Stop Worshipping Me, I Am Not The Real Jesus ~Actor Robert Powell

 

"I will bow to this King, said Steven."

Since he played the character, Jesus, in the 1977 movie, Jesus of Nazareth, Robert Powell’s photos are hung in churches, homes, cars, schools, offices and many holy grottos all over the world to drive off evil forces and attract good fortunes. However, Powell has cried out in the social media that he is not Jesus and that people should stop worshiping him. Rather, they should respect the true Jesus and worship God. His is among the most trending stories on social media in January 2016. In his words: “I never cease to say and I repeat it to the world since 1977. I am not Jesus Christ, I am just an actor and British comedian. I am tired of seeing my photos displayed in places of worship and other places for worship. I just make a film for a living. Burn my picture and worship the only God in truth ! I am just an actor…Jesus is Lord!*”

 Another actor who played Jesus is Jim Caviezel. According to clipd.com, “Jim is arguably one of the most famous portrayals of Jesus in acting history. He played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion Of The Christ,’ which is the greatest selling Christian movie of all time. Jim won one award for his portrayal as Jesus, and several other nominations.” He too may soon beg people to stop worshipping
him like Powell.
 

HITLER'S BODYGUARD Combining archival footage, period photography, captured SS documents, and eyewitness interviews, and more... the expert commentary continually being presented by the narrator, Robert Powell

*Passages on the Unity of God

I believe with perfect faith that God is one. There is no unity that is in any way like His. He alone is our God. He was, He is, He will be.

Exodus 20:2-3 – The First of the Ten Commandments

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, and of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.” (See also Deuteronomy 5:7)

Numbers 23:19

“God is not a man that He should lie, nor a mortal that He should change His mind.”

Deuteronomy 4:11-12

“You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no image; there was only a voice.”

Deuteronomy 4:35

“You are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that God is the Supreme Being, and there is none other besides Him!”

Deuteronomy 4:39

“Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other!”

Deuteronomy 6:4

“Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”

Deuteronomy 6:14

“You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you!”

Deuteronomy 32:39

“See, now, that I, I am He – and no god is with Me…”

I Samuel 2:2

“There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside Thee; neither is there any Rock like our God.”

I Samuel 15:29

“The Eternal One of Israel will not lie nor change His mind: for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

I Kings 8:27

“For will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have built?”

I Kings 8:60

“So that all the nations of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other!”

II Kings 19:19

“Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.” (Psalm 113:5)

Isaiah 40:18

“To whom then will you liken God? To what likeness will you compare unto Him?”

Isaiah 40:25

“To whom will then you liken Me, that I should be his equal?” says the Holy One.

Isaiah 42:8

“I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory will I not give to another. Neither My praise to graven images!”

Isaiah 43:10-11

“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.”

Isaiah 44:6-8

This is what the Lord says, Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me there is no God! Who then is like Me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before Me…Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

Isaiah 44:24

So said the Lord, your Redeemer, the One who formed you from the womb, “I am the Lord Who makes everything, Who stretched forth the heavens alone, Who spread out the earth by Myself.”

Isaiah 45:5-6

“I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God… I will strengthen you…I order that they know from the shining of the sun and from the west that there is no one besides Me; I am the Lord and there is no other!”

Isaiah 45:18-19

For this is what the Lord says – He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited – He says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek Me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.”

Isaiah 45:21-22

“…who announced this before, who declared it from the distant past? Is it not I, the Lord, and there is no God apart from Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other!”

Isaiah 46:5

“To whom shall you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me that we may be alike?”

Isaiah 46:9

“Remember the first things of old, that I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me.”

Isaiah 48:11

“…And My honor I will not give to another.”

Hosea 13:4

“And I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but Me, no Savior except Me!”

Joel 2:27

“And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, there is no other; and My people shall never be ashamed.”

Malachi 2:10

“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why should we betray, each one his brother, to profane the covenant of our forefathers?”

