By Sam Adeoye
When you sit back and study the scriptures just as Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to do in 2 Tim 2:15 saying; ‘study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’; and you discovered new revelations from the scriptures that is potent enough to liberate the people from the shackles of life, some individuals with old ways of reasoning and unprofitable doctrines will quickly stand against it and pull you down and tag you antichrist.
The reasons for their actions is very simple, protecting their religious business empires.
Reading 2 Tim 2:15 in King James Version and reading the same in New King James Version will not give you same understanding. And if you are not intelligent enough, you’ll be confused and mislead.
While King James Version says, ‘study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The New King James Version says; ‘be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ To study and to be diligent are not the same.
To study is to get education, to engage yourself in schoolwork, to get training for a particular thing, to give yourself to learning, to get yourself engaged in revision over what you’d being taught and above all to be committed to reading; while diligent is to hardworking, industrious, assiduous, meticulous, conscientious, thorough and attentive.
Reading 2 Tim 2:15 from the New King James Version had totally taking us far away from the main content of the scripture. It had totally negate the word study which is your opportunity to acquire deeper understanding on any given subject and replaced it with diligent a chase of shadow and unproductive life for those who do not know how to put their brain to work.
If you read the same verse of the scripture in The Message Bible you’ll totally lost and be buried in religion. The Message Bible completely take you off the tract, saying; ‘concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.’ The Good News Translation is even the worse. It says; ‘do your best to win full approval in God’s sight, as a worker who is not ashamed of his work, one who correctly teaches the message of God’s truth.’
These two translations totally erased the concept of you studying. Yet, without it you cannot go far in life no matter how hard you tried. And this is the major problems in the religious circles all over the world. People don’t read not to talk of sitting down to study. From the leadership to the followership. Everyone are relying on the old methods of doing things when it was said that madness is doing same thing, same way over and over against and be expecting different results. I’m so sorry, you cannot get new results as your expected except same, same.
No man can make meaning progress in life without learning. As the saying goes, ‘you start dying when you stop learning’. Imagine if Medical Science is still the same it was in 1876; I bet you so many people would have died a long time ago. Even the knowledge of medicine in year 2000 is no longer applicable in totality not to talk of 1876. Even the media industry, the fashion industry and several other industries that have their impacts on human lives are getting improved every day just like Mobile Apps or your Phone. Failure to upgrade it to newer version of the application mean malfunctioning of the Phone and if you are not careful, the phone will be damage and that’s the end; your phone is gone.
Now, imagine what the world will look like if things are not working according to time and season of our world. Do you know what the world will be life? I’m sure you don’t want to imagine that; and that’s exactly what religion is doing to the larger population of the world; using the old system of things to handle the current events in human lives.
Religion and the religious leaders are like a Medical Doctor who started practicing in 1940 and his still using the same method of practice in 1940 in 2023. What do you think will happen to his patients? Death! I don’t need anyone to clarify that; and that is exactly what is happening and still happening to those that held on so fast to religion and believe that without it their lives is nothing. What a shame.
All religious teaching are the same since I was born. I’d read so many Christian Literatures written by great Men and Women in faith in their days and I can tell you for free that what they taught then was not different from what many religious leaders are teaching these day.
Let me tell you are story. Early this year, I enrolled in a Bible School with the hope of getting dipper knowledge of God and truth and I discovered that it was same story telling teaching and making people to believe in lies. So I stopped attending classes even though I’d paid for my school fee in full. It’s like their brain is locked up. No fresh thinking, no fresh ideas; just same old ways of doing things and still claiming to be right.
Our religious leaders are like the lawyers in the days of Jesus Christ; whom Jesus Christ confronted in Luke 11:52 saying; “woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” This verse of the scripture is a perfect description of a religion that denied their followers the right to education. As a matter of fact, they execute anyone they found acquiring education. They claimed that education is a sin against God. Any education their followers want should be one that teaches about their religion, that is manipulations, falsehood and evil from the pit of hell.
Knowledge is one of the major keys you need to survive in this world and be all you can be. Without knowledge, you’re a gunner.
Knowledge is said to be information, gen, facts, data, acquaintance, familiarity, awareness, and understanding. My question now is, how many of us have enough information about who we are? How much information about God or ourselves do we have that can sustain us in the days of trial? Knowing scriptures is not knowing God that is religion. And that is the reasons why you see so many people that can quote scriptures to you like a Parrot and yet their lives is nothing to write home about.
Now, you cannot know God unless you first know yourself. This is one fact the religion and the religious leaders will not teach you. Until you know yourself, you cannot know God. No matter how well you desires it, God will never reveal Himself to you.
Until Jacob knew that he can cut covenant with God, God did not reveal Himself to him.
Until Joseph knew that he was a life preserver for the parents and siblings, God did not use him to prepare a place for them in Egypt.
Until Moses realized that he could stood against the Egyptians and kill one of them, God did not use him to kill the first born Male Child in Egypt and deliver the children of Israel from Egypt.
Until David discovered himself, killing a Lion and a Bear God did not revealed Himself to him to kill Goliath.
Lack of vital information about ourselves as Human Being is the very reasons why majority of us are filled with religion rather than God. And the very reasons why we don’t know who we are, what we have and what we are capable of accomplishing in life.
Larger percentage of us humans believed that we exist to serve God through our various choice of religions; that is a pure lie. The purpose for Human creation was made known in Gen 1:26-28 where it was written that; ‘then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The purpose for Human creation is to exercise dominion over creatures not over other Humans as so many religious leaders are doing today and definitely not because of religion. As a Human, you have no right over another Human Being. Even if the fellow is your staff or slave; you are to treat the person with utmost respect; and this Apostle Paul made clear in Eph 6:5-9 saying; ‘bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.’
