Six religious lies that keep you from hearing me more clearly.

Mark I want you to tell people that the purpose of these conversations is to enthuse them to listen to me. Not to you. But to me.  I want them to hear less from you and more from me.

So let’s start out with why you, and so many other charismatic Christians have a completely flawed idea of how to approach and hear me.

I want to discuss why you’re so religious, and what to do about it.

Good one God! The majority of people reading this will be charismatic Christians. And you know that we don’t like to hear any criticism of the ways we’ve been taught to do things.

It’s up to you, and to them. If you want to listen to me you’re welcome. But there’s no pressure. I can wait for another generation.

Not on your life God! You don’t get away with that. We want to hear you.

Do you? I’m not so sure. You’re all very comfortable with the way you approach me. A method of approach which prevents you having the relationship you were designed for. A method of approach devised and supervised by your enemy. A method that guarantees that you DON’T hear nearly as much from me as you need to if you want to succeed in your life. If you want success in your life you need to hear more.

God I might as well be talking to myself. NO ONE is going to read any more of this conversation. To suggest the enemy is supervising our Christian culture, will itself be considered a demon-inspired comment. The traditions of the Charismatic way have been taught and perfected for well over a hundred years God.

By men.

Ok I give up. What do you want to say God?

That there’s a better way. A much less ostentatious way of relating to me, one on one.

So God I can hear you saying you want us to hear as much from you as you do from us. But I don’t want to write it down because you’ve said it to me so often lately and I’m starting to sound like a stuck record. Even to me.

No. It’s not you who sounds like a stuck record, it’s me. Why do you think that is? I’ll tell you Mark. It’s because I am stuck. I’m stuck with people who, just like you, no matter how much I tell them I love them and accept them and would like them to relax and hear me and talk ‘at’ me less, they refuse. They insist that they need to get themselves right before they can hear me. You’re all  running the show, determining the agenda. Sounds like Paul when he was busy crucifying Christians don’t you think? He was deciding what God wanted, instead of listening to me. When I finally interrupted, this amazing priest, the man full of zeal and with an incredible command of scripture…. He had no idea who I was. ‘Who are you Lord?’

You charismatic Christians are in grave danger of NOT knowing who I am when I speak to you. You’re not familiar with my voice. That’s a worrying indictment Mark. Sounds like the opposite of the scripture ‘my sheep know my voice.’  Do you think that Paul, when I appeared and he asked ‘who are you Lord?’ would you say that he was acting like ‘my sheep’?

No. Of course not.

Mark you’re judging with the wrong criteria. Look past the murdering and look to what happened. He didn’t know my voice. My sheep know my voice Mark. Paul didn’t. He wasn’t my sheep because he didn’t know my voice. Not for any other reason. Not because he was a bad man. Outside of the persecution of Christians he was almost perfect. As far as the law goes. So forget his actions, focus on whether he recognised my voice. He didn’t. I was gracious to him just like I want to be to this generation of Christians. I want you to learn to recognise my voice. Are you prepared to show others how to do this Mark?

I guess. But it’s hard yacker God.

Why?

Because so many in authority don’t want a bar of it. They don’t want to acknowledge that people can hear you without being all cleaned up and going to church the right number of times, and tithing etc.  It crashes straight across the bow of their religion. They think I’m hearing my own voice when I hear you. They say I’m ‘musing’ when I hear you say that we can come to you and hear you first and THEN LATER you clean us up. At your speed not ours.

Why?

Because they say it contradicts what you’ve taught. It contradicts that you hate sin.

But I DO hate sin. Which is the very reason why I want you to hear me. And then together, after you start hearing me, we can deal, at my speed not yours, with anything that needs cleaning up in your life.

God you know that my mother in law made a very valid comment, she pointed out that so much of the bible seems condemning, a standard we can’t live up to.

She’s right, it is.

Ok well I’m going to pack it in now. You’re not supposed to agree with her! You NEVER disagree with the Bible.

