THE RELIGIOUS PRISON YOU DON'T KNOW YOU'RE IN
For the truth seekers who sense something's off
"We only need what's in the Bible," they say.
"I'll pray for you."
"Do not add to scripture."
Kind words. Loving intent. But building walls.
The Uncomfortable Truth
The Bible is beautiful. Sacred. Powerful.
Also: edited. Voted on. Assembled by committee.
325 AD. Council of Nicaea. Men in a room deciding which books stayed. Which books burned. Which stories you'd never hear.
God allowed it? Indeed.
God wrote it?
That's the question.
The Pattern We Miss
Same people who question:
Fake News Media narratives
Government overreach
Corporate control
Accept without question:
Religious authorities telling them exactly how God works. What God said. When God stopped speaking.
If you're a truther about everything else, why not this?
What Jesus Actually Faced
"We have Moses," they told him.
"We have the law."
"We have tradition."
Sound familiar?
He responded with stories. Made-up parables. Fiction that revealed truth.
They said: "Stick to scripture."
He said: "You have heard it said... but I say..."
They guarded the past.
He revealed the present.
The Loving Challenge
This isn't about destroying faith.
It's about finding it.
Not abandoning the Bible.
But remembering why it exists:
Because people experienced God and couldn't not write about it.
That same experience? Still available. Still happening. Still valid.
Your kid looking up to the stars?
Perhaps experiencing what prophets did.
Your heart pulling you toward truths doctrine says are "dangerous"?
Perhaps God's still speaking.
The Control System Hidden in Plain Sight
Every system of control works the same:
Claim exclusive access to truth
Discourage direct experience
Punish questioners with concern: "I'll pray for you" (Translation: get back in line)
Political control? You see it clearly.
Media manipulation? You're awake to it.
Religious control?
"How dare you question."
What Freedom Actually Looks Like
Jesus made it simple:
God is your loving Father (not distant king)
The Kingdom is within you (not in buildings or books)
You can approach directly (no middleman needed)
This terrified religious authorities (and their adherents) then.
It terrifies them now.
Because free people don't need handlers.
Direct experience doesn't need interpretation.
Living faith doesn't need management.
The Invitation
Not to abandon scripture.
To remember what it points to:
A living relationship. A present God. A continuing story.
Those 18 missing years of Jesus?
Maybe they're missing on purpose.
Space for wonder. Room for questions. Territory no committee claimed.
For My Fellow Seekers
You who question everything else—question this too:
Why does imagining young Jesus upset them?
Why does wondering make them nervous?
Why does direct experience threaten?
(Same reason they called Jesus demon-possessed when he bypassed their system)
Maybe because every system of control hates when people realize they're already free.
The Bottom Line
"I'll pray for you" can be love.
Can also be a leash.
"Follow scripture only" can be wisdom.
Can also be a cage.
"We need only what's in the Bible" can be faith.
Can also be fear of what's still being written in hearts and lives and children's questions.
The most religious man who ever lived found God everywhere.
Not just in scrolls.
Made truth visible through parable.
Not just through law.
Chose relationship over rules.
Every single time.
Still does.
They mean well, our brothers and sisters.
Protecting what they think needs protecting.
But God doesn’t need bodyguards.
Truth doesn’t need defense attorneys.
And Jesus—the real, living Jesus—Doesn’t need shielding from children’s imagination.
Or seekers’ questions.
Or stories that wonder.
He’s bigger than our boxes.
Always has been.
Thank God.
<3EKO
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And you can also grab my free PDF books.
Read Part 1: On Religious Freedom
Read Part 2: Betrayer's Spark
Read Part 3: Erasing Christ
Read Part 4: Countdown Jerusalem
Read Part 5: Beyond Sacrifice
Read Part 6: Seeds that Burn
Read Part 7: Letters that Locked the Lillies
Read Part 8: The Divine Path
Read Part 9: The Kingdom Within
Read Part 10: Come Home Unafraid
Read Part 11: Living Religion
Read Part 12: Finding Personal Revelation
I felt great joy reading this. It is all so true. There is no extant copy of an original Bible, but a great deal of the missing content in it can be found in the "Nag Hammadi Library", a collection of ancient Christian and Gnostic texts, and in the "Dead Sea Scrolls." Scientists and scholars think they may find more. I am a seeker of truth on all levels. "Jesus" is not his real name. It is a Mexican name pronounced "hay soos" (I'm sure his renaming was intentional). His real name was Yeshua and his nickname was "Isa". I have been looking for the truth about this prophet for decades and when I ask for the truth about something, (e.g., "where was 'Jesus' all those missing years?") the Higher Intelligence (a.k.a. God) shows me where to look. It's true; ask and you shall receive. The door shall be opened. It makes me sad to see "the blind leading the blind" in churches. I want no part of organized religion. What they teach only puts up barriers to Truth. If it's Truth we seek, simply ask, and the door will open to show us the way.
Bravo EKO! And there goes God doing that thing again, through EKO! We all make our own scripture, IF we let it. Just as Jesus says “The Kingdom is within”.