Freedom from a religious
spirit (part 1)
by
Brian Barrios
I once heard a story about 2 men, Johnny and Dave, who
were walking in the country one day and stumbled upon
what they thought was a well, but later thought it was
a mine shaft as it was so deep. They wondered exactly
how deep would this mine shaft be? So, Dave threw a quarter
down and counted the seconds that it would take before
the coin hit bottom, giving them an idea of how deep it
was. After several seconds, they did not here the coin
hit bottom and they were astonished. Then, Johnny had
the great idea of throwing down a big rock that they saw
nearby thinking, "when that rock hits bottom, we
will certainly hear it. Once again, after several seconds,
they heard nothing and they both exclaimed simultaneously,
"WOW! That's a deep one! Then, Dave saw a railroad
tie nearby, and convinced Johnny to help him drag it over
and throw it into the mine, figuring that surely, they
would hear that giant thing hit bottom, so, they did.
After about 3 seconds, to their amazement, they saw a
goat do a fast head dive into the hole. Then, as they
shook their puzzled heads, they saw a shepherd pass by
who asked them if by any chance, had they seen his goat?
Dave said that he saw a goat, but, if that one was his,
he might as well count his losses because that goat just
did a head dive in that very deep hole. The shepherd assured
the guys that it was impossible for his goat to do such
a dive. Then, Johnny asked, "Why would that be impossible?"
"Because," said the man, "my goat was tied
to a railroad tie that was somewhere over here."
I guess that you can figure out what happened. Although
that story is a bit humorous, it has a great moral. 1
Chronicles 12:32 tells us about the men of Issachar who
"understood the times and knew what Israel should
do" (NIV). If we want to be like those men, we must
understand what God is doing today and what should we
do about it. John 5: 19 tells us that Jesus only did what
he saw the Father do. What I perceive God doing today,
is that he is taking religious attitudes and religious
spirits and He is throwing them in an eternal hole, just
like the guys did with the railroad tie in that story.
If you, my friend, find yourself all bound up by religious,
traditional attitudes of the past that have no relevance
in view of What God is doing TODAY, UNTIE YOURSELF FROM
THE RAILROAD TIE, DUDE! This is a good place to say, WOW!.
There is a verse in the Bible that used to bother me a
lot, until a couple of years ago, when the Holy Spirit
helped me to understand what God was saying there. In
Jeremiah, chapter 1, we see where God called Jeremiah
to be a prophet to the nations. In verse 10 of that same
chapter God tells the prophet, "See, today, I appoint
you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant"
(NIV). Take a good look at what I have underlined and
highlighted in that verse. For many years, I thought,
"God, how is it, that you call a prophet to the nations
with the purpose of uprooting, tearing down, destroying,
and overthrowing; which are all negative actions, and
only then, do you say, "to build and to plant?"
I've been privileged in the last 14 years to be able to
receive what We call here at Christian Community, Int'l
(affectionately called CCI) "Solid Meat" ( which
happens to be the title of one of our books here at CCI
that are available on this web-site), anointed teaching,
and above all, divine revelation from the Holy Spirit,
which has helped me to understand what God was calling
this great prophet to the nations to do.
God is raising up apostolic churches and leaders today
to do the same thing that the prophet Jeremiah was called
to do; uproot, tear down, destroy, and overthrow false
foundations put up via religious attitudes and spirits,
then, to build and plant the church that Jesus Christ
is building. Jesus is building a church under the proper
foundations and all of the authority of Hell cannot withstand.
These foundations are free from all religious hindrances.
The apostolic and prophetic church that God is raising
up today has a divine mandate from God to uproot, tear
down, destroy and overthrow all religious & traditional
foundation that impedes the church from impacting and
influencing society and the world. These old, obsolete
foundations must be replaced with true and correct biblical
foundations; based on the finished work of Christ and
His righteousness that he freely gives to the redeemed.
If I wanted to convert a 3-story building into a 100 story
skyscraper, I would have to uproot, tear down, destroy
and overthrow all of the old traditional foundation. I
would then have to purchase the adjacent properties and
dig and lay a new foundation, much deeper and much wider
before I build the new building. You can find the vision
of CCI explained on this web-site by clicking on the part
that says "Our Vision."
It goes like this: "To establish foundations that
open the heavens, change lives, and reform society."
The religious spirit wants to make the Bible a long list
of things that the Christian can't do if he wants to follow
Christ. This spirit also makes God out to be a big ole
mean impersonal man in the sky, who is always mad at his
people and has a big stick, waiting for us to sin so he
can whack us with it. The tragedy of all this, is that
they call it "Good News." My friend, if that
is good news, please don't tell me the bad news.
In Mathew, chapter 22, we see a religious person who is
an expert in the law (verse 35), a Pharisee or Sadducee
who has this type of attitude. The Bible says that he
wanted to tempt or test Jesus. The question and Jesus'
reply is recorded in verses 36-40, "Teacher, which
is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied,
Love the Lord you 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" (NIV). We can see
here that the expert in the law, or the religious or legalistic
person is interested in making a list of requirements
or do's and don'ts. Jesus said something like this:
"If you walk in relationship with me according to
the principles
that I have laid out in my word, it will not be necessary
to
burden you with a list of do's and don'ts. You will fulfill
my commandments because of who you are, without anyone
having to put a list of requirements on you.
Romans14:17 tells us, "For the kingdom of God is
not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (NIV). "Eating
and drinking" in that verse refers to the religious
rules of the day. The Jewish religion of the day had rules
regarding what one should and should not eat or drink.
Perhaps we can paraphrase what Jesus was saying in that
verse this way,
"The kingdom of God or true holiness does not consists
what you do or don14:17t do, but it consists in who you
are (your identity) and what you have (your inheritance).
My good friend, you receive your inheritance by exercising
faith in the finished work of jesus Christ, not through
your own works. It is not something that you deserve,
you receive it through faith. "Without faith, it
is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6).
That´s all for now, I trust that this article was
a blessing to you. Within less that a week after writing
this article, I will be traveling to the southern parts
of Mexico for a small 14 day tour, sharing these and other
powerful concepts among several pastors and congregations.
Upon my return, I will write the second part of this article,
and if necessary, a third part at a later date. So, come
back and visit my site in about 3 weeks for part 2.
Blessings to you and yours,
Your good friend
Brian Barrios
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