Day 15: No Man Can Serve Two Masters
Matthew 16:24
I understand how difficult it is to become separate from a religion that’s been ingrained since birth. It required forgetting everything I was ever taught, and starting over from scratch. I admit, it was easier for me, because of the stark contrasts between what I was taught and what I observed in my home life and in school. I knew, from an early age, that I didn’t like religion, but I didn’t understand why it didn’t sit well with me until recently, when I started reading God’s Word. It wasn’t until I read Exodus that I realized I spent most of my life not knowing the 2nd Commandment:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: - Exodus 20:4-5
When I saw the major difference between the Commandments listed in the Bible and the ones listed in Baltimore catechism, I found it highly disturbing that the church was okay with changing Scripture without God’s authority. That this church lied about God’s Word meant its teachers would lie about anything.
The following videos go into detail about the 2nd Commandment, in case you’re interested:
The Catholic Church Changed the Second Commandment and the Idols Entered In!
The Missing Second Commandment and The Idols of the Roman Catholic Church
John MacArthur has spoken about catholicism in several of his sermons, including one about the pope and papacy, during which he cites a quote that has stuck with me since I first listened to it:
“The Pope is the very Antichrist who has exalted himself above and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved.” - Martin Luther
If that doesn’t compell one to at least look more closely into the teachings of the catholic church, I don’t know what will. In your research, you will most likely reach the same conclusion about catholicism that I have: the very people {who strove so hard to stop true Christianity from spreading} saw an opportunity to gain power, enrichment, and an effective means of steering potential Christians away from the truth of the gospel…which would confirm Luther’s above quote, wouldn’t it?
Christianity and “religion” are not the same. If you’re put off by anything that’s considered “religious”, you’re on the right track; you just need to look a bit further into true Christianity to understand why it’s different.
The answers are in the Bible. Pick it up. Read it. Study it. Watch it transform your life in ways you never imagined. God’s Word is all you need. ❤️
Note: I’ve included this clip because it’s a beautiful scene in this episode of the Chosen, and it supports today’s verses from the gospel of John. The creator of The Chosen series, Dallas Jenkins, has always maintained that The Chosen series is NOT meant as a replacement for Scripture, and I wholeheartedly echo this. Worship and Bible study requires time spent reading God’s Word as a priority. This video featuring the relevant scene is shared from The Chosen’s YouTube channel, so that you can watch, if you haven’t seen it already. Enjoy!
Note 2: The scene associated with verses 15 and 16 happens in S2/E5 of The Chosen {Timestamp: 2:40-6:14}.
John 5:1-16
After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.Now there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, “Wilt thou be made whole?”
The impotent man answered him, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.”
Jesus saith unto him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, “It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.”
He answered them, “He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.”
Then asked they him, “What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?”
And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.
Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”
The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Resources
John MacArthur Sermon
The Damning Power of False Religion {John 5:1-16}
Bible.org Commentary
The Impotence of Religion, the Power of Christ {John 5:1-16}