in the quest to supposedly crush the spirit of Jezebel. They teach that a husband has a 'right' to demand all kinds of sexually perverted acts from her and perform so-called 'christian' domestic discipline, which is nothing but a form of religiously sanctioned domestic violence.
However, this is just as wicked as the spirit of Jezebel itself. God hates violence, for God is no respecter of persons or sins, and that includes domestic and family violence. God destroyed the earth because of violence: And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth" (Genesis 6:13). 'Christian' domestic discipline is a perversion of the doctrine of headship (Ephesians 5:25-27) and has caused many women to lose their faith in God, owing to its perversion into a tool of hatred, oppression and cruelty, all justified on the basis of authority, another manifestation of the spirit of religion that is prevalent our times.
Indeed, the spirit of religion is the spirit that loves authority and power, but not love. It is devoid of love. The result of a puritanical tyranny. That explains why religious people love positions of power in both the church and the world. Many religious people love getting involved in politics, so that they can impose their own carnal agenda on others. Their motivation is that they receive satisfaction from seeing other being subject to the rules that they believe in. They love to seek their own way.
In contrast, true Christianity does not love to impose its own agenda on others, but seeks the good of others, including her enemies. For love does not seek its own way (1 Corinthians 13:5). This is not to say that it has no concern for what is happening in the world. It does, but it does not seek its own way in imposing its own carnal agenda. Rather, it seeks to proclaim Jesus and bring others to the Truth. It is focused on the spiritual, and not bothered by what others think of it because it does not seek its own.
On the other hand, religious people are full of the fear of people and constantly concerned about what others think. Hence why religious people, especially conservative evangelicals in America are so full of the fear of people and are constantly compromising with the world on all kinds of things, in a way that is both hypocritical and foolish. They makes them nothing but a laughing stock to the world, and a pathetic sad group of individuals to those who are zealous and militant Servants of God who care not what the world thinks, but only what God thinks and God alone.
The spirit of religion is an extremely evil, diabolical and evil spirit who deceives people into thinking they are so holy and righteous, when they are nothing but full of carnality, sensuality and perversion. The spirit of religion is always trying to 'thelogicise' its carnality and sensuality, perverting truth into all kinds of vile doctrines that blaspheme the Name of Christ.
The spirit of religion is the spirit of blasphemy, and ultimately in its blasphemy, the spirit of deicide, the murder of Jesus Himself.
(Jude 1:16-19)
There are many professing followers of Christ who are not true followers of Christ, but are religious. They treat following Jesus like a religious leader, and Christianity like a religion. However, that is not what true Christianity is. True Christianity is not about being religious, but about being truly spiritual. Religion enslaves, whereas true spirituality in Christ, as opposed to the false spirituality found in false religions, sets us free.
The spirit of religion is the spirit of carnality. It is a wicked, evil and diabolical spirit. The spirit of religion relies on the works of the flesh, and hence can only be nothing but carnal, sensual and fleshy:
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
(Romans 8:5-8)
All the so-called 'righteous' works of those under the spirit of religion are false and an abomination to God, for such people have not been made righteous by God. As the Scriptures says:
But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
(Isaiah 64:6)
For how can one please God if one is unrighteous? Yet, that is exactly what those under the spirit of religion try to do. They are unrighteous, carnal, sensual and full of lusts, but yet they try to wrongly convince themselves that they are righteous when they are not. To seek to do righteous works when one is not righteous is itself hypocrisy. That is itself carnality.
The hypocrisy of religious people is particularly evident in their lack of love. Their opposition to evil is not because they truly love God, but because they are only trying to convince themselves of their righteousness, and achieve their own righteousness. That explains they love to target certain sins in others, and rebuke them for criticism, but yet never see other sins that are at least just as evil, not least their own sins that are just as evil, carnal or vile.
For example, those under the spirit of religion love to target the sins of homosexuality, abortion and fornication, as well as the heresy of Islam, but yet are themselves full of carnality. Many such people are full of lust, especially sexual lust.
Many of them not only secretly watch pornography on a regular basis, but encourage others to do so, in particular, their wives, so that they can do all kinds of sick perversions with them. Many such people are also willing to justify the brazen and unrepentant adultery of their favourite pastors, giving all kinds of excuses for his extremely wicked behaviour.
Many women under the spirit of religion appear very conservative and decent on the surface, but are full of the spirit of Jezebel. They appear nice, but they are not at all kind or decent. They are full of manipulation, intimidation and control. They attack anyone who makes them unhappy, by accusing them of the evil which they themselves commit in making that accusation.
