The Religious Spirit is the Spirit of the Law, Part 2

It is amazing that anyone could believe there is not a religious spirit over the Santa Maria valley. We have talked with many people over the years who have spiritually discerned the presence of a religious spirit. Evil spirits are masters of disguise, but one does not even need spiritual discernment to know the church in the Santa Maria valley is not The Church God intends for it to be. We are coming up woefully short of God's best. Let me be as fair as I know how here. Maybe the church is being The Church somewhere in this valley. Please do not keep it a secret any longer. Let us know where you are. (Read the rest of the post and use it as a checklist before making that claim.)


Some mistake the religious spirit for a controlling spirit. Certainly the religious spirit exhibits many forms of control. We have frequently written about that in these pages. The best way to distinguish the two is probably to say that a controlling spirit works through people to control other people whereas a religious spirit works through religious systems to accomplish the same end. In both situations, the end result is to coerce the rank-and-file to do what the leadership thinks they ought to do. That has more in common with law than grace. In the context of the church, this eliminates the possibility of the church truly being Holy Spirit led. The Holy Spirit does not check with the powers that be in the church before He moves. In fact, it seems the Holy Spirit takes great delight in surprising people--in a good way of course.


It just occurred to me that many of you readers have no idea what the Church is supposed to look like. In which case, you might be inclined to think the church in Santa Maria is doing as well as can be expected. Let us ask ourselves a few questions to see how we measure up against scripture.


Do we love one another and demonstrate that love so that people know we are disciples of Jesus? (John 13:35) One need not look far in this valley to find people who are hurting because they have been abused by leaders in one church or another. Strike one! Do we see signs following those who believe to the extent people are being physically healed wherever they go? (Mark 16:18) Oh, we do see healings, but it seems to be more accidental than intentional most of the time. Call that strike two. Is the Lord adding to the church daily? (Acts 2:47) Maybe. Does the church have all things in common? (Acts 2:44) Oh please, The Church gets together once a year, one Thursday in May for the national day of prayer. We all fit into the smaller exhibit hall at the Fair Park. That is the best we do. Strike three!

To say it plainly, we have a long way to go if we want to truly be The Church Jesus came to save from an enemy who seeks only to steal and to kill and to destroy. (John 10:10) Never mind even getting to the last part of the verse and having an abundant life. We know people who would say they have an abundant life. Most of those people are meeting in rented buildings or buildings with mortgages on them. Some do better, but they still have to ask for special offerings for special needs. Moses had to stop the people from bringing gifts for the building of the tabernacle.

There is still room for improvement. There will always be room for improvement while we live on the earth. Do not allow the enemy of our souls to deceive you any longer into thinking what you see in this valley is as good as can be expected. God is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we can ask or even think. (Ephesians 3:20) We have a long way to go. We just have to get out of our own way and quit trying to be the Holy Spirit to other people, telling them what they should and should not be doing. Do what you are supposed to do! If we can just get out of our own way and do that, we will be amazed by what God will do.