Snakes, Seduction, Slavery or Service

When was the last time someone accused you of being a snake?

I'm not really asking this of readers who effortlessly deal in deception or bitterness you feel entitles you to strike out at anyone who crosses your path.

I'm asking you nice folks -- you who swerve to avoid hitting animals on the highway, step over bugs on the sidewalk, or allow people ahead of you in the line at the grocery store. You're the ones who would NEVER park in a handicap space. Maybe the expression "shoot" or "darn" gives you shivers of guilt as if their four letter profanity equivalent had escaped your lips.

In fact, the thought of someone accusing you of being slithering reptile, like Kaa, the Indian rock python from Jungle Book, hurts your feelings. That would question your motives, a devastating wound to your pride.

There was a street preacher who did just that, only the target of his verbal darts wasn't the prostitutes,  thieves, or neighborhood gangs of his day. He singled out the church-goers and religious heavy hitters who showed up at his meetings.

He had all the markings of a nut case. He certainly didn't dress like a respectable preacher or priest -- he loved the scratchy coat of camel hair. Forget the fried chicken; he was into grasshoppers and raw honey. He was hard to introduce and keep on topic at a home Bible study.

Stating with absolute conviction that God's Kingdom was just around the corner, this wild-haired holy man had a laser-focus message of "REPENT" -- aimed at self-satisfied saints rather than sinners.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of misconception today, even mis-teaching, about this term repent. Most people think it means to realize you are doing something wrong, turn around and go in a different direction. Yet, if you look at the original language, this word means to change your mind, to change your way of thinking.

The street preacher was John the Baptist and the crowds he drew were a mixed Jewish audience. However, his, "you generation of vipers, who has warned you of the wrath to come..." were the religious elite in the crowd.

These vipers, who claimed to be children of Abraham were a mixed bag of Pharisees, Sadducees and temple priests. They were the ones who treasured the religious order and rituals of their forefathers, fiercely defended the written word of God, kept themselves away from "unclean" sinners, and prided themselves in their devotion of God.

John was warning them to change their way of thinking about God and their assessment of themselves.

These religionists had a lot riding on defending their way of life. It was big business. This combination of priests and laymen, wealthy property owners and politicians, had a vested interest in the smooth operation of the Jerusalem and religious hierarchy. Any pesky street preacher or  self-appointed messiah threatened the authority of the ruling Spiritual Council, income to the Temple treasury, and the social-political prestige they had in the eyes of the public and government.

Yep, the Business of Religion was good to them.

Hmm. I wonder if that same question about spiritual integrity is relevant for today?

For some reason, it has become an anathema to question someone about what they believe. To me that's as foolish as believing I should never challenge a child is playing with matches near a gasoline can or someone standing, teetering on the roof's edge of a high rise apartment building.

John the Baptizer was challenging was the religionists' assumptions about God. Based on centuries of mis-teaching, they were counting on their heritage, their rituals, their knowledge, their devotion, and their privilege for a place in the Kingdom. John was trying to tell them, it's NOT what you think about yourself; it's what GOD thinks about you that matters.


That's one of the most alarming and seductive problems with the Spirit and Business of Religion. Because they are so performance based, they assure you, you're okay with God if you stay busy FOR Him and you can ignore any reality about what He may really think about you.

The Business of Religion points to decades, if not centuries, or rituals as evidence they are doing what "God has ordained." How dare you question the wisdom of the ages. How easily they start sounding like Tevye, the milkman, from Fiddler On The Roof, singing -- Tradition!

The Spirit of Religion has no ability to tell the truth about a person except "you'll be okay if you keep busy, keep doing, keep going, . . you're okay unless you stop." If someone asks you about your relationship to God and you hear yourself saying, "I've done this, and I'm doing this, and I'm active here, etc," . . . then you can be confident the seduction is well under way.

The Spirit of Religion will always tell me I have value because of what I do.

The Spirit of Religion always says God loves me the more I do and loves me less if I stop serving.

The Spirit of Religion says that heaven is my goal and not Christ in me, the hope of Glory.

The Spirit and Business of Religion will never bear fruit of the Holy Spirit -- love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. As sterile as the off-spring between a horse and a mule, it never reproduces freedom, always more control, more rules, more laws,  more religion, but no life.

John, the street preacher, went on to warn his listeners with the padded service resumes that God's only impressed with results He, Himself could produce in the believer's life. "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. . . every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:8,10 NIV)

Feel a little frustrated right now? After all, doesn't all your service count for something?

That depends. If it was birthed at the guilt-prodding by the Business and Spirit of Religion, then you've already gotten a stroke to your ego and a nudge in the back to do more.

On the other hand, if your service flowed from a grateful heart in obedience to what you saw and heard from the heart of the Father, the fruit and freedom in your life should be evident to the next locus-eating, camel-coated street preacher with a "REPENT" sign you encounter.

The Business of Religion - Slavery or Service (Part Nine)