Just as the Pharisees committed blasphemy when they accused Jesus of blasphemy, likewise these religious Jezebels commit the sin which they accuse others of committing. The spirit of religion is the spirit of perversion, perverting what truth is and is not. The spirit of religion despises all truth, because it despises the Truth, the Lord Jesus Christ who is Truth Himself: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
The husbands of these Jezebels tend to appear very kind and decent, but they are really just Ahabs, men full of spiritual apathy because they are too busy chasing mammon and all that comes with mammon. Such men often are 'good providers' for their families. The tragedy is that they use 1 Timothy 5:8 as an excuse to justify their love of mammon. They work hard, not out of a desire to serve God, but ultimately for the material comfort of their families and themselves. It is this love of material comfort itself that is the problem. The love of mammon leads to all kinds of self-centred lusts for all kinds of things, such as power, status, career and position. That itself is a manifestation of being under the spirit of mammon. This leads to the rise of the Jezebel spirit in the family.
The Ahab is a man under the spirit of religion. He is not a irreligious man who does not believe in religion, nor a man who is truly spiritual. He is a religious man, that is, full of self-righteousness, hypocrisy and carnality. If he is married, and most Ahabs are, he appears to be an excellent husband, who is kind and loving towards his wife, but inwardly, he is full of fear of his wife, because she manipulates, dominated and controls him in all kinds of ways, especially by her sexuality.
She is full of carnality, and uses Scripture to justify her manipulation, intimidation and control over her husband, by twisting the meaning of what it means for him to love her as Christ loved the Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27). She misapplies it deliberately, by constantly nagging that that he does not truly love her if he does not buy her what she wants, give her as much sex as she wants, or allow her to do the things that she wants.
Owing to the carnality of both the Jezebel and the Ahab, their relationship will be one based on mutual manipulation, intimidation and control. They two ways in which control is used is by money and sex. Owing to this mutuality, this explains why many such marriages can last for a very long time, even until death - because both sides love to use and control the other person for his or her own ends. Even where it is unhappy, they still stay together because they can use each other for their own benefits. Their marriage is not a godly one, but an ungodly, carnal, and sensual one, all justified under all kinds of false perverted doctrines, be it on love, forgiveness and self-sacrifice, while having the appearance of godliness (2 Timothy 3:5). This is another manifestation of the spirit of religion in that especially evident in many so-called 'christian' married couples, both of whom are full of sensuality, and who married just to have sex to indulge their lusts and use marriage as a canopy for such lusts, rather than for God-honouring reasons.
Some have responded to this situation by saying that women need to be taught to 'submit to their husbands' (Ephesians 5:22) to the point of performing all kinds of sexually perverted acts that he demands, in the quest to supposedly crush the spirit of Jezebel. They teach that a husband has a 'right' to demand all kinds of sexually perverted acts from her and perform so-called 'christian' domestic discipline, which is nothing but a form of religiously sanctioned domestic violence.
However, this is just as wicked as the spirit of Jezebel itself. God hates violence, for God is no respecter of persons or sins, and that includes domestic and family violence. God destroyed the earth because of violence: And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth" (Genesis 6:13). 'Christian' domestic discipline is a perversion of the doctrine of headship (Ephesians 5:25-27) and has caused many women to lose their faith in God, owing to its perversion into a tool of hatred, oppression and cruelty, all justified on the basis of authority, another manifestation of the spirit of religion that is prevalent our times.
Indeed, the spirit of religion is the spirit that loves authority and power, but not love. It is devoid of love. The result of a puritanical tyranny. That explains why religious people love positions of power in both the church and the world. Many religious people love getting involved in politics, so that they can impose their own carnal agenda on others. Their motivation is that they receive satisfaction from seeing other being subject to the rules that they believe in. They love to seek their own way.
In contrast, true Christianity does not love to impose its own agenda on others, but seeks the good of others, including her enemies. For love does not seek its own way (1 Corinthians 13:5). This is not to say that it has no concern for what is happening in the world. It does, but it does not seek its own way in imposing its own carnal agenda. Rather, it seeks to proclaim Jesus and bring others to the Truth. It is focused on the spiritual, and not bothered by what others think of it because it does not seek its own.
On the other hand, religious people are full of the fear of people and constantly concerned about what others think. Hence why religious people, especially conservative evangelicals in America are so full of the fear of people and are constantly compromising with the world on all kinds of things, in a way that is both hypocritical and foolish. They makes them nothing but a laughing stock to the world, and a pathetic sad group of individuals to those who are zealous and militant Servants of God who care not what the world thinks, but only what God thinks and God alone.
The spirit of religion is an extremely evil, diabolical and evil spirit who deceives people into thinking they are so holy and righteous, when they are nothing but full of carnality, sensuality and perversion. The spirit of religion is always trying to 'thelogicise' its carnality and sensuality, perverting truth into all kinds of vile doctrines that blaspheme the Name of Christ.
The spirit of religion is the spirit of blasphemy, and ultimately in its blasphemy, the spirit of deicide, the murder of Jesus Himself.
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