BTZ Blog

Visit any religious bookstore and you will be inundated with self help books that reveals the secret to long life, wait loss, marriage restoration, self-esteem, self-love, the secret to good sermon preparation, the secret to good preaching, the secret to pleasing God, the secret to church growth, the secret to getting people to give ant the list goes on and on. The religious system has led people to believe there is a secret to attaining an intimate relationship with God and through religious enlightenment from the religious elite preachers and writers, that secret will be found and will whisk them up into constant communion with God. Religion has been doing this since its conception and the secret is still elusive even with millions of self help books available. There is no secret to an intimate relationship with God, forget what religion offers and totally relate to Him depending on Him only, He is the initiator, the source and maintainer. God is the answer, not the self-help gu...

Grace is the means by which God gives us spiritual life, it provides the power to maintain and nourish our spiritual relationship and enables us to live gracefully. The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is powered by the Grace of God. After Paul had prayed three times for God to deliver him from his thorn in the flesh, he received this answer: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). Paul speaks of God’s Grace as a experiential reality of a very dynamic nature. Grace is all of God’s doing without any of man’s doing. Man can only truly live in grace when he understands that he can do absolutely nothing to assist the blessing of Grace. Don’t buy the lie of the mixed law and grace gospel in that feeling the condemnation of the religionist by blaming yourself and wallowing in shame is somehow pleasing to God, or that a constant guilt-complex will somehow promote holiness and spiritual maturity. It’s just the opposite! God...

Before we as believers can fully experience the fullness and richness of God’s grace, we must know the limits of our fleshly abilities when it comes our doing to attain God’s attention and blessing. The more we understand our inability to add one ounce of self-effort to gain or maintain relationship with God, the more we will understand, accept and appreciate grace and its power and the dimension of His divine accomplishment minus any assistance from us humans. Grace shines so brightly and is so powerful, it eradicates the need for our weak human attempts to assist God in His work. We  will come to understand that it is Him doing His work through us, not us working for Him and needing His assistance. Grace does not empower us to live in the flesh with its judging, condemning and fear-mongering hell awaiting eternal damnation; it empowers us to live in the Spirit and the Spirit to live through us with a gracious, loving and forgiving attitude of our loving Father. Grace stands opp...

The nature of God’s Grace is thoroughly misunderstood by the reloginoists within religion. The religionists presents Jesus as a Savior saving people from “hell fire”...Grace presents Jesus as the Savior saving people from the sin of the sinner and the self-righteous saint so both can live a graceful and loving life in daily living. Millions have been deceived by the hell escaping gospel, because of their desire to escape religion’s hell the religious way, they have been hindered from experiencing the power of Grace to free them from religious carnality and worldliness. In their ignorance the religionists tells us that Grace is an occasion to sin because they have never experienced Grace’s power to keep them from sin. Grace is no more a license to sin than electricity is a license to electrocute yourself. There isn’t anything we can do or not do to disqualify ourselves from the Grace of our loving God, but the religionists have managed to forfit the experience of the reality of God’s ...

It matters not how the judgmental, condemnatory Grace-butting, Grace-haters categorize God’s gracious Grace. They can call it; “greasy grace”...“sinning grace”...“lazy grace”...“false grace”, they can dissect it...disqualify it...quantify it...misaligned it...marginalize it...demoralize it...and as they do, dismiss it, but NONE of their derogatory phrases will make God’s Grace anything less than what it is” amazing, audacious, marvelous, unfathomed, unwarranted, undiscriminating, unlimited, forgiving and loving. Jesus did it all and when we bring it all back to Jesus, grace will marvelously, miraculously and powerfully work through our lives...unhindered by the religiousness of the Grace-butting Grace-haters. Grace is not for a sin sick man in need of a doctor...Grace is for a dead man in need of being brought back to life! It is ALL by His Grace and His grace alone!

A person's identity is is largely determined by someone or something they have a relationship with. To satisfy the need to know who they are some people will latch on to just about anything to discover who they are. Many people's identity is found in their profession, people they associate with, their abilities and talents, their environment, their appearance, their nationality, their race, the car they drive, the neighborhood they live in, their social class, the denomination they belong to, their religious beliefs, etc....   The problem with the above identity sources is that they are all as fleeting as the wind. The opinions of other people are a poor way to determine who we are. Religious denominations are a prime example of this. Agree with their constitution, their bylaws, sign the membership form and abide by their rules and regulations and you are considered a "good Christian"...a "good Baptist"...a "good pentecostal"...a "good ...

