Religion: The Death of Many

By Brandon J. Wilson

Religion: The Death of Many digs into the Scriptures and lifts up its guidance for identifying the many ways that Satan uses to deceive the people of God. In the course of outlining this scriptural approach to discerning the truth of the diabolical forces arrayed against the church and its people, Brandon J. Wilson also describes how to overcome feelings of pain and rejection. In addition, he describes how to persevere against the forces that try to drag one away from God and to discern the truth about prophecies, distinguishing those that truly come from God from those Satan creates to deceive believers.

In its ten-chapter exploration, Religion addresses a variety of topics: understanding religion, the redeeming blood, prophecies, faithful giving, how God uses broken people, overcoming feelings of hurt in the church, the problem of evils existence, those who know rejection, getting back into the battle against evil, and words of encouragement. The discussions draw deeply from the well of the Scriptures to provide insights and guidance.

If you are a Christian or someone who has drifted away from practicing your faith, then Religion: The Death of Many offers words of encouragement and wisdom. It proclaims that God does not leave or forsake you, no matter how far astray you may have gone. God gives his word to strengthen your faith to withstand Satans deceptions, to overcome your pains and hurts, and to use wisdom to see the truth.

For booking contact [e-mail].

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jul 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781480820074

Brandon J. Wilson

Brandon J. Wilson is an innovative author and minister of the gospel, called to touch lives and to change them through the power of the good news of Jesus Christ. In the course of surmounting his failures and shortcomings, he discovered the inspiration for writing Religion: The Death of Many.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 Brandon Jamaal Wilson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible, copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-2006-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-2007-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015944926

Archway Publishing rev. date: 6/24/2015

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter I: What is Religion?

Chapter II: The Blood

Chapter III: Religious Prophecies

Chapter IV: Religious Giving

Chapter V: God Uses the Broken

Chapter VI: Overcoming Church Hurt

Chapter VII: If There Is A God, Then Why?

Chapter VIII: The Rejected

Chapter IX: Get Back In The Battle

Chapter X: Encouragement

INTRODUCTION

I have been in church most of my life, and served in ministry most of my adult life. I have seen many things take place in church that I didn’t understand. As I got older and began to really experience the Christian life with its ups, downs and inconsistencies I saw things that troubled me on so many levels. It bothered me to see so many sick and impoverished people that applied everything they were taught, did everything they were supposed to do according to man to receive a blessing, yet they remained in the same place they were in as when they started. A lot of churches teach that you receive blessings according to works, but the Bible says the exact opposite. (Galatians 2:14-16). When man is in sin, the first thing most ministers teach is separation from God. They instill fear by teaching that God cuts you off when you are in sin. Is that scripture? No! (John 6:37) Man will use fear tactics in order for you to change. Is that scripture? No. (2 Timothy 1:7). This is called Religion: the Death of Many.

This book exposes the spirit of religion and the tricks and gimmicks that Satan and man use to keep Christians from learning the truth. You no longer need to live a defeated life my brother and sister! God has provided the answers you need in order to be set free! Humility and love will break the back of religion and the Word of God will bring health, healing and victory when it is diligently applied to your life.

Brandon J. Wilson

CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS RELIGION?

R eligion – relating or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity.

People look at God as if He is a you do this, then I will do that kind of God. By keeping all of the commandments such as not killing, stealing, cursing, and most popular in the church, not fornicating or committing adultery etc., then God has to bless me spiritually, physically and financially. Most people become self- righteous when they master these areas in their lives and look at those who are not as strong in those areas as if they are a menace to Christianity. This is a clear sign of religion. Every sin you can think of was nailed to the cross and the blood of Jesus was shed for the remission of our sins. Hebrews 9:22 (KJV): and almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no remission.

Before Christ came and died, Christians were under the Law of Moses (you can find the laws of Moses in the first five books of the Bible). In order to redeem themselves from the sins they committed, once a year they would go to Jerusalem and shed the blood of a bull or a goat to cleanse them for one year (Leviticus 16). If the blood of an animal can cleanse a man of his sins for one year how much more can the blood of Jesus (God) do for us now? Is the blood of an animal greater than the blood of God running through the veins of a man (Jesus)? Of course not, but religion makes it seem as if His blood is of no effect. This Christian walk is not just about keeping us away from sin and sinners, but it is about having a relationship with the Father. This was the purpose of the Son of God going to the cross. The first thing God requires from us is to LOVE one another. Jesus said in John 13:34, A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I loved you The question is how did Jesus love? Do we love like He loved? Let me help you. Matthew 5:43-48 says:" Ye have heard that it hath been said; thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy 44 but I say unto ye, love your enemies, and bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use and persecute you 45 that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good and send rain on the just and unjust. 46 for if ye love them which love you, what rewards have ye? Do not the publicans the same? 47 and if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others do not the publicans do so? 48 be ye therefore perfect even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Jesus himself said love is what makes you perfect not you ceasing from sin. Are you saying it is ok to sin? God forbid! When you have a relationship with God and you serve Him with all your heart, He will automatically take those fleshly desires from you and put his desires in you.

