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Proper Distinction Between Religion and the Gospel
By Warren Litzman
In order for such radical changes to commence on the Day of Pentecost, two important things took place. First, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly Father could now use the Holy Spirit to place believers in Christ (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:4). Second, since the Father had placed all sinners in Christ at the Cross (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20), when Christ died, all sinners, equally died to their old life and could now be saved by simply believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. A new gospel began; it was the in-Christ phenomenon—believers in Christ and Christ in believers.
Table of Contents
The Proper Distinction Between Religion and the Gospel
When Men Confuse Religion and the Gospel
The Gospel Versus the Religious Spirit
How Then Shall We Restore the True Gospel? |
SAMPLE TEXT:
Chapter 1
Proper Distinction Between
Religion and the Gospel
There is not a term in Christianity that is more thrown about and argued over than the term religion. To most people, the term religion has to do with their belief and their way of living; however, to those who have gone on in the things of the Lord and have been taught by the Holy Spirit, the s re/2 becomes something altogether different. It actually becomes the antithesis to all that God is really doing through His Son Jesus Christ. Those who have come into the Christ-life understanding see that the term religion is opposite to what Jesus stands for. Yet, we are very careful because it is impossible to define humanity aside from the idea of religion. Actually, to be a person is to be religious because a person by his very original nature could be called homo-religious. Thus, the sociologists of religion point out that some kind of religious expression is found among all peoples. In this sense Marxism is a religion just as much as Christianity. But after considerable study and reflection on the human phenomenon called religion, we define Christian religion as our way of doing things to be who we are. It means that we religiously accept and believe that the way we do things is actually the way we are, and to become what we want to be, we must religiously do certain things. This, of course, is distinctly opposite to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The true gospel is something very distinct from this idea of religion. When we say our way of saying and doing things makes us what we are, we literally mean the Baptist way of saying and doing things, the Presbyterian way of saying and doing things, or the Pentecostal way of saying and doing things, and so on. This is generally what is meant by religion. With the Christ-life understanding, however, we realize that there is nothing we can do within ourselves to be what God intends that we be. God’s intention is that every human being become born again, and this is by no effort or work on the part of the believer other than simply believing. It means that God does it all in the birthing, and our religious way of saying and doing things is completely omitted and unnecessary But what do we mean exactly when we say that our way of doing things makes us who we are? Let us fully define this. |
Paperback, 49 pages.
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