Religion
Most Christians are
just church goers. This is what I call A
Nominal Christian, or in Name only. This
is what I call Religious people. Their Belief System is so Polluted and Diluted
from the Truth of Gods’ Holy Word that what they call the Holy Spirit is
nothing but Satan’s Placebo.
They are devoid of Biblical Truth and therefore
cannot realize that their minds have not been renewed and that ANY thoughts
they have on God, Christ, Spirituality, or life is a problem. This is what I call Religion.....
1. Romans 10:17-
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
2. 2 Corinthians 10:5
- 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.
3. Romans 12:2-
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
4. 2 Corinthians 4:4
- In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine unto them.
5. Romans 8:7-
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be.
6. John 8:32-And
you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
7. Ephesians 4:22-24
exhorts us to "... put off concerning the former conversation (behavior)
the old man (old self), which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and
be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man (the new
self), which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
8. 2 Corinthians 11:14, And no marvel; for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light.
A Placebo is a substance that has delusional positive
effects as a result of a patient's perception that it is beneficial rather than
as a result of a relevant ingredient. In
medicine a Placebo is a pharmacologically inactive substance or a sham
procedure administered as a control in testing the effectiveness of a drug or
course of action.
In all cases 100% of
the time the person giving the Placebo does not know he has been administered
something that is not real.
To put it as simple as possible, a Placebo in
Christianity Is a psychological and emotional attachment to a church house,
religion, denomination or a man. These
people have a psychological loyalty to the philosophy and traditions to their Placebo Christianity.
A Christian under a Placebo effect is a person who has not responded in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. There is no Transformative Power although this person professes belief, faith and love in Christ.
As a minister, I truly believe that "nominalism or the Placebo effect is a major issue and that the majority of the Christian populations know nothing of a personal faith, true repentance, and a trust in the finished work of Christ for their salvation.
Some have drank
poison willingly, spent thousands of dollars attempting to appease God, neglected their own families and fell prey to many scams and schemes because of the
counselings and teachings of the Placebo effect.
Colossians 2:6-9,
as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7
Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been
taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily.
A Recovered Mind is a Renewed Mind
Romans 12:1-2
tells us that the way we are "transformed," the way we learn to live
Christ's Life, is by the renewing of our minds - putting off our own negative
and corrupt thinking and putting on God's Thoughts. As we continue in our series on being transformed
by the renewing of our minds , we want to cover two important questions. 1)
What is "mind renewal?" and,
2) Why is "mind renewal" so important?
Ephesians 4:22-24
exhorts us to "... put off concerning the former conversation (behavior)
the old man (old self), which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and
be renewed in the spirit of your mind ; and that ye put on the new man (the new
self), which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
A "renewed mind," then, is one that has done two
things: It has "put off" any sin (any hurt, doubt, fear, rebellion,
self-centeredness, lust, bitterness, etc.), any corrupt thinking, or any
barrier that would quench God's Spirit and has "put on" the Mind of
Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Renewing our minds is not simply "changing" our
thoughts, but actually putting off the old, negative thoughts as well as
putting on God's Thoughts. In other
words, we can't just say to God, "Lord, give me Your Thoughts," and
somehow expect Him to "automatically" give us His Mind. We must first put off our own self-centered
thinking by confessing, repenting, and then giving it to God. At this point, we can then put on the Mind of
Christ.
To renew" means to exchange one thing for another. In other words, when we put off and put on,
we're exchanging our thinking for God's.
If we're not willing to Set Aside and relinquish our own thoughts, then
our thinking process will never be renewed and our lives will never be
transformed.
Reasons A Mind Renewal Is So Important
There are many reasons why "mind renewal" is
critical. But there are several reasons
worth pointing out in this series: God
wants us to have His Mind (His thoughts, His viewpoint) in every
situation.
He wants us to have the
supernatural ability to discern everything that happens to us from His vantage
point and His perspective, and not get dominate down and buried by our own
negative thoughts and feelings or by what we can "see" going on. If we can see from His perspective, then
we'll be able to "soar" above our circumstances, our problems, and
our trials and not get buried under them.
An Example of A Renewed Mind
Joseph in the Old Testament, I believe, is a wonderful
example of someone who was able to see all that happened to him from God's
perspective.
The story goes like this: Joseph, the most beloved of all
the sons of Jacob, had a dream. However,
he made the mistake of telling his brothers the dream. His brothers were already jealous of him
because he was their father's favorite.
But after hearing Joseph's dream, they were resentful and determined to
get rid of him any way they could.
The brothers put Joseph in a pit and finally sold him to the
Midianites. The Midianites, in turn,
sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer in Pharaoh's guard. After an incident with Potiphar's wife,
however, in which she tricked Joseph by making it look like he had seduced her,
Joseph was sent to prison (Genesis 39).
While in prison, Joseph met the King's baker and butler and
did them a favor by interpreting their dreams.
He begged them to remember him when they were released from jail. However, when it came time that the chief
butler was released, he soon forgot Joseph and his favors.
I'm sure you know the rest of the story. Two more years went by when Pharaohs dreamed
a dream and the chief butler finally remembered Joseph in prison and the
interpretation of his own dreams.
