When a religious spirit attempts to control the message of salvation it makes the message complicated. Additions, qualifications, and hoops to jump through are added to the Gospel to make it as difficult as possible for people to experience the love of God.

Years ago, I was speaking in another state. An old friend of mine lived in the next city over from where I was speaking so I called him up and we met to say hi and catch up. We hadn’t seen each other in over thirty years.

Before I made the trip, I felt the Lord impress on me to speak to this old friend about the condition of his soul. As our visit drew to a close, I asked him a question. “If Jesus were to walk into this restaurant and slide into the booth beside you and ask, ‘Would like Me to forgive your sins and give you hope for your eternity, would you receive My offer?’” My friend paused for a moment and said with sincerity, “I would say yes.” I then spoke to him under the authority of Jesus Christ as granted to me in John 20:23, “Receive your forgiveness.” We would never see each other again. He would die less than two years from the time of our visit. I look forward to seeing Him someday in Heaven for a joyful reunion.

To the religious spirit that I mentioned earlier this was too simplistic. It needed more ecclesiastic wording or an aisle to walk down. This call to salvation needed more hoops for my friend to jump through. That spirit may require those things, but Jesus, the One who never gave a traditional altar was just fine with the process. At some point each of us does need to receive Him, but can you imagine the Lord who spoke into being the galaxies and distant universes by just a word making the process of our salvation difficult? He paid for it all so that all of the barriers, even the ones we cherish as our tradition, cannot stand in the way of someone simply receiving the gift of forgiveness.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).