Why are there so many religions?

This question plagues many as they seek and search for the one “right” religion.

Here are a few key thoughts from the video:

Religions are sets of beliefs. That’s all.
The word “religion” comes from a Latin root that means “to bind”.
Beliefs restrict, bind. Truth sets you free.
We are all bound to our own unique sets of beliefs.
Instead of looking “out there” for a set of right beliefs or a “true” religion, go within and sort through your own beliefs about your self, your God, your world.

You always have the answers within you.

Be Still Know God!

Yesterday I was the first person into the dealership waiting area. I took the liberty of muting the TV so I wouldn’t have to listen to the constant stream of stupidity.

Soon a lady came in and sat down. I invited her to unmute the TV if she wanted. She declined saying that she didn’t watch much TV and didn’t like it.

A conversation ensued. Two strangers talking to each other! It was quite nice!

Then an older gentleman came in. He listened to us a bit, then joined in and soon dominated the conversation. (in a nice way) He related all kinds of stories from his youth and past. Cool.

The fourth person that came in sat closest to the TV and since the three of us were talking probably felt a little isolated. I thought about offering the remote to him but decided to just wait and see what happened.

At one point the older gentleman turned to the “new” guy and engaged with him. From that point on the fourth man was one of us.

I stepped out to make a phone call and check on the status of my truck and when I came back the older gentleman had gone. The other two were chatting away, the TV still silently playing it’s silly political “news”.

I sat back down and when my ride showed up I thanked my new acquaintances for our time together, for being willing to engage with another human being without being distracted by screens!

They expressed appreciation as well and I walked out of a car dealership waiting area feeling better than I’ve ever felt – and the “two hour” repair that turned into all day didn’t really bother me.

Which brings all kinds of thoughts to mind.

You see, I believe that the one thing we all crave most of all is connection. Connection with other human beings and that on a deeper level – at least that’s true for me. And probably you too or you would’ve stopped reading by now!

One of the things we talked about in that waiting area was the focus we tend to develop on all the stuff that’s going on as reported by the TV. And as we focus on that, we fail to connect with those around us.

So while we long for connection, we allow ourselves to become distracted by “larger” concerns, political movements, etc. and yet those entanglements offer us nothing in terms of real connection. They consume our time and energy and leave us feeling more disconnected.

There’s just no substitute for connection to another human being because in those connections we discover ourselves.

Now suppose I had sat there and listened to the “news” the whole time while occasionally staring at my phone, while wondering when the heck my truck would be ready? I know myself well enough to know that the time would have dragged by and I’d have become quite frustrated that my truck wasn’t ready until 4:30PM.

Instead I spent the entire day reveling in the glow of connection with three complete strangers who amazingly enough share some opinions fairly close to mine! Wow!

So…. The next time I have to schedule an appointment that will likely incur some waiting, I want to be the first one there in the morning. Then I’m going to mute the TV and see what happens!

I can hardly wait!

I don’t believe that I’ve ever read anything by Emmet Fox before, but this essay truly resonated with me and it’s completely in alignment with BeStillKnowGod.com.

Now I’ll tell you why The Golden Key to Prayer was such a timely read for me.

In my continued search for truth I’ve found myself becoming frustrated with the amount of information out there that just doesn’t seem to have any basis in fact. It really is amazing how authors will write a book and even cite a resource that can’t be found.

I’ve come to realize that every person who writes has an agenda. It may be clear what that agenda is and it may not. The author may tell you his agenda is one thing and it may be completely different.

At last it doesn’t matter. Read the introductory paragraph to Mr Fox’s essay.

You and I just need to Be Still and Know God. Or in Emmet Fox’s words, “Stop thinking about the difficulty, whatever it is, and think about God instead”.

So whether the issue is health, wealth, your search for God,…. doesn’t matter – Think about God.

You may download “The Golden Key to Prayer” here:

Read it, do it, and share your thoughts and experiences below!

No conversation about Faith is complete until Gratitude is discussed so let’s talk about Gratitude a bit.

As you add to your Faith from Christ consciousness, you will feel Gratitude arising in your heart. Magnify that Gratitude and express it. Indeed, you won’t be able to contain it!

Take a look at the scripture where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead:

John 11:41-44
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Notice how Jesus expressed Gratitude to his heavenly Father before he called Lazarus out of the tomb.

