FALSE RELIGION -- Devotional for February 11, from "Good Seeds"

NOTE TO DEVOTIONAL READERS: I made some changes to Feb 10 entry, to make it fit Feb 11's a little better, calling it "True Religion" and this one "False Religion" They are really part I and II of the same subject, which I often do.

Know this: in the last days difficult times will come, where men will hold to a form of godliness, all the while denying its power. They will be masters of facts, but simpletons regarding truth. (II Timothy 3:1,5,7)

Anthropologists like to predict that when human civilization reaches its zenith, religion will have evolved out of mankind’s thinking altogether. But the Bible makes another prediction, quite contradictory to that of science, but not any more complimentary or comforting. Today’s Scripture is a prophetic word from God telling us that religion will survive and even thrive in even the most sophisticated society in future times. But it will be powerless religion, able to occupy our energies and entertain our senses, but unable to move us graciously through this life and carry us safely into the next -- in other words, powerless to save. The popular thinking of today is not far from this “Last Days Religion.” What is commonly taught in our schools, expounded in our politics, and yes even preached in our pulpits, is that mankind can, by his own ability and nobility, raise himself up out of the mire of evil and poverty, and place himself on the solid ground of righteousness and prosperity. This is popular religion, but it is false religion. When someone is drowning can he save himself? No, he needs help from the outside -- topside! Mankind is drowning in the cesspool of sin, slowly sucked under and gradually suffocating in the quicksand of evil. As a man cannot extricate himself from a hole in the ice, or from a miry bog, so he cannot rescue himself from the embrace of evil. But he keeps trying. Jesus said, “Come unto Me…” but men say, “No, we don’t need Your help. We’re not babies, we’re not cripples; we don’t need to be carried, and we don’t need crutches or wheelchairs.” This is how the religion of the Bible is characterized by the world: a pacifier for underdeveloped souls, a crutch for weaklings. The truth is, all men are stunted at the soul level, and all are in over their heads, and closer to death and soul destruction than they realize. But every time a drowning man rejects the life ring thrown to him, he moves that much closer to his watery grave. False religion boldly asserts, “I can pull myself up, save myself from danger and death by my own efforts.” True religion simply admits, “I see now that I’ll never make it on my own, so I’ll reach out and take hold of the lifesaver.” And that lifesaver is the Savior from sin, Jesus Christ. John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, said, “I only know two things: I am a great sinner; He is a great Savior. Regardless of what facts you may know, this is the only truth you need!