Psalm 73:25

“Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You.”

Psalm 81:8-9

“Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! Let there be no strange god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god.”

Psalm 146:3

“Do not put your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation!”

Nehemiah 9:6

“You alone are the Lord; You made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is upon it, the seas and all that is in them, and You give life to them all, and the heavenly host bow down before You.”

I Chronicles 17:20

“O Lord, there is none like You, neither is there any God beside You, according to all that we have heard with our ears!”

Here Powell’s profile as published by Wikipedia:


Robert Powell as Jesus of Nazareth

“Robert Powell (born 1 June 1944) is an English television and film actor, best known for the title role in Jesus of Nazareth (1977) and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay. He is also known for his role as Mark Williams in BBC One medical drama, Holby City, and as David Briggs in the sitcom The Detectives alongside Jasper Carrott.

His distinctive voice has become well known in advertisements and documentaries, especially in World War II documentaries such as World War II in HD Colour, Hitler’s Bodyguard, The Story of the Third Reich and Secrets of World War II.

Powell was born in Salford, Lancashire, the son of Kathleen (née Davis) and John Wilson Powell. Powell was educated at Manchester Grammar School (where one of his classmates was the actor Ben Kingsley), then a direct grant grammar school for boys in the city of Manchester in North West England, and later at the Royal College of Advanced Technology in Salford.

Powell took up acting while an undergraduate. He had aspired to become a lawyer and in 1963-4 attended an external London University LLB degree Course at the Manchester College of Commerce but at the same time quietly took acting roles under Trevor Nunn. At the College of Commerce he swapped roles with Bernard Brandon in a week-long College Revue of Comedy Sketches to see which role gave him “the best laughs”. This early comedy experience was later to be fulfilled with Jasper Carrott. After this he secured a post at a repertory theatre in Stoke-on-Trent.His first film part was in Robbery when he played the driver of the driver who is coshed in the Stanley Baker film about the great train robbery. He had a small role in the original film version of The Italian Job (1969) playing one of the gang, but had to wait a few years for his first success, playing scientist Toby Wren in the BBC’s science fiction series, Doomwatch in 1970. Having been killed off in the last episode of the original series, at his request, Powell became a pin-up and a household name, following up with starring roles in several BBC serials, including television adaptations of the novels Sentimental Education (1970) and Jude the Obscure (1971). He also appeared in the 1975 series Looking for Clancy, based on the Frederic Mullally novel Clancy.

For several years Powell continued as a television regular, with occasional forays into film, as the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler in the Ken Russell biopic Mahler (1974) and Captain Walker in Russell’s film version of Tommy (1975). His role in Tommy had no lines at all and apart from a few early scenes during the overture with Ann-Margret, he is primarily seen through the mind of his son as played by Barry Winch (Young Tommy) and Roger Daltrey. In one of those scenes Captain Walker is shown in a crucifixion pose.

He then played Jesus Christ in Jesus of Nazareth (1977) following a successful second audition with Franco Zeffirelli. The two-part television film had an all-star cast, including Laurence Olivier, Ernest Borgnine and Stacey Keach, Christopher Plummer, Rod Steiger and James Mason. For this role, Powell was nominated for a BAFTA award, and collected the TVTimes Best Actor award for the same performance.

In 1975, Powell married his girlfriend, the Pan’s People dancer Babs Lord, shortly before he was due to start filming for Jesus of Nazareth on location in Morocco. On 23 November 1977, they had their son, Barney, followed in 1979 by a daughter, Kate.

In 1978, Powell took the leading role of Richard Hannay in the third film version of The Thirty Nine Steps. It met with modest success, and critics compared Powell’s portrayal of John Buchan’s character favourably with his predecessors. His characterisation proved to be enduring, as almost ten years later a television series entitled simply Hannay appeared with Powell back in the role, (although the Buchan short stories on which the series was based were set in an earlier period than The Thirty-Nine Steps). Hannay ran for two seasons.

