Jesus Did Not Come to Start a Religion
Pastor Jerry Wilhite,
author
Before you start understand this study is not meant to cause offence but to bring revelation of how we have come to where we are today. Those who read this and do not allow any offence to come in, but grow will be blessed and have understanding.
Only the Holy Spirit can confirm understanding. I never teach anyone to believe me, but to take all I say to God and ask Him.
Jesus saves, the Spirit helps, and God is the Father. Jesus is the way to God via the Spirit.
John 14
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Many understand that the church is the individual but they do not understand why.
Matthew 16
15. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
In verse 18 "That thou art Peter," is correct if Jesus was referring to a proper name, but the other side of the coin is that the word in Greek for Peter is "Petros" which also means "a piece of the rock". Now re-read verse 18 with "a piece of the rock" instead of "Peter":
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art a piece of the rock, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Can you see how much more sense the change makes of "a piece of the rock" Vs Peter? The proper name of Petros is Peter but Jesus was not naming Simon He already knew His name as Peter or why else would Jesus called Simon Peter in verse 16? The idea of Matthew 16 is that Jesus was describing how one becomes a piece of the rock (church).
This means His church, not the church of this world that is man made and man based. In Revelation 1-3 we read about the seven churches and only 1 is right and the other 6 are not. The number 6, in the Bible, represents "incomplete" (example: 6 day week is an incomplete week). One in the Bible is for "unity", so the only correct church is also united. Perfection can only come in the Spirit.
What some miss is that God is a Spirit and the only way to worship Him is in the spirit and truth.
John 4
22. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
What’s sad is that since the days of Moses the Jews thought they needed a physical man as king and a man for a "go between" for them with God. Today it is still the same. People attend church instead of being the church and allow a man or woman to be their "go between" with God instead of the man or woman of God themselves. The church of this world has not changed for thousands of years. It may have changed some names and descriptions but is no different than that of the day when Jesus walked the earth.
Some will think I am anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-Islam, anti-etc, but as far as people go I am not, as far as religion I may be. That means I love all people no matter what religion they adhere to...I just do not love their religions. Religions get in the way of our Relationship with God. God wants a relationship with us not a Religion between us.
God wants to have fellowship with us.
1 Corinthians 1
9. Godis faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 John 1
3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowshipis with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
"Fellowship" is the English translation of words from theHebrew stemhbr and the Greek stemkoin
Strong's Ref. # 2842
Romanized koinonia
Pronounced koy-nohn-ee'-ah
from GSN2844; partnership, i.e. (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction:
KJV--(to) comunicate(-ation), comunion, (contri-)distribution, fellowship.
Let's first look at what Jesus said about the physical church and the leaders.
Matthew 23
13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
How many who call themselves leaders today fall into the same problems as above? Just remember Jesus came to make the way for us to the Father and since He is the Spirit we have to have a spiritual connection. So many want and need God to send a physical sign and proof, or something to do in the physical as they did 2000 years ago with Jesus and throughout history.
Sign
Those who seek a sign will not see one.
Matthew 12
38. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Matthew 16
1. The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
2. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
3. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
4. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
Almost 2000 years ago they thought that when Jesus said that the temple would be destroyed and raised again in 3 days, it was the physical temple not Him.
Matthew 26
60. But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,
61. And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.
62. And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?
They could not see because they did not have eyes to see as so many have a problem with today. It is not due to their own fault but due to a lack of knowledge.
Hosea 4
6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
(In Revelation 1:6 we are all made to be priests)
Now let's review a few of the problems between the physical and the spiritual.
Baptism
Baptism is one of the most misunderstood aspects of religion. Baptism of water is almost universally preferred over baptism of the spirit when the Spirit is the one true Baptism.
Matthew 3
11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Not all of the Apostles were baptized in water but all except Judas were of the Spirit.
Acts 1
5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Yes, Jesus was Baptized of water He also followed all the traditions of the Law and at His death He fulfilled them all.
The Baptism John performed was in the river Jordan only. It was for repentance and to give the Jews a physical reminder of the journey their ancestors took from slavery into the Promised Land. Remember the Red Sea was parted at the beginning of their journey and then the Jordan was parted at the end when they were entering into their new lives. John had the repentant person enter completely into the waters of the Jordan and when they came back up they were supposed to turn their life around and be a new person in the Lord.
Some even teach that if we are not baptized with water we are not saved because of a few examples in the book of Acts where some baptized in water. Other than Peter none were Apostles. At best they were followers who had not yet received the Baptism of the Spirit. With Peter those he stated could have water baptism already had received baptism of the Spirit.
Comunion
Most do not understand the word "comunion". They take it as something they do by traditionally partaking of the wafer and wine or grape juice. True comunion means to have an intimate relationship with the Father. When Jesus said, "Do this in my name and in remembrance of me." He was referring to everything we do, not just once a week, month, or quarter. It is supposed to be a life change where we live in comunion with the Father via the Holy Spirit because of what Jesus did for us.