Some grace plus law gospel upholders accuse the grace only gospel of leading people to become spiritually lazy and complacent about their relationship with God. This guilt-mongering is partially due to the loss of control over people if they became grace plus nothing living people. The religious domination, manipulation and fear-mongering tactics would cease to produce favorable results for them and the religious empires would crumble in the dust of the deception and confusion it is based on. Grace is not a license to sin, nor is it a lazy man's gospel. In fact the exact opposite is true. The religious emphasis on the cross as sin forgiving to the exclusion of Christ in you and living through you without any input of human doing is what really leads to spiritual complacency. The mixed law and grace gospel produces believers who are relieved and thankful that they will not be judged for their sins and have escaped “hell”. But this gospel gives people no motivation to ...

The religious gospel with its law keeping, its rule and ritual keeping is man's search for God. The Grace gospel with its trust in God, with its total dependence on God is God's search for man. While we were yet in weakness [powerless to help ourselves], at the fitting time Christ died for (in behalf of) the ungodly....But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us...For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son....(Romans 5:6-10). In reading the story of the cross, what do you find that Christ didn't do that religion asks of men to do? Maybe you will get it from this statement; “NOBODY asked Jesus to FORGIVE them of their SIN! Instead Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Jesus did not give an alter call to the men He chose as disciples before He called them to follow Hi...

 When we clearly understand the purpose of God for mankind is to “draw all men unto Himself”, we will clearly see that the purpose for Jesus going to the cross was to raise the "walking dead" to life. And we will begin to see why the FINISHED work of Christ had to deal with the sin problem once and for all as taught in the Post Cross Testament. The death He died, he died to sin once and for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God, (Rom. 6:10). But now He has appeared once and for all, at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26) For Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:18). The totality of Christ's sacrifice on the cross has been a contention within religion since His resurrection. The religionist has taken the law of Moses, with its sacrificial system that God gave to Israel along w...

Institutional religion, especially the fundamental, evangelical and the charismatic groups, have done a excellent job at keeping its followers preoccupied with the thing that in God's eye's is no longer the thing...God has dealt with the thing...sin...through the cross, once and for all. To remain ignorant of the thing that God wants believers to be occupied with...the life of Christ within and living that life...is paramount to keeping people "sin conscious", "hell conscious" and heaven conscious rather than "God conscious", "Kingdom conscious", "love conscious and "Grace conscious." Religion has minimized what Jesus accomplished on the cross by  preaching a law-keeping, fear-mongering gospel instead of maximizing what Jesus accomplished on the cross by preaching a love-giving and grace-living gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the bad news of sin, which brought death to all mankind...the Gospel is the good ...

I read this quote online recently; "Religion isn't the THING, it's the THING that gets us to the THING." This great deception of religion is accepted as truth by the vast majority of people who call themselves "Christian",  and it has deceived God's people by hindering the plan of God for the Community of the Redeemed within the Community of Humanity. Religion is definitely a thing that sometimes is perceived to do good things, but it isn't the thing that gets us to the thing, (a right standing with God). Religion is the thing that stands in the way of people getting to the real THING, because religion is not the WAY to God, Jesus is the WAY to God! Jesus' death and resurrection removed everything (the veil and the priest that entered into the presence of God for the people) that stood in the way of people getting to the real THING...forever. Religioun has usurped the auth...

Living by faith cannot be done in the past...the past is over. Living by faith cannot be done in the future...the future is not here yet. Living by faith can only be done in the present. Therefore you cannot have faith for the past, nor can you have faith for the future. You can only have faith for the present. The faith you had when the past was the present and the faith you can have when the future is present and the faith you have in the present is based of your trust in God! Understanding of the completeness of what Christ accomplished on the cross and by His resurrection, in that the sin issue has forever been dealt with, only then can we have total trust in God regarding the future. We must come to the realization that our future standing spiritually is not due to some "heavenly bookkeeping" recording our right and wrongs, to be used as a measuring stick to determine if we make it into heaven or not. Live by the faith of God...not the faith of religion,...

