Hey guys, and welcome back to the Salt Not Sweetener
podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Townsend. I
hope y 'all are having a wonderful week. I apologize
for the little like extra time in between episodes.
Y 'all usually I'm very good about like weekly.
Obviously, it's usually a different day each
week, but I'm really good about weekly. And the
day I'm recording this episode is a Thursday.
And the last time I posted an episode was last
Tuesday. And I don't intend on posting this until
Saturday. I really do feel like, guys, we're
going to go, we're going to slowly start easing
into a every Saturday upload, God willing. If
he changes it, he changes it. But I feel like
that's a good time, right? We upload it Saturday.
You have the opportunity to listen to it over
the weekend, but you also have the opportunity.
all throughout the week to listen to an episode.
I don't know if y 'all are like me, but I like
to listen to podcast episodes while I get ready
in the morning. That's more when I listen to
it. So I figured I would make that available
for you guys. Now, yesterday I knew, I knew the
Lord was gonna give me a podcast topic. Because
I knew he was getting me ready to record. But
I wasn't sure what it was. And I actually thought
it was going to be a totally different topic
than what this is. It may be next week's topic.
Who knows? Maybe the Holy Spirit will lead me
to kind of put that in today's episode. But this
morning in reading scripture. I felt the Lord
start just pouring out this topic on me. And
y 'all, how I can tell a topic is from the Lord
is it's like I get revelation after revelation.
It's like he reveals something to me. And then
the next couple hours, it's like my brain cannot
stop receiving. And that is really kind of how
the Lord takes me through it. And that's how
I knew this was the main topic and not the other
thing. Who knows? That might be next week. But
today's topic. And this is something that I know
affects a lot of people, is traditions. Traditions.
I started thinking on that this morning when
I was reading Mark chapter 7. And we will, I
will read the scripture to y 'all wholly, like
in just a few. And today we are reading from
my She Reads Truth Study Bible, which is the
Christian Standard version, Christian Standard
Bible. And just to give you a little rundown
of what's happening, the Pharisees, the religious
leaders, the people who are supposed to be the
holiest of the holy, the people who are supposed
to know God, the people who are supposed to be
guides for other people, see Jesus' disciples
eating bread with unwashed hands, unclean hands.
And when they are looking at these disciples,
they see people not keeping. the same traditions
that they keep. They're looking at it and they're
saying, you know, that they wash their hands.
They do these things to keep themselves clean
before they eat. But they're not seeing these
men do it. And they're like, hey, Jesus, why
aren't you having them do it? Why are we doing
it, but you don't have them do it? And that is
when Jesus goes into kind of calling them out
on their hypocrisy. Just to give you all a little
rundown, okay? There are two different types
of traditions I feel like we're really going
to be addressing today. And one of these are
traditions that aren't really religious. Maybe
these are like your heritage. This is something
that you've always done in your family or in
your culture. We're going to be addressing traditions
like that. Traditions that aren't religious,
but they go against God's word. And we're also
going to be talking about traditions that most
of the time you'll find in religion that contradict
God's word or use God's word to make room for
these traditions. Meaning these are traditions
that are passed off as God's word, as God's law,
when they're not really God's word or God's law.
And I really encourage you all today, as you
listen to this, to have an open mind. to have
an open heart, and to be open to evaluating and
reflecting on the traditions that you are participating
in right now, whether that be heritage, family
stuff, whether that be from your church, your
religious background. And I want you to reflect
on them. I want to challenge y 'all, and I'm
always going to challenge y 'all to read the
Bible. You need to read the Bible for yourself.
It is not just for pastors. It is not just for
priests. It is not just for theologians. This
is the living, like this, this is the word of
God that is living and breathing. And I want
to share with y 'all some scripture. Okay. And
this is John eight. And this is verses 31 through
32. Bear with me. I'm quoting off memory. but
jesus says the one here you know we're not even
going to try to quote off memory i'm going to
flip to it right here i have my bible open i
want y 'all to be able to follow along with me
pull out your bibles if you have a bible app
without your bible app okay whatever it is you
need to do but we're going to john 8 31 and 32.
And this is a word that I have had to meditate
on a lot. This is a piece of scripture I've had
to meditate on a lot. Okay. But it says here,
we finally hear it. Yes. And then Jesus said
to the Jews who had believed in him, if you continue
in my word, you are really my disciples. You
will know the truth and the truth will set you
free. I urge you brothers and sisters. Every
single one of you to read the word, to read the
Bible consistently. And I'm not talking about
secondhand Bible reading. I'm not talking. It's
wonderful that when you go to church or when
you go to mass or whatever your service is, that
they read the Bible there. They should. They
should. But that is not the Bible reading I'm
talking about. I'm not talking about listening
to sermons. I'm not talking about me reading
this. Y 'all listening to me today should not
count as your Bible reading. Because what you're
getting from me is you are getting the revelations
that the Lord poured out on me, the message that
the Lord guided me to speak today. But if you
read this scripture for yourself and applied
it to your life and prayed to God personally
for understanding, there are a lot of different
things he may reveal to you and pour out on you.
And I, I am telling y 'all today that being in
God's word has caused me to change so many things
in my life that has led to a closeness that has
led me seeing the promises of God that has broken
bondage off me that I didn't realize was bondage.
And it is, Jesus said it himself. If you, I'm
going to read this to y 'all again. If you continue
in my word. You are truly my disciples. If you
are a disciple of Jesus, get in the word for
yourself. Someone needs to hear that today. For
yourself. Your pastor is secondhand information.
Your priest, the reading at church, that does
not count as your Bible reading. Think of it
this way, y 'all. When you are sitting in class,
take your mind back to middle school. Take your
mind back to high school. and when you would
be reading a chapter together as a class the
teacher would often emphasize on the key points
that they feel are the most important takeaway
right what you're getting from the teacher isn't
wrong information but they know what lesson they
plan on teaching so they are focusing on the
key words on the key takeaways there is certain
information that they're going to emphasize and
then understanding their own understanding, their
own memory off of it. You can ask someone for
a definition of a word, and each might use a
little bit of a different wording. When you are
in your church service, when you are listening
to your priest's or your pastor's message or
sermon or takeaway, you're listening to theirs.
just as if you were sitting in a classroom listening
to the teacher. But you take that textbook and
you go home and you read it for yourself, there
are different things that stand out to you. There's
going to be different things that catch your
eye. There's going to be different things that
resonate with you. And it's the same for reading
your Bible. And I'm telling you today, reading
the Bible is, there are people who literally
believe it's just for priests and it's just for
pastors. And being a disciple is just for like
certain people. No, it's for everybody. And Jesus
says that if you, you will know the truth and
the truth will set you free if you continue in
his word. When you don't know the word of God,
it is easy to be deceived. When you don't know
the word of God, it is easy. to be tricked by
fear. When you don't know the word of God, it
is easy to fall into religion. Before you know
it, you're going to start adopting religious
practices and like carrying weights and burdens.