This process of adding to your Faith works because it’s God’s way and you are one with God. This is the Christ consciousness that Jesus lived from. As you grow into this consciousness, Gratitude flows forth from within you because you begin to see the amazing connection you have with God. You grow into that oneness with God and you know that your prayers are answered even before you ask.

You cannot have true Gratitude any other way. It comes from Christ awareness, Christ consciousness. It comes from having this Faith born out of the consciousness that whatever you ask is given.

Here’s another scripture:

I John 5:14-15
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Asking according to God’s will is asking in Faith – Without Faith it is impossible to please God as it tells us in Hebrews. This pleasing is all about being in alignment with God. Being in Christ consciousness, aware of your Oneness with God. From this awareness, anything we ask is given.

That is what Jesus the Christ demonstrated so perfectly for us. And stated that we could do the same.

John 14:12-14
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

Believing on Jesus IS having the Christ consciousness. It is the only Way. It is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is the way to the Father. It is the path whereby you receive the kingdom of Heaven. This is having Faith unwavering. It is having Gratitude because you know your prayers are answered even before you ask.

If you struggle with anything in your life, know that your Faith in that area is still based on appearances.

Acknowledge it and begin the daily process of spending time in stillness, waiting on God and getting in touch with the Christ consciousness.

Allow that new awareness to fill your mind with thoughts of lavish abundance, joy, peace, harmony and blessing. The storehouses of our God are full of everything you could ask or think. Get into that consciousness.

Tune in to your oneness with God. Celebrate with Gratitude that your requests are heard and given. Add to your Faith the thoughts that come, feed them, and allow them to replace your old way of thinking and being.

As you change your Faith, your life will change.

According to your Faith be it unto you!

If you’ve made it to the end, congratulations! I hope you benefit from these ideas as I have and that you’ll share your thoughts and comments below!

So now we’ve established that Faith is your consciousness or your thought stream.

Let’s take a look at a scripture about thoughts:

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Why think on these things? Because your consciousness, your thinking faculty is your Faith and you always receive according to your Faith.

Understand that your Faith has been conditioned by appearances. You observe what goes on around you and in your life and you think you know what is occurring. You develop thought patterns around your observations and your Faith is based on your interpretation of appearances.

This is why we’re told not to judge by appearances.

John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

When you judge, you cannot help but do so according to your observations. When you do this, you accept an appearance as truth and create a thought about it that is added to your Faith.

In Matthew 7: 1-2 Jesus said:

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

This scripture makes it very clear that by your judgment, you will be judged. How does this work? Very simply by your Faith! The thought patterns you create judging by appearances become part of your Faith and therefore part of your life experience.

How do you judge righteous judgment? First off, you stop judging by appearances! Realize and know that you don’t see the whole picture. Then you’re judgment will be made according to the unseen spiritual principles that you are now aware of – Christ consciousness. And from that perspective, you add to your Faith thought patterns that are Truth.

Let’s look at another scripture:

2 Peter 1:2-7
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

Giving all diligence, add to your Faith… You must take care what you add to your Faith. You’ve been making quick judgments for so long about everything you observe and adding to your Faith with little care, concern or thought.

Now you know better.

Now you know that you only want to add to your Faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity. These qualities come from your Faith being taught and conditioned by Christ consciousness. Any thought that is contrary to these high principles of Christ does not belong in your stream of thought, your consciousness, your Faith.

At this point I hope you’re feeling overjoyed! If you are, then you are connecting at a very deep level with what I’m saying. It’s resonating with you and that’s awesome!

You may also be feeling a little overwhelmed, but don’t focus on that. You don’t need any more of that, right?

Going forward your job is to notice your Faith. Really become aware of it. One of the easiest ways to get acquainted with your Faith is to just take a good look at your life and notice what is showing up for you on a daily basis. According to your Faith, you are receiving.

If there is anything you wish were different, take a look at your Faith about that thing. Notice your thought patterns around that subject.

You will notice that those thoughts are not in alignment with the abundance, joy, peace, love, etc. that is Christ consciousness.

When you uncover one of these appearance based thoughts, spend a few moments considering how you would think from Christ consciousness – an awareness of complete provision, unlimited supply, infinite love, unending joy, absolute peace – pure perfection. Then replace that old judgment with the new Christ conscious thought.

