The Stronghold of Religious Bondage

Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 75

TRANSCRIPT

Do you feel like there is always more you need to be doing at church or in ministry, that you feel like you never quite do enough? Do you feel like your relationship with God is based on a list of dos and don’ts.” Does it feel like you are living under a constant threat of judgement for what you do or don’t do, or even for things like raising your hands in worship? In today’s podcast we are going to talk about the stronghold of religious bondage and how it might be affecting you and your relationship with God.

I’m Lee Whitman with Restoring the Foundations and today’s verse is one of my favorites, it is Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” The Passion Translation says it this way, “At last we have freedom for Christ has set us free! We must always cherish this truth and firmly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.” This verse is warning the new believers not to return to the religious slavery of their past. Remember who the Apostle Paul is talking to. He is addressing the first group of believers who were coming out of a very legalistic religious system.

This religious stronghold began before there were any believers in Jesus because Jesus coming to earth was years into the future. This stronghold got is start right after the giving of the ten commandments. God gave the Jewish people ten rules to follow. I’m sure you can probably even quote all ten of them for yourself. Here are the ten commandments as found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourselves an idol.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

These are ten pretty simple guidelines/rules to follow. The enemy, however, unleashed this religious spirit upon the religious leaders of that day and they took the ten simple commandments and made them into 613 rules for the people to follow. They created rules governing everything. Things went from a simple relationship with God to a very, very complex religious system. That is what this spirit does. It takes the simplicity of having a relationship with Father God through Jesus Christ and makes it into a heavy burden strapped upon peoples backs.

And lest you think you might be exempt; this religious spirit does not simply work in the organized denominational church. It attacks anyone who is sincerely trying to follow God. I know of a group of people who left the mainline denominational church because of the religious regulations and started their own religious community. It was beautiful and simple….at first. But within a few years this group, who had left the church because of the stringent rules and regulations had developed their own set of rules and regulations that the followers had to adhere to in order to remain in good standing. That is this religious spirit at work.

One of the characteristics of the religious spirit is it would have us point fingers at each other and declare that we are better than they are because we…..you fill in the blanks. Why do you think there are so many denominations in the world all believing that they have the corner on the truth about God? This spirit has been causing division in God’s people since the beginning. It didn’t just start with the introduction of the Christian church. No. People have been divided on how to worship God from the beginning.  Even those religious leaders who took the ten commandments and made them into 613 religious rules could not agree on the “right way” to worship so they split off and created their own sects of Judaism.

The divisions within the Christian church are too many to mention. It is not just the mainline denominations that have a corner on this religious spirit. Any group of believers that are sincerely trying to follow Christ are going to be targeted by this spirit. 

Let’s look at some of the characteristics of this religious stronghold. Have you ever been involved in a church where there has been a church split? If you have been fortunate enough to not have experienced that in your own church, you have heard some of the horror stories of church splits. I grew up in a very conservative main line denominational church who did not believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A group of people in the church got filled with the Holy Spirit and tried to bring the freedom of the Holy Spirit into our church. It did not go very well. You see our church was entrenched in traditionalism and spiritual pride that we were doing church the right way and how dare you tell us otherwise. As a kid I didn’t understand what was happening, all I knew was that people who I loved and respected were at odds with each other and in the process people on both sides of the issue did not exhibit the fruit of the spirit. A group of people left the church and started their own church, and it took many years for the two groups to be healed. In my small town it gave the entire church of Jesus Christ a black eye. Score one for this religious spirit.

One of the major characteristics of this stronghold is that it causes division, and in the process, it usually fosters betrayal and injustice. Why are there so many denominations? Because this spirit causes people to divide based on any number of things including the color of the new carpet. I kid you not, I heard of a church who split because of the color of the new carpet. Score another one for this spirit.

This spirit also causes people to twist the way we read the bible. It tells us to overlook some passages and to interpret others through the grid we have been taught thus justifying our belief. It appears that much of our theology is an attempt to prove that what we believe is correct, and not necessarily letting the scripture speak for itself.

