The Harmful Impact of the Religious Spirit

In this podcast, Dr. Ray Self discusses the concept of the religious spirit, exploring its significance and the problems it creates. He explains why it's essential to be aware of this issue for our well-being and relationship with the Lord. This informative episode aims to bless your life and provide you with peace and freedom from this harmful spirit. 

Col 2:20 - 22 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?  

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Show host bio - 

Dr. Ray Self founded Spirit Wind Ministries Inc. and the International College of Ministry. He holds a Doctorate in Christian Psychology and a Doctorate in Theology. He currently resides in Winter Park, Florida. He is married to Dr. Christie Self and has three sons and a daughter. 

Transcript

Hey, I'm Dr. Ray Self, and welcome to my show, Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. God bless you, and thank you for being with me today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to this show. I pray, Father, that this show be a blessing to them, that my words and uh, my prayer and your anointing would be with us. And we just give you praise and honor. Bless those listening, Father. In Jesus’ name, amen. So today I want to talk about the religious spirit. Why is it so important to know about this spirit? What is that spirit? You've heard of it; it sounds like a good spirit, actually. But it is harmful. This show is brought to you by the International College of Ministry. We're enrolling right now. If God's called you, the phone's ringing, pick it up, you know, it's Him calling. It's time to get equipped for your ministry, get trained, get your credentials, get your credibility, know what you need to know to fulfill your call. icmcollege.org/enroll. icmcollege.org/enroll. If money's an issue, we have scholarships. Anyway, think about it. God bless you. 

So, the religious spirit. And I want to read a scripture to you which I think, uh, is important for us to understand right now. This is from the book of Colossians and starts with verse, uh, 20. “Therefore, if you have died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourself to regulations–” Regulation, strong word. “‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concerning things will perish with the using –according to the commandments and doctrines of men?” So, why do you submit to this? Um, and he also before that, he talks about, um, “Let no one judge you in food or drink, or regarding a festival or new moon or sabbath, which are the shadow of things to come, but the substances of Christ.” Interesting, he said sabbath is a shadow of things to come. There's a lot of symbolism in religion. The Catholic church is full of symbolism. And it's not limited to the Catholic church; the Protestant church is full of symbolism too.

But the problem is, we start making a– causing, making these things holy to uh, that they have some kind of significance in our relationship with God. I run across it all the time. People that say, “Well, I, I have to, I have to make sure that on Saturday I never work. I don't do anything. I have to make sure I do that, that's a commandment from the beginning of time.” The Bible just said that was a shadow of things to come. “I have to make sure that I give my first fruit offering, I have to make sure that I tithe, I have to make sure that I–” if you're a lady, “I don't wear makeup or uh, I don't wear pants to church.” There's all kinds of rules. I–  I've been to churches where you can't wear jewelry, um, it's just, um, amazing the rules and regulations. To me, these things are of our flesh. I know people do them because they think it's honoring God and it's pleasing God and it's, um, doing something that uh, is to bless the Lord. But you see, by faith in Jesus Christ, we come into the holy of holies, we come into His presence. By faith that Jesus Christ - my faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for me and paid the price for my sins, and He rose on the third day from the dead. And I know that by my faith in that; that that is attributed to me because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That act is attributed, is credited to me, which puts me in right standing with God. If I'm in right standing with God, I don't have to do all these other things. 

The B– Bible says in Galatians, the law was our tutor to lead us to Christ; now that Christ has come, we're no longer under a tutor. So the Bible in the Old Covenant was full of rules and regulations, don't do this, do that, must do this, must say this, must worship on this day, must do– observe this festival, must observe this feast, all these things. All these things in the Old Testament were symbols and copies and shadows, were prototypes so to speak, of the truth that was to come, which is Jesus Christ. Even the Sabbath day, which is the day that God rested. Well, the book of Hebrews says that we come into the believer's rest– speaks of the believer's rest. We're able to rest from our works by our faith in Jesus Christ. Prior to Jesus Christ, everything was legal. There were legalistic things you were supposed to do. Well, the interesting thing about it, Paul said, the law brought us a knowledge of sin. All these requirements that the Jews were required to do, they failed at them. They continually failed at them. As a matter of fact, there were over 630 laws that were written by God, 630 - they added several thousand to those laws - and one of the laws says if you disobey any single of the law, you're under a curse. 

