I AM NOT RELIGIOUS !

I’m not religious.

Religion is all about a system of organized rituals, beliefs, and traditions.

Christianity may include some of these elements, but it’s about a relationship with the living GOD through Jesus the Christ.

I never found Jesus the Christ in religion.

In so called Christian religion there is talk about Jesus. They even sing songs about Jesus and sort of religiously tipped their hats to Jesus here and there. BUT there’s a difference between the ritual of a religious life and the reality of a redeemed life.

FIRST, religion is all about outward behavior, while Jesus the Christ focuses on the heart.

SECOND, religion is typically about the negatives. Jesus the Christ is all about freedom in the positives. Religion is filled with you can’t, you shouldn’t, don’t, and a whole lot of thou shalt nots. BUT Jesus the Christ says, “Just come to ME, and I”LL help you.”

THIRD, religion sets up barriers you have to jump over to get to GOD. Jesus the Christ is about knocking down barriers and making it possible for anyone to get to GOD.

Karl Marx said that religion “is the opium of the people”.

I agree.

Religion is an effective “drug” that controls people and the status quo. It numbs the minds of the masses, making them all seem “normal”.

Jesus the Christ doesn’t do that.

STRANGENESS OF GOD’S WAY

GOD’S WAYS ARE OFTEN MYSTERIOUS:

1. GOD’s actions are such that HE may seem to be strangely silent and inactive in circumstances.
(Habakkuk 1:2 KJV) O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

2. GOD sometimes gives unexpected answers to our prayers.
(Habakkuk 1:5 KJV) Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

History follows a divine timetable.

Things do not just happen. Events are not just accidental, for there is a definite plan of history and everything has been pre-arranged from the beginning. GOD who "sees the end from the beginning" has a purpose in it all, and knows the "times and the seasons". Everything is under HIS hand.

GOD has planned it all.

GOD does not stop to consult us.

Everything takes place according to “the council of HIS own will”. GOD has HIS time; HE has HIS own way: and HE acts accordingly.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN THE WORLD IS GOD’S KINGDOM.

rev mike reese
Cross lanes, WV, US
3-20-2017

Issues Related to “Hanging Out”

Young people love to hang out, and they are often queried by parents regarding who their friends are. 

This note however is not about our kids. Rather it’s about adults and parents, and it raises questions about with whom they are socializing. Too often we lose sight of the fact that the company we keep influences our lives for good or not so good and reveals how these relationships affect our walk with the Lord. Witnessing to unbelievers is our biblical mandate. Camaraderie with them, i.e., friendship among people who spend a lot of time together, at least begs the question, “Who is influencing whom?”

Psalms 1:1-6 KJV
(1)  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
(2)  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
(3)  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
(4)  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
(5)  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

(6)  For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 KJV
(9)  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
(10)  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
(11)  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
(12)  For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
(13)  But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

1 Corinthians 15:33 KJV
(33)  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

These and other Scriptures include a few of the warnings related to the company a believer is to keep and not to keep. 

This also includes fellowship with professing Christians and even true believers whose worldly lives and beliefs don’t seem to reflect biblical Christianity. The ultimate check regarding a believer’s association with unbelieving friends is whether or not they feel free to share about their love for Jesus and His love for them. If there is a restriction against such sharing that they are willing to accept for the sake of keeping the relationship viable, that temporal relationship will end very likely with eternal separation-—the believer from them and they from God.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” —1 John:2:15-17

T. A. McMahon
TBC NOTES

March 1, 2017
revmike reese
cross lanes, WV.

Life Without Hope

                          Death Comes to All

Ecc 9:1  I thought about all this very carefully. I saw that God controls what happens to the good and wise people and what they do. People don't know if they will be loved or hated, and they don't know what will happen in the future. 

Ecc 9:2  But, there is one thing that happens to everyone--we all die! Death comes to good people and bad people. Death comes to those who are pure and to those who are not pure. Death comes to those who give sacrifices and to those who don't give sacrifices. Good people will die just as sinners do. Those who make promises to God will die just as those who are afraid to make those promises. 

Ecc 9:3  Of all the things that happen in this life, the worst thing is that all people end life the same way. But it is also very bad that people always think evil and foolish thoughts. And those thoughts lead to death. 

Ecc 9:4  There is hope for those who are still alive--it does not matter who they are. But this saying is true: A living dog is better than a dead lion. 

Ecc 9:5  The living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything. They have no more reward. People will soon forget them. 

Ecc 9:6  After people are dead, their love, hate, and jealousy are all gone. And they will never again share in what happens on earth.