The church has many traditions based on a physical interpretation of the word of God instead of understanding via the Holy Spirit.
John 14
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
What is sad is that if people do not realize they are to have a relationship with God via the Holy Spirit then they can never be a part of the church. Remember Simon was told he was a piece of the rock after having received a revelation from the Father spiritually, not by flesh and blood (physical).
Those that came into the Promised Land after Moses had to have a man of God and a man as king instead of God as their King. Throughout time those of religion have had to have signs and something in the physical to do to save themselves. Before Jesus it was sacrifices which never actually saved. So one without sin, and the only one who ever was without sin had to pay the price for sin for all who would believe.
The idea of faith and believing is that we are not saved by what we can do but by what was done already for us. So for anyone to say you can not be saved unless you are baptized, no matter if it’s water or the Spirit, is not honest.
Ephesians 2
8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
History of Rome/Church
Rome conquered Greece before Jesus and adopted the gods of Greece as its own. All they did was change the names Neptune to Poseidon, etc.
In about 312 AD Constantine was saved and was on fire for the Lord and before he was ever guided or knew he should be, he decided to make a new law based on good intentions. By 313 AD the new law stated that only those of Christ could own land or hold positions of any power. His intention was to get everyone to accept Jesus; instead it just placed a lot of liars in power of Rome and in time in power of the church. The result of this was as follows:
Unfortunately the church had to substitute idols, statues, beads, etc in place of faith since two of the books of the NT that dwelt with faith the most, Romans and Hebrews, were not even allowed to be read by the priests much less the congregation. For the first 1000+ years of the church of Rome the church did not allow the congregation to have writings of the NT or for it to be read outside of the church walls. So by the first part of the 16th century one of the church's own read these two and sent a letter to the Pope accusing him of being an anti-Christ.
In the next 100 years many factions broke away from the main Church of Rome. By the 20th century there were many denominations, all of which were of sort an off shoot of the Church of Rome. Remember the word "denomination" means to divide and this is what all the church of this world was one division or another.
Matthew 12
25. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
It is sad that all the differences, such as baptism, were wrong in the first place. The differences were either to sprinkle or to dunk, as an infant or later in life. If baptism is supposed to be of water maybe, to some degree, it would be somewhat understandable, but since Baptism was to be of the Spirit it means they missed it totally. That’s because they interpreted the word and did not understand it. Why was this? Because since the 4th century a lot, if not most, of those who came into power in the church did so as unbelievers, giving lip service, not actually by faith, all because of one ruler’s good intentions. All that followed were trapped in the same trap of interpreting the word over understanding it because understanding can only come via the Holy Spirit not by anything of this world or any man.
"Christ" means "Messiah" and "Anointed One" and "Anointing".
1 John 2
27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
So we are to be taught by Christ not by man. Christ (anointing) is of the Spirit of God not water or anything of this world.
Luke 4
18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Jesus is the Christ and when He said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me," He meant that His anointing was of the Spirit; so ours would be as well.
Satan got in early on and divided the church.
1 Corinthians 1
10. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
Now let's update it and see what Paul would have written if he were writing it today:
12. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Baptist; and I of Catholic; and I of [enter name of your church]; and I of Christ.
This happened in the first century even before the good intentions of others. So by the 4th century, with one good intention and division already growing for over 3 centuries, how much worse would it be after 16 centuries?
I do not teach that you should not attend a place to gather with others of the Spirit to build each other up and edify one another. I just teach that we are the church not a denomination or group of buildings. Being of the church is a life style 24/7, not once or twice a week. It is in the Spirit not the physical.
2 Corinthians 10
3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Matthew 12
37. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Satan started centuries ago whispering into the ear of one here, another there and just let the lies and deceptions grow from there. Mankind did the rest. We allow the lies and deceptions to grow in us and when we do learn the truth then we have to overcome more than just imaginations but also that which has been sown into the subconscious. When we sleep the subconscious takes over and the next day it is just below the surface just waiting to take over.
Here is how the dictionary defines subconscious:
Main Entry: 1sub·con·scious
Pronunciation: "s&b-'kän-ch&s, 's&b-
Function: adjective
1 : existing in the mind but not imediately available to consciousness : affecting thought, feeling, and behavior without entering awareness <subconscious motives> <a subconscious reflex>
2 : imperfectly conscious : partially but not fully aware <the persistence of subconscious dream activity for several minutes after waking —Psychological Abstracts> —sub·con·scious·ly adverb —sub·con·scious·ness noun
By now you may think I am coming down on Catholics, Baptists, etc. but I am not. I am not coming down on anyone or anything. I am just bringing the facts for you to take to God and seek the truth from Him.
If you are of one who believes that Jesus did not come in the flesh but as a spirit only, such as the Jehovah’s Witness, then read the next 4 verses and beware.
1 John 4
1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Just because someone seems to be good and of God, it does not mean they are or are not. That is not for us to judge. What we are to judge is what we do, and what we should do is trust in God and let Him, not mankind, guide us.
Matthew 18
7. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!