The Battle Between Law Givers and Grace Embracers

As I sit here and listen to music by Mela Kamin, my heart and mind is drawn to a place of sadness for those who continually battle with the Law. I always find it so amazing when God speaks to my heart through His musicians. In the Old Testament days of battles, it was the musicians, the worshipers, that went forth ahead of the armies of God. I don't think He is drawing me into a state of sadness within myself, but rather a realization of this battle between Law givers and those who embrace grace. 

I think of Mary, as she sat at the feet of our Messiah, worshiping him while Martha wanted Christ to give a command to Mary to help in the kitchen. I noticed something about Mary. Mary didn't argue with Martha. She didn't even respond. She sat silently, admiring the beauty of our Lord.  Did Martha not understand grace yet? Why was she so quick to be a 'law giver' to her sister who was adoring the very person of grace?

Then her brother, Lazarus, was laid to rest in his grave. Now, Martha is frantic wondering why Jesus wasn't there. Jesus waits a couple more days before coming to see these sisters. Upon His arrival, Martha questions him. It seems as though she doubts his love for them. Again, showing a demanding spirit towards our Lord. He groans in his spirit and he weeps. He doesn't rebuke her, he lavishes grace upon them all as He raises Lazarus from the dead. They did nothing to deserve that, he simply loved them.

How many times will our own brothers and sisters make the same demands, the same giving of the Law, to those who have experienced grace? Why must those who walk according to the Law demand that those who walk in grace by faith, leave that faith and walk according to the Law? The Law was a schoolmaster, but we have no more need of a schoolmaster.

Galatians 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

We can't force people to stay in school well after their training years are over. That would be bondage. There comes a time in each person's life when they begin to really walk by faith. When we try to force them to walk by the Law after faith has already come, we are stealing their walkabout with God. We are yanking the very faith right out from under their feet. It's time to let them go.

Those who do walk by faith are excited, they are joyful, they are experiencing the 'walking on water' that Peter experienced. The walk of faith. As Peter and John said, "We can't help but to speak those things we have seen and heard" Acts 4:20 The Law givers forbade them from speaking of this grace, this walk of faith, but they continued to speak.

Acts 4: 29And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. 

If Peter and John had been preaching the Law, the Law givers would not have silenced them. It was because they spoke of faith in Christ, the grace that lavishes mankind. The Law givers don't like grace. Some struggle with grace, secretly they long for it, but perhaps they are afraid of it. They want to jump ship and walk on the water with Jesus, but will they sink like Peter did when he doubted?

There is always the risk that they will sink, but Jesus didn't forsake Peter. He was still there with him. He is with you...do you want to walk in grace by faith?

So what do you do with the Law? We walk in the Spirit and we love. We allow love to be our Law, not the letter. The letter of the law kills, but love is life by His Spirit. 

I'm not going to give a point by point 'how to' walk in grace by faith. There isn't one. It's stepping out where there is no visible step, believing there will be a stepping stone, believing by faith.

Just ask Him to be your guide. What is the worst that can happen? Life is going to throw you lemons, and sometimes have them thrown at you. You might fall, you might not. You'll never know, but Christ does and He will always be with you.

~Lisa

Religious Creeds

Since the time of people breaking from the Roman Catholic Church, they have been creating creeds to distinguish themselves by. Some have said our earliest brethren did so in the face of persecution. To line yourself up with a church that held strong to a creed meant you were 'in' their circle of trust and protection. It was safer to remain in numbers. Should one, at any time, openly disagree with the creed, they were excommunicated, shunned, and sent out to fend for themselves. I would imagine they had disagreements about teachings, but in the face of such danger who would want to risk their families lives by speaking up?

Anne Hutchinson was one such woman. She held bible studies in her home for other women after church on Sundays and the husbands began to come study with them. The counsel of religious leaders in their community forbade home bible studies outside the direct supervision of their elders and pastor. Anne was arrested and tried for blasphemy. Her husband supported his wife and they stood firm in their deep convictions of grace. They were intelligent and spent hours upon hours studying the bible and found their leaders to be in error. After a lengthy stay in prison, during a pregnancy, she miscarried her infant due to neglect in the jail, she was then released and her entire family was banished from their community. 