Pharaoh’s men contacted Joseph, released him, and eventually Joseph
became Pharaoh’s right-hand man.
Joseph was only 17 years old when his brothers threw him
into the pit to be sold, and he was well over 30 when pharaoh finally released
him. He had been "in bondage"
for over 13 years!
Now you know Joseph must have struggled with
"justified" hurts, resentments and bitterness. He was not a "super saint," but a
human being just like us. Scripture
tells us, however, that all who saw Joseph "knew God was with him." (Genesis 39:3)
Somehow, in spite of all the horrendous
circumstances and all the justified natural emotions Joseph must have had, his countenance
and his life actions still showed forth his love of God.
The only way Joseph could possibly have made this impression
was by constantly "putting off" his own natural bitterness and
resentments and putting on God's wisdom and understanding, thereby being able
to see all that happened to him not from his own viewpoint, but from
God's.
This is validated in Genesis 50:20 when Joseph finally meets
up with his brothers and says to them, "...ye thought evil against me; but
God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much
people alive."
This is an incredible response. It's not a natural reaction. Humanly, I'm sure Joseph would have loved to
have had his revenge, but that's not how he acted. He saw all things that had happened to him as
being used for God's purposes in his own life.
Do we "see" like this in your own trials? Do we see all the things that God has allowed
in our lives as being used for our good?
I know I still have a long way to go in being able to do this
continually.
Joseph received the Promises of God
He knew a new freedom
and a new happiness.
He did not regret the
past nor wish to shut the door on it.
He comprehended the
word serenity.
He knew peace.
No matter how far
down the scale he had gone,
He saw how his
experience could benefit others.
His feelings of
uselessness and self-pity disappeared.
He lost interest in
selfish things and gain insight in his fellows.
Self-seeking slipped
away.
His whole attitude
and outlook changed.
Fear of people and economic
insecurity left him.
He intuitively knew
how to handle situations which used to baffle him.
He suddenly realize
that God is doing for him what he could not do for himself.
Are these extravagant
Promises for God?
By the way, there were no psychologists and no psychiatrists
in Joseph's day. Yet somehow, Joseph was
able to become free from his traumatic past (and his dysfunctional family), and
his life was transformed anyway.
It takes constant discipline not to give in to our negative
thoughts and emotions that are trying to crush and drown us. Often, it seems like it would just be easier
to give in and let our own feelings rule.
But, you know what happens if we do that? Those negative thoughts and emotions
"take us captive," and then we'll drown for sure. The devil works in
our feelings and emotions.
This, of course, is exactly what Satan wants! He revels in our bondage to our own negative
thoughts. He wants us totally immersed
and consumed in our own problems, bound to him by our hurts, our fears, our
pain, our wounds and our circumstances (chains of sin) because then we'll see
everything that happens to us from our own horizontal viewpoint and not from
God's perspective or the Mind of Christ.
As a result, we won't be transformed into God's image, but simply
conformed to the world's image and the Gospel won't be passed on.
The Eagle
Scripture often refers to the eagle as a symbol of this
renewing process. Psalm 103:5 says that
"our youth will be renewed like the eagle." "Youth" here, I believe, refers to
the "original image" that God created us to have - His Love, His
Wisdom and His Power. As we renew our
minds, it's true, we'll be transformed back into God's Image, which is what God
intended for us all along.
One of the reasons I believe God uses the eagle as a symbol
of this transformation process is that the eagle is the only bird whose whole
physical strength is literally renewed after each molting season. In other words, only after the eagle has
"put off" his old feathers, so to speak, does he actually receive
"new" physical strength to soar above his enemies.
It's the same with us.
When we "put off" the old and "put on" the new, we
too receive God's supernatural strength to soar above our enemies (Isaiah 59:19).
Another reason I believe God uses the eagle as a symbol of
our renewal and transformation is because the eagle again comes from the only
bird family that has "telescopic sight," a kind of
"zoom-in-focus" lens. An eagle
can search out objects literally miles away (indistinguishable to the human
eye). Eagles can see a quarter from over
200 yards away and a rabbit from over a mile away. This, of course, increases their ability to
judge and discern the true situation.
It's the same with us.
Our minds, when renewed by God's Spirit, have the same supernatural
ability. We are able to judge, discern
and pick up things that the natural eye (natural mind) would never be able to
see or understand. We are given the
supernatural wisdom and ability to discern the true situation and see
everything that happens to us from God's vantage point.
Lastly when it comes to the eagle I've found out that in a
severe storm the eagle does one thing that no other bird can do. When it is caught in a storm it instinctively
locks its wings and soars above the storm without effort. This puts this bird due to its size and power
at the top of the food chain as apex predators in the avian world. They are on the highest level in their world.
Isaiah 40:31, They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they
shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
These are the true over-comers. "Overcoming" simply means freedom
from self, freedom from our circumstances and freedom from others' responses
and freedom from what my carnal resentful mind is telling me.
Having a renewed mind, putting off our own negative thoughts
and putting on the Mind of Christ is the only way we can begin to see
everything that happens to us from God's perspective and not get buried by our
own.
