Good and Evil...Destructive Allies.

There is a false concept that the religious people hold to:

"EVIL can be overcome by GOOD."

Though the saying is well intended and maybe true from man's perspective, it is not...the truth...the whole truth...and nothing but the truth...from God's perspective!

WHY?

Because good fruit and bad fruit both come from the same tree nurtured by the same roots! 

The tree in the midst of the Garden that Adam was instructed by God not to eat from was the "Tree of the Knowledge of GOOD and EVIL! If he did, he would determinie what is good or evi from his own intelect. That is why today, the good of some religions are considered bad by different religions and the bad of some religions are considered good by different religions!

EVIL cannot be overcome by the GOOD of Religion! Because the GOOD of Religion is: man's invention...man's initiation...man ordained...man's doing. "There is a way that SEEMS RIGHT unto man but the end thereof is DEATH."

The EVIL and the GOOD of religion are bed buddies!

We are all aware that the wicked one's work is evil work, and yes...murders, hate, lying, robbing, adultery, fornication, etc... are evil, religion sees this work as evil and rightly so...but, is religion guiltless when it comes to doing evil, though they may claim not to participate in evil?

What is evil in the eyes of God?

Well...Israel offered insufficient sacrifices to God. In Malachi 1:8, God told the people their sacrifices were “evil” because they offered something other than what He commanded. They were the right people, doing the right thing, at the right place, and at the right time. The only thing that differed, as far as noted in the account, was they did not offer the right type of animals. The people did differently than what ord God spoke unto them.  That’s what made their doing sacrifice evil.

When our thoughts, words, or deeds transgress the Gospel of Christ (the Grace Gospel), we are a evil people. This is so even though we think that in preaching Grace plus works we are doing something acceptable and good. We are not, because Grace is the Gospel on its own...not a mixture of the law with it.

God commands us to “abhor evil” (Rom. 12:9). Evil, even in the doing of good ought to disgust us because it is not loving God enough to agree with Him, we would rather agree with religious tradition.

Religion" is a force for evil that is worse then the evil of the sinners. Also let it be clear that it is not the people in the religious systems that is the force for evil, it is the people giving themselves over to the system that causes them to do evil things while believing they are serving God by doing good...in God's eye that is evil. In saying that, there are good people in the religious system who are unaware they are in a evil system or in league with the devil because their understanding of evilness is different from that of God. Even so, there is no excuse to commit such evil without knowing it because the Holy Spirit is present to expose evil religious trapings.

Any reliance on institutions that depends on a religious guide book, system of rules, rituals and routine performance as a way to God or to maintain a relationship with God is evil because it diminishes Jesus as the Head of His Body and disregards the Gospel of Christ is for post-cross believers. The Christian religion has it right regarding the belief that it is "by grace" that people enter into relationship with God, but to load people with constitutional bylaws, rule keeping and membership based on performance obligations and law keeping as a means to maintain their relationship and mature spiritually, is grace plus something, which is not grace at all and imprisons people in a yoke of bondage...IT IS EVIL!

Religious beliefs and practices that are against God's plan for the Community of the Redeemed within the Community of Humanity are evil in the site of God.

From bible history regarding the scribes, pharisees and chief priests, as well as Peter and Judas, we can determine that even the Community of the Redeemed can be deceived by the tactics of Satan if not submitted to the Christ life within.

Religious people today are not immune to the deceptions of  the devil...in fact, most of the religious agenda is fostered by the deception of Satan and is accepted as truths of the gospel. Satan masquerading as angel of light has infiltrated the minds of people to believe deceptions lies as truth to the degree where the people have closed their minds off to the real truth of the gospel.

Religious knowledge, information, profession, or even the bible does not bring transformation that salvation is suppose to bring to the unbeliever and believer alike, only Jesus can do that. 

The chief priests and scribes professed to know and fear the one true God. They professed to believe in the Scriptures. Judas professed to be a follower of Christ. Yet they killed the sinless Son of God. Anyone can make a profession of faith, but profession is not enough to guard us from the evilness of religion.

The chief priests and scribes knew the Hebrew Scripture better than any of us know the Bible. They studied it for years in the original language. They could cite lengthy passages by memory. But in spite of their impressive learning, they missed Christ. Their knowledge filled them with pride, when it should have humbled them before God. Bible knowledge is good if it brings us to the true knowledge of God and of ourselves which will result in humility and total dependance in Christ. But if it puffs us up because of what we know, we participating in the devils EVIL! 

Religious position and ritual is not enough. These men were the religious leaders of their day. They had spiritual oversight over the people. But they crucified the Jesus. Judas was one of the twelve apostles, hand-picked by Jesus Christ. Yet he betrayed the Savior of the world for a small bag of silver. 

We can be a part of the hierarchy of religion holding lofty positions, we can be a "lay" person partnering with religion, yet be in league with the devil and his EVILNESS!