During thirty plus years in mainstream churches, people always understood where I went to church.
Baptist, Evangelical, Methodist, Non-Deonominational, etc…
Any of those words describe a church organization/system, and people get it.

Over the last several years, I have deviated from the established organizations.  I have studied scripture, instead of listening to men tell me what they think scripture says.
There is a very big difference.

In our church culture today, men (and women) go to college, Seminary, and they learn what other men think scripture says.
Then they graduate and look for a job teaching men and women the things that other men and women taught them.
The big problem with this idea is *if* there are any errors in the curriculum at the schools…
What are the chances of that happening? According to Jeremiah, the chances are 100%.

Jeremiah 16:19-20
¹⁹ O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
²⁰ Will a man make gods for himself,
Which are not gods?

This bit of prophecy is speaking about end times, when the scattered ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel will be restored.
Believe it or not, we are living in that time!! It is happening before our very eyes.

If that is true, then what about Jeremiah’s statement?
He tells us that we will realize we have been taught nothing but worthless, unprofitable lies.
It does not say some lies will cause confusion, but God will sort it all out and everyone will be OK.
Nope, it says nothing good will come from those lies (no salvation!!).

Furthermore, verse 20 tells us what will come to be as a result of these lies…
Men will make up their own deity.  Except their made up deities will not be gods, and therefore, will not have the power to save you!
Yikes!!
Has that happened in our churches?

Well, what does Ezekiel say about it?
Ezekiel 22:26-29
Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. ²⁸ Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.

Double Yikes!! That isn’t good, is it?

If I’m correct about these things, then Messiah would have mentioned it, right? In His final words to us, Messiah tells us who is in His kingdom and who is not in His kingdom.
Check this out:

Revelation 22:14-15
¹⁴ Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

There are some major problems with this.
1. With regard to verse 14, churches teach that Jesus did away with ‘the Law’, the Torah instructions which Yahuah (God) said were forever, for all generations, never ending, and a perpetual covenant.
2. If we are to take Messiah’s final warning to us seriously (and I think we should), then we have to study scripture to determine what he means by those who love and practice a lie.

Refer again to Jeremiah 16:19
Everything we’ve been taught is a lie.
Triple Yikes!!

Can this possibly be true?
Check out 1John 2:3-6

The Test of Knowing Him

³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

The translators even gave this bit of scripture a title:  “The Test of Knowing Him”
Knowing who?
Messiah, of course.

DO YOU PASS THIS TEST?
Do you keep the commandments of God, given in Torah?
Do you have the truth in you, or are you a liar?
Do you walk as He walked?
That would be:
-Keeping Torah instructions, the Law.
-Honoring and keeping the Sabbath, as it is described in scripture
-Honoring and keeping the moedim, the feast days, of the Father, as they are given and commanded in Leviticus 23
-Doing the will of the Father, as opposed to His own will.
-Eating only clean foods as described in scripture, and avoiding unclean foods

I could go on and on, but that is enough.
Again, am I right about these things? Or am I just confused?
Here are some words from Messiah:
Matthew 7:21-23
²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Messiah says that if we want to enter His kingdom, we must do the will of His Father in heaven.  He was very specific about this.  He didn’t say we must do His own will.  We must abide in the will of the Father.  Where do we find that?  The Torah.  The first five books of the bible.  The Father gave His instructions and told us to follow these instructions forever, for all generations.
We see in Matthew 7 that Messiah is reiterating this concept.
If you want to be in His kingdom, you must follow the will of the Father.  No questions asked.

But people will say…
But I went to church every Sunday.
But I own a bible.
But I went to the men’s/women’s study on Thursday nights.
But I volunteered in the children’s program.
But I help clean the church on Saturdays.
And on and on and on…

And what will Messiah say?
He will say to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

That will be a sad day, when people who loved and practiced a lie are told to go away by Messiah Himself.
And there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So, getting back to the original question.
What Religion Am I?
What Religion Are You?
Believe it or not, Yeshua Messiah is not interested in what religion we are.  That is a bunch of garbage to Him.
There is only one truth, and that truth is scripture.  All of it, not bits and pieces of it.  One whole truth, from front to back.
There are over 40,000 Christian denominations in existence.
If there is but one truth, then at least 39,999 of these are wrong, and that is assuming one of them got it right.
Should we join a church organization?
Should we label ourselves with a denomination (or go generic with non-denominational)?
I am obviously not an expert on 40,000 different organizations.
I cannot speak about all of these groups.
Here is what I can do:
I can say what scripture says.
I can read the direct quotes of Yahuah, our Creator.
I can read the direct quotes of Yeshua Messiah, our Savior.
If a church organization teaches something contrary to what scripture says, then they are not a group to join.

Men and women have pondered the purpose of man and the purpose of mankind all throughout time. There is a never ending supply of commentary on this subject – in libraries, online, in entertainment, in media, in our colleges, and on and on and on.
But we don’t have to ponder such things.
God already told us what the purpose of man is, via the wisest man to ever live.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14
9 And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright—words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars[b] are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. 12 And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. 
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
14 For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commands.
We obey out of reverence for Him.
We do not obey to try to earn anything.
Salvation is a gift, so that no man should boast.

Messiah said this:
“If you love me you will keep my commandments.”
Our obedience to His word is how He knows if we love Him or not.
We obey for love of our Savior, just as He told us to do.

Men have been teaching the Word for thousands of years.
In Matthew 23, Messiah shows us what He thought of the educated religious leaders of His time.
He told them they are going to hell, and the people they have taught are going to hell as a result of their teaching. Messiah rebuked men for teaching their own ideas and deviating from the things that God taught.
Wow. That is serious!! This is a scathing accusation.

Matthew 23:13
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

Fast forward to 2017.
Having studied the very words of Messiah in great detail over the last year, and understanding His warnings, I believe He would say the same things to our educated religious leaders today.
Are men today teaching what they learned from other men in college, or are they teaching the true words of our Creator and our Savior?
They reject the words of God and the words of Messiah, and instead, teach what other men teach.
Yes, that statement will offend many.
But time is short, and I’m more concerned with truth than not being offensive.

Yes, I believe Messiah would say the same thing to them today, the same thing He told the educated religious leaders of His time.
In fact, He already has, in various warnings in scripture (some of these are direct quotes of Messiah).
Here are a couple:
Matthew 7:21-23
Revelation 22:14-15
John 14:15
John 15:10
Matthew 5:17-19
Revelation 14:12
Hebrews 10:26-31
1John 2:3-6
2Peter 3:14-17

And there are many more.

If what I am presenting sounds confusing, or impossible, or preposterous, try this:
Get a red letter bible and read nothing but the words of Messiah.
Compare what He says to mainstream church doctrine.
You will find they do not match.
Then you have to make a decision…
Don’t take my word for it.
I’m a knucklehead.
Read the words of Messiah and see what He says.
That, my friend, you can believe.

So, what religion am I?
I’ll answer with none of the above…

Here is the gist of my meme…
1. In Matthew 23, Messiah gave a scathing rebuke to the educated religious leaders of His time. He did so because they taught the traditions of men instead of the Word of God.
2. Fast forward to 2017 — we have men who go to college where they learn what other men think the bible says. They then go out and teach in churches, teaching the things they learned from other men in college.
3. Through intent study of scripture, I have learned that the Word of God is different than what men teach about the Word of God in churches.
4. I’ve shed the things I was taught for thirty plus years in churches. Instead, I read scripture, believe what it says, and do my best to obey it.