Another major characteristic of this stronghold is legalism. It stresses dependence and obedience to a set of laws or rules rather than on a personal relationship with God through faith. For many living under this stronghold their relationship with God is based on a set of rules and regulations. As long as you follow the rules, you are deemed right with God. And rules tend to beget more rules. Legalism driven by this spirit is never satisfied until it has total religious control over a person. This religious control demands religious performance and religiosity. You may know people whose language is so religious that you almost want to ask them to be real and speak in English instead of the language of religiosity. We went to church with a guy whose prayers in public on Sunday were incredibly eloquent and full of religiosity but on Saturday night he was down at the bar partying with the best of them.

This spirit also leads to false faith and even hypocrisy. It teaches that what you do on the outside, at least on Sunday, is more important than what is happening on the inside concerning your private life. How is it that pastors are able to preach wonderful sermons on Sunday and then go and have affairs during the week? I think it is this spirit at work that says that appearance is more important than character.

When you look at the life of Jesus, He was one of the most unreligious people who ever lived. What do I mean by that. For example, He many times healed people on the Sabbath. Take for example Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5. He healed him on the Sabbath and told the healed man to take up his bed and walk which was not allowed by the religious laws on the Sabbath. That didn’t stop Jesus. Even though Jesus was trained in Jewish orthodoxy, for example His early Torah studies in which He baffled the temple leaders, His annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feasts, and His faithful observance of the Sabbath. Yet even with this training in traditional religion, Jesus only did what His Father in Heaven told Him to do. He did not follow the religious traditions. He followed His Father’s wishes.

Another proof of this spirit at work is that Jesus entire life was one of practicing unconditional love, peace and kindness. He defended the poor and those the culture ostracized. Jesus taught and practiced forgiveness to the extent that He even forgave the people who killed Him. Jesus’ life is the greatest love story of all time yet this spirit has taken Jesus life and made it into a story of hatred and oppression. Thousands of people were killed in the Crusades in the name of Jesus. This spirit has taken the teachings of Christ we call Christianity and removed the kindness and respect and dignity Jesus demonstrated to the sinners. People who desperately need a relationship with Jesus are turning away from the church because of the lack of kindness and love. Instead, they receive judgement. That is what this spirit has done to Christ’s body.

This stronghold has its own set of Ungodly Beliefs. As we have talked about in the past strongholds have Ungodly Beliefs that help hold them in place. These are the lies that come from the generational curse of this religious stronghold. One very common Ungodly Belief with this stronghold is: God is judging me when I relax. I have to stay busy about His work of He will abandon me.”  Does that sound familiar to anyone? To be honest, pastors really don’t mind if people have this Ungodly Belief because they are really good church worker. The problem is that many times people are working so hard to earn God’s favor that they miss out on having a relationship with God. In Luke 15 Jesus tells a story about His Father we call the story of the Prodigal son. In this story the father has two sons, the younger of which takes his inheritance and wastes it on wild living. The wayward son came home, and His father threw a party due to his return. However, the father had an older son who faithfully remained at home taking care of all of the duties of the household. When he saw that his father was throwing a party for his younger brother, he was angry and confronted his father. This is my translation of what was said: “Why are you throwing this worthless boy a party when I have been home working faithfully for you and you give me nothing. The father said to his older son with great sadness: My son, you have always been with me. Everything I have is yours. You could have had a party any time you wanted but you were too busy working in my fields to enjoy having a relationship with me.” This religious spirit would do the same thing to us. It would have us be so busy doing the right religious things and miss out on an intimate relationship with Father God.

The bottom line is this religious spirit is very real in today’s world. If we are not careful, we could live by this spirit and miss out on the freedom that comes from a relationship with Jesus. Our verse for today is Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ set you free.” Free from what? Free from anything, including a religious spirit that is holding you in bondage to the illegitimate form of religion. True religion is to know God intimately and to let His life live in you on a daily basis. Not to live by a list of rule and regulations, but to live a Spirit led life of freedom in Christ.

Prayer

If you recognized this religious spirit at work in your life in any way, please go online at www.restoringthefoundations.org and find an RTF minister in your areas and break the hold of this religious stronghold in your life. You will be glad you did and all of heaven will be rejoicing at the freedom you receive.

If you have been blessed by the ministry of Restoring the Foundations and you would like to help us, take this message of freedom and healing around the world, click on the donate now tab at the top of our website to become contributor to RTF.