What is this?

Well, my name is not important. Neither is my full story. I am still a part of the institution and machine of religion.

I’m not here to bash any church I have ever attended. I’m just fed up with religion, and I’m fed up with all the religious who have forced manipulated interpretations of God’s word.

I first encountered God when I was a teenager, in a mega-church. The environment was toxic, and I fell in line with the machine and hierarchy of church. After several years of falling in line, and obeying the stigma of what church is, I ran…who wouldn’t? I didn’t run because of rebellion, I didn’t run because I hated God, and I didn’t run because I was finished with God either. I ran because the institution of religion defined what God was, and who He is supposed to be in my life, and I didn’t fit with that definition. God was not someone I could have a relationship with if I am human, even though I grew up hearing that we all fall short. The culture of church told me I had to be perfect to be part of it, hide your insecurities and hide your mess, essentially-hide your humanity.

So I joined the military…and lived in the mess of the military and politics. I encountered some of the worst kind of people and I just lived life with them, and let Jesus shine through me. The craziest thing was, I saw some of the worst, morally speaking, guys I have ever encountered before in my life…getting saved…because I followed Jesus, and because I didn’t hold on to the arrogance that the corporate church has adopted as a belief.

I recently came to this conviction…because I feel that I’ve become a part of the machine that is called “the church.”

The only way I know to fight this is from the inside. I remain hidden, trying to combat religion with relationship. This is only the beginning, and it is a war. Paul states that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and dark rulers of the world. Unfortunately, I have recognized that some of these rulers hide under the guise of religion. I believe that these rulers have also come in the form of religious worship of the media, government, economics, and entertainment. The body of Christ is torn and led by these rulers in the form of denominations. I seriously doubt that these institutionalized religious sects, or denominations, are the kind of “unity” among the body of Christ that God intended for humanity. Every denomination’s interpretation of God’s word is different, they can’t all be right, and they can’t all be wrong, but they all are guilty of manipulation in their humanity.

It becomes impossible to be human in the church today. Don’t mess up, don’t talk against your pastor, or priest, or leader, don’t disagree, and conform to the system of church.

It’s crazy to think that Jesus…both God and man…stated that we are to call no one else father, and no one other than himself priest, or pastor…don’t believe me-check out Matthew 23:9.

In context, Jesus is setting the scribes and pharisees straight, and they are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. Your father- This was the title given to eminent teachers and founders of schools, to whom the people were taught to look up rather than to God. And history is repeating itself…Institutional religion doesn’t reflect Christ, it doesn’t allow for hanging out with drunks, liars, cheats, man haters, misogynists, gays, lesbians, transexuals, porn addicts, drug dealers, or narcissists…and yet I just described every leader in a church in some way shape or another. The church doesn’t know this though…nor is it considered acceptable for them to know by the religious leaders who spew doctrine and dogma on their congregations. There is no room for grace in religion…

As for where I am today, I listened to God when He told me to enter into ministry. I don’t know how God wants me to do battle, but He inserted me into the machine that religion has created, and just like a small grain of sand can destroy an engine…I hope I am able to destroy the corporation that religion has created.

I said yes to God, I don’t entirely like it, but I know that I answered the convictions He put in me. I am at war…we are at war…We Against Religion.

I am the Christian Anarchist…I follow Jesus…not the church.

In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centered on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.

— Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate

People are leaving the church and finding God.

— Lenny Bruce

Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship.

— Bono