Some people within the "Christian Religion" going to their Sunday-event-driven meetings, hear all about Christ's death on the cross for them for the forgiveness of their sin, but they are totally unaware about Christ's life in them and His living His life through them while they live life on earth. Oh...they may know it with their intellect, but it is unknown in their heart or spirit, therefore not experienced. Therefore they strive to live out the believer's life by keeping Old Testament laws and observing religious rules and rituals in their own strength and ability, resulting in failure. They experience no spiritual reality in their relationship with Christ or with people. The gospel is more than about where you go when you die. That "more" of the gospel, is about the reality of Christ living in you and through you, while you live your life on earth.

For 50 of my 65 years of living on this earth I have been attending religious meetings and listening to the Gospel...or so I thought. And it went something like this, “man is a sinner destined to suffer in the pangs of hell for eternity. Jesus came to die on the cross so that man could be rescued from hell and fitted for heaven. Somehow this religious mentality was based on John 3:16; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life.” The Gospel was presented by fear-mongering mongrels threatening people to an eternity in hell if they did not repent by saying the “sinner's prayer”, then attending some denominational religious building on Sundays and abiding by the religious rules and rituals. Religion still functions today by espousing a partial gospel in that man is in need of forgiveness through the cross which eradicates our sin and guilt. But it does not give us power to live above si...

When believers become spiritually mature enough to see beyond the religious system and our initial Salvation...into God's eternal purpose for the Community of the Redeemed, freedom will be better understood. In order to see what and who we are in Christ we have to see beyond religion, for that to happen we have to see religion for what it is...a man-made substitute to house and control the Body of Christ. Then and only then, will true freedom in Christ be realized. Religion teaches that Christ is the Gate and that is 100% true. Though it mouths that Jesus is also The Way, it lives and breathes as if Religion  itself is The Way and have deceived multitudes into believing that deception to be truth. They would have people to enter the gate by Grace then instead of following Jesus...the path to holiness, they would have you follow Religion...as the path to holiness! Instead of living in the freedom that Christ brings, people live in the bondage of religion thinking that they are...

Believers have been chosen by God to fulfill the same eternal destiny, though He gives each of us different gifts wherewith He carries out His work through us. One day we will give an account to God regarding our faithfulness in allowing Him to do His work through us, or if we tried to do His work in our own strength through religious activity within religion. Was our activity motivated by love and grace or by the fear of breaking the Mosaic law or religious laws? If we try to build our relationship with God on the foundation of trying to keep the law or religious rules, rather than the foundation of grace living, the works we accomplish will be burnt up as wood, hay and stubble and of no eternal benefit. "But Lord we healed the sick in your name, but Lord we cast out devils in your name, but Lord we went to church on Sundays and paid our tithes, but...but...but...", all of our butting will be of no avail. To build our relationship with God on the ...

  In one sense I agree with some of my religious friends, in that they are geniuses...Only I believe them to be religious geniuses, rather than spiritual geniuses, who overlook the obvious even when it is staring them in the face! They overlook the teachings of Christ for the teachings of man. They overlook Jesus the Living Word for man's teachings and interpretation of the written word, which is lifeless until impregnated with the Spirit of the Living Word. They overlook the purity of the Grace Gospel of Jesus Christ by polluting  it with rule and ritual keeping. They overlook the Body of Christ as the Church in favour of denominated name-tagged buildings as the Church. They overlook Community of the Redeemed living life daily as being Church in favour of Sunday-go-programmed-event driven meetings as Church. They overlook Christ as Head of His Church in favour of man as head of the Church. They overlook the unity that Christ brings for ...

Religious leaders and their religionist followers are more about pleasing men rather than pleasing God. The religionist pew-warmers seek to please God by pleasing their denominational leader. The denominational leader seeks to please God by pleasing the denominational hierarchical agenda, and pleasing the people he leads. The end result is that both are not pleasing God because at the root of this pleasing tree is that we are trying to please God by living up to some man instituted standard that is suppose to make us okay with God. Being caught in the pleasing cycle above will cause us to forget our identity and who we are because of Christ in us. We forget that we a a loved child of God and as His loved child we are accepted by him irregardless of whether we please the religious mindset or not. To many of God's people are prisoners of religious law-keepers instead of being free in God's grace. That is what happened to the Apostle Paul when he was known as the "...

God is a God of  Amazing Grace, all his Loving Kindness is in Jesus, who is Grace! Grace is the worthiness of God...religion  the worthiness of man. Grace is God-conscious...religion is sin-conscious. Grace is pure...religion has tainted grace by mixing the law with it. Grace is sincerely right...religion is sincerely wrong. Grace is truth...religion is tainted within untruth. Grace is humble...religion is prideful. Grace is consistent...religion is fickle. Grace is a spiritual oasis...religion is a spiritual wasteland. Grace is faithfulness...religon is treacherous. Grace is obedience to God...religion is obedience to man. Grace is love-based...religion is fear-baced. Grace is heaven sent...religion is hell bent. Grace is devotion to God...religion is waywardness form God. Grace is the righteousness of God...religion is the self-righteousness of man. Grace is spiritual life...religion is spiritual death. Grace is the result of Christ's f...

         God is Good. God is nothing but Good. God loves you. God has nothing but Good intentions toward you. If  your actions or your speech portray God as someone other than Good...you misunderstand and are misrepresenting God!

LOVE does not keep a record of the wrongs done.  LOVE is not love if it does not forgive. God is LOVE, He does not keep a record of your wrongs, He forgives your wrongs.  We are taught that God keeps a list of the wrongs people have done, and in the end, if the wrongs you have done outweigh the rights you have done, then your goose is cooked and you will receive punishment form God. This religious up-side-down thinking has caused people to become sin-focused, believing that God associates our past with our future by punishing us in the future for sins in the past, rather than forgiven-focused where the wrongs in our past are cast into the sea of His forgetfulness not to be remembered against us anymore. Take heart...God has no sea of remembrance when it comes to your sin of the past.

Fear-mongering, judgmental, condemning placard carrying religious spiritual elitists receiving their just-reward.

It is not that grace has been tried and found wanting, within religion...It is that grace has been lost because of religion therefore, left untried! To experience grace, one must stop traveling the religious train of "I" think "I" can..."I" think "I" can, because grace is "I" less, and travel the grace train of  "Christ in me can do all things." Grace is not about what you do, it is about what you don't do because God has done EVERYTHING pertaining to grace. Your doing to obtain grace makes grace graceless.

How our relationship with God and with people be influenced if we didn't base  our sense of spirituality on the observanc of religious rules and regulations, man-made denominated doctrines, attending Sunday-go-event-driven meetings, but instead was based on God Himself? If we would be more open to hear the voice of God's Spirit for ourselve if our minds were not influenced and channeled  by the pastor's spiritual understanding all the time? Would the joy of our salvation light up with truth by not having to submit all the revelation that God gives to us PERSONALLY under the authority of what is preached over the "sacred desk"? What would happen if church was not contained within four walls of a building and confined to programmed-event-driven meetingings, denominated agendas, not a one-man showmanship event,  and instead in our daily liviing of life we glorified God by demonstrating the love and grace to the across our path people we rub sholders ...

Imagine that you are sitting in your Sunday-go-event-driven meeting and and just before the sermon singing; The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell; It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell; The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win; His erring child He reconciled, And pardoned from his sin. Oh, love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure— The saints’ and angels’ song. And then hear these words from the preacher; "I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism." Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue Quoted in  The News-Sentinel, "I want to say to all you Scribes, Pharisees, heresy hunt...

Bible inerrancy, Bible authenticity, Bible infallibility, when looked at in light of the facts that disprove such phrases and debated, the debate becomes lost in endless religious tradition of interpretation and subtle questions of translation. The claims of religious believers that the Bible is what the above states puts the religionists in the position of not just claiming that the original manuscripts were free of error, but also the translation from the errant copies by fallible men who produced the Bible is the end result of error-free copying and translating. Such a held position is faulty and a simple reference to the Bible itself is all that is needed to disprove such a claim.  Look at Gen. 32:30, "...for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."  But, John 1:18 says, "No man has seen God at any time..." Is it possible for both of these statements to be true? There is either a factual error or a translation error......