GOD ALLOWS PEOPLE TO BE DECEIVED SO HE CAN SHOW THEM THE TRUTH
Given that religion is sin, it is hard to accept that God has actually deceived people so that they would sin is a strategy that turns them from religion to listening to his voice instead of the voice of false prophets. The strategy includes these steps:

STUDY TIP: See The Law is a Stumbling Block. Also see this link and this link about Jesus being a stumbling block.

This pattern of stumbling, exile and deliverance explains why God sets the stumbling block of religion before his people: They must have the experience (i.e. signs and wonders) of being delivered from religion before they can appreciate that he is the Lord. We see it most clearly in the following stories:

These and all other stories symbolically communicate the theme of death, resurrection and new life. The following are a few examples of the ways that New Covenant disciples understand the differences between death and life:

Old/First Covenant religionists cannot relate to these experiences because they are still religious and have no memory of the process by which they were delivered. They think that they are spiritually alive but they are spiritually dead. They think they have spiritual knowledge but all they have is worldly knowledge. They listen to false prophets but do not listen to true prophets or to God’s spoken voice. They look for physical miracles but have not experienced the spiritual miracle of having God give them a new heart and giving them spiritual eyes and ears.

Lacking these spiritual signs and wonders, Old/First Covenant religionists comfort, excite and feed themselves with religion. The form and intensity of the religious experience may vary in intensity from time to time, from religion to religion and from individual to individual, but there is always something in the religious worship ritual that satisfies those who do it. This happens because God has hard-wired all humans to experience fleshly excitement of the mind and emotions while engaged in communal activities. We see evidence of this human condition in all kinds of human activity. Here are a few examples:

• • • Sporting events.
    • Music performances.
    • Political rallies.
    • Events in which people sing and dance together.
    • Events in which people share stories.

Whether small or large, these community events have a way of binding people together.

The social-psychological benefits of gathering together have always existed and have always been at work in the formation of all religions. It is fair to say that, if these benefits did not exist, religions would not have evolved they way they have. But, as we see in the current phenomenon of people leaving religion in large numbers, the camaraderie of religion is not enough to keep some people involved in religion.They have become disaffected with religion for many reasons:

• • • They need more than the joy of meeting with others to keep them engaged.
    • They are disappointed in the awareness that religion does not deliver on its promises for a good and prosperous life.
    • They are angered by religious abuse.
    • They are skeptical about religious leaders’ incomes and lavish lifestyles.
    • They are skeptical about tithes spent on big, fancy churches.

In the past, when one religion failed to deliver what people expected from it, they left that religion and replaced it with another one that promised to deliver what they thought they needed. It is like transitioning from one intoxicating drug to another more powerful drug. But what seems to be happening currently is that people are dropping out of religion altogether rather than just switching to another religion. It appears that the religious fix no longer works for these people they way it once did. They have discovered the cure for their addiction: Disengage from religious organizations and rest.

It could be said of such people that they are done with religion. It could be said of some of these people that they are also done with God. In their view, God was once able to satisfy them through religious rituals, but now, it does not work. The thrill of old time religion is gone and many, but not all, are looking for an alternative.

Religious people, not understanding that God is actually calling people out of religion, see this trend as a sign of evil at work, but it is really a good thing. It is good because God has chosen to reveal to those who are leaving a fact that he always knew: Religion is death. But for for those who leave religion, it is death that leads to life.

For reasons no one will ever know, God has chosen these modern times to reveal this truth about religion to select people and called them out of religion by showing them how empty it really it. He is calling them out of Old/First Covenant religion and inviting them to be New Covenant disciples.

Whereas these people were once convinced that they were spiritual and enjoyed good standing with God because they were faithful to perform their religious rituals, they are on their way to understanding that these rituals were all flesh and never truly spiritual. They are on their way to understanding that their need to repeat their rituals was rooted in their need for intellectual, social, relational, emotional and physical stimulation. These are all qualities that God calls fleshly food because they are all experienced in the physical body. They are the stuff of religion that can be seen, heard, and felt. They are not the substance of faith which cannot be seen.

STUDY TIP: See Religion is not Faith.

Religious people are deceived about their wisdom and their righteousness. False prophets have taught for generations that religion is good and that the good soulish highs they experience by being part of a religious community is what God wants. And it all works very nicely because religion is a very effective at delivering what religious people need and want for emotional stimulation, spiritual security and human fellowship.

This is true for Christianity, Judaism and  the multitude of religions which are generally accepted as legitimate, even desirable, institutions that benefit the entire community — not just the religionists. The degree of acceptance of religion is so deep, in fact, that throughout history, governments have adopted policies to clarify the relationship of government to religion. The fact that religion enjoys acceptance and is even encouraged, supported and coddled by some governments should be our first clue that God is opposed to it. After all, his ways are not man’s ways.

With this pervasive acceptance of religion, hardly anyone dares to criticize any religion. Those who do criticize it are sure to be criticized themselves for being intolerant and/or insensitive. And in certain fundamental religions, critics of one religion might even be targets for persecution by other religions. Nevertheless, religions of all kinds generally enjoy acceptance because they are all perceived to be basically moral and good.

Given this generally favorable history, religious people will not be happy to hear that they have been deceived and intoxicated with pride over the righteousness of their religious habits. And indeed they have every right to be unhappy when they come to understand that they and all the generations of their spiritual fathers and mothers have been deceived into practicing the sin that has placed them in bondage to religion.

They will ask of themselves, and on behalf of generations of others, “How is it possible that we could be deceived?” They will wonder, “How could so many wise, intelligent people, even Biblical scholars, even I, misinterpret the Bible so wrongly?” And until they know why, most will be angry with themselves and others for being so stupid as to believe all the lies that religion employs to suck gullible people into a life of bondage to religion.

The short answer to these and other imponderable questions about the success of religion is this: God is responsible. We know this because God has made the law a stumbling block that has deceived people from the truth.

This fact seems like bad news until we recognize that God always has a redemptive purpose in everything he does. We see this most clearly in scriptures about the two covenants that are found throughout the Bible. They are the ultimate examples of good and evil.

STUDY TIPS: See Two Covenants Part 1 and Two Covenants Part 2 .