Thankfully, we no longer live in such days. In America, we are protected by the Constitution so religious leaders can't have us arrested for disagreeing with their beliefs. We have military and police whose job is to protect us from our enemies should they try to infringe upon our freedom against our will.

In this modern day of technology, we have the freedom and access to study the bible, ancient historical documents, and have the ability to interpret Hebrew and Greek through various websites. I believe we live in a day where we are urged by the Spirit to double check all that we have been taught from our religious forefathers. For far too long we took their word for it, their interpretations, and their education was not questioned by their congregations. How would their congregations know if they were being taught misunderstandings that were passed down through the ages? How would uneducated people know if there was a conspiracy paving it's way through the ages to bring about a new world order religion? How would they be able to identify it? How would they know if the men who canonized the bible were honest and accurate?

We now have the opportunity to discover if all we have been taught is true or not. I believe that millions of people have struggled with some teachings in churches for many years. But their inward struggle was in disagreement with what their religious leaders were teaching them. Do they settle on the leaders interpretation as truth? Or do they follow that sense within their heart to double-check for themselves? 

In my walkabout with God in 2010, I was faced with these very same thoughts. What if? I connected with many theologians from all over the world and we began to study together. Over the years, many of them found themselves faced with this same dilemma. Some have left their denominations over their discoveries and they are now sharing with their friends, loved ones, and blog readers, the very things they were taught at their seminaries. The things that they still agree with today and the things they have brought to light, that are mere traditions or false translations. Their discoveries are startling! If only Anne Hutchinson could be here to discover today that we are in agreement with much of what she discovered, and was imprisoned for. She was labeled a blasphemer, a heretic.

Why were her religious leaders so interested in arresting people who disagreed with them? Our very own religious forefathers! They believed in imprisoning people who disagreed and even death to those who blasphemed their teachings. Anyone who disagreed with them was either excommunicated, put in prison, or killed. Much of this mentality is still practiced in the Middle East and other communist countries. 

In America, churches cannot do such things, but they still practice excommunication, disfellowship, shunning, name calling, public shaming, etc. It is my opinion that this kind of behavior is immature, believers who have yet to find their true Anchor in Christ. They remain in their beliefs, but have not yet stepped into the reality of the cleft in the Rock. No matter what we read about or study, it should not bring us into any fear. If we are in fear, we are not in faith. What do people fear when they read or watch things their pastors warn them not to read/watch? Do they fear falling? Or do they fear the treatment they will get if their leaders find out what they have discovered in their personal studies?

My Anchor is in Christ. I know in Him is no fear. Peter was walking on water, by faith. As soon as he lost faith...when fear sank in, he also sank. Walk by faith, not by fear. We were promised God's Spirit would be our Teacher. We have but to listen to Him..recognize his still small voice. Sometimes His voice is in disagreement with the religious leaders. Imagine what it must have been like when the early believers saw Jesus rebuking the Pharisees! The Pharisees were mistreating the people, abusing them, manipulating them, and stoning them to death for not living up to their expectations. All blasphemers were stoned to death. No different than what we see happened in history with the early believers of Anne's time.

Just what is it that religious leaders don't want us to know?

First of all, know the voice of God. He is our Father, Jesus Christ is our High Priest. His Spirit is our Teacher. Learn to hear him. Pray for open ears to hear. 

Secondly, use a Hebrew and Greek interlinear Bible and discover what it really says, as opposed to what so many English versions say.

Thirdly, be willing to discover that you may have been wrong, because your religious leaders have been wrong, and their forefathers before them.

Over this last year, I have tossed the thought of the Creeds back and forth in my head, my heart, my soul. Within myself..in that inward part of my heart, I could not reconcile some teachings I was taught. I could not get any settling in my spirit about some of the points in the creeds. Since we live in a time and nation where we no longer need to fear for our lives in order to question religious leaders.