Why would God establish so many rules and regulations that nobody could, could do? Nobody could perfectly do it? The reason was, according to Apostle Paul, it gives us a knowledge of our sin, it gives us the knowledge of our incapability, of our failure; it also tells us we must have a savior. We need a savior. The law pointed us to Christ. Christ says, “I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law.” He's the fulfillment of the law. But in our flesh, our natural man, our natural tendency is we want a formula, we need a method. We're always looking for a method. “If I do this, I'll be right with God.” Now, I love my Catholic brothers and sisters, but they have a lot of methods that they believe they have to do in order to be right with God and to be saved. Our salvation comes from our faith in Jesus Christ, period. We're saved by– we're saved by grace through faith, lest no one should boast. Not of works, no one should boast. That's in Ephesians. We're saved by grace through our faith, that's it. Our faith in Jesus Christ saves us, and that salvation makes us, puts us in right standing with God. 

It puts us in the right place with God, it causes our sins to be forgiven, it gives us a relationship with God, it allows us to come into the holy of holies, to commune with God, to talk to God, to be adopted by God, to be redeemed, to be justified, to be given eternal life, to be saved, to be appointed heirs of salvation, to be, to be made members of the royal priesthood, it goes on and on and on. All this comes by faith, but for some reason the religious spirit says, “That's not enough, that's not enough, you still have to do this, you have to do that.” And I've been to churches with a lot of rules and regulations. And what the rules and regulations do, even though they’re well-meaning, is they make people continually feel condemned, guilty, shamed, not measuring up, not sure of their security, of their salvation. Constantly having to do this and do that or, or not do this. There are a lot of the rules; the religious spirit is not what you do, it's what you don't do. “Don't do this, you can't do that, you can't do that.” And all this is, I mean…just talking about, I get tense. I get, I get bound up. 

You see, this is what Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for. They were following all these rules and regulations, but they– their heart was far from God. They, they missed the whole intent of it. You know, when, when His, His disciples ate some grain on the sabbath day, He rebuked them, He said, “Which of you, if your ox fell in the ditch, would not get him out on the sabbath day?” They misunderstood. You see, God's grace, through His grace, He's given us the gift of salvation. He's adopted us, He's given us His Holy Spirit. He's given us all these incredible things, amazing things. And this comes by faith. 

So the problem with the religious spirit, now, you'll see this really big, and uh, Colossians, also in Galatians. The problem with the religious spirit is it counters the finished work of Jesus Christ. The religious spirit sends forth a message that yes, Jesus is our savior and Jesus died on the cross; however, that was not enough. You still must do this and that and this and that and this and that. And then it caus– the next thing you know, you're confused. You're feeling condemned, you, you, you, you, you go to church, and you come out of church, and you feel worse than you– when you went in. The religious spirit is always pointing a finger at you, telling you you didn't do this right, you didn't do that right, you didn't, you didn't measure up, all these things. And it's just… it's a, it's a, it's kind of a mean spirit. You see, the religious spirit will give you a whole lot of rules and regulations, things they call truth but, it has no mercy in it. You see, grace is our relationship with God, okay? The, the truth, which some of this religious stuff is, is, got some truth in it - but that's, that's our structure. 

But you see, I need God's mercy, I need God's grace. How do I know when I'm around a religious spirit? Well, number one, you're going to feel confused. It, it creates a lot of confusion because there's a lot– always a spirit of control with the religious spirit. You will tend to feel condemned, not measuring up, not good enough, unloved, unworthy. No matter what you do, it's never quite good enough. That's what the religious spirit does. And many people, many churches go back into it. And the reason so many churches and pastors and leaders go back into it’s because it is natural. It is normal for us to want rules and regulations. You see, it's not the rules and regulations. Where God has written His requirements, now is in our heart. “Those that are led by the Spirit,” Romans, chapter 8, “are the sons of God.” 