I'm going to share personal testimony with y
'all today about how that's what I went through.
Not realizing that you don't have to carry that
burden. The truth literally set me free. Reading
my Bible and praying and getting my understanding
from God literally set me free. from yokes that
I was not meant to carry. And I may refer back
to scripture a couple different times, but I
want you guys to save that scripture in your
notes. Write it down on your board because that
scripture literally changed my life. On the days
I didn't feel like reading my Bible, I picked
up my Bible. On the days when I said I didn't
have time to read my Bible, I made time to read
my Bible. Give God your first fruits. We talked
about that in the most recent episode. God loves
a cheerful giver, where I started giving him
the first roots of my day because I started saying,
well, I don't have time to pray. Well, I don't
have time to read my Bible. When I go throughout
the day, I have all these other things to add
up. Okay, well, I'll make time. First thing,
it'll be the first thing I do. You prioritize
what's important to you. Your bills are important
to you. You make sure they're paid. That relationship
is important to you. You make sure you pick up
the phone. If God is important to you, you're
going to prioritize him too. Now I want to, we're
going to start y 'all with just reading Mark,
that part of Mark 7 that I was reading this morning,
okay, about traditions. We are going to start
in, yeah, we'll just start here at the beginning
of Mark chapter 7. Without your Bibles, if you're
on your Bible app, follow along with me. It says
here, the Pharisees and some of the scribes who
had come from Jerusalem gathered around him.
They observed that some of his disciples were
eating bread with unclean, that is, unwashed
hands. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do
not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial
washing, keeping the tradition of the elders.
I want to pause here, okay? They are doing it
because the people before them did it. They're
upkeeping the tradition of the elders. I just
want to pause here and pose a question to you.
What are some things that you're doing simply
because your parents do it too? Or your grandparents
did it? Is the religion you're in simply because
it's the one you were raised in? The denomination
you're in? Is it simply because this is what
your grandparents did? I just want you to reflect
on that. How many traditions are you keeping
in your life right now simply because the people
before you did it? How many thought processes?
How many habits are you doing? Not because it's
something you discovered for yourself. Not because
it's something the Lord pointed you to specifically.
But it's because that was what you were raised
in. That's what you grew up knowing. Write those
down. Don't be afraid. Write those down. This
is a notes day. This is a get out your pen and
paper day. This is a reflection day. I just want
to pause here for a second. To note that, okay,
the reason why the Pharisees are doing this is
because it is the tradition of those who came
before them. And obviously this tradition came
from different commands that God had given them
before. So usually, and we see this a lot in
religion, we have scripture, we have the word
of God, we have a command God has given us, and
people will make up rituals. People will create
rituals. They'll create religious routines. They'll
create religious acts, religious rules. in order
to keep it right for example the sabbath we can
think about how many times did the pharisees
get heated about jesus healing on the sabbath
they were told to have a seventh day for resting
to rest so the pharisees took the rule of rest
and they started creating the different guidelines
of rest of course god did give some you know
with um when it comes to reaping when it comes
to the sowing so god had given them some basic
rules And out of that, they started to create
real legalistic, ritualistic routines, right?
So when Jesus was showing up and just healing,
just saying, hey, your sins are forgiven. When
Jesus was telling someone to just pick up their
mat and walk, the Pharisees were losing their
minds. And they wrote it off as sin, as blasphemy,
as antichrist -like behavior, like anti -God
behavior. They took this ritual. practice and
made it law it was human law it wasn't god's
law all right i just want y 'all to keep that
in mind we're going to continue reading it says
here when they come from the marketplace they
do not eat unless they have washed and there
are many other customs they have received and
keep Like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles,
and dining couches. So again, we're going to
identify here. These aren't ritual routines that
they made up themselves. It's not a thing that
God revealed to them in their private time with
them. These are things that they received from
the people who came before them. That's how traditions
are created, right? The people before you did
it. And a lot of us have those. When it comes
to holidays, how we celebrate the holidays. A
lot of us have traditions and might not even
realize that we have traditions. And isn't that
the thing that makes traditions really hard to
let go of too, right? Is the emotional tie to
it and the nostalgia to it of, well, I used to
do this with my parents, or I used to do this
with my grandparents, or I used to do this with
my great -grandparents. And it's a way where
we still feel connected to them. That's a way
that we can find joy. A lot of people upkeep
traditions for different reasons, okay? I want
to pause here and just say, I'm not knocking
y 'all for keeping traditions. They are traditions
I have kept for the longest time. A lot of us
keep traditions for different reasons, whether
it's a space of fear of what happens if I don't
keep these traditions? What happens if I break
these traditions? Or a sense of like empathy,
emotional tie, right? Like where it's like we
feel like we're getting fulfillment. We feel
like we're getting nostalgia. We feel like we're
getting joy out of it. Each of us keep a tradition
for a different reason. Maybe that's all you
know. And you don't want to try to figure something
else out. I'm just identifying and pointing out
here that the Pharisees are following these rules
because this was something that was handed down
to them. And of course, the root of these practices
was a God command, right? As we explained, God
gives commands. And then at times people start
to intensify. And that was what we saw happening
with the Pharisees, right? To move on, move forward,
it says here, So the Pharisees and the scribes
asked him, Why don't your disciples live according
to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating
bread with ceremonially unclean hands? So the
Pharisees are asking Jesus, straight up, straightforward,
why don't they do what we do? And see how the
Pharisees are like very quick to identify, hey,
they're unclean, ceremonially unclean. I just
want to pause here. I know we're kind of reading
ahead with this thought. But we know from reading
scripture that the Pharisees. had a bit of a
holier -than -thou thing going on, right? That's
why when people who would have no biblical teaching
or people who didn't spend years learning how
to be a Pharisee, when the Holy Spirit is poured
out on them, we see it especially happen like
after Jesus has died on the cross, resurrected,
and we see people like Paul going through towns
where Pharisees are shocked by the wisdom people
are exuding. that is the holy spirit speaking
through them right and to really kind of just
be blunt with it the pharisees tended to have
a superiority complex of i keep these rituals
i keep these holy routines i am more righteous
i am more deserving that is kind of the mindset
that a lot of pharisees went through so when
they saw god using and moving through people
who didn't keep the same religious they did or
maybe didn't have the same education or things
like that, they were shocked. They were astounded.