I began with wondering why we need these creeds anymore to begin with. Perhaps so that others who have been discovering the same things can gather together for more studying and fellowship? But will we enforce this creed upon others who may not agree..yet..and then shun them if they sharply disagree? Will we begin that cycle over and over again as our religious forefathers did? Is it not enough to say I believe in Christ and I'm on a journey to discovering what he is showing me on a personal level? Will I want to remain in fellowship with people who reject me if I question a 'creed'? Do you see the dilemma?

Do you follow a creed?

Have you ever really double-checked in the Hebrew and Greek to make sure that creed is actually founded in the original scriptures?

Are you willing to?

What you'll find may astonish you, confound you, and quite possible shake you to the core.

Romans 14: 1Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. 2For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 3Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. 4Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

5One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 7For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. 9For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

10But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

11For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

12So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

We each must know what we believe and why we believe it. At the same time, we can live in harmony with one another if we respect each other's beliefs. It's a grand adventure He has us each on. As we mature in Christ, may we extend patience and love to one another as they seek to be convinced (each) in their own minds.

If you have questions you have been nervous about asking, you can email me and I can cover the topic in an upcoming blog post. I will keep your name anonymous.

Comments are under moderation. I may or may not publish your comment. If your comment is a knee jerk reaction to my article with any sort of mental, emotional, or spiritual persecution it will not be moderated. It will be deleted. I am open to dialogue on this topic, but not if your comments are disrespectful to those who wish to question what they were told to believe. We all are in freedom to study and question as God guides us.

Lisa

Freedom to Believe and to Speak About It

Many have followed me on Facebook for the last couple of years, as well as on my blogs and Twitter, and have come to the place where they are being more adamant with asking what specifically I believe. I can understand why they ask, since I post statuses that are thought provoking discussion starters and they have to read the entire dialogue to find out what I believe and yet even at times I don't come right out with my own conclusion and I think that is frustrating some people. I apologize for that, but frustration comes with impatience and I can't control a person's impatience. 

I have debated on whether or not to state bluntly, certain things that I believe, because it just seems to cause such a stir. I believe in Soul Liberty. It's my freedom to pursue knowledge of God as Holy Spirit guides me. Then I'm often asked, "Do you have a pastor?" To which, most times, people don't like my answer. "Jesus Christ is my Pastor." Then I'm pressured with, "Have you joined a church?" and again, they aren't quite thrilled with my answer. " We are the Church, the Body of Christ." For many pastors who do know us, they know how we live and worship God and are in support of our freedom, because they know we love people and we can get along with many churches in our area. We have a unique ministry that has been called by God to remain independent, yet we are in fellowship and counsel with wonderful pastors, teachers, and counselors. My husband and I both are certified counselors, have gone through biblical education, have been prayed over and blessed by many other believers who have been ordained. Just so you know, I don't always accept a person's 'ordination' status just because they went to a 'bible college'. Some have and some have not, but we believe  they are very well studied and function in their gifting very well. My husband is a Recovery Pastor and we function together as a couple to minister to people in recovery of addictions of various sorts.

I always hesitate in sharing a lot of these things and I'll tell you why. Regardless of whether or not I share these things about us, people still desire to argue and rebuke us for not following their denomination's ways and doctrines. My husband and I study the bible, gather with believers, worship together, etc. We are not just 'winging it' in our home, we are not isolating ourselves from our community or other believers, and we aren't demanding that people give us money. But for some reason, people continually try to find some 'sin' in how we live out our life in Christ. But for those who genuinely love us and ask out of curiosity and based on love, we don't mind sharing the details about what we believe. It's when we are treated harshly with judgmentalism, legalism, and immaturity that we hold back.

We certainly do live in a day when denominationalism has grown to hack away at so many fellowships over how they teach the gospel. In our unique ministry we have had the pleasure of getting to know pastors, bishops, elders, deacons, and a few apostles of various kinds of churches. On my Facebook page, I call certain unhealthy church behaviors and teachings into question and these pastors have been encouraging me to keep asking my questions. They don't always agree with some of the beliefs that people share, but they appreciate the dialogue and they study along with us. We all contribute to the discussions and what we're finding is how unimportant some beliefs are in comparison to how we are loving people.

