Clash Between True and False Religion

Jesus often mentioned how the old religious system is a hindrance to what God is currently doing in the earth. Throughout his ministry, Jesus clashed with religious leaders who felt threatened by his radical teachings. This clash between true and false religion has happened throughout history, and it happens still today. It’s important to understand the nature of this clash.

Jesus once told 3 short parables about this (Luke 5:36-39).

1. Jesus said no one will cut a piece of cloth from a new shirt to patch a hole in an old shirt. He gives three reasons for this. First of all, the old and new cloths won’t match. Second, the new shirt will be ruined because it will now have a hole in it. And third, when the new patch shrinks, it will tear the old shirt even more (Matthew 9:16).

The old shirt is the old religious system. It is old, wearing thin, and has holes in it. It can’t provide any real spiritual covering or protection. The new shirt is true religion. You can’t take a part of the new work of God to try to patch up the old system. These systems are incompatible. If you try to do this, both will be ruined.

2. Jesus said new wine (grape juice) can’t be put into old wineskins. The old wineskins are dry and brittle. They won’t bend or flex. When the grape juice begins to ferment, it will break the old wineskin and the grape juice will be spilled. Grape juice has to be put into a new wineskin which can bend and expand. Then when it begins to ferment, the wineskin will expand along with it. 

The old wineskins are the hard, inflexible, dry, and worn out religious systems of man. These religious systems are unable to hold the new wine of the Holy Spirit. Even if God was to pour out his Spirit on them, they would just break under the influence of God’s presence. New Wineskins are needed – churches and religious works that are ordered according to the word of God. These will be able to hold the new wine of the Holy Spirit.

3. Jesus said that if a person drinks old wine (alcoholic), he will not immediately want to stop drinking that and start drinking new wine (grape juice). He will say the old alcoholic stuff tastes better.

People who are involved in an old, dead religious system are often like those who drink alcohol. Many of them are unable to think or see clearly, and they do irrational things. However, they really enjoy the taste of the old wine, and they don’t want to leave it and start drinking of the Holy Spirit. This is because they say their old system is better than the work of the Holy Spirit. They have invested their lives into this old system, and they don’t want to leave it.

Through these three examples, Jesus describes how true and false religious systems are incompatible. 

Both claim to serve Jesus. But the true religion does things according to God and his word. The false system does religious things according to their own minds.

Those who represent the true religion will tell people to get back to God’s word and forsake man-made religious traditions. Those who represent the false system will defend man-made religious traditions and become offended when these traditions are criticized. They will often say that we shouldn’t be too rigorous with the word of God, that we have to “bend” a little here and there.

True religion is holy. The false system is sinful.

The false religious system has many people in it. Most of God’s people have been ensnared in a false religious system throughout history. 

The true is only a remnant, with only a few people who follow it.

The false religious system is the establishment. It is firmly entrenched. It often has worldly power and influence on its side. 

The true is outside the established religious system.

When there is a clash, sparks fly. There are arguments, debates, contentions. We see this throughout the book of Acts and the rest of the Bible. There are big debates and people leaving each other. 

Often the true is just trying to quietly mind its own business, but the false comes up and attacks it.

Religious wars are terrible. They are the most powerful conflicts upon earth. This is because there are powerful spiritual forces behind these conflicts.

Man fights against the true religion. 

God fights against the false religious system.

Victory for the true religion may take longer, but it will endure.

In about 4000 BC, the brothers Cain and Abel offered a sacrifice to God. Abel shed the blood of an animal to atone for his sins, following the ancient example given by God in Genesis 3:21. But Cain just offered a bloodless sacrifice of vegetables. Abel followed God’s word, but Cain did whatever he wanted. Abel had true religion, but Cain represented a false religious system that was based on man’s ideas.

Cain’s religion was exposed as false, whereas Abel’s was true. Then the clash began. Abel was just quietly worshiping God, but Cain was angry at him. He killed Abel. They were brothers. They should have gotten along. But the religious conflict was too great, and the false system killed the true. This is a pattern that is repeated. The false system sometimes becomes enraged in a Satanic frenzy and turns against the humble people of God.

Around 1080 BC, Eli was the high priest who represented an old and dead religious system that was devoid of God’s presence and power. He was fat, lazy, and unable to hear from God. He allowed sin to come in among God’s people.

Samuel was a young boy who stayed in the presence of God. He represented true religion.

The clash between these systems began when God told Samuel that Eli and his sons would die because they had forsaken God. Soon, they all died, and the ark of God was taken. This was Ichabod – as the glory had departed from Israel. After this Samuel became a mighty prophet and judge.

Around 1040 BC, Saul was king in Israel. He represented the old religious system. David was a young man anointed by God who represented true religion. Saul began consulting witches because he couldn’t hear from God. David killed Goliath and began walking in his calling. Saul tried to kill David. He threw spears at him. He sent the Philistines against him. David was just trying to obey God, but this mad king Saul and his demonic religious system came after him. David didn’t kill Saul when he had an opportunity. Soon, Saul died, and  David became king.

In approximately 930 BC, Jeroboam became king over 10 tribes of Israel. He put some shiny golden cows up, and called people to come worship. 90% of God’s people enthusiastically ran to worship Yahweh using these golden cows, showing how most of God’s people can be easily deceived by crazy religious ideas. King Rehoboam of Judah represented true religion, but only 2 tribes of Israel followed him. Centuries of conflicts and wars between the people of God followed.

In about 33 AD, Jesus Christ had many conflicts with the Pharisees. Jesus is the Son of God, and he is true religion. The Pharisees were the false religious system who dominated Israel. They didn’t obey God. They made up their own ways of worshiping God. Jesus called their traditional worship styles vain. There were many arguments and debates between Jesus and the Pharisees. Finally, the Pharisees killed Jesus. Dead religion killed God’s Son.

But Jesus rose up from the dead. He’s still alive. He is an eternal witness against dead religion. And someday soon he’s coming back to put an end to false religion once and for all.

In the early church, there were conflicts between those who wanted to stick to the purity of the apostolic teachings, and those who wanted to introduce things from the Old Testament. Thankfully, the apostolic purity was preserved in the New Testament.

In the future, at the end of the age, there will be a great clash between true Christianity based on the word of God and lawless Christianity that is based on man-made traditions and ideas. True Christianity will follow the word of God alone. False Christianity will compromise, adding and taking away from God’s word. True Christianity will be a faithful remnant, but false Christianity will sweep over the entire world. And like it has done throughout history, false religion will attack the true, trying to kill it. But the true will prevail, and the false will be destroyed.

It’s important to recognize the reality of this clash. No clash is pleasant. But this clash is unavoidable because of the power of God’s word.

We should not be surprised when there is a clash among Christians. Some Christians will want to follow the Bible, and some will want to follow man-made traditions. These two things are incompatible. We should not be discouraged or alarmed when conflicts arise in the church about such things.

We must discern true religion from the false. We need to recognize which ministers represent true religion, and which ministers represent false religion. We will discern these things by God’s word. What did the apostles do in the New Testament? Let’s do that. What religious traditions in the church are not based on the Bible? Let’s throw those things away.

We must choose the right side. We don’t want to choose to be a part of the wrong system, like the vast majority of God’s people have done throughout history.

Finally, if you choose true religion, be prepared for the false system to attack you. Persecution, slander, and even threats will come against true religion from the old system. The clash between true and false religion is real and long-standing. It will continue until Christ returns. Stay on God’s side. Stick to his word. Though you may face some trouble now, you’ll be on the winning side.