They were amazed. And then a lot of times it
turned into a jealousy or an envy and a wanting
to take them out. But it's important to note
that the Pharisees felt like their works elevated
them. And keep in mind, they were moving off
of the old covenant when, you know, God said,
these are the commands you have to keep. And
that is why Jesus came to us, right? Is because
God saw that clearly our works are not cutting
it. No one is going to be able to be saved by
their works. No one. And we'll get into that
because that is actually in Ephesians 2, 8, where
God makes it very, very clear. It's been made
very, very clear that your works will not save
you. It is faith alone. It's not faith plus works,
and we'll get into that discussion later. It
is faith alone, so that way no one may boast.
God had spent a long time seeing. It was clear
that our works were not going to save us. Because
people could not keep the commands. They were
way too hard to keep. The eating, the cleaning,
the sacrifices, all of it, people could not keep
up. And the Pharisees were the people who felt
like they could keep up. They were keeping up
enough and they would see all the other people
who couldn't keep up and they would condemn those
people. They would feel holier than thou. So
Jesus Christ was here because he came to pay
that debt. That's why we have the new covenant.
The new covenant is our faith in Jesus is what
saves us. Repentance, humbling ourselves before
the Lord. It doesn't matter how many diets you
do, how much fasting you do, how much offerings,
how much any of that, that alone is not going
to buy your way into heaven because God saw that
it could not, it was not feasible. So keep in
mind, these Pharisees are operating off of like
this old covenant mindset, right? Because Jesus
Christ is here right now with the new covenant,
okay? And laying it out. It says here, he answered
them. Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites,
as it is written. This people honors me with
their lips, but their heart is from far from
me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines,
human commands. So I want to break this down
a little bit. And this is more the understanding
I got this morning. And again, guys, I want to
emphasize this to you. that this is the understanding
that the Lord has poured out on me. And I am
also, in reading this scripture, holding it to
the rest of the Bible that I have read, because
God does not contradict himself. So I want to
say it's so important that you read things with
context. And Holy Spirit, guide me with saying
this. Help me to word this in a way that people
are going to have ears to hear. When you read
the Bible, you need to read the scripture in
the full context. When you read out of context,
you get a lot of misunderstandings. It's also
important to understand, especially when you're
reading Paul's letters, who he is speaking to.
For example, Corinthians. It's really cool. Some
of the stuff Paul wrote in the letters to the
Corinthians was really cool. It was really helpful.
But you also have to keep in mind what the...
corinthians were dealing with at the time to
understand who paul was speaking to for example
when paul was talking about the lord's supper
to the corinthians um what's interesting for
those of y 'all who didn't know i was raised
roman catholic and we hear um second corinthians
referred to like every mass when they're preparing
the eucharist right this is my body given up
for you but i had never known what Paul was actually
addressing when he was speaking that, right?
Because what he was actually doing was the Corinthians
had started partaking, and I'm doing in air quotation
marks, the Lord's Supper. I'm doing the quotation
marks because they weren't doing it correctly
at all. The Corinthians before Jesus were pagan.
They worshiped pagan gods. They were all about
drinking and lust. greed and gluttony and doing
whatever they want. Pastor Bobby Chandler for
Authentic Church recently had a sermon where
he talked very in depth about them and helped
me get such a better understanding. I do recommend
you all go listen to him if you get the chance.
I wish I could remember the name of that sermon,
but I do believe it was done sometime in January.
I believe it was sometime in January of this
year, 2026. So I do recommend go look it up.
His sermons are on Spotify as well as like YouTube
and places like that. But they started doing
a thing, calling it kind of like the Lord's Supper,
when they wouldn't wait on other people before
they would start eating and drinking. And they
weren't very good sharers. They were taking what
they want, ate what they want, did what they
want to do. And by the time some people, the
poor people, got there, the food was gone and
everyone was drunk. It was like there wasn't
actually the community. There wasn't actually
the honoring of Christ. Everything that was supposed
to be like a reverence about the Lord's Supper
wasn't there. And it's so funny, like if that
wasn't, if I had never known that context, I
would have just taken that and read that as,
okay, this is like how we're supposed to celebrate
the Lord's Supper. And now when I read it, I'm
like. Oh, that was Paul correcting a group of
people who were doing it for partying and turning
up and all the wrong reasons. I just want to
pause here with you all and just tell you, it
is so important to know the entire context of
what you're reading. I just want to put that
out there. Okay, that was one thing I really
struggled with, especially the past couple years
after coming to Christ, is like when I would
go to my church services, before I moved to my
non -denominational church, I really struggled
with... how, yes, scripture was read during each
service, but a lot of it felt like snips. Like
a lot of it felt like we don't have the full
context here. We don't have the full understanding
here, right? And I would walk away and like,
there were parts where I'd be like, okay, I'm
able to say I know what I've read. But when I
walk away, I didn't really feel like I had any
more of a deeper understanding like I did before,
right? But anyway, we're going to move on. We're
going to move forward. We're going to go back
to this where it says, this people honors me
with their lips, but their heart is far from
me. And we see that with the Pharisees, right?
They're honoring God. They're worshiping God,
but their heart is far from God. Their heart
is invested in their works. Their heart is invested
in their habits and their rituals. It's not with
God. If it was, they would know Jesus. And if
y 'all haven't listened to my episode Pray, a
recent episode, P -R -A -Y spelled out, go listen
to it because I actually talk about this a little
bit, y 'all, about how conviction when I was
growing up in the church didn't hit for me. Conviction
wasn't really a thing. When someone would say
God's word goes against this, I'd be like, okay,
cool, whatever. My heart, and that was because
my heart was far from God. I said this in a conversation
with someone yesterday morning because they sent
me a Bible verse that was talking about like
repentance and sin. And they sent me their daily
Bible verse from their app. And I have a different
app, but the daily Bible verse that was actually
all about knowing God's love. And this person
made a comment on the duality of it. And I had
said, yeah, it's crazy. Like, you know, we can't
feel conviction for sin and that true desire
to repent if we don't have a love. for God and
a reverence for him and his word, right? Because
you can hear it's wrong all day, but if you don't
respect the person telling you it's wrong or
respect their opinion, respect what they have
to say, you don't care. And honestly, that's
how it was with me and the Lord for a long time.
And I did all the religious practices. I was
baptized. I went to the Sunday schools. I got
confirmed. I would do the confession. Ash Wednesday,
I did all of the religious steps, but my heart
was far from the Lord. I could pray the rosary
and still not have a heart that was convicted.