I have friends who insist that I need to boldly proclaim what I believe and publicly rebuke anyone who disagrees with me. I don't think that's wise. 

1 Corinthians 13:5  "Love does not insist on it's own way."

I understand the idea of boldly proclaiming the gospel and yet many find that to be divisive as well, because God has called upon us to preach the gospel to a specific people in a specific way that mainstream Churchianity does not accept. As Peter was sent to those of the circumcision and Paul was sent later to the Gentiles, their letters sometimes seemed to disagree. But as any educated missionary knows, one must learn the culture of where they are going and their current beliefs so they can wisely meet them 'where they are' and go from there.

1 Corinthians 9:22 "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some."

There are areas of scripture interpretation that are not useful in guiding a person to get to know our Messiah, the lover of our souls. Many people have been abused by churches, emotionally abused by people who call themselves Christians, and stolen from by deceitful clergy. This is a delicate area. We are honored that God has chosen us to be a place of fellowship for people to come and grow with. We offer soul liberty to these friends and they, in turn, offer it to us. 

I wouldn't say we are planting a 'church' as in the traditional sense, but the Lord is working through us in an organic way as a faith led body that functions as he guides us. We rely upon Him to be our structure when we gather and we still fellowship and gather with other believers in various homes and churches.

We believe that God chooses who He wants, to do certain things in this world, and He chooses how we will function. We heavily rely upon His Spirit to guide us each day of our lives and in how we help others. Since we function among believers from various denominations, we remain as neutral as possible in certain areas to keep in harmony of love. We hold to what a few select early church believers stated about our freedom of conscience. We have studied various reformers, what they believed and why they believed those things. We have studied why they broke from other churches and began their own. We have seen a general commonality that they all sought for, soul liberty.

I think it's perfectly natural for people who believe the same, to gather together for study, fellowship and worship. I think it's also natural that if a person has studied for any length of time with a group and wants to ask questions that they don't want to look into, then that person is free to find a group that does. It is in my opinion, that anyone who insists on the group taking on their beliefs is violating that group's soul liberty. Again, I go back to;

 1 Corinthians 13:5 "Love does not insist on it's own way"

In my opinion, some clergy and their Christians who continually fight and cause strife between people are behaving the same as childhood school bullies. "If you want to be my friend, you can't be friends with him!" All because of an uneducated, arrogant, fear that someone different from you must some how be of 'the devil'. These people are insistent on causing more divisions among the people, dividing them from one another over issues that disrupt the harmony of love in our communities.

I'm not suggesting all the churches become a part of the 'New World Order' and it's 'One World Religion', but rather a part of a loving community that is open to loving one another no matter what interpretations they believe. If people are loving, kind, and tolerant, then why become divisive with them? No matter how many churches are in your area, you are still a community of Americans, One Nation. But even far more important, we are of a Heavenly Nation of Love. How will people know you are a Christ follower?

John 13: 34-35 "A new commandment  I give to you,  that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

We are each of different flavors of Christ, so let us not divide the Body asunder, but encourage one another in love. We each have soul liberty and should not forbid one another from expressing what they believe and why they believe it. We may be able to learn from one another if we truly give one another the same freedom the reformers fought for.

~Lisa

Steadfast and Quivering at the Feet of my King

The last couple of days I was thinking about the turmoil I see on 'fair and balanced' news programs, political and religious debates on Facebook, multiple fear factor YouTube videos, and the war between the Law and the Spirit in the blogosphere. Someone on Facebook tried to cast fear upon me in regards to Islam and another person said Rapunzel fleeing her captor was a rebellious act. Sometimes I really struggle with using words of grace, because my flesh wants to say, "Oh brother!"

And yet people want to know where we stand on such issues and I believe we all have the freedom to speak up about how we feel without fear of reprisal. Is it abusive of me to say,"Oh brother!" ? Am I uncaring for thinking some people are crippled by fear mongering and narcissistic behaviors? OOPS! Did I just label a behavior in a way that casts judgment? How in the world do you remain steadfast and still quivering in humility before our Lord?