And that’s how you add to your Faith consciously.

Make sense? Click here to read Part 3 after leaving your comments below!

We’re told that we must have faith. (Without faith it is impossible to please God…) We’ve heard of weak faith and a lack of faith. We’re told that we need to have more faith but how? Where does it come from? How do you get it? And if you have a little, how do you get more?

If this has confused you like it has me, read on, because I’ve finally gained clarity around this issue of faith!

Here’s the deal: You can’t get more faith. You have all the faith you need. Faith is one of your faculties like Strength, Love and Wisdom and it just needs to be exercised.

Faith is your consciousness. The endless stream of thoughts that flood your mind day in and day out come from your Faith faculty. You might think of Faith as your habitual way of thinking or a stream of thoughts.

If you will notice those thoughts, you will find that your life is an objectified reflection of that stream of thought.

Hebrews 11:1 states: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

What you choose to allow to flow in the stream of thought manifests as your substance or your life experience.

Your stream of thought really indicates what you believe in. Your experience and what manifests in your life is a product of that thought stream, therefore faith is the substance of what you hope.

As your faith becomes aware of the Christ consciousness and deeper truth, you can allow greater thoughts into the stream because Christ consciousness is the awareness that with God, nothing is impossible. Christ consciousness knows “Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened”. Christ awareness knows “It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. Christ consciousness acknowledges “Anything you ask in my name believing it will be done”.

Observe your thoughts. Are they in alignment with Christ consciousness?

It’s quite easy to tell. Any thought that is in agreement with the idea of God providing all you could ever ask or think is in alignment with Christ consciousness.

Any thought that is rooted in scarcity, lack, limitation, doubt or fear, is not of God, nor is it in alignment with Christ consciousness.

So what do you do with those limiting thoughts?

First of all, recognize that your habitual way of thinking is your Faith. And YOU get to choose what it is!!!

This is important. You say you believe in God, you say that you believe in God’s provision, God’s will for your life, God answering prayers, and so on. But never mind what you say. Notice that stream of thoughts.

If you’re noticing thoughts of doubt that God will provide, that he’ll answer your prayers, that you’ll ever know God’s will for your life, – that’s your Faith.

Choose now what your Faith is. Do you really want to have great Faith?

You see, great Faith is Faith that has come into awareness of Christ consciousness. It is Faith that is taking on the thought stream of Christ consciousness.

When Jesus said follow me, he meant that we should be like him. Like him in Faith. Like him in Christ consciousness. Your habitual way of thinking, your thought stream should be a stream of Christ thoughts.

That’s something that anyone can do if they so choose.

A great place to start might be to just consider some of the promises of God that I’ve already mentioned here.

Compare your current thought stream to how it would be if you really believed those promises. If you really believed that God would give you the kingdom, would you doubt that God would speak to you? Provide for you? NO!

If you really believed God would provide, would you doubt you’d ever find a better job? A soul mate? NO!

Observe your thought stream. That is your Faith. According to your Faith be it unto you. As a man thinketh so is he.

You cannot receive or achieve anything beyond or outside your Faith.

If you’re unhappy with your relationship with God, stop thinking about being unworthy of hearing God’s voice. Stop thinking “I’m just a terrible sinner who deserves eternal damnation”. Stop thinking about dying and going to hell. Stop thinking that you have no idea how to connect with or please God. Stop thinking that you don’t have enough Faith.

These thoughts are your Faith and become your reality.

If you’re dissatisfied with your relationships, stop thinking that you’ll never find the right person. Stop thinking “I’m unlovable”. Stop thinking that no one is good enough, right enough, kind enough or crazy enough to marry you. Stop thinking about having no friends, always having abusive relationships and people always taking advantage of you.

These thoughts are your Faith and define your relationships.

If you’re hating your job, stop thinking about how bad it is. Stop thinking that you’re boss is a jerk. Stop thinking that you have no options. Stop thinking that the company is just a bad place to work. Stop thinking that no one else is hiring. Stop thinking that “I’m not smart enough, educated enough, to find a new job”.

These thoughts are your Faith around your job and according to your Faith, so it is.

If you’re distressed about your finances, stop thinking about lacking money. Stop thinking about debt. Stop thinking that you’ll never have enough money. Stop thinking that your paycheck is pathetic. Stop thinking that your bills are always more than your income. Stop thinking “Money doesn’t grow on trees”. Stop thinking rich people are bad or have gotten their money unethically.

These thoughts are your Faith about your finances and therefore your bank account reflects shortage, lack and scarcity.

If your health is failing, stop thinking about being sick. Stop thinking about all what type of disease that new pain might be. Stop thinking that you might have cancer or any other illness. Stop thinking that “It’s tough to get old”. Stop thinking that the body ages and falls apart and that sickness is the norm.

These thoughts in your stream are your Faith and become your experience.

By now you’ve got the picture and you’ve probably realized some of the thoughts you have and the effect your Faith is having in your life.

Does this resonate with you?

Click here to read Part 2…

…after sharing your comments below!

I’m stunned… a little…

I mean, I’m aware that there is a very common sense among us humans that God is separated from us and unreachable for all practical purpose – and I do want to be practical here.

So what’s the problem?

The root of the problem my friends is our level of awareness. It is how we see God, ourselves and our relationship with God.

And it has everything to do with what we’ve been taught all our lives.

Here’s what we’ve been told: God is in heaven, we are on earth. We’ve all sinned and we’re separated from God by our sin. We must do one thing or another in order to be reconciled to God. If you’ve been raised in a Christian religion, you’ve been taught that you must believe in Jesus and not do a bunch of stuff.

The teaching goes on to say that if you do all the right things, believe all the right things, then you’ll have peace with God. And you’ll be able to pray to God and God will hear and respond.

And you’ve tried this. I’ve tried this. Billions of people down through the ages have lived this teaching perfectly and still found that God ignored them.

So where’s the problem?

Could it be the teaching? Could you put all your training on hold for just a moment and entertain the idea that there is some information that we are unaware of that if we were aware of would change our entire relationship with God?

I’m going to digress here a bit and tell you a bit about myself.

When I notice something that doesn’t work, I try to fix it. If I can’t fix it, I may try to find someone who can. If I can’t find someone who can, I’m through with that thing.

In this case I’m talking about a teaching, a tradition. A belief system that teaches me how about God, teaches me how to reach God, teaches me that I am separate from God, teaches me that I’m a sinner, teaches that I must return to God by various rules of men, etc.

That’s where I was raised. That’s my training and programming.

It didn’t work. I tried it. I know it didn’t work. And I tried to fix it. I tried everything I could to make it work. And it still didn’t work. My experience was teaching me that the teaching didn’t work. Eventually I couldn’t ignore my experience any longer.

So I had to let the teaching go.

It was the best thing I ever did.

When you let go of a teaching, a belief system that doesn’t work, it frees you to experience what does work.

The reason I’m sharing this with you is that if you are feeling like God is ignoring you, it is because you are living from a traditional way of believing that doesn’t work.

I know this because I’ve been down that road.

The question is… are you ready?

The truth is that you are one with God and it is impossible for God to ignore you.

What you are experiencing is your own ignoring of who you are and who God is.

Likely you don’t even recognize your own soul. And your soul is the essence of who you really are.

You are so accustomed to viewing yourself as a physical being that is separated from an angry and unpredictable God. You are struggling within your paradigm to find God, to know God, to have peace with God, to get God’s attention and help for your horrible plight.

And you can’t and you never will because “According to your faith be it unto you”. You are living your belief in the teaching you’ve been given just as countless millions have done before you.

They didn’t find peace with God either, but they didn’t know any better and so they taught you what they’d been taught.

The answer is in the name of this website.

Be still and know God.

God isn’t ignoring you. I get these angry, frustrated comments and emails from readers who affirm that God is indeed ignoring them. He’s not. Sorry.

You simply haven’t awakened to a simple truth, which when you awaken to it, will change everything.

You and God really are one. God can’t ignore you. It is impossible. God is screaming at you to wake up and notice your oneness with God.

That’s what all your pain and struggle is pointing to. It’s God’s way of showing you who you are.

You’re denying your own experience in lieu of some traditional teachings that are failing you.

When will you stop, be still and know God?

Another question – what is your Faith? You will always experience according to your Faith.

I invite you to read “What Is Faith” because it will help you understand why you might feel God is ignoring you!

I hope it did. I really do.