And that's kind of what we see with these Pharisees
here, right? It's like they confessed the Lord
with their mouths. They said they loved the Lord.
They wanted to keep his commands. They said they
wanted to do all these things. They said they
loved God. They did things in the name of, they
were stoning people in the name of God. They
were doing all these things, but their hearts
were far from him. They didn't have a relationship
with him. They didn't have intimacy with him.
They didn't truly have a desire to know his will
because if they did, they would have recognized
his son. And that's what Jesus is kind of calling
out here. And he's actually saying this was prophesied.
this isn't a surprise we were told about this
the prophet isaiah prophesied that there are
people who will honor god with their lips but
their heart is far from me and he goes on to
say they worship me in vain all this worship
that they're doing adds up to nothing God would
rather have a relationship with you. Jesus would
rather have a relationship with you than you
upkeeping all these practices because your works
do not buy your salvation. If you have never
read Ephesians 2 .8, go read Ephesians 2 .8 where
it is made abundantly clear to us that we are
saved by our faith through the grace so lovingly
given to us by Jesus. No one, no one will be
saved by their work so that way no one may boast.
Your offerings, your church attendance, how many
times you go to Ash Wednesday, your mission work,
none of it is going to buy. You are not going
to be able to go before the Father and say, I
did A, B, C, D, F, G. He's going to be like,
okay, but where was your faith? The only thing
that covers your sin. The thing that keeps us
out of heaven is our sin. The only thing that
covers our sin is the blood of Jesus. It's not
your works. So you can do all these good works.
You can be a wonderful person. You can make everybody
feel great about themselves. And this isn't just
talking about religious works. We're going to
talk about the being a good person. You can be
the best person in the world. You can have the
best intentions. You can have the best all. But
if your faith isn't in Jesus, all of it goes
to nothing. It makes me think of Ecclesiastes,
where Solomon, the richest, wisest king, with
like 900 wives and concubines, said that everything
is meaningless. From dust we are created, and
to dust you will return. Your platform will not
go with you. Your money will not go with you.
Your friends will not go with you. Your mom's
faith, your dad's faith, your grandparents' faith
will not take the place of your faith. There
are people who feel like, well, my grandma prayed
for me or my mom prayed for me or they're praying
for me or they're rooting for me. They're doing
this. And they have a relationship with Jesus.
When you go before the Father, the only thing
that's going to cover you and allow you into
heaven. And this is in the Bible too, is your
faith in Jesus. There are going to be many who
go before him and say, did I not do good works
in your name? Did I not cast demons out in your
name? And he's going to say, depart from me for
I never knew you. It's about your relationship
and your faith. And religion and religious works
without relationship are in vain. It means nothing.
And the most loving way I can say this, it means
nothing. In the eyes of the Father. And I want
to go on where Jesus says, teaching as doctrines,
human commands. So they are teaching and saying
these things are doctrine when they are actually
human commands. The Pharisees are saying this
is God's law. And Jesus is saying, no, this is
your interpretation. These are commands that
you have created. as a way to upkeep God's law.
God's law is law. Man -made rituals, man -made
interpretations are not. And it was prophesied,
Isaiah prophesied, that people were going to
do this. I want to pause here and say this, y
'all, because I am usually very, I don't go very
in -depth or very deep about why I am now non
-denominational. And I do make it very clear
that God led me to move to this church I'm at
now. But I haven't had very in -depth. There
was one episode I recorded a while back, but
I didn't keep it up. I was like, no, this isn't
the way God is calling me to speak about it.
I want to tell y 'all that in order to become
non -denominational, I had to leave the religion
that I was raised in. I tried to go back to Catholicism
after giving my life to Jesus. I tried to upkeep
the traditions. And one of the first, before
God led me away in March, from there to the place
I'm at now, that has done exceedingly and abundantly
in my life, glory be to God. But I haven't been
very open, mostly because I haven't felt God
calling me to discuss it in depth yet. I wait
on his timing and his prompting. It actually
started with a lot of questions. I didn't leave
the faith, that denomination, simply because
God guided me to another church. I left that
church and came to my church I'm at now because
of God's prompting. But the questions started
long before then. And some of my first questions
were when I started reading my Bible more. If
you remain in the word, you will know the truth.
And the more I read the Bible and the more I
knew God's word, the more when I was at church
services, I started hearing human commands passed
off as God's word. And it did not sit right with
me. And I was thinking about it on my way home
today. And this was the example I felt like the
Lord was putting on my heart to share with y
'all. And this was a time when I was going to
mass every single day, like, or at least as often
as I could. multiple times it wasn't just Sunday
I was trying to go like kind of multiple times
a week and it was a it was what's considered
a holy day in the church coming up and it was
celebrating a person who's not Jesus it was it
was celebrating Mary and I am already someone
who I have a reverence I believe we can learn
a lot from Mary and I have a reverence for her
I feel like she It was chosen by God. But I had
never been in a space where I felt like I was
developing a relationship with her. You know,
like a prayer. There's never a thing of where
I prayed to her to pray. Like I tried praying
the rosary. We've talked about this in prayer
in that podcast episode, y 'all. And I really
don't want to get too far off. We'll just say
this, that I never saw Mary as someone to worship.
I worshiped the Father and the Father alone.
And there were some practices that to me got
borderline into worship that I wasn't participating
in. And I felt like, well, I can still attend
and do these things, but not participate to that
extent. And for those of y 'all who didn't know,
I went through a time in New Age spirituality
for a couple of years before fully giving my
life to Jesus. And in New Age, I was exposed
to a lot of pagan practices. And to me, some
of the veneration with Mary and things, It felt
very borderline pagan, where it was like, God
gave me convictions to not do this. I can't defend
doing this. It doesn't feel right in my spirit.
So there can be reverence without worship, okay?
And for me, some of those things got into worship.
That was the line they were crossing into. And
when I would bring those things up, they'd be
like, well, no, because God is still at the root
of it. And I just, I couldn't, I couldn't y 'all.
Jesus gave me a direct line to pray to him. I'm
praying to him. Jesus showed me exactly how to
speak to the father one -on -one. I speak to
him. My brothers and sisters in Christ here on
this earth will pray for me. I know not to commune
with the dead. I'm not praying to people who
are dead. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
Jesus Christ is living. He's alive. And that
is what I'll say y 'all. So I already had reservations,
right? Um, in reading God's word, there were
things that were coming up for me where I was
like, my beliefs don't align with this. And I
remember I was in church on a Sunday and that
holy day was coming up that week. And I remember
one of the priests saying this, and this was
what didn't sit right with me is they were talking
about that holy day and they were saying, now
mass attendance is required. They were saying,
we're offering multiple masses. You have to come
to one of them. And this is what didn't sit right
with me. It was when they said, if you do not
come, that is a willful sin. Because I remember
being kind of taken back when they were saying
this. I was like, wait, what? They said, if you
do not come to this, that is willful sin. You
will have to go to confession. You will have
to repent before you are allowed to receive communion.
