GETTING LOOSE FROM A RELIGIOUS MIND
George Johnson had only been converted for a short time when he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and began to move freely in spiritual gifts. He soon became an ardent soul winner and an effective minister of the Gospel.
One thing that caught my attention was his absolute freedom from religion. He didn't use the "churchy" phrases or the King James English. He didn't weigh everything to see if it fit into his denomination' s doctrinal statement. He didn’t even know they had one! He never attended Bible school or seminary. He didn't change the tone of his voice when he prayed in public, but talked to God with honor and respect just as he would talk to a close friend. He had more liberty and power in his ministry than I did in mine and I had been a minister for 20 years before he ever became a Christian!
The Lord spoke to me one day and said, “Draw close to this young man.” We have had a father/son relationship now for over thirty years. George is pastor of an “On Fire” church in Mason City, Iowa, and has been for many years. He is doing the same for others as I did for him . . . raising up sons and daughters to love and serve Jesus.
During those early years together, watching George grow in grace, I became aware of many areas of my own life in which I had become "religious minded." It had built so slowly and subtly within me that I had not realized what was happening.
I had been a Baptist for many years but I had always seen myself as being more open-minded than most of my brother pastors. However, I soon discovered that I had a religious mind. I looked at things as a Baptist does and not necessarily as God does. I love the Baptists, their zeal for God, for the Bible, for evangelism, for missions, and for the name of Jesus all stirred holy fires within me as a teen age boy that haven’t gone out yet. But when I went away to Bible College and Seminary, something began to happen to me, and I found myself drifting more and more into spiritual doldrums. As I sought the Lord in prayer and in His Word, He began to teach me about the perils of a religious mind:
It was a religious mind that blinded the Pharisees and made it impossible for them to recognize God when they came face to face with Him in the person of Jesus Christ.
It was a religious mind that drove Saul of Tarsus to persecute the very God he was seeking to serve.
It was in the name of religion that Jesus was crucified; "Blasphemy!" cried the religious leaders, "Crucify Him!!"
It was the religious mind that was disturbed and angered when Jesus healed a woman on the Sabbath Day, whom Satan had bound for 18 years.
It was a religious mind that gave King Saul the idea to make an offering to God by sparing King Agag and the fattest of the cattle. The prophet thundered his disapproval, "Does God have as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as He does in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than to sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry." (I Sam. 15:22-23)
We can never substitute religious works for simple obedience. To God there is no difference between "religious things" and "secular things" because "all things" concerning our daily lives are naked and open to Him, and at every moment we are either in the center of his will or we are doing our own thing!
The brazen serpent which was at one time an instrument of God's deliverance, became a snare to the people when they lifted it up and burned incense to it. (II Kings 13:4) If we try to program the present move of God or reduce it to a formula, we are lifting up a brazen serpent. We must flow with the River of Life that is flowing now!
On the Mt. of Transfiguration after a tremendous spiritual experience, Peter said, "Let us build three tabernacles!" God rebuked Peter’s “good idea” and then underscored the one thing that is needful: "THIS IS MY BELOVED SON . . . HEAR HIM!" Don't marry your church, your denomination, your Bible, your books, your tapes, your orthodoxy, or your own understanding! Your Husband is Jesus! Worship Him! Suppose I got all enamored with my wife’s letters, her pictures, her cooking, her sewing, and never spent time with her?
We must not lift up a brazen serpent of worship, prayer, fasting, church attendance, tithing, witnessing, giving, working, or anything. These are only channels of deliverance and communion. They are not God! The spiritual mind is God's answer to the religious mind. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying . . . NOW!."
"Corban" was a religious word in the time of Jesus. It meant "An offering to God, in fulfillment of a vow." The phrase was often used to avoid fulfilling the obligation of children to their parents. If a person said "Corban", it meant that he was no longer obligated by law to help his parents because he had dedicated his material wealth to God. Jesus said, "And many such like things do ye." (Mark 7:11-13)
Peter's religious observance of a past word from God would have made it impossible for him to go to the home of Cornelius if he had not been willing to say, "Yes" to present guidance. (Acts 10)
God is shaking us loose from strict doctrinal positions, neat formulas, air tight theologies, iron-clad rules, rituals, laws, and principles, and is crowding us into a corner. And when we get fully and completely crowded into that corner we will be pleasantly surprised to find nothing and no one there in that corner, except . . . Jesus only! And out of Jesus flows everything else . . . in delightfully overwhelming abundance! END
Robert Fitts
Outreach Fellowship International
76-6309 Haku Pl.
Kona, HI 96740
Website: www.robertfitts.com
