Jesus – Page 12 – Religion Detox Network …

12. JESUS’ CHARACTER AND MINISTRY FUNCTIONS
To understand what it means to follow Jesus, we must understand his history and what motivated him to do the radical things he did:

JESUS’ CHARACTER	CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW COVENANT DISCIPLES
His name (i.e. character) is the word of God.	When we were religious, our religious character was modeled after fleshly religious leaders. After we become New Covenant disciples who are born of the spirit of God, our spiritual character reflects our heavenly father.
He is the Son of God.	To be a son of God we must be born again (i.e. baptized) by the spirit of God. Then we become New Covenant disciples who interpret the Bible symbolically and listen to God’s spoken voice.
He is the light of the world.	While we practice religion we walk in darkness. When we become New Covenant disciples, we walk in the light and spread that light to others who are still walking in the darkness of Old/First Covenant religion.
He is the spirit of prophecy.	When we were religious, we operated in the flesh as false prophets. When we become New Covenant disciples, we walk in the spirit by faith as true prophets.
Before he became the son of God, Jesus was the son of man (i.e. he was a religious Jew for the first thirty years of his life). He learned how to be religious from his parents and religious leaders.	We first come to know about God through religion that interprets the Bible literally. We are Old/First Covenant religionists. We are sons/daughters of men because we learn religion from men. When we become New Covenant disciples , we follow Jesus and become sons of God. Then we learn about God from God who teaches us when his spirit writes his laws on our hearts.
He is the way, the truth and the life of God.	While we are religious we are spiritually dead. After we quit being religious and become New Covenant disciples we become spiritually alive. New Covenant disciples are also the way, truth and life because God speaks through them.
He is the mediator of the New Covenant.	While we are religious we practice and promote religion which can be observed. After we become New Covenant disciples, we walk by faith which cannot be seen, and we share with people who are still religious the good news that religion is sin that is overcome by becoming a New Covenant disciples New Covenant disciples are mediators (i.e. interpreters of the parables of the written Bible) for Old/First Covenant religionists. New Covenant disciples are mediators of the true gospel.
He is the image of the invisible God.	While we are religious, we practice our religion so that we will receive praise for our religious work from other religious people. After we become New Covenant disciples, we must decrease in visibility while God increases in us.
He is the word of God made flesh.	While we were religious, we practiced religion based on the literal interpretations of the Bible. After we become New Covenant disciples, we listen to God’s voice, and speak for God.
He is a prophet.	When we were religious, we functioned as false prophets. When we become New Covenant disciples, we learn to function as true prophets.
He is a priest in the order of Melchizedek — not a priest appointed according to religious laws.	When we were religious we functioned as priests who received training and authority from religious institutions that follow religious laws. When we become New Covenant disciples, God’s spiritual laws were written on our hearts and we receive all of our instruction by listening to God’s spirit.
He served God as a prophet, a priest, and a king.	New Covenant disciples also serve God as prophets, priests and kings.
He served God by speaking God’s words to people who did not have spiritual ears to hear God’s spoken voice.	New Covenant disciples serve (i.e. worship) God by interpreting the spiritual meaning of God’s written word for Old/First Covenant religionists who only know how to interpret it literally.
He is the firstborn of the dead.	New Covenant disciples are considered to be raised from the dead when they are born again by the spiritual word of God. New Covenant disciples are recreated in the image of God.
He and the father are one.	Old/First Covenant religionists are separated by different religious laws. New Covenant disciples are spiritually united because they all follow God’s spiritual laws.
He is the good shepherd who willingly lays down his life for his sheep/friends. STUDY TIP: See Second Death	New Covenant disciples practice the greatest kind of love in which they lay down their lives for their friends. They do this by speaking for God as true prophets , angels , messiahs , high priests , witnesses and warriors.
He was a warrior who waged war against God’s enemy (i.e. religion).	We are called to suffer hardship as soldiers who speak for God to correct injustice, slavery and oppression.

From this analysis it is hard to ignore the conclusion that followers of Jesus (i.e. New Covenant disciples) are actively and purposefully engaged in warfare as soldiers. People who are not so engaged remain enslaved to Old/First Covenant religion, and cannot rightly be called Jesus’ followers.

And here are a few key qualities by which Jesus and his disciples are known:

They are the word of God made flesh.
They are lights to the world.
They are the spirit of prophecy.
Their name (i.e. character) is the word of God.

People who follow Jesus will also embody these same Godly qualities and fulfill the same good works that Jesus fulfilled in the ministry functions with which he served as God’s spokesman to people who did not know how to hear God’s voice.

Next we must understand the various aspects of Jesus ministry:

JESUS’ MINISTRY FUNCTIONS	EXPLANATION OF DISCIPLES’ MINISTRY FUNCTIONS
He was a messiah who’s mission was to speak God’s words to religious people with hard hearts who could not hear God’s voice.	Jesus’ followers (i.e. New Covenant disciples) do the same things that Jesus did. That means that all New Covenant disciples are messiahs.
Bring good news to people who are afflicted with religion.	Tell people that their relationship with God depends on the condition of their heart — not on religious activity.
Turn religious people from worshiping in the flesh to worshiping in spirit and truth.	Tell religious people that, because God sees religion as his enemy, he is calling them out of defiled religion into pure religion.
Divide New Covenant disciples from Old/First Covenant religionists by speaking God’s words.	Serve God as true prophets , angels, messiahs, high priests, witnesses and warriors who speak the gospel (i.e. God’s spoken words) to religious people who cannot hear God’s voice.
Make disciples/followers by teaching them how to reinterpret scriptures for their spiritual meaning.	Convert people from the religious practices of idolatry and listening to false prophets to people who listen to God’s voice. Make disciples and teach them.
Confront and rebuke religious leaders for their religious practices.	Religious leaders are Trees of Knowledge of Good and Evil who serve evil, soulish food to religious people. They are False Prophets, Serpents, Devils, Satans, Adversaries Demons, Evil Spirits, Anti-Christs, and foolish, worthless, stupid shepherds who tempt people to practice religion. The reasons for Jesus’ actions are discussed in detail in Jesus and the Money-Changers in the Temple. New Covenant disciples are Trees of Life who produce good fruit.
Rebuke religious people harshly with warnings of woes to come if they did not quit religion.	Warn religious people that God says that their hearts are evil and impure. Give them the good news that God will change their hearts to clean and pure if they stop listening to false prophets and start listening to his voice.
Ask challenging questions about their spiritual lives.	Teach religious people how to be disciples.
Answer questions, teach, and interpret the spiritual meanings of the literal Bible.	Teach people to study the Bible so they can learn how to understand its mysteries and interpret its symbolism. Teach people to listen to God’s spoken voice.
Heal religious people who are spiritually blind, deaf, lame, sick, and dead.	Heal religious people from the diseases and sickness of religion.
Seek and save people who are lost in religion.	Convert people from Old/First Covenant religion to New Covenant discipleship.
Bring justice to people who are held captive by religion.	Show disciples how to execute justice.
Bring justice to God’s enemies (i.e. religious leaders) who hold his people captive to religion.	Do justice.
Undo the works of the devil and cast out demons who perpetrate religion.	Show disciples how to identify false prophets.
Model for his followers the kinds of actions they must take to utterly destroy religious nations and tear down idols and high places, so that captives to religion can be set free from religion.	Fulfill God’s commands to utterly destroy religious nations and tear down idols and high places.
Comfort all who mourn.	Old/First Covenant religionists are considered by God to be in a constant state of mourning because they are spiritually dead. The only way to transition from mourning to joy is become a New Covenant disciple. Jesus ministry was to teach Old/First Covenant religionists the truth about religion so that their eyes will be opened and they will choose to convert from Old/First Covenant religion to New Covenant discipleship.
Bring rest to people who are busy and overworked with religious activity.	Teach religious people that they must be lawbreakers with respect to religious laws while being obedient to God’s spiritual laws.
Set captives free from religion.	God considers religious people to be enslaved an oppressed by religion. The only way to transition from slavery to freedom is become a New Covenant disciple. Jesus’ ministry was to teach Old/First Covenant religionists the truth about religion so that their eyes will be opened and they will choose to convert from Old/First Covenant religion to New Covenant discipleship. New Covenant disciples will do what Jesus did.
Bind up the brokenhearted.	God considers religious people to be brokenhearted because their hearts are evil and impure. The only way to heal their hearts is become a New Covenant disciple. Jesus’ ministry was to teach Old/First Covenant religionists the truth about religion so that their eyes will be opened and they will choose to convert from Old/First Covenant religion to New Covenant discipleship. New Covenant disciples will do what Jesus did.
He is the perfect type of a New Covenant disciple who hears, interprets and and obeys God’s voice.	Teach the truth about the differences between the Old/First Covenant and the New Covenant.

In summary, everything Jesus said and did focused on destroying the religion that was his religion for the first thirty years of his life — up to the moment that God anointed him and sent him to speak truth to the Jews. Before he was anointed, Jesus was God’s enemy because he was religious. Before he was anointed, he was a son of man because he observed man’s religious laws. But after he was anointed/baptized, he was God’s son and true prophet, angel, messiah , high priest , witness , and warrior.

Christians should take no comfort in the fact that Jesus ministry goal was to destroy Judaism. Every criticism that Jesus aimed at Judaism also applies to Christianity. Both religions keep their followers in bondage to religious laws. Both religions practice traditions based on the literal words of the Bible. Both religions exploit their followers financially. Both religions employ false prophets who are Pharisees and Scribes. The similarities that Judaism and Christianity share are endless. The only thing that separates Judaism and Christianity is the form of their traditions. Other than their traditions, they are exactly alike in God’s eyes. They are both his enemies because they both fit the definition of religion. And, so, it must be said that all of Jesus’ criticisms of Judaism also apply to Christianity.

And it must be said again that people who follow Jesus will also embody these same Godly qualities and fulfill the same ministry works that Jesus fulfilled. But they do not really follow Jesus while they remain adherents to Christianity. Christianity is a religion like any other religion. The only thing that makes Christianity different from any other religion is that it claims that its legitimacy lies in a man named Jesus who lived two thousand years ago. It has made Jesus into an idol.

Christians claim to follow Jesus but do not do the things Jesus did or obey his commands. If Christians really followed Jesus, they would quit being religious. If they really followed Jesus, they would embody Jesus character and fulfill his ministry functions. Christians do none of these things. Christianity is a defiled, Old/First Covenant religion — not a pure, New Covenant religion.

The Bible story of Jesus is an example of the process we must go through in order to be New Covenant disciples. He did not give us the story of Jesus so that we could idolize him. God wants us to listen to his voice — not to follow a man called Jesus. Indeed he wants us to listen to and obey the words Jesus spoke believing that he spoke for God, but not to idolize him.

God’s also gave us the model of Jesus as a warrior to teach us how to engage in spiritual battle with the enemy (i.e. religion). We also see that warrior function represented in Old Testament characters such as Moses, Joshua and David. All were engaged in warfare with religious cities, kingdoms and nations. We cannot be that kind of warrior, however, while we are religious because religion is God’s enemy.

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