In 1980, Powell appeared in the film Harlequin, playing the Harlequin of the title who seems to have the power to cure the son of a powerful politician. For this performance, he won the Best Actor Award at the Paris Film Festival. In 1982, he won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role in Imperativ.

Powell then agreed to a request from his old friend and golf partner, comedian Jasper Carrott, taking the part of an incompetent detective in a succession of sketches that formed part of Carrott’s television series. The Detectives was so popular that it was turned into a sitcom, Powell’s first and only venture into this genre.

In 1984, Powell made his U.S. film debut in What Waits Below (as known as Secrets of the Phantom Caverns).

In 1986, Powell narrated and co-starred in William C. Faure’s popular miniseries Shaka Zulu, with football legend Henry Cele in the title role. In 1992, he starred in the New Zealand World War I film Chunuk Bair, as Sgt Maj Frank Smith. In 1993-1995, he was the voice actor of Dr Livesey in The Legends of Treasure Island.

Nowadays Powell appears in person less often, but his distinctive voice is frequently heard on voice-overs, advertisements and as a narrator of television programmes such as Great Crimes and Trials and The Century of Warfare and World War II in HD Colour. He read the novel Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime, and has also narrated many audio books including The Thirty Nine Steps, abridged versions of many of Alan Garner’s books, and several abridged novels for ‘The Talking Classics Collection’. Powell has also lent his voice to musical works, such as David Bedford’s album The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,[4] or the 2002 rock opera The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman, where he played the role of John Watson. He also narrated on two rock albums by Rick Wakeman called Cost of Living and The Gospels (1987).

On 29 October 2001, a state-of-the-art theatre named after him was opened at the University of Salford.[5] He became a patron of 24:7 Theatre Festival in 2004, and continues to operate in this capacity as of 2014. In early 2005 he became a regular in the UK TV medical drama, Holby City, where he remained for six years before departing to return to theatre.[6] On 9 February 2008, he performed as narrator in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa in the North of England.[7] He currently has a regular spot narrating literary passages on BBC4’s The Book Quiz and will appear in Aladdin at the Malvern Theatre this winter .

On 20 December 2014, he took on the role of “Ebenezer Scrooge” in Neil Brand’s BBC Radio 4 adaptation of A Christmas Carol.”

Other actors who have played Jesus in movies are:

Jeffrey Hunter, Max von Sydow, Jeremy Sisto, Chris Sarandon, Claude Heater, Henry Byron Warner, Christian Charles Philip Bale, Willem Dafoe, John Rubinstein, Brian Deacon and Cameron Mitchell.

Jesus is Not the Jewish Messiah Part 1

Source: http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2016/01/actor-robert-powell-stop-worshipping-me-i-am-not-the-real-Jesus/

Passages on the Unity of God   http://outreachjudaism.org/unity-of-god/

Rick Warren Says Obama Deification is Blasphemy

“That’s called creating an idol,” he said. “Idolatry is forbidden by the first two commandments of the Ten Commandments.

Rick may want to read The Thirteen Foundations of the Ramba'm before he starts pointing fingers at idolaters!

Rick Warren Says Obama Deification is Blasphemy?

Rick Warren, one of the nation’s most prominent pastors, told Fox News he is extremely concerned about recent attempts in the media to deify President Obama. He was especially disturbed comments made by comedian Jamie Foxx who called the president “our Lord and Savior.”

“That sent shivers up my spine,” said Warren. “There’s a word for that – it’s called blasphemy. It’s wrong.”

Warren is pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California. He’s also the author of an expanded edition of “The Purpose Driven Life – What on Earth Am I Here For?”

Instances of the president being portrayed as a Christ-like figure have increased since the Democratic National Convention – where unauthorized street vendors sold Obama prayer garments and posters that proclaimed him to be “prophecy fulfilled.”