Reading the same in different versions gives more in-depth understanding. For example, The Message Bible says; ‘servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free. Masters, it’s the same with you. No abuse, please, and no threats. You and your servants are both under the same Master in heaven. He makes no distinction between you and them.
While the Good News Translation says; ‘slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling; and do it with a sincere heart, as though you were serving Christ. Do this not only when they are watching you, because you want to gain their approval; but with all your heart do what God wants, as slaves of Christ. Do your work as slaves cheerfully, as though you served the Lord, and not merely human beings. Remember that the Lord will reward each of us, whether slave or free, for the good work we do. Masters, behave in the same way toward your slaves and stop using threats. Remember that you and your slaves belong to the same Master in heaven, who judges everyone by the same standard.’
Apostle Paul did not stop there, he went further to say in Gal 5:13-15 that; ‘you, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.’ This was the exact word Moses spoke to the children of Israel in Lev 19:18 saying; ‘do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
As if that was not enough, Jesus Christ repeated the same in Matt 22:37-40 saying; “‘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.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
His Younger Brother John throw more light to this when he said in 1 John 4:19-21 that; ‘if anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.’ My question now to you is; do you love people because they are humans like you are or you love them because they are of the same religion with you or because you want to drag them to be of the same religion with you?
Any love or act of kindness that is based on religion and not from your heart is not love; that is manipulations, evil and total wickedness. Love for one another should be of no attachment of any kind. And any religion that made you to believe that God’s love can only be extended to you when you carry out some religious lies and manipulations of Men will definitely lead you into damnation. God’s love for humanity is without any attachment.
Religious act or service is not what guarantees your eternity, but your act of kindness towards humanity and this Jesus Christ made clear in Matt 25:31-46 saying; “when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
If you like be born again or born against, put your religion on your head as if your life depends on it. If you’re not kind to people you have no part in having not to talk of enjoying eternity.
Been born again only gives you the opportunity to see the Kingdom of God not to enter into it and this Jesus Christ made clear in John 3:3 saying; “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Your being born again only guarantees you the opportunity to see the Kingdom of God. To enter the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ went further to say in John 3:5-8 that; “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
This is one facts many people don’t know. Being born again, and being born of water and of the Spirit are not the same. You can be born again and not be born of water and of the Spirit; and you can be born of water and of the Spirit and not born again.
Let me clear that. All the One Hundred, Twenty Disciples of Jesus Christ were born of water and of the Spirit in Acts 2:1-4 where it was said that; ‘when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them’ but none of them were born again and yet, God still used them to accomplish His missions here on earth.
There is no limit to how far you can go in life and with God when you have full knowledge of whom you are.
The word Gen, is from the word Generic; meaning characteristic, characteristic, characteristic, characteristic, characteristic of or relating to a class of group of things; not specific. Characteristic is said to be typical, distinguishing, distinctive, individual, archetypal, representative, specific and normal; but we all know that the majority us all humans are not normal and you are not because of our lost identity. We have no idea of who we are and what we’re capable of achieving in life all in the name of religion and religious leaders who had mastered the acts of manipulations and controlling and the same time brainwash us to believe we are what we are not made to be.
God created each of us uniquely and assigned different duties to us all and each of our duties are towards some goal to achieve same purpose; and none of it has anything whatsoever to do with religion but humanity; that is why Apostle Paul said in Rom 12:3-21 saying; ‘do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Its heart breaking to see what religion had turned so many people into. Thousands of lives if not millions of lives that would have been doing so well in the world bringing solutions to human and economic issues are rotten away in religion. Majority of them are so confused that they don’t even know what to do with their lives anyone.
God is a Spirit, He is not a Christianity, Islam, Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist, Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese Traditional Religion, Ethnic Religions, African Traditional Religions, Sikhism, Spiritism, Judaism, Bahá’í, Jainism, Shinto, Cao Dai, Zoroastrianism, Tenrikyo, Animism, Neo-Paganism, Unitarian Universalism, Rastafari and according to John 4:21-24 Jesus Christ said; “believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
My question to you is, are you a true worshipper of God or you’re just a religious person living life without knowing who you are or who God is to you?
It is an insult to measure God through our choice of religion. God is bigger than any religion and he made this clear in Isa 66:1-4 saying; “heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” Says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word. He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood; he who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, so will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.”
Religion had ignorantly lead so many people into doing evil before the eyes of the Lord, thinking God delights in what they are doing when in the actual facts, God is against it and marking time for them before He allows them to be self-destroys as it was said in Rom 1:24-25 that; ‘therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
I love the way Message Bible puts it saying; ‘so God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them — the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
Listen and listen to me good. The reason why your life is not progressing is because you places religion above humanity and your religious leaders above God. They are your gods and you obey everything they dictate to you good or bad. Mark my word, the two are going to destroy you and leave you to die. They’ll never come to your rescue and trust me, God will never be there to safe you either. Why? Because it was said in Rom 6:16 that; ‘to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?’
Twice Jesus Christ made this clear in Matt 6:24 saying; “no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And in Luke 16:13 saying; “no servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Let me be frank with you, you cannot serve God and be religious; it’s not possible. To serve God is to love God and Humanity. Not to judge or condemn anyone for their choice of lifestyle, religion or whatsoever; but to love everyone equally.
Until love filled your heart, mind and brain for humanity; you are a religious person and that your ticket to self-destruction.
Thank you.