What does God want from me? He wants me to pay attention to Him. Where is He? He's in me. He's in my heart. The Holy Spirit resides within you, and He is directing you. He will tell you. He will lead you into what God requires for you. And I want to tell you something. It's not that you have to observe this day; you have to do this particular rule, you have to follow this ritual, you have to follow this tradition. Now, I'm not saying all these things are terrible, but all these traditions and rules and regulations and formulas and methods that you have to do and, and - you, see there's, there's hundreds of them. I've seen so many of them. You know, you have to, you have to do this, you, you must do that. I mean, I, I was at a church many years ago, “You have to observe the Ten Commandments. No matter what.” They– it's a Ten Commandment church. And then there's the churches where you have to meet– have church on Saturday. You have to have uh, church on Saturday. Uh, you have to give your first fruit offering, you got to observe the Jewish feast and the Jewish customs. 

See, all this stuff are symbols. The book of Hebrews talks about these are copies and shadows of things to come. These are symbolic. These traditions are symbolic. We don't need a symbol when we have the real deal. I don't need to, to worship a picture of Christ when I have Christ. I don't need to worship a statue of Christ when I have Christ in my heart. You see, when we go into the symbols and the traditions, what we're telling God is, “God, I know Jesus died for me, and He made a way for me to come into your, your, your temple, into your presence. He made me righteous, He, He made me qualified, He made me a joint heir with Jesus Christ. He redeemed me. Uh, He, He justified me. But that's not enough, God. I still have to do this, this, and this ‘cause if I don't do this, this, and this, I'm not going to make it; so Jesus is not enough.” Listen, Jesus is enough. He's enough for you. He did it for you. 

Now, because He did it for you, we need to respond to it. Now, our response to the work of Jesus Christ, this, the fact that He gave His life for you, for me, I need to respond to that. It's appropriate for me to respond with worship, with love, with kindness, with giving generously, being a generous giver, with– trying to live a holy life, trying to, to be good, give to the poor, to love my wife, honor God in all that I do. I don't do this to be saved, I do this because I am saved, and it's my natural response. It's, it's my appropriate response, it's the needed response to this. 

You see…James said faith without works is dead. What he was talking about was Works doesn't save you, but if I have faith in Jesus Christ, the evidence of that will be good works. I'll do some good things because that's who I am. You see, when I was born again, I became another person. I became a different person. And because I'm a different person, that's how I act now. I act like a Christian, why? Because I am a Christian. I act generous, and I act loving because I am loving and I am kind, and I know what's– I'm forgiving to other people because I've been forgiven. It's natural. It's my response to my salvation. But the religious spirit is, is rough, it's kind of mean, it's rules, it's regulations, it's uh, structure, there's no freedom in it, and sometimes you're not even aware that you're a part of it. But some of the symptoms are you, you, there's a mental confusion. The religious spirit has an element of control in it. Whenever there's a controlling spirit around, you will always have confusion. It always creates confusion. There's confusion, there's this feeling of condemnation and shame. The Holy Spirit will never condemn you. He never causes shame to you because Jesus took condemnation to the cross; He took our shame and guilt to the cross. The Holy Spirit doesn't put those things on you. The, the religious spirit will. And, and the devil loves the religious spirit because it's counter to the cross. It's countermining the cross, that's what the religious spirit does. And it causes condemnation and shame. What the Holy Spirit does is He will create a conviction. It's that feeling, “Oh man, wow, I need to repent, I really feel I should ask forgiveness for that. I don't want to do that again.” But that's not guilt, that's not condemnation, that's a conviction to do better. And there's love in it, and that's what the Holy Spirit does. There's a conviction, and He leads us, and He directs us, and He gives us peace on where to go. 