A painting of the president portrayed as the Crucified Christ is on exhibit at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston. The artwork shows Obama with outstretched arms – a crown of thorns on his head.

But one of the more egregious instances of deification came during last week’s Soul Train Awards.

“It’s like church over here,” Foxx told the audience. “First of all, give an honor to God and our Lord and Savior Barack Obama.”

Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, said the deification of any individual is simply wrong.

“That’s called creating an idol,” he said. “Idolatry is forbidden by the first two commandments of the Ten Commandments.

He said individuals who do put their faith in President Obama “are going to be severely disappointed.”

“Think about all the promises that were made four years ago,” Warren said. “None of them were fulfilled.”

Those people are going to be severely disappointed.

If you put your hope in an individual – think about all the promises that were made four years ago. None of them were fulfilled.

He said that President Obama promised to unite the nation – and would bring about hope and change.

“It’s more divided now than it’s ever been,” Warren said. “That’s disappointing.”

“Any human leader – conservative or liberal – is going to disappoint you at some point,” he added. “You’ve got to put your hope in things that never change.”[1]

**********************************************************************************************************************************

The Third Foundation is that He is not physical. This means to believe that the One whom we have mentioned is not a body and His powers are not physical. The concepts of physical bodies such as movement, rest, or existence in a particular place cannot be applied to Him. Such things cannot be part of His nature nor can they happen to Him. Therefore the Sages of blessed memory stated that the concepts of combination and separation do not apply to Him and they said, "Above there is no sitting nor standing, no separation nor combination... The prophet says, "To whom can you compare Me? To what am I equal? Says the Holy One." (Yeshaya [Isaiah] 40:25) If He would be a physical body He would be comparable to physical bodies.

In all places where the Holy Scriptures speak of Him in physical terms, as walking, standing, sitting, speaking and anything similar, it is always metaphorical, as our Sages of blessed memory said, "The Torah speaks in the language of men". Our sages have discussed this issue at length.

This third foundation is referred to when [the Torah] says, "For you did not see any form" (Devarim [Deuteronomy] 4:15), in other words, you did not perceive him as being an entity with a form because, as we mentioned, He is not physical and His power is not physical. [2]

Are Christians of today idol worshipers?

