The word religion means, a set of beliefs shared by a body of people concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, and that govern one’s moral behavior. Religiosity is the act of being religious. The different religions represent the different sets of beliefs that groups of men have understood to be the correct or accurate representation of the truth. The different Christian religions are the different sets of beliefs that groups of men have understood to be the will of God, as spelled out in the bible.
Naturally, each person views life from his own perspective. Perspective is derived from life experiences, filtered through reasoning, which forms one’s way of thinking. Thusly, some reading the same words, can glean different meanings. It is only natural to give these different sets of beliefs different names, so when spoken about, we don’t have to spell the beliefs all out.
Everyone who believes that the bible is God’s word would agree that there is only one set of beliefs spelled out in the bible. But the bible says, “Lean not unto your own understanding”. So if everyone were to adhere to this scripture, shouldn’t we come up with only one set of beliefs? That would be God’s set of beliefs. So which religion is right and which is wrong? Each religion would say that they have the “one true religion”.
People fall into this trap of believing in this man-made set of beliefs. It is easy to do. We find security in numbers. It is only natural that people discuss things one with another and each person reasons and ponders the other’s convictions as truth or not. There is nothing wrong with that. But when we put our entire trust in a man-made set of beliefs without questioning, without reasoning, and mostly without seeking God himself, that is when one crosses over into what I am calling religiosity. In this regard Cults are no different from religions. Cult followers put their entire trust in the cult leader, and not to God, and thusly are led astray, and ultimately perish. I submit to you that many of the people in these different denominations are being led down the same path to destruction. It is just more subtle. Revelation chapters 2 and 3 are talking about the churches of today. In Genesis the serpent was described as the most subtle of all the creatures. This means, the most crafty. The words subtle means hidden, or hard to see. He has the ability to hide the truth, cloud it over, and change it’s meaning. Bluntly - LIE. He is called the father of all lies. He is the great liar. Beware of these lies. Many don’t know that they are listening to the wrong message because they don’t have spiritual understanding. They just don’t know.
So how do we lean not unto our own understanding and without falling victim to the enemy’s lies? The bible says, “Seek and yea shall yea find.” That which one seeks, so shall he find. That which one sews, so shall he reap. If one is seeking self-fulfillment, he will find the father of self, Satan. Wow! Many people don’t know that because their spiritual eyes are closed, even most of the people in these churches today. It says so in the book of Revelation, mentioned above. The satanic bible teaches its followers to worship SELF. In doing so, one is doing the will of Satan. It tells its followers that there is no such thing as God, or Satan. There is only what you see with your natural eyes. This is said to get us to close our spiritual eyes, and take what is coming. Wham! Blind-sided! If one doesn’t worship God, then all he has left is who? SELF. Everyone is on one side or the other. There is no middle ground. So you can be confident that if you are truly seeking God, then by the power of God, God is who you will find. Jesus promises this in Revelation 3:20: Behold I stand at the door and knock; If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me.
The children of the most high God are to carry His name Rev 14:1, 12:12, 22:4. Jesus called his people his church in Matthew 16:18. Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, LDS, etc are not God’s names. Even Judaism is the name of only one of the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Judah. The name given to God’s people was the children of Israel. Israel was the name given to Jacob by God. The rest can be grafted into the kingdom.
Acts 11:18 Then to the gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life.
Galatians 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Ephesians 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.
I believe God doesn’t want his church split into denominations. I believe any person whom is denominalized, should come out, as described in Revelation 17, 18:1-4.