And I was like taken back. Because of course
I know that before you receive communion, before
you receive the Eucharist, you are supposed to
search your heart, right? That is a time of prayer
before to like confess your sins. You are supposed
to search your heart and allow God to like bring
things up and reveal things to you. A time of
contemplation and reflection. We were supposed
to do that before, right? But what didn't sit
right with me was I was like this day. That you're
telling me is mandatory, that I have to be here
in worship, is not a holy day God gave me in
the Bible. This is not the Sabbath day. This
is a day that man has decided is holy. So already,
I'm kind of like, okay. But then in saying, and
if you don't get here, I remember the pastor
saying, unless you have a really, really good
reason. And I was like, okay, that doesn't sound
like God. That doesn't sound like God's word.
A really, really good reason. You're excused.
You're saying, then it's a sin. And I'm sorry,
but I don't have anything in God's word to corroborate
that. Worshiping God. Joining my community, having
reverence for him, yes. But this is a separate
figure. And my worship doesn't have to look like,
my worship can look different. And that was the
first time that that did not sit right with me
because I was like, this is a man -made, this
is man -decided holiday. And I'm now being told
if I don't go, I am in willful sin. And I am
not allowed to receive communion until I go confess
to a priest one -on -one. And I want to sidestep
with y 'all because that actually started opening
up the question for me about confession. I want
to just say this immediately. We are to confess
our sins. We are told in the Bible, confess your
sins to one another. That's not an if. That's
not a suggestion. We are to confess our sins
to one another. And I do. I confess my sins to
God. I confess my sins to my brothers and sisters
in Christ. But where in the Bible does it say
that my confession is only considered like correct,
is only admissible if it is to a person who has
gone through certain church teaching and certain
church instruction? Because that is what sets,
you know, like priests apart, right? As they
go through. the learning, they go through the
instruction, they go through these things, and
then they get the title. After years, I know
there's more to it than that. But why is my confession
to them different to my confession to someone
who loves Jesus and their faith is in Jesus?
And it brought me back to, I remember before
I even came back to Indiana, y 'all. It was a
couple months when it was just me and the Lord
in my prayer time and my Bible in my car in California.
And I repented for new age. I repented for sexual
immorality. I repented for promiscuity. I repented
for all of it. And I remember coming back to
church and trying to go back into Catholicism.
And I remember, amen, going into the confessional.
And as I was saying these things out loud to
the priest, This is literally what is coming
to my mind in that very moment is why are you
doing this? You've already confessed it to God
and you already know you're forgiven. You've
already confessed it to other people too, not
only God. You've already talked about this. You've
already taken it to God. I have already had times
of crying where I felt the Lord telling me how
proud he was of me and that I am forgiven and
that I am a new creation. I was like, God has
already told me in my prayer time that I am forgiven.
I have seen the fruits. I have already seen God
start pouring blessing on me. I've already started
walking in some promises. And here I am in a
confessional feeling all of a sudden like none
of that happened. Well, none of it is admissible
until I do it this way. The church's way. The
church's way. And that was a time when God's
word started being overridden by the church's
rituals. And I'm just bringing, as we're reading
through this prayer, Mark, y 'all, I'm bringing
this up because I'm telling y 'all what started
arising for me when I started thinking about
traditions. And this is not a blanket statement
for anyone else. I know there are a lot of other
people who listen to this podcast that are different
denominations and non -denominational. I am just
telling y 'all. Because there is someone listening
to this episode today that needs to hear this,
that this is going to help. And there are probably
other people listening to this that are not going
to be happy to hear what I'm saying. They're
going to be offended. I can't worry about that.
I'm sharing my experience. But see, the thing
is, y 'all, is I didn't have these convictions.
I didn't know. The reason why some of these rituals
and some of these practices were able to raise
red flags in my head as like this is being passed
off as God's law when it's more religious law,
like ritualistic law, was because I had read
things in the Bible that contradicted that. Again,
we're going back. If you remain in my word, you
will know the truth, is what Jesus says. And
the truth will set you free. And it's amazing
how the truth would set you free, how that has
ingrained so much in my life, because I cannot
tell y 'all, and this may be a whole other episode
for another day, the burden and the weight I
started to carry as I tried to keep up with all
the religious practices. and religious rules
and like if I kept them to a tee I was like this
is not doable and to be like sane it is not and
like there was a burden and there was a weight
where I always felt like there was another thing
to accomplish or this wasn't holy enough or this
wasn't ceremonial enough or this wasn't oh my
gosh and then knowing the truth and being able
to hold it to God's word and then obeying God
and what he guided me to do I was freed And I
have seen promises come to fruition. I have seen
God grow me in ways. I think this is very important
to note, y 'all, that I started maturing spiritually
actually very quickly in the first couple months
I was reading the Bible and just getting in the
Word and praying to God in California. Like,
it was crazy. actually the conviction and the
rate of which my obedience was going. And that
time when I tried to go back to my old religion,
my spiritual maturity really started slowing
down because of the religious rules, the religious
practices that were being passed off as God's
law created such like a weight I was carrying.
It was like before I was able to run and just
run after Jesus. And when I got into this religion,
It was like these weights were being put on me
that really slowed me down. My maturing slowed
down. My desire for ministry slowed down. The
optimism I once had started slowing down. The
rate at which I believed God could move in my
life started slowing down. My spiritual maturity
started slowing down. It was crazy. I started
to put aside my reading and my relationship and
rely on my priest's reading and relationship.
I started to forget everything that God promised
me and thinking, well, I'm a woman. All I can
do now is be a nun or be a mom. God can't use
me in ministry like that. I can't be a priest.
God can't use me in ministry. I'm not saying
that's what I'm called to. I'm just saying that,
like, God gave me desires for ministry that once
I started getting in the church, like, that wasn't
exactly poured into. I guess is the best way
I can say it. Wasn't exactly poured into. And
there were a lot of human -made, man -made rules
and regulations that God had already told me,
I'm going to qualify you in the ways you need
to qualify. God doesn't call the qualified, he
qualifies the called. And what I can say is being
in that put so much weight on me where I was
so drastically slowed down. And it's not a coincidence
how when I followed God's obedience to break
off these traditions and went to a new space
and started receiving spiritual food, that it
started picking up again. My spiritual maturity,
my growth, amen. I have seen the fruits of it.