The Trinity and Deity of Jesus:
What the Bible Really Teaches

By John of AllFaith © 04.20.12

Let's discuss this on his Blog! Questioner: llewellyn Private: No Subject: Godhead
Question: Because Jews now accepted Christ, do they also accept the TRINITY formulated by Roman Catholic Church. What is your view of Jesus Christ and the Godhead?
Hi Llewellyn, Clarification: The vast majority of Jews today as in the past do not "accept Christ." Most continue to reject the claims of Y'shua (Jesus) being Messiah for the same reasons they always have -- of course, all of the original talmidim ("disciples") were Jewish. These reasons by the way are biblically solid. They are based on the fact that he has not (yet at least) fulfilled the most critical prophetic requirements of that office (as Messianics we simply disagree with our non-Messianic Jewish kin on these matters). More than that however, the continuing Jewish rejection of Y'shua's claims is based on what the Nicene Christian Church teaches about him and much of what they have done (and continue to do) in his name. No Torah observant Jew could possibly accept the Jesus of Nicene Christianity, in part because of their anti-Torah trinity doctrine.   Understand that the vast majority of people now calling themselves "Messianic Jews" are not really Jews at all (Revelation 2:9, 3:9)! They are Nicene Christian Gentiles (i.e. non-Jews who embrace the Nicene Creed of the Catholic Church -- as almost every Christian denomination and sect does -- including "Jews for Jesus" and similar "Messianic Christians" -- You can read the Nicene Creed HERE if interested to see why this document must be rejected by those who accept the teachings of Torah.
Rav John directly warns about such people "who claim to be Jews but are not" at Revelation 2:9, 15 and 3:9. Its a serious offense against the elect of God.
Becoming Jewish (Messianic or otherwise) requires formal conversion into Judaism by a Jewish beit din and the embrace of the essential Jewish doctrine: The absolute Oneness of God as declared in the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4). Like all Torah observant Jews, authentic Messianic Jews reject the Trinity doctrine, the deity of Rebbe Y'shua and/or any other created being, and several other key doctrines created by the Romans in the 3rd and 4th centuries (following their destruction of the Holy Temple in 70 CE).
The Bible is clear on these points: Rebbe Y'shua (Torah teacher Jesus) was the first created being (Colossians 1:12-15) -- God was never created.
Rebbe Y'shua is "one" with the Torah or "Word" of God (John 1:1) not with God in a literal sense -- Everything he taught and did was in complete harmony with Torah (John 5:19). Rebbe Y'shua is our elder brother (Hebrew 2:11) -- God is our Father (Matthew 6:9, note that he says "Our father" not "your father" or "Myself who is in Heaven").
All who are Torah observant are in this sense "one" with God (Hebrew 2:11) because they are in agreement with Torah (the Word) and Torah reveals the Mind of God. Torah is not God (John 1:1).
Rebbe Y'shua prayed for God's anointing on his followers that his talmidim (students) would be one with him (Y'shua) in the same way that he is one with the Father (John 17:22) -- Clearly Rebbe Y'shua was not praying that his talmidim would become gods!
Rav Paul clarifies this point concisely when he tells Timothy: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (King James Version of I Timothy 2:5)
Rebbe Y'shua himself states: John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
John 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
There are many many such Scriptures in the New Testament where he declare that God is greater, wiser, possesses more knowledge (Mark 13:32) etc. Rebbe Y'shua always submits his will to the superior Will of God (or in more Jewish terms, he always chooses yetzer tov over yetzer ra) and he prayed that this would be equally true of those who embrace his reforms (John 17:11-23).
Rebbe Y'shua lived on earth as a fully Torah observant Jew. He said that not a single yod would every be removed from Torah. So what does Torah say on this subject?
Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one [echad] LORD:"
The God of Israel and the Bible is "echad," a word that means "one and only" "one and there is no other" despite how some Nicene Christians are trying twist its meaning. What does it mean that God is One? Prophet Isaiah quotes the One God as saying:
Isaiah_43:11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
There is NO ONE equal to, independent of nor empowered as, HaShem, the God of Israel as even the name Y'shua means: "Salvation is of Yah."
GOD alone saves. He does this through various means according to His purposes.
In the Bible Ba'al worship is frequently and thoroughly rejected for the Jews and other followers of biblical religion. Ba'al worship is essentially the belief in a godhead that is divisible and that manifests as separate gods (known as ba'als or "masters"), each controlling various aspects of existence as demigods or devas as they are known in India. This is widely known. For instance:

"Ba'al" can refer to any god and even to human officials; in some texts it is used as a substitute for Hadad, a god of the rain, thunder, fertility and agriculture, and the lord of Heaven. Since only priests were allowed to utter his divine name, Hadad, Ba'al was commonly used. Nevertheless, few if any Biblical uses of "Ba'al" refer to Hadad, the lord over the assembly of gods on the holy mount of Heaven, but rather refer to any number of local spirit-deities worshipped as cult images, each called Ba'al and regarded in the Hebrew Bible in that context as a "false god" (Source)

THE revelation of Abraham was and is that there is only One God, Eternal and Indivisible.
Abraham's own father produced ba'als for worship, but HaShem revealed to the patriarch of our people the singularly important truth that God is echad, that God is indivisibly One. The Nicene trinity doctrine and the doctrine of the deity of Y'shua created in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE by a group of non-Jewish Roman bishops denies this fundamental revelation of God, this foundational declaration of biblical and Jewish religion.
No one who accepts this teaching can accurately be considered religiously Jewish.[3] http://allfaith.com/Religions/Noahide/trinity.html