Then He whispers into my ear, "Naaman's handmaid." I remember this story from when a 3rd grade girl's Sunday School teacher taught about being a peacemaker in difficult circumstances. I was a 21 year old assistant to this teacher and yet I felt like I was one of the 3rd grade girls listening to this story. She was kidnapped from her people and forced to be a servant. I would have to imagine this was not what the girl wanted, but there was nothing she could so about it. Somewhere along the line, her parents must have been compassionate parents who raised her to be obedient to her elders, even if she didn't like what they are doing. For this little girl to speak out against her captors could have meant a whipping, death, or imprisonment. She had to obey.

There must have been times when her parents had taught her the reason why we obey those who have the rule over us, even when we disagree. In addition to this, I would imagine they also taught her when it's good to speak up about what we believe, even if it means death. I see in the story that she had discernment to know when to keep silent and when to speak up. Then I pondered in my heart, "How do we speak up in the face of such serious consequences and remain respectful?"

He then whispered again, "Esther." I also learned about Esther from the same Sunday School teacher. Esther knew that going before the King, her very own husband and head of household, could mean death. She knew that coming to him about a law, that he was deceived into making, would be a challenge of his authority in the land. Doing such a thing would have tremendously difficult consequences for the entire land. It was a sensitive issue to question the king and his highest servants.

Esther and the little handmaid were both steadfastly quivering before their authorities. They both spoke up when it meant destruction if they did. They knew there could be criticism from many for 'challenging' the authority of those over them. As a child of God, a handmaiden for our Lord, a servant of the King, a wife, and a mother, I saw all sides of this dilemma.

The still small, yet powerful voice, encouraged me, "You can be both steadfast and quivering."

I sighed deeply and let that sink in to my soul. We have boldness to come before the throne room of our God and know His scepter of grace will be extended. We can know that even if we have a misunderstanding, hurt feelings, anger or even despair, that he will listen.

He listens when we cry out to him in anguish that we don't understand why we are taken into captivity, or that our families are in danger of Haman's laws to 'kill' our families with his legalism. I think He dislikes it more than we do, yet He allowed it. He allowed the handmaid to be kidnapped and He allowed Esther to be forced to marry. In those circumstances is when His power was revealed in their lives. That didn't mean it was right for the army to steal the little girl. It didn't make it right that Esther was forced to marry the king. But God had a higher purpose that was much grander than they knew at the time.

We don't get angry with the little handmaid's story nor are we angry with Esther. We don't accuse them of disobedience for speaking up about what they had gone through or that they shed light on the corruption that was taking place. We applauded them for their bravery!

And yet we live in a world where we are criticized by our own brethren when we speak up about the government and abusive legalism in the households of faith. So here I am, steadfastly quivering at the feet of my King. I am steadfast that I can boldly enter his throne room in quivering humility beseeching His grace and mercy for the victims and their captors.

Did Namaan realize how much the little girl would miss her family? Did he realize how much pain it would be to have her taken from her loved ones? I don't know, but I know God used her to bring him to the prophet for healing when leprosy plagued his body. In doing so he became a believer in the Living God. Is leprosy somehow an imagery of legalism or spiritual abuse?

Did the king know how much a young lady wants to actually fall in love with the man she would choose to marry? Did it matter to him that her heart longed to be with her family instead of isolated in the castle? I don't know, but I do know that her act of obedience and bravery saved the entire Jewish race. Is this an imagery of how we withhold freedom from others?

I don't know why God allows children to be abused, whether physically, sexually, or spiritually. But I do know that as God delivers us, we have the opportunity to speak up about what he has delivered us from. As a believer, it makes me so sad when other believers accuse the testimony of Christ in another. We all make mistakes as children of God, as parents, as friends. Forgiveness for one another frees our own hearts from bitterness so we can be lamps for the Light within us. He wants to shine through our cracks and cast His Light upon the world to show them the way. The Light bleeding through the cracks is naturally going to also show those cracks and we tell where those cracks come from. We tell about the cracks, because if those cracks weren't there, how would the Light shine through? 