In Acts 9, Saul (who was later named Paul), was a religious tick that believed in keeping the law and killed the people that came up against the law or blasphemed against it. Saul didn’t associate himself with the people that could not keep the law. He sought ways to take them out. Like some religious ticks today, they are quick to tell others how someone is falling short and how God is going to judge them, how they should do things for God; how other sanctified people should not be around them when they are like this, because spirits are transferable and you need to come out from among them and be ye separate. What you do not understand is that you are practicing hatred and not love. 1 Peter 4:8 says "above all things have fervent charity among you for love covers a multitude of sins. When you can expose a man’s shortcomings, you are not walking in love. You are not a son of God, you are a hypocrite that needs to repent. Get on the altar and stay there until God removes that hatred and religion from your heart and puts His desires in there. That was a little bunny trail, but nevertheless, Saul was responsible for many of the deaths of God’s people. Then, Jesus got a hold of Saul, cleaned him up and he went out and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many lives were saved and changed. In fact, Saul, the repentant murderer of God’s people in the early church is responsible for writing most of the New Testament.

Preaching against sin is not the answer to sin, but the cross and the mercies of God is the answer. Your faults should not keep you from Him, but it should draw you closer, for Jesus said, if any shall come to me I will in no wise cast away (John 6:37) One of my main issues was fornication. I just had to have it (sex). When I got saved, it seemed like the craving got stronger and for a while I pursued God in spite of my faults. The day came when I did not have the desire for it anymore. My desire was to do the will of my Father (God). He began to use me to work in the supernatural realm; laying hands on the sick and watch God heal them almost immediately. I began to preach and when souls came to Christ, He anointed me to become an intercessor. The things I prayed for, within days I saw it come to pass. One day pride got a hold of me, not for the things God was using me to do, but because I boasted in not sinning the way I use to and began to look down on those who were not there. I wished that God would judge them instead of loving them out of the sin. As time went on, I was at work and a co-worker introduced me to this fine sister. I got her number and we went out. She came on to me and I fell short of the glory. Afterward, I felt like crap and became very fearful. I prayed to God if I ever fornicated again to take me out of here. That is how self-righteous I became and God had to break my spiritual leg. Over the course of time and I straightened up and became self-righteous again. Another sister came but this one was different. She could not get enough and I could not get enough and we continued to have a sexual affair for months. I began to lose the desire to do it but I still could not stop. All I could think about was God judging me, or the preacher having a dream or a vision of me committing this sin. The one thing I did not do was turn God loose. I stayed before Him by praying and fasting, but this time the lust was not easy to break. However, what I noticed was God was still with me and for me. I would just finish fornicating at 5:30 PM, go to church for prayer at 6:00 PM and I would still see the glory of the Lord fall on me and I could not understand why.

For years, I would hear preachers say God will not hear you when you are like this; in fact they would go as far as to say that you are cursed and God will take things away until you get it right. That did not occur in my life. My faith was that God has taken my sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west and he remembers them not anymore (Psalms 103:12). That scripture became paramount in my life and I pursued God, paying no attention to my faults. As time progressed, the things I struggled with; I found myself not struggling with them anymore. The key was this: Faith in the blood of Jesus, faith in what His Word says; I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions and remember them no more (Isaiah 43:25). Galatians 2:16-17 says knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law by FAITH of Jesus Christ even as we believed in Jesus Christ, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law no man shall be justified. But if we seek to be justified by Christ we ourselves also are found sinners. Is Christ therefore the minister of sin? God forbid. The Apostle Paul explained why sin is still troublesome in the lives of believers in Romans 7:14-25:

Living under the Law (Common English Bible Translation)

14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I’m made of flesh and blood, and I’m sold as a slave to sin. 15 I don’t know what I’m doing, because I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do the thing that I hate. 16 But if I’m doing the thing that I don’t want to do, I’m agreeing that the Law is right. 17 But now I’m not the one doing it anymore. Instead, it’s sin that lives in me. 18I know that good doesn’t live in me—that is, in my body. The desire to do good is inside of me, but I can’t do it. 19 I don’t do the good that I want to do, but I do the evil that I don’t want to do. 20 But if I do the very thing that I don’t want to do, then I’m not the one doing it anymore. Instead, it is sin that lives in me that is doing it.