The religious spirit says, “How dare you do that! You call yourself a Christian? What kind of husband are you? What kind of wife are you? How– how dare you act like that! How dare you not come to church on that particular day, how, how dare you not observe this holiday? How dare you. What kind of per– you think you're saved? You're not saved. You, you got to work hard to get your salvation.” That's all an undoing, an attempt by Satan to undo the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.” When you interpret that in the Greek, it means it was perfectly complete. He completed the work for our salvation. What we need to do is, the Book of Romans says, and uh, and Habakkuk prophesied, “the just shall live by faith.” We live by faith in Jesus Christ every day, knowing I'm saved, I'm saved, I'm redeemed, I'm adopted, by what Jesus did for me. He died for me, and He rose from the grave for me. I died with Christ, and I came out of that grave in victory with Jesus Christ. Now, I'm in right standing with God, I have peace with God, I'm a Son of God, I have a relationship with God. I can relax, I'm, I'm okay, I'm– and I fail, and I fail, and I can, I can repent, and I can confess my sins; He's faithful and just to forgive me. You know, I, I still mess up, but I'm not condemned. I'm not a condemned man. And I'm not under so many rules and regulations, I don't know what to do next. Every time I turn around, I'm feeling worse. That's a religious spirit. And I pray that you recognize that, if you're being attacked by that. And know that's not scriptural and know that's not God's will for you. 

Jesus was fighting the religious spirit. Remember Jesus, He didn't go about, do, all their traditions. They were, they were upset with him; He was different. You see, in Romans 8, “the sons of God,” “Those that are led by the Spirit are the sons of God.” The Holy Spirit, that's the answer. Do you, you want to know what God wants you to do? He wants you to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit within you. The Bible says the Holy Spirit will lead us with peace. We're led forth by peace. The Holy Spirit will give you peace in your heart with what God wants you to do. It's not going to be condemnation, rules and regulations, and oughts and shoulds, and nots and don'ts. There's going to be peace. There'll be love in it. And you can relax. You're okay with God. Whether you wear makeup or dresses or pants or jewelry or observe this holiday or that holiday or you worship on a Sunday instead of a Saturday, God bless you; that's not what matters. What matters is that you know Jesus Christ as your savior, you've confessed Him as the Son of God, and His Holy Spirit has come into you and forgiven you and cleansed you and made you into a new person, and now you live, and you walk by that fact and that truth. That's freedom from religion. That's freedom to have a relationship. A relationship with God. If you have the Holy Spirit, you can come right to God personally. You don't have to follow a bunch of rules and regulations and traditions; you have a personal relationship with God. And that's why He sent Jesus, so He could have this relationship with you. Phew. Amen. Amen.

I hope this made sense to you today. I'm doing something new, I'm doing a video podcast. I hope this uh, blesses you, now you can see my face along with my old Southern voice from Tennessee, y'all. Anyway, thank you so much for listening. Um, if you could bless us by helping us continue this show, we appreciate any donations. We're a 501c3, uh, best, probably easiest way is icmcollege.org/donate. I appreciate that. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and share. Uh, that really helps us continue the show, gives us more downloads, and get this message out to more people. I'm Dr. Ray Self. Thank you, thank you so much for listening to Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. God bless you. Let me say a quick prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to the show. If anyone i– listening to the show is being harassed by that religious spirit, we rebuke this scheme against them now, in Jesus name. Lord, show them the truth. Show them your will, your will. Not the, not the spirit of religion, Father, those that are deceived by the spirit of religion, even meaning well, well-meaning people who are deceived by that spirit. Holy Spirit, open up their eyes to see the truth of the gospel, that it's not about rules and regulations, it's about a relationship with you. We renounce this scheme, and I speak peace and grace over everyone listening to this show. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you so much. I am Dr. Ray Self, himself. No more Self jokes. I'll try not to be self-concerned about that or too self-aware. No more self puns, I promise. But you should visit my self-storage units. Bye-bye.