ambassadors for the risen Christ ministries

by Shawn Brasseaux
Published in The (Opelousas, Louisiana) Daily World

Please note again that I am not here to attack anyone. Are you tired of being in a religion filled with strict, burdensome guidelines? Are you expected to adhere to a denomination handbook filled with a lengthy “to-do” list? People who are steeped in legalism and works-based religion are bound. They admit that they are scared to death to make a wrong move. If they leave that religion and convert to Christianity, they are threatened with a message of eternal condemnation in hell. Is not there something better?

Contrary to popular belief, Biblical Christianity is not “religion.” How true the statement that “religion is man seeking God through his own filthy works; Christianity is God reaching down to man through Jesus Christ’s finished work on Calvary.” There is something better than works based religion: His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator God.

Did you know that God despises religion? Really, He does. Meriting favor by doing something literally cancels what Christ Jesus already did for us (Romans 11:6; Galatians 5:1-6). After all Christ’s suffering, pain, and His willingness to die for us, people turn around and say, “Lord, that was not enough; I have to do something now.” They undermine the power of Christ’s precious blood by working to merit favor. Christ died for neither the sinless nor the “good enough” people. The Lord “died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6) and He “tasted death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). You do not have to go to hell unless you chose to go there.

Eternal life is being handed out freely, without any cost to you whatsoever (Romans 3:23-31). Stop ignoring what Jesus Christ did for you, before it is eternally too late. You do not have to toil and sweat. You do not have to doubt if you really are going to make it. You can actually rest at night, knowing you are eternally secure in Christ. Please, for your own sakes; call upon the Lord while He is still near. Come to the foot of the cross, as an undeserved sinner, and recognize that Christ shed His blood for the remission of your sins, that He died, was buried, and rose again from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).