Nothing is as subtle as religion. We are all clear that the secular world is evil and that it frustrates people from going along with God (1 John 2:15-16). The religious world, however, is very subtle. Every religion teaches man to know and worship God. Even Islam seems to teach people to worship God in a pure way, purer even than Catholicism, since Muslim mosques have no idols, images, or even depictions of natural objects. Moreover, Muslims often bathe their bodies before they pray. However, they do not have the reality of God and Christ. By this we can see that religion is deceptive.
Some Christians attempt to justify their organizations by asking, “Are not the people in these organizations real Christians who worship God?” This is a deceptive question. At the time of the Lord Jesus, the Jews not only worshipped God but carried out their worship according to the Old Testament. The proper priesthood, the priestly service, and everything the Jews did in their worship was according to the law of Moses. There were also certain spiritual persons among them, such as Simeon, who waited for the Lord to come, and Anna, who served God in the temple night and day (Luke 2:25-38). However, the Jewish religion rejected Christ, who is the very embodiment of God. The Jews said that Jesus cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, and even that He had a demon (Matt. 12:24; John 8:48, 52; 10:20). Moreover, the Jews sentenced the Lord Jesus to death according to their Scriptures. At that time the religious world and the secular world cooperated together to crucify the Lord Jesus. Today the principle is the same. In order to oppose God, Christ, and the church, the secular world needs the religious world, and the religious world needs the secular world. This principle will remain until Antichrist will be used by the Lord to terminate Judaism, Catholicism, and every kind of religion.
Because religion is deceiving, our eyes must be enlightened that we may no longer be cheated. As we saw in the previous chapter, the apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Galatians to strongly condemn the observance of the law under the Jewish religion. Soon afterward he went to Jerusalem, where he was surrounded by the elders who knew his history. They told him, “You observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed; and all are zealous for the law” (Acts 21:20). In actuality, Satan, the subtle one, had used these thousands of believers to bring the church back into Judaism. The Lord had annulled Judaism, the religion that crucified Jesus. If Peter was there in Acts 21, it seems that he forgot what he had spoken on the day of Pentecost, when he was strong to tell the Jews, “This man, delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, through the hand of lawless men, nailed to a cross and killed” (2:23). Peter was the first to be clear that Judaism was against God, God’s economy, Christ, and the church, and he was the first one to suffer for the church at the hands of the Jews (4:1-3). However, Peter might have been among those who tried to convince Paul to return to the Judaistic practices (21:22-24).
We should not suppose that we are clear concerning religion. Regardless of how clear we may be, there is still the possibility that one day we can be deceived. In 1935 in my hometown of Chefoo, there were a number of missionaries from the China Inland Mission. When Brother Watchman Nee came to Chefoo, he held a prevailing conference, and a British missionary received much help from his speaking. When Brother Nee left, he committed this sister to my care, and I had thorough fellowship with her concerning the Lord’s way in His recovery today. This impressed her very much. Because of this, when she left China and returned to England, she began to meet in the fellowship at Honor Oak and became a leading co-worker of T. Austin-Sparks. Twenty-three years later, in 1958, the Lord led me to England, where I was the invited guest of Brother Austin-Sparks. When I inquired concerning the sister, I was told that she had gone back to the Church of England, probably because she had learned that a number of people there were seeking after spiritual things. Although I was able to fellowship with her at that time, each of us knew where the other stood, and I was very sorrowful for her. I mention this to illustrate that regardless of how clear we think we are, certain circumstances and environments may one day cause us to be deceived.
We must be on the alert not to be deceived simply because certain ones are seeking after spiritual things. A good example of this is the charismatic movement. As a rule, the Catholic Church should not have received this kind of movement, but being subtle, it fully accepted it and then mixed it with the worship of Mary. As a result, many who are in the charismatic movement also worship Mary. By this we can see the deception of religion. Some may ask, “Are not many in the denominations real Christians?” We may ask in return, “Are not those in the charismatic movement within the Catholic Church seekers of spirituality?” They are real seekers, but at the same time they worship Mary. The worship of Mary is a great insult to God, yet the Catholic charismatics still worship her. What a deception this is! Therefore, we cannot say that as long as people worship God, hold to the Bible, seek after spiritual things, and love the Lord, what they do is right. If we say this, we are blinded under a thick veil, and we have already been cheated.