I don’t know about you, but as for me, I’m excited about the new world, with it’s unlimited possibilities.

Could you entertain for a minute the possibilities that everything could change in the next year? Could you dare to imagine that the very way we look at our lives, God and our relationship with God could shift and evolve into the most amazing, fulfilling, perfect, peaceful interaction you have NEVER dared dream of?

This is possible! In fact, it’s something that some people are actually experiencing!

So what makes the difference? What allows some people to experience peace with God in a loving relationship, while others are cowering in fear, hoping that an angry God doesn’t strike them down?

I hope you’re longing for answers, are willing to ask the hard questions, and question the assumptions you’ve held for centuries. I say for centuries because the assumptions we hold about God are not our own. They’re inscribed in our DNA – handed down to us through the generations – and guess what? As we struggle in our relationship with God, so did our forefathers. As they passed their assumptions about God to us, they passed with them the deep dissatisfaction and disconnection from God.

Why did they do this?

It’s quite simple actually.

You’re not supposed to question what you’ve been taught about God.

And so they didn’t.

Their lives were lived in fear and dread with unanswered questions about God, but they didn’t dare question the foundational beliefs, the prior assumptions, the traditional ways of relating to and thinking about God. They didn’t dare.

And so the experience of our fathers were handed down to us.

I don’t know about you, but don’t you think it’s strange that we always want better for our children? And then we teach them the very things we were taught, which in turn creates the life experience we don’t want to create?

Oh, sure some of the physical trappings of the earth experience might be a little different.

But what changes little is the living of a dissatisfied life, the suffering of separation from God, the fear of eternal punishment, the lack of true peace with God.

If you doubt this, look around you a little. Likely you have to look no further than your own experience.

If you have peace with God, and your relationship is exactly what you want, then look a little further and you’ll see what I’m writing about.

We have amazing advances in science and technology. I have a smartphone that is more capable than the first computer I owned – and a lot smaller.

Here in America we enjoy so much in our prosperous nation in spite of economic issues, political shenanigans, and perceived poverty.

And yet we fear. We don’t have peace. We worry. We spend most of our time preparing for the stuff we worry about.

In short, we still don’t know who we are. We still don’t know who God is. We’re not questioning any of that. We continue to work off assumptions that render all our efforts and decisions futile in the other areas of our lives.

We still can’t get the only one thing we really want.

So here we are – The world has ended.

We’re starting over.

Are we going to work off the assumptions that have handicapped us in the past?

Or are we going to examine, question and get the answers?

I’m here encouraging you. In the spirit of a child who is discovering for the first time, ask the hard questions. Assume nothing. Open your heart and mind to the unlimited possibilities before us. Expect answers. Receive answers.

Assume nothing.

And then experience an amazing new life in the new year in our new world!

A chorus of a Christian hymn goes like this: “Tell how He lived for me, tell how He died, Sorely afflicted and nailed to the tree, Wounded and bruised for the sins of the world: Love so abounding – O tell it to me!”

Recently my sister crossed over. The following Sunday I attended church with my parents and this hymn was sung at the close of the service.

As I heard the words of that chorus, I thought of Julie. And it was much more than a thought. It was more like the realization that those words were about Julie, and then further expansion occurred to include many many more…

Julie took on a lot of what many people would consider sin. She suffered through addiction – alcohol, prescription drugs and who knows what else. There was sexual abuse. She died alone in a subsidized housing apartment, her body found by a neighbor hours later.

I live several states away and the easiest method of communicating with Julie was texting and she was an avid texter.

A few days before her death I had mentioned an opportunity to her. She sent me a text back that I’ll probably never forget: “Im not outgouing enemore, im practliy a reculse and I dont now enybody.”

Sorely afflicted? I think so. Nailed to the tree? Yes, crucified by all of us one time or another who sat in judgment of her. Wounded and bruised for the sins of the world? Absolutely.

You see, sin doesn’t exist on it’s own. It is created by judgment.

Julie and countless others live lives that are filled with what many of us “normal” people consider sinful and bad activity.

If we think about it just a little bit, we realize that if we don’t judge an activity sinful, then it isn’t. So, where there is no judgment, there is no sin.

And I’ll take it a little further. If there is sin in the situation, it’s not the act. It’s the judgment.

Jesus commanded “Judge not that you be not judged” The error is in the judging. Not the action that’s being judged.