I have seen the fruits. And a lot of these testimonies
I share with y 'all, Like this one I'm sharing
today. And I have people that will still like
later on try to sway my mind. I can't tell you
how many people still try to convert me back
to Catholicism. It's more frequent than you'd
expect. And they try and they try. But it's like
I've already seen God move. I have already seen
the fruits. I have already where it doesn't matter.
God's fruits speak. I have already seen what
I've needed to see. And I'll always keep an open
mind to what God wants to reveal and where he
wants to lead me. Let the fruit speak. And I
know what God has done off my obedience and off
trusting what he has shown me. Now let's continue
reading through Mark 7. It says here, Abandoning
the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.
He also said to them, You have a fine way of
invalidating God's command in order to set up
your tradition. That is an offering devoted to
God. You no longer let him do anything for his
father or mother. You nullify the word of God
by your tradition that you have handed down.
And you do so many other similar things. So Jesus
right here is calling them out with basically
saying like, God has given y 'all a command.
But instead of obeying that command, you hold
on to your human traditions. And I want to pause.
If you want to know one way that you can see
this in modern day life and in the modern world,
look at the evil eye. As someone who I was in
new age, I used to actually have a lot of belief
in evil eye. I would wear evil eye bracelets.
I would have it up like in my social media. And
you see a lot of people, it's crazy how many
people I see on social media who have Christian
in their bio also have an evil eye. And I know
for a lot of people, it's passed down like in
their lineage, like their mom believed in it
and their grandmother believed in it. And what
a lot of people believe about it is that it's
a symbol that prevents people believe that the
evil eye is like when someone is jealous of you,
envious of you, sending like negative thoughts
towards you. And that in doing that, it can actually
affect you and impact you negatively. So people
would have that as like a talisman, as like a
defensive. They believe that having that would
protect them. Some people believe it would send
it back. Some people believe it would just catch
it and defuse it. But people wore that or hung
it up or used it as a way to protect themselves
from envy, jealousy, negative intent. Well, when
you read the Bible, you see that all you need
is the blood of Jesus. That Jesus Christ defeated
Satan and death on the cross. Envy, jealousy,
negativity. These things are not from God, so
who are they from? They're works of the flesh
and things created by Satan. So Jesus Christ
has already defeated them. All you need is Jesus.
All you need to protect yourself from the evil
one is your faith in Jesus. Is being covered
in the blood of Jesus. You get authority. There
is power in the name of Jesus when you have your
faith in him. We see what it's like when you
have faith versus when you don't. I believe it
was the seven sons of Sceva that tried to use
Jesus' name to cast out demons. And the demon
was like, Paul, we know. Jesus, we know. But
who are you? You have no authority here. The
authority comes from being baptized by the Spirit,
which comes from having your faith in Jesus.
Okay, so I just wanted to give that to y 'all
as an example. That's something you see a lot
in modern day. And you'll find people saying
like, well, I can have it and I can have my faith
in Jesus. Or people will say, well, this is my
culture. This is my heritage. And then they'll
try to create it like into a racism thing. Like,
it's crazy how much I've actually seen that where
they're like, well, you're just racist. You're
just, and it's like, no. I'm just saying this
is a false idol. This is directly against God's
word. So if you say you're a Christian and your
faith is in Jesus and you believe you're protected
through Jesus, then you should not be putting
your faith in these idols to protect you. The
scriptures don't say you need Jesus and an evil
eye. You need Jesus and crystals. You need Jesus
and witchcraft. No, you just need Jesus. And
you see, that is a perfect example of a practice.
a ritual, a tradition that blatantly contradicts
God's word, that contradicts the truth of Jesus
Christ. But then Jesus goes on to say, you have
a fine way of invalidating God's command in order
to set up your tradition. And y 'all, I remember,
right? I wrote this down this morning in my notes.
Traditions are not inherently bad. It's not bad
to have traditions. Traditions become bad when
they contradict God's word or take the place
of God's word. When they're passed off as God's
word. When they're passed off as God's law. That
is when they become bad. That is when they become
dangerous. That is when they become a hindrance.
For those of y 'all who didn't know, I want to
do a little extra research on this this morning
of what Jesus was referring to when he was talking
to the Pharisees of like, y 'all have the basic
command of honor your mother and father. Whoever
speaks evil, a father and mother must be put
to death. And that is one of the Ten Commandments,
right? Honor your mother and father. And one
of the things people would do back then, I know
it's not as frequently in society as it is now,
but one thing that was very frequently done back
then is people would take care of their parents.
Like they would give them money, they would assist
them, they would help them with things. It wasn't
like today where like there's a lot more of like
a separation. There is more of like a communal
vibe. All right. And that was a command by God
was honor your mother and father. And that was
one of the ways that they would honor their mother
and father was by caring for them, by helping
them, by making sure they have what they need,
providing for them in ways. And what the Pharisees
started doing was they started saying that things
were Corban. And Holy Spirit helped me to have
the wording with this, right? A Corban was an
offering from God of like, well, this is a gift
from God that's to be devoted to God. And the
Pharisees started saying, well, no, this thing
you have is meant to be given to God. This thing
you have is meant to be given to God. And would
start bypassing, saying, you don't have to help
your parents. You don't have to take care of
them. You don't have to honor them in these ways.
Because this is supposed to be given to God.
This is supposed to be tithed. This is supposed
to be offered to God. And Jesus was saying, like,
you're using religious jargon to contradict a
command that God had already given. God wants
them to honor their mother and father. And you
are kind of giving them a new rule, a new religious
command that goes against this honoring of mother
and father. And y 'all, I'm sure if I deep studied
on this, there would be more of a deeper understanding.
This is the understanding I have now. Because
honestly, it was kind of hard for me. Like I
was reading through this. I was like, I've never
heard this term word. What is Corban? And, you
know, part of me was like, well, it is good to
give offerings. Like I, to this day, like when
God calls me to sow something. I sew it. And
then it was like, oh my gosh. But that's when
God calls me to sew it. And God has also called
me to sew into my elders. Sew into my parents.
Just sew it. I was like, oh God, okay, you're
speaking to me now. You're speaking to me now.
