The religious spirit, or "being religious" is a term which bewildered me for some time, particularly after I read a book about religious spirits, which had a list of 20 or so traits of a religious person. And then, after having gone through the list to examine myself whether or not I fit this description, at the end the book says "if you have examined yourself according to this list, this may be a sign that you have a religious spirit"..because religious people use written notes and lists right? Frustrated, this book only made things more confusing and complicated for me. But now I believe the Lord has given me a proper understanding.
I saw that everything hinges on this one verse and it's very simple:
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the spirit and in truth."
A religious spirit is a person who worships God not with their (regenerated, born again and Spirit-joined) spirit, but with their soul. Our soul includes our mind, emotions and will. A religious spirit is a person who uses their mind, feelings, or human will, to serve and worship God, instead of using their deeper part - the spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells. The result of using our human soul is vanity, and ultimately spiritual death (which is the separation of the spirit from the soul). But the result of using our spirit results in truth, reality, life and peace, as it issues in the Spirit filling our mind and emotions. If we want our Christian experience to be real to us, then we must make contact with that part of us in which the Real One lives - our spirit. To be religious therefore, is to do anything apart from the Holy Spirit in our spirit. Whether we pray, read the Bible, go to church, do good, drive our car, or cook dinner at home, we must do everything by the Spirit in our spirit.
By not using the spirit, a religious person may have the right outward actions but will not have the accompanying inward experience of the Holy Spirit. This is otherwise known as pretense or hypocrisy, because the person is conforming their actions to an outward pattern of behavior, tradition, or ritual, which does not match their true inward condition. Because they don't have the experience of the Spirit, a religious person will feel dull, deadened, and invariably try to account for this by even more self-activity and human effort, instead of addressing their real need, which is to experience the Holy Spirit. Spiritual death can result, as the person continues to live their life in their own human soul, not in the Spirit.
Now to address some common misunderstandings about what the religious spirit is:
The Religious Spirit is not a Demon
The term religious spirit is tricky because when anyone talks about a "spirit" people invariably think it is a demon or evil spirit from Satan. But the religious spirit is not a demon or evil spirit who possesses us and suddenly causes us to convert to Catholicism, pray the Lord's prayer over and over and say 50 hail Mary's or anything like that. The religious spirit is referring to our inward part. I have heard some try to "cast out" a religious spirit, but there's nothing to cast out, you cannot cast out your self. People don't like to blame themselves, but we must realize that it is not something outside or external of us, but how we choose to worship God. Therefore the only thing we need to do is turn to the Lord, the Holy Spirit in our spirit.
The Religious Spirit has nothing to do with outward actions
Everyone uses the Pharisees as an example of the religious people. From them we may get some sense of what a religious person looks like. But looking at outward appearances cannot determine whether a person has a religious spirit or not. Some think those who are very pious, don't watch movies, don't watch TV, etc are religious and those that are more relaxed, easy going "cool", are not religious. Some think to be anti-religion means to get tattoos, dress casual for church, turn up 10 minutes late every Sunday. Some think to not be religious means to be careful not to repeat our prayers or pray what is already written from a prayer book.
But the methods and outward actions we take have no relevance - even a person who does not pray by reading from a prayer book may have a religious spirit, if they are not using their spirit but using their soul. Referring to believers here, the religious spirit is the regenerated human spirit which is limited, restricted, tainted, polluted, by the fallen concepts of the soul. Having a religious spirit, or being religious, has nothing to do with outward actions but everything to do with how we worship God, are we using our deepest part, our spirit, and experiencing the Holy Spirit or are we using our soul, and just "going through the motions"?
I saw that everything hinges on this one verse and it's very simple:
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the spirit and in truth."
A religious spirit is a person who worships God not with their (regenerated, born again and Spirit-joined) spirit, but with their soul. Our soul includes our mind, emotions and will. A religious spirit is a person who uses their mind, feelings, or human will, to serve and worship God, instead of using their deeper part - the spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells. The result of using our human soul is vanity, and ultimately spiritual death (which is the separation of the spirit from the soul). But the result of using our spirit results in truth, reality, life and peace, as it issues in the Spirit filling our mind and emotions. If we want our Christian experience to be real to us, then we must make contact with that part of us in which the Real One lives - our spirit. To be religious therefore, is to do anything apart from the Holy Spirit in our spirit. Whether we pray, read the Bible, go to church, do good, drive our car, or cook dinner at home, we must do everything by the Spirit in our spirit.
By not using the spirit, a religious person may have the right outward actions but will not have the accompanying inward experience of the Holy Spirit. This is otherwise known as pretense or hypocrisy, because the person is conforming their actions to an outward pattern of behavior, tradition, or ritual, which does not match their true inward condition. Because they don't have the experience of the Spirit, a religious person will feel dull, deadened, and invariably try to account for this by even more self-activity and human effort, instead of addressing their real need, which is to experience the Holy Spirit. Spiritual death can result, as the person continues to live their life in their own human soul, not in the Spirit.
Now to address some common misunderstandings about what the religious spirit is:
The Religious Spirit is not a Demon
The term religious spirit is tricky because when anyone talks about a "spirit" people invariably think it is a demon or evil spirit from Satan. But the religious spirit is not a demon or evil spirit who possesses us and suddenly causes us to convert to Catholicism, pray the Lord's prayer over and over and say 50 hail Mary's or anything like that. The religious spirit is referring to our inward part. I have heard some try to "cast out" a religious spirit, but there's nothing to cast out, you cannot cast out your self. People don't like to blame themselves, but we must realize that it is not something outside or external of us, but how we choose to worship God. Therefore the only thing we need to do is turn to the Lord, the Holy Spirit in our spirit.
The Religious Spirit has nothing to do with outward actions
Everyone uses the Pharisees as an example of the religious people. From them we may get some sense of what a religious person looks like. But looking at outward appearances cannot determine whether a person has a religious spirit or not. Some think those who are very pious, don't watch movies, don't watch TV, etc are religious and those that are more relaxed, easy going "cool", are not religious. Some think to be anti-religion means to get tattoos, dress casual for church, turn up 10 minutes late every Sunday. Some think to not be religious means to be careful not to repeat our prayers or pray what is already written from a prayer book.
But the methods and outward actions we take have no relevance - even a person who does not pray by reading from a prayer book may have a religious spirit, if they are not using their spirit but using their soul. Referring to believers here, the religious spirit is the regenerated human spirit which is limited, restricted, tainted, polluted, by the fallen concepts of the soul. Having a religious spirit, or being religious, has nothing to do with outward actions but everything to do with how we worship God, are we using our deepest part, our spirit, and experiencing the Holy Spirit or are we using our soul, and just "going through the motions"?
Last edited:
