STUDY TO ENTER THE KINGDOM THAT CANNOT BE SHAKEN
Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. He was speaking to all people who think they are blessed (i.e. rich) because of their religious heritage, the truth of their religious doctrines, the rightness of their religious practices, and the comfort and praise they receive for being members in good standing of a religious community. These are the qualities of religious pride that God symbolically refers to when he talks of wealth, riches and possessions. They are all the stuff of flesh that leads to death and not of the spirit that leads to life.
The story of the rich man emphasizes the difficulty religious people have trying to escape religion (i.e. the kingdom that can be shaken) where they are prisoners and enter the Kingdom of God (i.e. the kingdom that cannot be shaken) where they are free. We are all members of one kingdom or the other. Hopefully people who have dropped out of religion have not just dropped out to do nothing. Hopefully, they will study to enter the Kingdom of God. But, like the story about the rich man says, passage from the kingdom of the world of religion) to the Kingdom of God is hard to accomplish. This is because we are prisoners and slaves to our fleshly, religious instincts which we cannot control.
People who are religious and even those who are not religious are members of a kingdom that can be shaken. Recalling that end times prophecies are to applied personally and not globally, we conclude from Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnez’zar’s (King of Babylon) dream, and from prophecies in Revelation, that Babylon and all kingdoms, both personal and corporate, will be crushed/shaken/overcome by the Kingdom of God. When and how that will happen will be personal and full of tribulation for each individual because no one likes to have their known, secure world upset or shaken in any way. Therefore, coming out of religion is not easy. This is a bad news warning to all religious people who might want to quit religion.
The Religion Detox Network exists to encourage people who have doubts about their religion by reading first-hand testimonies of people who have successfully escaped from religion. These stories will verify the trials of leaving friends and family and report on the ultimate freedom achieved through perseverance.
The good news, however, is that those who persevere through the tribulation that they receive at the hand of religious people can successfully transition from one kingdom to the other. That does not mean, however, that God unilaterally moves us from one kingdom to the other without our participation. What we must do is not as simple as being baptized, saying a prayer, having hands laid on us, going to a revival meeting or lighting a candle because the kingdom does not come with signs that can be seen with the natural eye. God is looking for evidence that we want to be delivered, and he finds that evidence in our willingness to leave the comfort, security and familiarity of our religious family, friends, teachers and traditions. It begins with crying out for deliverance, followed by repentance for engaging in religion (i.e. physical works, following other gods), followed by study to learn God’s righteous alternative to religion. He exposes this evidence by testing our hearts to learn if we will keep his commandments and trust that man lives by the spoken word of God instead of trusting he teachings of men and following a religion based on the literal words of the Bible.
As we said before, these lessons are not learned quickly or easily. Israel spent forty years in the wilderness where God readied his people for entrance into the Promised Land (i.e. New Covenant/Kingdom of God). There he detoxified some, but not all, of Israel from the religious practices that they had learned in Egypt. Ex-religionists who want to enter the promised land may not spend a literal forty years getting cleansed from their old religious beliefs and practices (i.e. sins), but it will take and indeterminate amount of time which is different for each person. Even after repenting and dropping out of religion, the length of time spent in the wilderness depends on how the quantity and quality of study.
The goal of study is to cleanse our hearts from religious idolatry and renew/transform our minds from religious thinking and habits. This is what God tried to when he rescued Israel from Egypt because Israel had adopted religious beliefs and practices while in Egypt. Just as Israel was intoxicated with Egyptian religion and needed to be detoxified, people coming out of religion today need to be detoxified. Transformational study that includes listening to God’s spoken voice is the only way to become detoxified.
STUDY TIP: See Characteristics of a Good, Pure Heart and Characteristics of an Evil, Impure Heart for understanding of the transformation that God’s voice is able to create.
As the transformation process is accomplished, God writes his perfect law on our hearts as his spirit teaches us how to be obedient at all times in all situations. Only then will we find rest from the business of religious work. Only then can we stop trying to make sure we are obeying all the Old/First Covenant laws which we cannot possibly remember nor obey even if we could remember. Only then we we really have peace in our hearts. Only then will we have no fear of religious people who are always scheming to attract new people to join their religions and keep those who have already joined in slavery.
When we enter God’s rest we are no longer occupied by the detailed work of keeping the Old/First Covenant law (i.e. religion). When we trust that the New Covenant law is written on our hearts, we come to a place of peace, rest and a clear conscience regarding our relationship with God and with others.