You’re right. I don’t. I never disagree with the bible. It’s my words. And I’m not disagreeing here. I’m explaining what the Bible means. Do you want to know?

Yes of course.

Hmmm. Possibly not as much as you think. However I’ll explain. The reason the bible seems so often condemning is because of the way it’s been taught to you.

There you go again God. That will completely upset the bible teachers. Which means their followers will be upset too. After a lifetime of fighting with everyone and making everyone’s lives miserable I so want to learn the skills of peacemaker but you go and say stuff to me that will just make everyone mad.

Great. It’s going to force people to come and ask me if you’re bonkers, possessed, just plain mischievous or whether you’re actually hearing me. Although they have no option, many will refuse to ask. They think they know already and furthermore, don’t want to run the risk of hearing something that doesn’t fit with their agenda.

But if they do ask, I’ll tell them. The answer will astound many for differing reasons, but if they ask I WILL explain.

Ok, ok. You’ve just said the bible seems so condemning because of the way it’s been taught to us. What do you mean?

The enemy got involved right at the start of the new testament. That’s clearly documented. Peter, and many others, men and women of God, hearing the enemy’s take on things instead of mine. One of the reasons it’s documented Mark is to show you that it happens, even to the greats. The enemy lies to you about what I’m saying. If he can do it to Peter, he can do it to you.

‘Peter exclaimed, "Absolutely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." The voice spoke a second time, "Never consider unclean what God has made pure."’

‘But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.’

So the enemy lied to Christians, they infused his lies into their teaching and taught others and so it went. Even Peter was susceptible to this. What makes you all think that although Peter could teach the enemy’s error, that for some reason you can’t. You all need to get over yourselves and realise you make mistakes. It’s ok. You just need to learn from them instead of insisting on repeating them. There is so much error that could be so easily corrected simply by listening.

So let’s wind this up Mark. You all think you need to approach me by leaping through hoops and achieving lots of tasks. I’ve said this often to you, but now I’m going to elaborate. In your charismatic Christian religion you and so many like you believe that if you’ll just do ‘THE SACRED LIST’ you’ll somehow achieve a state where you’ll hear me freely.  But you’re wrong. Way wrong.

Six religious lies about how to hear God more clearly.

1. Read the bible endlessly! Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the more you read the more able you are to hear me. The Pharisees knew much of it off by heart but they didn’t even know who I was. It’s not a competition Mark. Just read what I show you to read. The bible is a place to go when I tell you. Relax. And you don’t have to memorise large numbers of scriptures. You turn my words into a religion just like the Pharisees did. I told them that to get into the kingdom they had to be born again and become like little children. Little children listen Mark.
2. Constantly pray ‘at’ God. I don’t want to have to listen to you all day long. I WANT A CONVERSATION! I want you listening to me too. You can do that without having to meet up to all the religious rules you force on yourselves.
3. Become free of all your besetting sins. Cleaning up your life is a good goal Mark, but you won’t achieve it without hearing my voice. Listen to me first and your priorities will change. I’m not waiting for you to get clean before you can hear me.
4. Increase your church attendance. Don’t fall into that trap Mark. Meeting together is good Mark, but it won’t bring you closer to me. That only happens when you make a decision in your heart. You can do that in church or out. But for it to last, you MUST do it first and foremost on your own. THEN you can take me with you to meet with others. But hear me first. You’ve all got the order round the wrong way.
5. Increase your membership responsibilities, serving in church etc. It’s great to help others Mark, but ask me who I want you to help. Don’t you dare take it for granted that what you hear in Christian circles is what I’m saying about who you should serve. Ask me! You’ve got a family. Serve them first. The bible makes it clear that if you don’t you’re in big trouble. You used to serve yourself Mark. Don’t make the mistake of transferring your service from your own needs to religious duties.
6. Increase your tithes. You can never buy your way into hearing me more clearly.