Source:[1] http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/rick-warren-says-obama-deification-is-blasphemy.html

[2] http://natzrim.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-thirteen-foundations-of-rambam.html

[3]  http://allfaith.com/Religions/Noahide/trinity.html

When Christianity Becomes Idolatry

Are You Making Christianity an Idol? 6 Questions to Help You Find Out.

by Matt Johnson

I am standing in front of a church congregation with a microphone in-hand. The pastor had asked me to give a short testimony about when I came to the church and what was going on in my life at the time. Here’s, essentially, what I said:

I came to the church during a confusing time in my life. I was struggling with theological and philosophical ideas and there were some people in the church who understood my questions and helped straighten me out.

Recollections of Idolatry


Fast forward about five years. I am on a stroll with my wife through a park on a sunny spring day. Out of nowhere I get a revelation. That little speech in front of the church all those years ago was idolatry.


The backstory to that mini-testimony is that a couple years prior, I’d come out of a rebellious, sinful time of my life. I’d gotten “straightened out” but I had never truly faced my sin before my savior. Instead, I’d accepted the counterfeit of deep theological study. I’d fallen for the subtle lie that knowledge of good Christian theology served as my justification.

All I’d done was exchange the truth for a lie and served created things for the Creator God (Rm. 1:25). I’d taken a good gift from God and used it for my own purposes of looking good in front of others. If I were to infuse some truth serum into that speech, it would sound a little more like this, “Hi, I am guilt-ridden over some past sin but I’ve pridefully never really faced the fact that my sin is treason against God. So rather than call it sin, I’ll just say I’ve been trying to crack a  ‘theological problem’ so you’ll think I’m smart.”


Even good Christian theology can become an idol. When Christian belief is information detached from the substance of Jesus’ objective work on the cross for sinners, it becomes idolatry. Like it or not, you and I are guilty of it. How so?

1. Do you live for the approval of others in the church?
2. Do you stew over your spiritual performance and personal holiness more than you steep in what God has already accomplished for you in Jesus?
3. Are you prideful about your biblical knowledge?
4. Do you love to debate finer points of theology with others and get angry when you’re challenged by your views?
5. Are you feeling burnt out and joyless in your service to those in the church?
6. Are you uncomfortable with suffering people and find you’re quick to recite Bible verses as a way to avoid awkward, personal engagement? 

If you answered "yes" to any of these, there is a good chance you have taken God’s good gifts and used them for your own selfish purpose.

You have used God to make yourself look good through your service, your knowledge, and personal growth. This form of idolatry is hard to detect because the “fruit bearing” looks good to everyone else.

Let's face facts though; it's idolatry.

Religion is a golden calf


The clearest picture of idolatry in the Bible is the Exodus 32narrative on the golden calf.

This narrative isn’t simply a message that pagans, perverts, and addicts need to hear; it's also for religious folk like you and me.

When God looked down from the mountain and found his people had crafted the Golden Calf, he wasn’t simply witnessing immoral living. He saw a people he had redeemed that had taken his good gifts and used them against him. While it's not explicitly stated in the text, the gold the Israelites used to make the calf was intended for God’s purposes. Later in the narrative we see the leftover gold is used for the building of the tabernacle. Just think about that for a minute. The Israelites used God's gift for their own selfish purposes.


In creating the golden calf, the people had committed high treason. Even though the true God had always proven himself faithful, they just couldn’t wait. They needed a God that met them on their terms, a God of their choosing that they could define and control. We’re so quick to judge those primitive, control-addicted Israelites. What we miss in those people are you and me.

Hi My Name's Joe Christian and I'm a religious addict


Religion is control addiction. In the appendix to Redemption, Mike Wilkerson comments on a lecture given by David Powlison at the 2008 CCEF conference titled, The Addict in Us All. Religious addiction has a least two components: impression management and escape from sin.

