Brother Jim Shaw Ministries Ep203, Beware of Religions No Rituals
Needed: Brother Jim Shaw on the Simplicity of Christ and the Thief
at the Cross Brother Jim Shaw warns against a surge in religious
ritual, contrasting the rules and trappings of organized religion
with the simplicity of knowing Jesus Christ within, and closes by
saying all he wants is what the thief at the cross received. A
Surge in Religion and Its Rituals Brother Jim Shaw opens the
fifteen-minute broadcast by noting a surge in religion he has seen
reported, particularly reformed Catholicism, and asks listeners
what is actually good about it. He compares organized religion to
clubs like the Moose Club, the Elks, the American Legion, and the
VFW, loaded with rules and belonging. Shaw lists rituals he sees as
trappings rather than substance: feast days, traditions, candles,
stained glass, kneeling, signs of the cross, crucifixes, rosary
beads, holy days, physical baptisms in a small font, confirmations,
memorized prayers, and first Holy Communion. He says he is not
trying to ridicule anyone, but contrasts all of it with the
simplicity of knowing in one's heart that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Shaw tells listeners they are the temple, that Jesus lives and
resides within them, and that Christ exposes himself in a believer
all day long, especially in moments of temptation. Rituals Cannot
Overcome the Devil Shaw challenges listeners to name one thing a
ritual can do to overcome a devil, insisting it cannot, because
devils love rituals and religion since there is no spiritual power
in them. He admits people love teams anyway, joking about grown men
at a Green Bay Packers game wearing cheese hats and screaming in
freezing weather, because everyone wants to belong to a club. Shaw
says it is a manifestation of grace when the Lord plucks a person
out of the world, making them a living stone of a church built
without hands. He warns listeners not to be deceived from the
simplicity of Christ, just as Eve was deceived in the garden. He
corrects himself over the exact wording, recalling that God told
Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, noting that the good on that tree was just as deceptive as
the evil. Saved by Faith, Not by Joining Shaw turns to Paul's
teaching in Galatians that believers are saved by faith and live by
faith, adding that works will follow faith but a person cannot
simply join a club, sign a paper, or be born into generations of a
religion and call that salvation. He explains that when Paul wrote
of faith he was quoting the Old Testament, since the New Testament
did not yet exist, now understood through spiritual eyes after the
Savior's coming. Shaw reads Habakkuk 2:4, that the soul which is
lifted up in pride is not upright, while the just shall live by
faith, which carries no pride. He reads on that a man who
transgresses by wine is proud, enlarges his desire like hell, and
is never satisfied, gathering all nations and peoples to himself,
which he says religions do. Shaw singles out mass cards for the
dead in the Catholic church, priced at five, ten, or fifteen
dollars, as a never-ending revenue stream he calls worldly
insanity. No Vows Required to Enter His Kingdom Shaw tells
listeners they do not have to join anything to live by the faith of
Christ, since a person comes automatically into his kingdom upon
choosing him as personal Lord and Savior, with no need to recite
ritual words or take vows no one can keep. He singles out the vow
of celibacy taken by priests, asking where it appears in the
Gospel, which instead tells believers to be fruitful and multiply,
and suggests this explains the scale of scandal among clergy. Shaw
says he knows he sounds like a voice in the wilderness, but insists
he sides with people as human beings because he loves every one of
them regardless of their religion. He adds that even those who are
deceived were still made and created by his Creator, though they
may not realize it, and that it falls to him to pray for them
whenever their paths cross his own. Praying Instead of Judging,
Wanting the Thief's Grace Shaw explains that while he can recognize
when someone's deeds, drawn from the list in Galatians 5 of
adultery, fornication, and covetousness, show they are headed
toward judgment, he will not set himself up as their judge, since
he too was once a sinner Christ plucked out of that path. He says
he may have to separate himself from such people, even family, but
insists there is no bitterness, revenge, or pride in his heart,
since no believer has accomplished more than another in God's eyes.
Shaw rejects the idea of sainthood elevating certain believers
above others, saying all believers are saints in Jesus and that God
alone gives out rewards. He says all he wants, and all any
Christian should want regardless of religion, is what the thief at
the cross received: no baptism, no rituals, no candles, only pain
and nakedness, yet a turn toward Jesus that earned him paradise
that same day. The Narrow Road, the Spirit Within, Closing Contact
Shaw closes his teaching by describing one road, the road of the
Lamb that leads to the cross, where believers pick up their own
cross, deny themselves, and follow a Jesus who lives within them as
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He recalls that on the cross Jesus was
fully man, needing the Father to forgive his accusers, yet on other
occasions forgave sins himself, outraging the Pharisees, who asked
who he thought he was. Shaw says the kingdom of God is within every
believer wherever they are, behind the wheel, hanging drywall, or
on a garbage truck, and that Jesus gives the power to overcome sin.
He teaches that loving one's neighbor begins with loving God first,
warns that cellphones and idol worship can choke the spirit, and
urges listeners to hold fast to the spirit inside them before
closing with a blessing. The announcer then repeats the ministry's
website, a Vero Beach, Florida post office box, a phone number, and
the YouTube page.
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