Julie judged herself – and those of us around her reflected that back to her. That’s just what we’re trained to do.

I’m not blaming or accusing anyone here. I’m just explaining what I see – and what I participated in.

We are all participating as we pass judgment and crucify others – whether it is people close to us or people in other countries and cultures.

The people in your life that drive you crazy with their lies, addictions, abuse, terrorism, jealousy, etc – are there for a reason.

They are giving you the amazing opportunity to notice your judgments – and let them go.

We have created elaborate systems within our societies on this planet. Most of these systems are based on judgments about what is considered good and bad, right and wrong.

Within our societies we further fragment by creating religious systems that are based around more judgments.

Safely within our little groups we celebrate our righteousness while making those outside bad and wrong.

And they, those horrible, wrong people are our saviors.

They are taking on the sin we’ve created with our judgments and giving us the opportunity to forgive (release judgment) and love.

Love so abounding? Yes indeed.

The love that unites us all is greater than the judgments that divide us.

And we have the amazing opportunity to release judgment, forgive and really be the love that we truly are!

Many people simply accept that belief in Jesus is a given. It’s just something you do – and it’s defined in a certain way.

The thing is, those beliefs you have in and about Jesus may be keeping you from enjoying the communication with God that you seek!

Let’s take a look at how most Christians believe in Jesus. Here’s a quote from a well known Christian website:

We are all sinners separated from God and deserving of eternal punishment for our sin. Jesus’ death on the cross paid for the sins of mankind, giving us access to heaven and an eternal relationship with God.

This could really be called the foundational belief of Christianity. In fact this quote came from an article entitled “Essentials of the Christian Faith”.

So how does this belief affect your communication with God?

• First of all it builds a wall of separation. “We are all sinners separated from God…”.
• Secondly it applies a heavy layer of guilt. “…deserving of eternal punishment for our sin.”
• Next comes the enormous debt: “Jesus’ death on the cross paid for the sins of mankind…”
• And lastly comes the promise: “…giving us access to heaven and an eternal relationship with God.”

Now I want you to do something.

Read the statement again and pay attention to how you feel inside.

We are all sinners separated from God and deserving of eternal punishment for our sin. Jesus’ death on the cross paid for the sins of mankind, giving us access to heaven and an eternal relationship with God.

If you don’t feel a heaviness in your soul when you read those words, check to see if you have a pulse.

The last phrase lifts the heaviness a bit and gives a glint of hope, right?

And this is “Good News?”

This foundational belief effectively shuts down communication with God. It places barriers that no human being has the courage to overcome.

We have Biblical proportions of separation, guilt, shame and debt piled upon us. Who can reach God through that?

Oh, but you say, it’s all wiped away by the blood of Christ. All of that is gone.

Really?

How does that work? Think about that for a moment.

How does it really work? The separation, guilt, shame and debt are the core of the belief. The foundation.

That stuff doesn’t go away. Even the promise of it all going away because Christ died for you doesn’t make it go away. In fact, if you’ll sense how you feel again as you read those words, you’ll realize that it further cements the separation, guilt, shame and debt.

Those things cannot be removed or separated from the belief that creates them.

That, my friend is the source of your problems in communicating with God.

You pray and feel like your prayers don’t get past the ceiling.

You cry out for help and feel as if God ignores you.

You type into Google things like “How do I know God is listening?”, “God ignores me”, “Why can’t I feel God?”

And you land on my site. And I want to help you. I really do.

And I’ll tell you that it is your belief that creates your problem.

We’ve been talking about an “essential Christian belief”.

How does it stack up against the words of Jesus “According to your faith be it unto you”?

Do you see the problem? Your faith is creating separation.

Now I’m not trying to undermine your belief in Jesus. I am trying to get you to examine your belief in Christianity.

And yes – there is a difference.

Jesus asked for a very simple faith – not the convoluted system of beliefs and ideas that Christianity sells you.

This will likely bring up more questions for you.

Read what it means to really believe in Jesus.

I thought I was done with this article but here’s something else.

If you’re anything like I was a few years ago, you’re afraid to ask the questions that are on your heart. You’ve been taught that you should just have more faith. You’ve likely been reprimanded for asking.

Guess what? That ain’t happenin’ here.

Stick around and I’ll help you find the answers.

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