COMING TO REST WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING
Getting to that place of peace and rest in the Kingdom of God does not happen instantaneously. It is a process in which we must study the Bible to show ourselves approved by God.

We begin with the written words of the Bible, we do not end with the Bible for understanding. Instead, we end with hearing and obeying God’s voice. When we follow this process we apply the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle while reading the literal Bible to discover the spiritual truth the spirit of God will reveal to us through Bible study. Reading between the lines of the Bible, we infer a three step process.

Since the explanations in Step 2 are distributed widely, and we might even say randomly because we don’t understand God’s strategy for distributing truth throughout the Bible, it is not easy to connect the meanings with the natural stories. Man’s way would be to provide the explanation immediately in the context of a topic, but that is not God’s way which is to provide the explanation, or explanations in places we would not expect to find them. That is why we must study the entire Bible, not just one part, and must study carefully so that we might discover many of the hidden clues that will lead us to understanding.

If we do not study broadly so that we connect spiritual meanings to the natural words and stories, we make the mistake of accepting the literal words and literal stories as the ultimate truth and create doctrines from it. What we effectively do is limit our understanding of God to words on a page. Just as a few, or even many, written words would not effectively communicate our essence to others, the same is true and even more so for god who is much more complex than we humans are. But, he has to start telling us about himself somewhere, so he begins with the Bible.

In God’s language, natural words and natural stories are only a shadow of the spiritual truth about God and his ways. Sad to say, the shadow is as far as most people get and that is why they remain immature Old/First Covenant religionists. Failure to seek the spiritual truth is a big mistake that has caused problems for Jews and Christians since the law was first given. It is a big piece of the law as a stumbling block problem.

While the inferred three-step process appears simple in structure, understanding of how to apply it personally is very complicated. God is not a cookie cutter God who prescribes clear, specific steps to salvation that can be applied to everyone according to a fixed pattern. Religious rules are designed to be simple and general so that everyone can understand them and follow them, but that is not God’s way.

If God’s way of dealing with his people was not unique to each individual, the Bible would not be as long and detailed as it is and we would not find so many different examples of how people are delivered from religion.  Instead of a one-size-fits-all process, God has a unique plan for each person that reflects our individual differences and complexities. Each plan is designed to deliver us from exile in Babylon (i.e. religion) and lead us to the Promised Land. The variables in how this process plays out for us individually are our heart, our willingness to accept correction, and our willingness to repent for participating in religion. These are very abbreviated steps to salvation (i.e. deliverance from religion).

But receiving the revelation in Step 3 above is not the end of the matter. It is possible to have understanding but lack the will to act on it. This truth reflects the fact that the salvation process is not easy. Those who repent and study and dare to quit religion will be saved from it, but those who are unwilling to repent, study and apply what they learn by quitting religion will spend more time exiled in religion and separated from God. People who feel that they are spiritually rich (i.e. proud) in their religion have the hardest time quitting religion and entering the Kingdom of God.

With respect to application of what we read in the Bible, we conclude from the above scriptures and arguments that the kind of disciples God wants are those who study so they can identify areas of their lives where they need correction.  They want to enter the Kingdom of God and are willing to sacrifice their pride as well as their religion to make it happen.

While none of us are perfect and should be open to correction on all life issues, Bible stories always focus on the issue of fleshly religion compared to spiritual faith. These issues should be the primary areas where disciples study to be corrected: Are we people of faith or are we religious?

Even when we think God is talking about morality and ceremonial laws, he is talking about his spiritual laws which are concealed in the symbolism of the literal Bible. Therefore, effective correction begins when we are convicted that we have followed other gods and repent for our religious beliefs and practices. And correction is completed when we are able to interpret the symbolism hidden the Symbols, Signs, Types, Allegories, Parables, Copies, Shadows and Patterns of the literal Bible.

Even if we humble ourselves and repent, entering the Kingdom of God does not occur as a unique, one-time event in which we are baptized, repent, say a prayer, or participate in some kind of ritual. Just as Israel did not enter the Promised Land directly after escaping from Egypt, we do not enter the Kingdom of God quickly or easily.

When we consider the flow of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness, we see that entering the Kingdom of God is an indirect, little by little process that is characterized by persistent overcoming of religious habits and influences (symbolically represented as warfare with the surrounding religious nations), resistance to ongoing temptations to participate in religion that those enemies present to us, and obedience to God’s voice. Even Jesus, who, after receiving the Holy Spirit, was on a mission to tear down the religious establishment, spent thirty years learning, growing, and observing the law before he received the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jesus had to spend time in the religious wilderness just like everyone else does.

God calls the maturing process “working out our salvation with fear and trembling” because sooner or later we will find that religious people will resist our mission to tear down their religious establishments just like Jesus did. How long it takes to navigate this wilderness depends on our resistance to religious influences and our ability to reinterpret human words with spiritual wisdom that explains the depths of God to us.

Putting this all in the context of study, it can be said that we study for the following reasons:

The Religion Detox Network will appeal only to people who are willing to work out their salvation with fear and trembling in the face of their religious enemies. It will appeal only to followers of Jesus who accept that being a follower means tearing down religious establishments just like Jesus did. It will not appeal to people who want to remain comfortable and secure in their religion and who do not see it as their mission to destroy religious establishments.