But this was just an example of like, the Pharisees
were kind of creating new laws. They were creating
new understandings that kind of... led people
away from keeping God's command. And that was
what Jesus was calling them out on. And he goes
on to say, You nullify the word of God by your
tradition that you have handed down, and you
do many other similar things. Summoning the crowd
again, he told them, Listen to me, all of you,
and understand. Nothing that goes into a person
from outside can defile him, but the things that
come out of a person are what defile him. I cannot
tell you. Every time I read that, y 'all, I feel
like I have a new understanding. But up until
this point, they were so focused on Old Covenant,
right? where it was about the eating pork it
was about the kind of there were certain kinds
of cloth you couldn't wear like it was all about
what you ate and what you put on your body if
you put this on your body if you came into contact
with this if you touch this you were unclean
you were unholy you were all these things and
this is jesus kind of starting to set up the
new covenant where he's saying it's no longer
about what you eat it's no longer about what
you wear it's about your heart it's about your
heart placement it's about what you have going
on in your heart It's what's from inside you
that makes you sinful and dirty and unclean.
He goes on to say, when he went into the house
away from the crowd, his disciples asked him
about the parable. He said to them, are you also
as lacking in understanding? Don't you realize
that nothing going into a person from the outside
can defile him? For it doesn't go into his heart,
but into the stomach and is eliminated. Thus
he declared all foods clean. This was the moment
where he was declaring all foods clean. I don't
know if y 'all ever see, I see sometimes on social
media, people who aren't Christian, but like
they'll know random parts of scripture and like
try to like give you like gotcha moments. And
I cannot tell y 'all how many times I see people
in the comment section saying, oh, like how dare
you call other people out on a sin or like how
dare you call this a sin, but I bet you eat pork.
but I bet you wear mixed linens, mixed textiles.
And that's, if y 'all ever need a response, you
can pull this up right here, because this is
literally the moment where Jesus said, like,
that does not matter anymore. And that, y 'all,
is why context is important. You don't just pull
random scriptures and quote them, all right?
And that's why y 'all will know so many times
when I'm sitting here and I'm reading scripture
to y 'all, I'll be referring to other scriptures.
I'll be referring to, like, other parts of the
Bible. other chapters, other books, because none
of it contradicts itself. It all works together.
All of it, every person writing this was God
-inspired, Holy Spirit -led. So you'll be reading
one chapter out of one book and realize that
it directly relates to another chapter in another
book. Or you'll see things like this in reading
New Testament, where you'll see the new covenant.
And how it negates things in the Old Covenant.
Okay? Okay. That's another reason why y 'all
need to read. Y 'all need to read. I love you.
Y 'all need to read. Set aside time. 30 minutes
a day. Read. Find the Bible plan. Read. And it
says here, For it doesn't go into his heart,
but into the stomach and is eliminated. Thus
he declared all foods clean. And he said, what
comes out of a person is what defiles him. For
from within, out of people's hearts, come evil
thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,
adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self
-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
All these evil things come from within and defile
a person. Notice here, like in the beginning
of this chapter, the Pharisees. We're calling
them unclean. We're saying, well, they haven't
washed their hands ceremonially. They haven't
done it the ceremonial way. And I want to, I
want to, because I feel like the Lord's giving
me a revelation on that right now. That was what
the Pharisees were focused on is the ceremonial
aspect to it. Y 'all, that was what led me away
from the Catholic church pretty quick was. There
was all about the ceremonial way and the religious
way, and that was passed off as the only way.
When I had experienced from God leading me firsthand,
I had experienced confessing my sins to God,
confessing them to my brothers and sisters in
Christ, and being forgiven. And then I go to
the church and I'm told, no, there's only one
way you can do it. And even though you did do
it that way, that's not technically correct.
So now you have to go through and dig it all
up and do it again. And I even felt God's correction
on that. I've been told you can't receive communion
outside of that church. Glory be to God, my church,
I'm not missing out on communion. Now, we don't
get to do it every single week, but we do it
very regularly in my church. We have time for
reflection beforehand. We have time for prayer
and seeking God's heart and seeking our own hearts,
searching our own hearts. before going up and
receiving it. And you know the awesome thing?
You're not blocked out. If your faith is in Jesus,
if you've confessed your sins, if you love the
Lord, your faith is in Him, and you desire to
remember Him and have a reverence for Him, you
may partake in that communion. That was something,
I'm not going to lie, y 'all, that never sat
right with me. in the catholic church was that
the only people who could partake in communion
the only people who could partake in the remembrance
of jesus and his body being broken and his blood
being spilled was if you've gone through all
the classes you grew up in the church if you've
done the first communion you've been baptized
in that denomination you've done all those things
that is the only way you can remember jesus or
as an adult you have to go through the certain
classes those are man -made requirements and
man -made hoops I know people who have done that,
who have been in that for 40 years, who don't
know Jesus. And people who have never been in
that, who love Jesus and have such a deep reverence
and awe for what he has done. And that is what
led me away, y 'all. One of the big things was
human doctrine rooted in God's commands. Like
they take God's commands and they create religious
doctrine and religious rituals and then pass
it off as this is the only way. You see, the
Pharisees were focused on the ceremonial aspect
of the cleaning. These men could have just walked.
It doesn't say here that they're. Hold on. Hold
on. I want to work. We're going to read back
through this real quick, okay? The Pharisees
and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around them. They observed that some
of the disciples were eating bread with unclean,
that is, unwashed hands. For the Pharisees and
all the Jews do not eat unless they give their
hands a ceremonial washing, keeping the tradition
of the elders. When they come from the marketplace,
they do not eat unless they have washed. There
are many other customs they have received and
keep, like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles,
and dining couches. And I want to note here,
y 'all, we go back to the ceremonial washing.
If y 'all remember with the ceremony, and I actually
was able to, I saw a lot of this in watching
the show The Chosen, was actually able to go
and research. There were certain jars that they
would not use for ceremonial water. Like ceremonial
cleaning meant the water was in certain jars.
The water was in certain jars that you did it
in a certain way. There were people who would
have to go bathe in the sea if they came in contact
with someone who was considered unclean. This
wasn't just about like scrubbing your hands with
soap and water and it's like you're clean, healthy,
like a health thing. This was, there was a certain
ceremonial way to do it. The water was in certain
jars. Some of it was holy water, blessed water.
That was what they had a problem with, was the
ceremonial aspect to it. And because they kept
the ceremonial aspect to it, because they upkept
that, and we see this when Jesus is saying, woe
to you, Pharisees, hypocrites, when he was calling
them whitewashed tombs. And he's saying, you
go the extra mile to make someone a convert,
and then you make them twice the son of hell.
Like saying, you convert them, and then you condemn
them to hell anyway. I'm talking about how they
elevate themselves. And I'm not going to lie,
y 'all. And this was something I felt for a little
while, while I was in Catholicism was there was
a part of me that because of the ritualistic
practices I kept, I felt like I was holier than
people who were non -denominational and other
practices. I felt like I was closer to God. I
felt like I was more reverent. I felt like I
was more committed to him, like all these things.