Why do Christians try to cover the cracks?

"Don't tell anyone how those cracks got there! You'll bring a shame to the ones who caused those cracks."

Then don't tell the story of how the handmaid was kidnapped and forced into slavery. Don't you DARE tell the story of Esther and how her king forced her into marriage. Heaven forbid you tell about Queen Vashti and her mistakes. But through all those details is how the Light shines through to this dark world. You can't hide the Light under a bushel, He's meant to sit on a hill. He's meant to shine in the 'darkness', because it's in the darkness that the Light is needed.

The darkness is all around us and we can't hide darkness. The Light is going to find His way to shine in that darkness. Shall we hide the Light and remain in darkness? Shall we continue to stumble? The greatest darkness of Christianity is that of hiding the Light in the household of faith. Christianity doesn't want it's covers stripped. It doesn't want it's cracks revealed and in doing so it's followers don't want Christ to shine.

Allowing Christ to shine in Christianity would mean we see the clergy who abuse children, who cheat on their wives, on deacons who force hierarchy control over their families, on wives who live in fear of telling her husband that is spanking tactics are out of control, in the world where children are afraid to say they don't believe in hell out of fear of going there.

Christianity has become the place where teens are cutting, anorexic, and closeted, without the parents knowing, because they fear rejection and loss of love and relationship. 

Christians live in just as much dark as the world around it and they have the Answer to their problems living within them. They just don't want to have Him revealed, because it would reveal their cracks.

What are we afraid of? The same thing we all fear, rejection from our loved ones. Because we fear deep down that they won't extend to us the grace our Lord has lavished us with.

Did Haman want Esther to speak up? Of course not, but it was needed to save her people. And here I am, speaking up for my people... I am steadfastly quivering before the feet of our King...

Christianity has cracks and they are there because of the stones hurled at glass houses. Many became transparent and the modern Pharisees saw through the glass walls and hurled stones at what they saw. The walls are cracked and falling apart. And all they need is grace so they can heal. No amount of bandages can heal or cover the cracks or what is inside the households of faith. Only Love covers these multitudes and grace doesn't want to hide, it wants to shine. In doing so, we will know how the cracks got there, but can we offer grace to the modern Pharisees? Can the modern Pharisees stop casting stones and pointing out sin? Jesus covered our sin, why do we want to uncover what He covered?

The Scepter of Grace is such a powerful weapon. It reveals that we are quivering daughters trying to be steadfast in a dark world of legalism. But Mercy embraces each of us as we embark on our individual walkabouts with God. He lavished Grace on all of us and we each have unique testimonies where God's son is revealed and heaven forbid we hide that lamp He has created us to be. Every single crack reveals His Glory.

~Lisa

Freedom from Religious Addiction

I was raised by a mom who has a servant’s heart. Many times while growing up my dad would have friends come over and various holiday celebrations were also in our home. Ours was a home that had people over often. My mom had a knack with preparing large feasts and she would have me assist her in the kitchen. Many times we stood in the kitchen rolling deli meat, arranging lettuce leaves, and setting the feasting table. Preparing a home for visitors became such a part of my life. 

When I entered into a growing church I was excited to be able to serve others. It all began with the natural spontaneous movement of God to be able to do even the simplest things for others. 

I began noticing the incredible amount of praise that was given to others when they served and when I began receiving thanks and praise it seemed to validate me and make me feel appreciated for serving. But that validation and praise became an addiction. Over time the validation and praise shifted towards those who served more than I did and I began striving to serve and that’s the pothole we get ourselves into. I was striving to serve, as opposed to serving out of the abundance of love flowing from my heart.

