Help! I’m Tired of Religion by Pearl Adams
Preface & Chapter 1
Preface
I read somewhere that every book is an autobiography of some sort. This could, to a certain extent, apply to this project. I searched my heart to determine my motives behind writing what many might believe is intended to malign certain doctrines of some Christian denominations. I have no such inclination. I see myself more as a victim of years of dedication to an erroneous foundation, one that has become acceptable in Christendom.
The characters in this book may be fictitious, but you can recognize them in virtually all centers of worship in Christendom. Forget about the gaiety and the shouts of “praise the Lord.” A good number of professed Christians are fed up with religion. They want to know and love God, but they are daily inundated with teachings that turn their hearts away from him to material things. Oh, I’m not against “prosperity gospel.” No one in his right senses would reject prosperity.I’m just tired of seeing the disappointment on the faces of people whose hopes have been dashed after years of sitting under “great men of God” who gave them the assurance that God would solve all their problems, once they “accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal Savior.” It’s a pity that, instead of preaching the resurrected Christ, we now propagate another gospel!
I have some questions for those who peddle this kind of gospel. Do I have to become a “believer” to be successful in business, marry, have children, or enjoy the good things of life? If so, can they explain why some unbelievers are also enjoying these things? Can they convince people like us who haven’t accepted their version of the gospel that the primary reason Jesus shed his blood was to provide the good things of life for his disciples? How relevant is Hebrews 11:13–15 to this kind of thinking? How would they explain the prosperity of the atheists in our midst?
I believe that it is the covenant right of every child of God to enjoy prosperity and be in good health (John 3:2). But these aren’t the QED’s of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Lord said in John 17: 3, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” It’s so sad that so many Christians are being fed meals that do not nourish their souls and point them heaven-ward. May God help our poor, famished souls!
CHAPTER 1
NEED A SPOUSE? WORSHIP WITH US
My name is Janette Dubois. My friends call me Jane. I worship at the Temple of the Righteous Church, Ontario, Canada. I agreed to have this story published because I desire liberty for others who have been led astray by false shepherds. I must confess that my disillusionment with religion got to a point where I almost lost faith altogether. The saving grace was that I had a personal relationship with Christ, nurtured by the Holy Spirit and the word of God.
My Christian odyssey started in 2000, when a female colleague, Gracia Bell, invited me to a convention hosted by her church, The Glory of God Chapel. I was thirty-nine years old and desperate for a husband. I had had several marriage proposals in the past, but none of the men met my standards.
Gracia had frequently assured me that my problem was satan-induced, and that I needed an “anointed man of God” like her senior pastor, David Tien, to break the yoke of spinsterhood. She, of course, was happily married with three children. I was only too glad to attend the convention, and I took special care with my appearance that evening. When I examined myself in my full-length mirror, I felt satisfied with the product.
Gracia picked me up at exactly 4:00 p.m. for the event. She was in high spirits. I tried to follow along with her, but I was too conscious of the reason for the outing to allow myself to get distracted by religious niceties. I kept sizing up the men who weren’t wearing wedding bands. None of them gave me the slightest bit of attention.
I must be in the wrong place, I thought. My colleague was too involved with the whole thing to be of help. She explained after we got to the venue that she was an usher at the church. She did come around twice to check on me, though.
Toward the end of the meeting, one of the pastors asked those who wanted to “give their lives to Christ” to move to the altar. He explained that we could not receive anything from God unless we identified with his son, Jesus Christ. I mulled this over in my mind and decided to accept the offer of salvation; at least this would open the doors of God’s blessings for me.
I edged my way through the crowd, but could not climb the stairs to the altar due to the throng of salvation-seekers like me. We were eventually “led to Christ” by the pastor, after which some church workers took down our names, addresses, and telephone numbers.
Gracia came over to where we were being documented. She could hardly conceal her joy. She later confided in me that I was the first person in our organization who had “met Christ” through her. In fairness to her, she didn’t put any pressure on me to attend her church. I just assumed that I needed to, to receive the blessings that had been promised by the pastor, especially marriage.
I eventually joined the hospitality unit of the church and tried my best to participate in all church activities. After two years, I decided it was time to move on, since the promises remained unfulfilled, much to the chagrin of Gracia who pleaded with me to “be patient with God.”
Two months later, I joined another church, The Grace of God Mission, Inc. I didn’t know anybody there, but was attracted by its banner, in which the founder and General Overseer, Elliot Baggie, boasted of his exploits in his battle with the devil and his agents. I was there for two years and nothing spectacular happened, except that I became adept in fasting.
From there, I attended four other churches in quick succession. By 2006, I was done with religion. I decided to live my life without what I felt was organized falsehood. I was in that state when the Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy reached out his hand of love and touched me, right in the privacy of my bedroom.
That day, June 5, 2006, to be exact, I was sitting on the floor, brooding over the course my life had taken. I was forty-five years old and still searching for a husband. My mates were, by then, grandmothers. As the pity party grew in intensity, I burst into sobs that wracked my whole body. It was then I heard the still, small voice of God, urging me to open the Bible to Mathew 6:25–34. This was my first time hearing the voice of God since I “gave my life to Christ” in 2000.
I read both the King James and New Living translations, but verses thirty-one and thirty-three in the New Living translation were engraved in my heart: “Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.”
That was the day I became “born again,” because up till that point, I didn’t understand what that term meant. The Lord came down to my level and explained a lot of things to me that night. I just couldn’t stop weeping for my wasted years and the deceptions I had swallowed, that I needed to “give my life to Christ” to enjoy the good things of life. The danger in that kind of gospel is that God becomes a means to an end. But God wants to be the end, not the means to marriage, children, or well-paying jobs.
After this encounter, I asked the Holy Spirit to lead me to a church of his choice. The next day, while riding the underground train to the office, a young man sitting opposite me handed me a flier. It was from the Temple of the Righteous Church. The Holy Spirit ministered to my heart that He would have me serve Jesus there. That was how I found my way to my present, and, hopefully, last church, since I have no intention of shopping for another one.
For those who are crazy about romance, let me give you something to make your day. When I got to the Temple of the Righteous Church, I wasn’t looking for a husband. I was still single, but very much in love with God. I had eyes only for him. The thoughts of God and his beauty dominated my days. It was then he sprung his surprise.
He brought a young man to the church from the United States of America. The first day we met, the Lord spoke to my heart. His voice was too clear to be mistaken for another. “I’ve sent my son to wipe away your tears and take away your reproach.” We were married on January 10, 2007, and I’m expecting a set of twins.
Despite my joy at finally leaving the ranks of spinsters, I feel sad that so many children of God are jumping from pillar to post seeking solutions to their problems. God is more eager to set us free than we think. He desires lovers, not “conditional worshipers.” The moment we aren’t sincere in our quest for him, we set ourselves up for disappointments. God is too faithful to lie. Let’s stop playing religion.