And then I started recognizing, especially once
I spent time in non -denominational, where I
was like, a lot of these people I'm meeting now
have a much closer relationship with God and
walk in obedience to him more than I ever was.
And it's crazy how we'll allow ritualistic routines
to elevate us when we're not actually elevated.
And again, I encourage you all to go read Ephesians
2 .8. That tells you how we are saved. And I
feel led to just go, I'm going to read it real
quick. I'm going to read it to y 'all. Because
there's some of y 'all listening to this today
that aren't going to go read it. And I do pray
that you do read it. But there's some of y 'all
who are like, maybe later. And then y 'all won't
go and do it. So we're just going to do it now.
Because you're not going to leave this podcast
without hearing this. Ephesians 2, 8. We're actually
going to go a little bit up. Ephesians 2, 4.
But God, who is rich in mercy because of his
great love that he had for us, made us alive
with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses.
You are saved by grace. He also raised us up
with him and seated us with him in the heavens
in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he
might display the immeasurable riches of his
grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For if you are saved... For you are saved by
grace through faith. And this is not from yourselves.
It is God's gift, not from works, so that no
one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
ahead of time for us to do. And I want to say
this to y 'all, because I know there are people...
who are wrestling with this today of, well, where
does works fit in? And I can happily tell you,
if you've listened to many of my previous podcast
episodes, we've discussed this a lot. You are
not saved by your works, but your works are a
sign of your faith. There was another thing that
never sat right with me when I was in Catholicism.
And that was when I would constantly hear people
say, you're saved by faith plus works. Without
a doubt, I would always hear people say faith
plus works. And that immediately would raise
up a red flag in me because I'm like, that's
not what the Bible says. That's not what Jesus
preached. Jesus preached that you are saved by
your faith in him. It's like the serpent on the
pole is what he was telling Nicodemus. You just
have to look to him and you will be healed. Your
faith in him is what cleanses you of your sin
before the Father. But we know where works fit
in, which is John 14, and I believe it's verse...
John chapter 14, verse 13, where he says, Jesus
says, the one who believes in me will do the
works that I do. Our works are a sign of our
faith. When your faith is in Jesus, your works
will change. That is a byproduct. So works do
fit in here. Once your faith is in Jesus, your
works will look different. That is a sign. But
your works do not buy your faith. So I cannot
subscribe to the faith plus works. It is faith.
And your works are a sign of your faith. And
that's another one where y 'all, in the most
loving way, when I started sitting back and taking
into account all these things, I started realizing
I had called myself a Catholic. And tried going
to Catholic Church, not because my beliefs aligned
with Catholicism. The more I looked at it, the
more I was like, my beliefs do not align. I was
in that religion because that was what was passed
down to me. My grandma took me to church. And
my grandma's children had been in it. A lot of
them left once they were an adult. But I called
myself that. I was baptized in it. I had my first
communion in it. I was confirmed in it because
that was the tradition that was passed down to
me. That was just something I did. And I subscribed
to it and I called myself that and I aligned
myself with that. But when I started reflecting
on what are my beliefs and what are this church's
beliefs, I was like, oh, wow, we do not align.
I do believe Jesus Christ is Lord. We do align
in those things. But when it comes to some of
these other beliefs, I'm like, I don't align.
And that's why when I go to this church, I don't
feel spiritually fed. That's why when I go here,
instead of listening with an open heart, I'm
constantly like, oh, I'm going to have to go
read and make sure this is actually biblical.
When I would leave and feel like I had all these
extra weights and all these extra burdens, it
was so hard. It was hard for me actually leaving,
though. I was crying a lot. And I was crying
because I felt like I was giving up my heritage.
And I actually had a couple family members that
were like, made me feel like I was giving up
my heritage and my tradition and everything.
But I feared God more and I had a reverence for
God more. And I had a desire to grow and to evangelize
and to be in ministry and to pursue Jesus and
to bring other people closer to Jesus. And I
was like, I cannot do that here. Because every
time I introduce myself as a Catholic to people,
they're going to believe I obviously align with
Catholic beliefs and I don't. I'm not saying
I disagree with everything. Obviously, there
are a lot of things I do. It's more when it comes
to the religious works and the practices and
the veneration of figures that are not Jesus,
that are not God. I'll still lovingly lead each
person to Jesus. I'll still love. my brothers
and sisters in Christ, because I've said this
in the past many times before, denominations
in a lot of ways are just division. And we're
followers of Christ, period. We're not different
denominations. And that's how I look at everyone,
my brothers and sisters, no matter if they're
Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, whatever
they are, they are brothers and sisters in Christ.
And I've said this in previous podcast episodes,
I believe that there are a lot of churches that
are life -giving and are spiritually feeding
that are different denominations. I now consider
myself non -denominational because I found that
my interpretation of scripture and what I believe,
I'm like, this is where I align. And I have made
the decision for myself in seeking the truth,
in seeking God. This is where he has led me.
And this is what I want my children to know when
I have children one day. And as I said in the
beginning of this episode, I encourage you all
today to think about your traditions. to think
about the practices that you are currently subscribed
to and really look at them deeply and think does
this align with what i believe does this align
with god's word and if it does amen to you amen
to you because like i said and this isn't even
about catholicism y 'all but for some people
who will read the same scripture i do their interpretation
and their understanding aligns with catholic
beliefs mine does not okay So for them, amen
for them. For me, amen for me. I've seen the
fruits. And I encourage you all today to reflect
on the traditions you are keeping. And ask God
for guidance on them. And I want to thank you
all so much for listening to this episode. This
was the Salt Not Sweetener podcast. I'm your
host, Danielle Townsend. And please hit subscribe
wherever it is you're listening to this. And
I do ask, like, like, share. That does help.
If you're watching this on YouTube, I always
forget that this goes up on YouTube, y 'all.
I have it, like, the service I use. automatically
uploads it to youtube and honestly i forget this
is on youtube a lot and i feel like i could pay
a lot more attention to my youtube listeners
um i think it's also just because a lot more
of my traffic is on like spotify and apple and
like these podcast platforms And I don't really,
it's not grouped up the same with YouTube. So
YouTube kind of feels like the, what's the saying?
Like the stepchild in some ways. I need to pay
a little bit more attention. So my brothers and
sisters in Christ are listening to this on YouTube.
Please hit the like, please favorite it, whatever
it is you do, share it with people. And I will
see y 'all next time. Bye guys.