Featured Enough Religion to Make One Miserable

"The trouble with many men is that they have got just enough religion to make them miserable. If there is not joy in religion, you have got a leak in your religion." - Billy Sunday

"We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” - Jonathan Swift

I met a man whom I worked with who never showed any signs of Christianity until after he retired. Now he even plays his instrument during the worship. During conversation I began a topic on some biblical subject. His response was that the entire Bible was written in Hebrew. It seemed like that thought comforted him as coming to a place of arrival. I would have pointed out that the New Testament was written in the Greek but that would have spurned an unwelcomed conversation. So I basically gave him a tap on the shoulder along with a "God Bless you!" He seemed to have had enough understanding to comfort himself with so with that I turned away.

There are those who have even gotten much college education, and with that understanding you find very little Christian character. And then you have the uneducated who are unbelievably charitable and show much of the fruit of Christ and of his Holy Spirit. It is always nice to find a wonderful Christian spirit formed within along with the educated mind...

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, - Galatians 4:19

Which is why I do not recommend any certain doctrine as we have such a variety of character within the same mental doctrinal setup.

 

34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. - Matthew 22

 

The Apostle Paul said... "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." - 1 Corinthians 15:33

I have been 50 years in the Christian religion. The most amazing thing to me is that we can have wonderful and terrible people all within the same doctrinal mindset. Yes... It is nice to believe in the right things... And... It is nicer when a quality Christian spirit makes its way the 16" from the mind to the heart. Which is not always the case!

 

John Wesley was almost in despair after a disasterous trip to America and loosing his dad. He did not have the faith to continue to preach. When death stared him in the face, he was fearful and found little comfort in his religion. To Peter Böhler, a Moravian friend, he confessed his growing misery and decision to give up the ministry. Böhler counseled otherwise. "Preach faith till you have it," he advised. "And then because you have it, you will preach faith." On May 24th, 1738 he opened his Bible at about five in the morning and came across these words, "There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should partakers of the divine nature." He read similar words in other places. That evening he reluctantly attended a meeting in Aldersgate. Someone read from Luther's Preface to the Epistle to Romans. About 8:45 p.m. "while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

The heart strangely warmed… There were many doctrinally correct yet berefit of this experience!

 

God’s Blessings on you as well. I believe during these post Covid times it is going to be challenging to see churches returned to doing well as in times past. This past week we just saw a large local church sold to turn into apartment buildings.. Buyer of Roanoke's Calvary Baptist Church plans apartments

 

Stories... My dads side of the family is from the north. Sometimes I will listen into unshackled and find someone brought up in a family where the dad is cold, temperamental, and physically abusive to his family. I can relate. It is also amazing that these folks will also confess an experience in Christ. Both John Calvin and Martin Luther were also violently inclined against their enemies. It is my viewpoint that these folks, while well studied in scripture, simply did not have a spiritual experience in Christ Jesus. They were justified in mind only.

 

It is nice when a Christian Spirit accompanies the professed experience....

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you... - Galatians 4:19

 

I still listen to it on BBNradio.org. if you have Alexa you can ask her to play bbnradio and she will offer you a blessed day afterwards.

 

So... Denominations... If I could generalize the churches...

1. Ephesus- Messianic
2. Smyrna- Martyr - There were ten (according to Foxes Martyrs)
3. Pergamos - Orthodox- A pygros is a tower
4. Thyatira - Catholic- Jezebel was a force in the middle ages
5. Sardis - Protestant- A gem is elegant
6. Philadelphia - Love - But... In and out of revival
7. Laodicea- Lukewarm and materialistic

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do." - Saint Ambrose

I did take my dad to both a Lutheran and Southern Baptist breakfast this past week. I must say they are a more professional looking bunch with many degrees. I enjoy the fellowship and will sometimes attend in service. In which... When in a Baptist church I do as the Baptist do.