CHRISTIANITY AND RELIGION: ANY DIFFERENCE?
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

The Lost, Toiling & Trying! From the garden of Eden when man lost the free access to God, it had been hard for humanity to regain the access. Humanity had been toiling to re-gain access back to God, human efforts aiming at getting back to God has been abortive, humanity toiling tirelessly to find God by several means never succeeded, no matter how hard. Since every man and woman has conscience, the inner, inborn awareness of God; our in-depth longing to find God cannot be satisfied by our own effort of toiling or trying.

What Is Religion? Religion means human being toiling to find God. There are several religions every where in the world, they are motivated by human longing to find God, and they are inspired by Satan to make people believe they can, by doing so, find God or they have found God by their religious efforts. This human toiling started at the building of Babel, when humanity agreed to build a tower under the leadership of Nimrod, in order to gain access to God and find Him. "And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens." Genesis 11:4. Since then, there have been several other religions of different styles and systems of worships, aiming to get access to God.

But the truth of the reality is that, religion is a deceptive and also a terrible sin because it involves two evils: deception and disrespect – Self deception and downgrading the standard of God. It is a deception of high level when you believe your own human efforts and wisdom can gain you access to God and make you righteous before God. Human effort is vanity, and human righteousness is filthy rag; for any man to believe his religion can make him righteous before God is a dangerous deception. The evil and sin of every religion is that it's an act of downgrading and relegating the standard of God as a man to think he can find God or he has found God by human knowledge, activity or power. To represent the Creator by any creature is an evil and disrespect to God, to make a fellow man an access to God is evil, and to believe human power and wisdom can serve God is a disrespect to God.

No matter how hard a man toils, he cannot find God because God is too mighty to be fathomed by human wisdom and strength. Since you have been trying all religious activities, have you experienced inner peace or certainty of eternity? Have you experienced victory over sin and Satan? Why do you keep having fear within and in-dept anxiety about your life after death? The bad news about religion is that it cannot find God, no matter the name or popularity of the religion, you can never find God; no matter how religious, disciplined or good you are, you can never find peace or rest for your soul. Humanity seeking God by their human effort and knowledge, called religion, cannot find God. Every religion tries different means to seek God and to supplicate unto God, but no religion has successfully found God, because God is unfathomable, His personality and knowledge transcends human comprehension. We cannot relate with God on the ground of religion.

When God saw the predicament of humanity that it was impossible for a mortal man to seek and find an immortal God, God Himself came to the world to seek for man. In the likeness of man, Jesus Christ came to the world to seek for the lost humanity. Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” That is the different between Christianity and religion, religion is man seeking God, but Christianity is God seeking man. Your religion, your toiling, your self discipline and good work can not give you access to God Almighty; they cannot save you. Jesus Christ is also God Himself, He is God the Son; He came to this world in human form, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born as a Man to rescue the humanity. He died for humanity on cross and rose up the third day. He was given all powers and authorities and He ascended into Heaven. Now, you need genuine salvation in Jesus Christ who died for you and rose for you; you need to accept Him as the Lord of your life by realizing your shortcomings and your sins, by asking Him to forgive and cleanse you. 1 John 1:8-9, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then you start a new life in Jesus in accordance with His Word as written in the Bible. He will then give you Holy spirit to guide, comfort you and teach you all things.

The Blood Of Jesus Paid All! The Blood Of Jesus Christ paid for your sins even before you were born, that is the blood that can atone for your sins and washes your sins away at the same time.

On the other side, if you are a Christian, Christian leader or minister of gospel, but you are living in sin or under the bondage of one sin or the other, you are also a religious person before God. Calling yourself a Christian, calling Jesus, "Lord, Lord", being a minister of gospel or performing miracles in the name of Jesus Christ does not means you have personal relationship with Jesus except you are doing His will by living in holiness and righteousness.

All you need:

Repent – realize and ready to forsake every form of sin and unrighteousness in your life; surrender your sinful life to God and ask Him to forgive and cleanse you.

Pray – Right now you need to pray to God from your heart in the name of Jesus Christ, confess all your sins and surrender all. Tell Jesus Christ to forgive you, cleanse you and save you. Tell Him you are accepting Him as your Lord and He should save you. You can pray the prayer for the next few minute now, as Jesus is right beside you. 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

PRAY THE PRAYER OF SALVATION OR REDEDICATION NOW!

Have you prayed that? Then you are saved and restored!

After you have prayed and experienced salvation, then you follow JESUS day by day!

Mark 8:34, "When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

This message is from Revelation of Truth Evangelical Ministries, RTEM. You can share with us about your new life in Jesus, you can also contact us on email or phone for prayer, counsel or if you need biblical enlightenment on personal issues: Revelation of Truth Evangelical Ministries, (RTEM) Nigeria Our Email: rtemoutreaches@yahoo.com Our Tel: (+234) (0)803 924 9751, (0)705 937 3351, (0)802 578 7942.

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