“Religiosity is about the show, the 'impression management,' and the trappings of religion, but not its faith and certainly not its God. Like any other addiction, religiosity serves as an escape from reality. Are youdevastated by the loss of a loved one? 'God is sovereign,' blurts the stoic religious addict, like a knee reflex, and by this he means, 'Don’t feel it; don’t think about it; just detach yourself from it. Since God is sovereign, why should you bother?'

The religious addict escapes the reality of his own sin too....he justifies himself by the doing of and associating with religious stuff: serving, reading, teaching, praying, and church-going, along with adopting the lingo, aesthetic tastes, and moral lifestyle typical of other religious people. These are his “sacrifices” to gain his god’s favor and retain his righteous standing. But he is as deceived and rebellious as the Israelites imitating orthodoxy through idolatry.”

Religion is about control amidst brokenness


Religion is God-talk we use for our own controlling purposes. We use his word as a defense mechanism against him and other people. It’s a kind of excuse-making for God as if we’re smart enough to know what he’s up to when life is difficult. Its time to face the pain of a broken world without our pre-packaged religious answers. To gloss over our pain and suffering or someone else’s through religiosity is inhumane.

We love the story of the cross as a get-me-out-of-hell free card. But nobody wants to face the cross when it’s time to put sin to death, extend love to others in crisis, or come to terms with the brokenness of our world. The problem is, like the Pharisees, we prefer our safe religion over the death of our selfish spiritual aspirations.


Graced pharisees called out of slavery

The word Pharisee is synonymous with hypocrite. Many Christians don’t know when they are being hypocritical. Identifying our need to appear religious by spiritual performance or being a Bible know-it-all is difficult because doing religion seems like the right thing to do. It feels good to us and looks good to others, but our religion offends God.

If this is all true, if you and I are religious addicts and idolaters, we have a big problem on our hands. God’s anger against us is justified in the same way his anger was justified when the Israelites made the golden calf. Now is the time for repentance.

The good news is when we confess, he is faithful to forgive: 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Fortunately, many of the Hebrews were spared for Moses' sake. We too are spared for Jesus' sake. He is the greater intercessor. Not only does he intercede on our behalf and forgive us our sin, he restores and sustains us. Reaching back to Exodus 17, 1 Corinthians 10:4 says the Israelites "drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."

God has called us out of slavery. We are his treasured possession.

While we are faithless, he has remained faithful. Our idols are wrought with the unholy sacrifice of his good gifts. We have crawled up into God’s lap only to slap him. But thanks be to God, rather than punish us, he graces us. And his grace is big enough even for Pharisees like Paul, and like you, and like me.

He leads us out, he leads us through, he atones for sin, and he leads us home.


Matt Johnson is a pastor at Mars Hill Church and publication manager for Re:lit and Resurgence. He also serves as a leader in Mars Hill's Redemption groups. Throughout the 90s and the early part of the decade, Matt was a traveling musician. Matt met his wife, Rose, at Mars Hill in '97 and they served in music ministry together for over 10 years. In recent years Matt has written music criticism for Paste Magazine, Three Imaginary Girls, Seattle Sound, and Bandoppler. Matt and Rose got married in 2001 and they have two young daughters.

More from Matt Johnson or visit Matt at theresurgence.com

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"He leads us out, he leads us through, he atones for sin, and he leads us home"

The Nicene dogma of "the blood atonement" causes many to question and even reject the clear word of Torah! Some even claim that the Torah of HaShem has been "nailed to the cross" and made irrelevant! However the books of the B'rit Hadashah (New Testament) also disprove this common heresy. As authentic Messianic Jews this is very important to understand.

The Bible Clarifies Everything:

Deuteronomy 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers:every man shall be put to death for his own sin.  source:

4:40 Rabbi Gutman Lock explains Torah, why Christianity and Mainstream 'Messianic Christianity' are missing this truth.