I wanted to be noticed, appreciated, praised..I wanted to be somebody. There was so much glory given to those who were striving to serve more, sacrifice more, and commit to serving as a full time career. These were the people that were getting all the praise and validation. Then came the messages of full time service. I was told that serving God full time was God’s plan for everyone and I wrestled with some thoughts that just didn’t add up for me. It seemed illogical to me that if everyone served in the church full time then who would actually work in the community to provide or the salary of all the full time servants? Someone has to be the policeman, the doctor, the nurses, and the farmers. Then I was led to believe that the lay people were to remain in the community and we were to raise our children to become full time servants, but that seemed illogical to me as well. I was informed that I shouldn’t think about God through logic. 

As a matter of fact, I was told that I shouldn’t think at all. I was told to memorize the responses the pastor felt God would want us to make so we wouldn’t have to think. Well, that seemed easy enough. I would no longer have to really make decisions; I could just memorize and obey. My addiction for striving got worse. I was now responding only as the pastor indicated we should. I was told to keep striving, keep serving, and never give up. And as such a servant we were not to have more than two Sundays away from the church a year and when we did decide to travel for holidays we were instructed to go to church wherever we were vacationing. This meant that if we only had three days to be gone, one of those had to be in church, which really only gave us two days to have family time away from home.

I was ‘assured’ that God was pleased with this kind of commitment to serve Him and that if I were to decide to step down I would most certainly no longer be ‘right’ with God. Now I was not only addicted to serving because I was striving for validation and praise, but I was now obligated to continue or else. It reminded me of a drug addiction. I had such a difficult time understanding what happened to my sincere desire to serve from the heart and how it became this yoke of obligation, fear, and selfishness. I was no longer really serving God, I was serving myself.

In substance abuse recovery the best way to quit, depending on the severity of the addiction, is to go into a recovery facility. In this facility you are taken away from your environment of addiction to detox, given time to rest, and go through counseling. This is exactly what I needed to do in order to detox from religion. Something about detoxing is the withdrawals one goes through. Taking drugs or alcohol away from an addict and taking a religious addict away from the ritual of church life can be so similar as well. And regardless of what anyone tells you, departing from religion does not equate departing from God. Religion is ritual of man’s traditions with a false designer label that man applies God’s name to.

When I left religion God began revealing to me the things He wanted me to decompress from. My detox from religion was an unraveling of what I got bound up in. Decompressing takes time and we need to be gentle with ourselves, as God unravels us with kindness and mercy. This kind of unraveling is commonly known as pulling down strongholds. God was pulling down such powerful strongholds in my life and it wasn’t easy. Imagine a bandaid with the strength of duct tape being ripped from a wound and you will have a good imagery of what it’s like to remove a religious straight jacket from a religious addict.

When God pulls down strongholds He does so by presenting Truth to us and that Truth is a proper noun, His Living Word wrapped in flesh. Truth is the remedy to religious addiction. So how does truth do this? Is it by explaining Martin Luther’s interpretation of scripture? Or John Calvin’s rendition of the epistles? No, man’s interpretation is not the truth and it is not equal to The Truth, Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about the literal fundamental perspective of the Bible, but the very nature and person of Christ in you, in us. The truth about Truth is that He is in us. 

{Colossians 1:27} Christ in you, the hope of glory.

That is the key to the freedom He gave me from my addiction to public validation and praise from man. My value and worth was not in striving to religious perfection. No matter how many Sundays I attended, children I taught, how often I placed the hymnals neatly back in the pew pocket, or even how much scripture I read and memorized daily, none of that was making me worthy or valid in the eyes of God. He gave me clearer vision to see that I am already valid and praiseworthy, because Christ is in me. He wants me to rest in Christ and enjoy the very present Living Christ in me each and every moment of every day. But accepting this validation meant giving up man’s validation. This is what it means to repent, to change our minds. But consider this, if mankind was able to repent on their own, then Christ would not have come. It is Truth that changes our minds. What an exhilarating revelation for this striving religious addict! I didn’t even have to strive to repent, it was not up to me, it was up to Him. Father revealed His Truth in me and Truth is who changed me, Truth is who brought me to repentance. It was not I who decided to repent on my own, remember that if we were able to do that He would not have needed to come.

My freedom from my religious straight jacket has been the person named, Truth.

Lisa