Although the Lord came directly to the religious world, He did not have rest when He was in Jerusalem, where the temple of God was. Whenever He went to Jerusalem, religious ones tried to debate with Him. The Lord rested mainly in Galilee and sometimes outside Jerusalem in Bethany. In the last week of His life, during the day He went into Jerusalem, and at night He lodged in Bethany. Christ had no rest in Jerusalem because Judaism had fallen to become a religion in which people who were apparently worshipping God were actually persecuting God by attacking Christ.
Galatians 1:14 and Acts 22:3 show that the apostle Paul was born, raised, and fully educated in Judaism. He was absolutely for that religion. When Stephen was martyred, Paul was there (7:58). Paul was converted when he was on the way to persecute and ravage the church (Gal. 1:13). Because no one else could deal with Paul, the Lord appeared to him directly (v. 12). Paul was perhaps the only person who heard the gospel directly from the Lord after His ascension. Paul was so strong in his inherited religion that no one other than the Lord could change his mind. The Lord met Paul on the road to Damascus and knocked him down to rescue him from religion. Paul knew religion, but he did not know God. He was in religion, but he was not in Christ. When Christ met him, Paul experienced a radical turn.
Because the situation in Jerusalem was not good for God’s purpose, the Lord went to Galilee to raise up some fishermen to be the first apostles and elders. Peter took the lead among them. When Peter was already an apostle and an elder, Saul of Tarsus was still persecuting the church. Eventually, the Lord appeared to Saul, knocked him down, and turned him from religion to Christ, causing him to have a radical turn. Peter also turned but in the opposite direction. Galatians 2 tells us that some time after Paul was converted, the apostle Peter became weak, timid, and afraid of religion. Peter was eating with the Gentile believers, but when some Jewish believers came, Peter withdrew from eating with the Gentiles (v. 12). Because of this, Paul opposed Peter to his face (v. 11). Although Peter was originally a Galilean, one outside the realm of religion, he eventually compromised with religion. However, Paul, who was raised up in religion, took sides with Christ, a Galilean, and rebuked Peter.
In every age religion is strong. The concept of many Christians is that Christ died to rescue us out of hell and into heaven. However, in Galatians Paul says that Christ “gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us out of the present evil age” (1:4). We have seen in the preceding chapters that the present evil age is a section of the religious world. The religious age of the apostle Paul was evil, and our age, our section of the religious world, is perhaps even more evil. During a recent visit to Europe and the Middle East, I was deeply impressed by the evil of religion. I was fully disappointed with the mixture in religion and assured that the Lord has no way except through His recovery. For this reason, the young brothers and sisters need to prepare themselves to be sent to the leading cities in Europe to sound the trumpet of the truth and expose false religion, tradition, and superstition.
The archbishop of the Church of England recently met with the pope to discuss the reunification of the Church of England with the Catholic Church. The Church of England is the eldest “daughter” of the Catholic Church; the second “daughter” is the Lutheran Church. Other “daughters” are the Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church. The so-called ecumenical movement is for the goal of reuniting these “daughters” with the “mother.” Moreover, Catholicism has now accepted the charismatic movement and has brought leaven into this movement by mixing in the worship of Mary. What a devilish mixture! When I was in Rome, I heard the pope give a spiritual sermon. However, he rode in a palanquin built with bronze taken from a pagan temple, and he spoke in a room with a painting that ranked Mary with the Trinity and had countless depictions of serpents on the walls. In Matthew 13:33 the Catholic Church is signified by the woman who hid leaven in the meal.
I believe that at the end time, before Antichrist comes, the Lord will shame His enemy by establishing a strong testimony in Europe. I am burdened that we would go to every country in Europe. I now see that the Lord sent His recovery to the United States to gain a number of young people to send to Europe. The greatest need for our labor in the Lord’s recovery today is in Europe. We need to send a good number of young brothers and sisters there. The United States is today’s Galilee, and the Lord is now calling many Galilean fishermen.
There is absolutely no hope with religion. In Neuchâtel, Switzerland, I saw a cathedral, which the reformer William Farel helped to clear of many Catholic images in the 1500s. However, now there is a large image of Farel outside the cathedral. Tradition follows tradition, superstition follows superstition, and religion follows religion. At the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem I saw many Jews superstitiously kissing the wall while praying. Every religion is full of superstition and lacks truth, light, and life. There is no Christ in religion. The Lord’s second coming cannot be brought about by religion. The burden is upon us. I believe that one day through His recovery the Lord will gain a living testimony in every major city.