Introduction

PART OF THE BACKGROUND CONTEXT for the writing of this little article is the mention of “Christianity” and other “faiths” in the recent speech to Congress by King Charles III of the United Kingdom. When those people mention “Christianity” they are thinking of it as just another religion among many. You just choose one for yourself and regard all others as almost as valid (if not as valid) as your own. I also see many memes and images, such as those below which are passed around on social media which support this notion as a panacea for all the ills of the world.

So I am writing this piece because there is something that we need to be absolutely clear about: Jesus did not come to start a religion and there is not really any such religion as “Christianity”. The unbelieving world would like to think that there is because it suits its agenda. All those power-plays, the fancy outfits costing thousands, the Vatican, the Pope, the Archbishops and bishops living in palaces!, the cosying-up of them all to politicians, the vast denominational stocks and shares investments, the gold-bedecked cathedrals, the pomp and episcopal ceremony, the downgrading of Bible teachings to optional extras. It is all an abomination which is of no relevance to spiritual truth but of great relevance to the march of apostasy.

So if Jesus did not come to start a religion, then what did He come to do. There are many things that He did come to do, and some of these He specifically referred to when He said, “I have come to…”. Starting a religion was not among them. These things that He did come to do are what I want to look at today because they will prove to us that the faith which Jesus came to foster could never be just one type of faith or religion among many but is in fact something absolutely unique.

It is interesting that the word “religion” is derived from the Latin religāre, to tie up, or to bind. It goes back to monastic orders whose initiates took vows which bind them to the order, a form of bondage, in fact! This is very different from true spirituality which frees rather than binds. For being Christ’s disciple is not a binding but involves continuing one’s life in Jesus’ word, thereby knowing the truth which sets one free (John 8:31-32).

So, if Jesus did not come to start a religion, what did He come to do? Let’s open that up.

Text No.1 Which Shows Why Jesus Really Came (and it was not to create a religion)

The first such text of Jesus’ words about His “coming” that I want to share with you is this: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The Greek word commonly translated there as “lost” is a word which also means being destroyed, or perishing. It is ἀπώλεια, apóleia, which is the noun form of the verb ἀπόλλυμι, apollumi, meaning to destroy or to perish. That is the level of “lostness” which is involved here. (In fact, the name Apollyon, meaning Destroyer, the angel of the abyss, Revelation 9:11, and a satanic character in Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” is related to this word). It is not just a question of someone wandering about spiritually confused as if getting lost on a wander that went off course. It is so much more devastating than that. In fact, it refers to being in a state of destruction and perishment. As Heinrich Meyer says of this Greek word in our text (usually translated as “lost”), it fully means “those who have incurred eternal ruin”. That is what the true Ekklesia is made up of: Previously ruined people who were utterly lost and destined for eternal destruction. As Paul stated: “Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction” (Philippians 3:18-19). That word translated there as “destruction” is exactly the same Greek word translated as “lost” in our text; and this is also why merely calling unbelievers “the lost” is not really strong enough. A lost bicycle is still a fully functioning bicycle which may be in great condition and look wonderful. But a lost person in the context of Luke 19:10 is someone in a state of perishment which, at death, will be ratified with eternal destruction unless they have been sought by Jesus the Christ and thereby saved through His expiatory death. There is no religion which teaches that. This is why faith in Christ is unique and must never allow itself to be seen as “one religion among many”.

Even in modern Greek, this word ἀπώλεια, apóleia, has that dual meaning of “lost” and “perdition”. You can check this out in Google Translate. Then if you ask for a dictionary definition there of “perdition”, the result is “a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death”. That is the level of lostness to which this verse in Luke 19:10 refers.

So Jesus specifically came not to start one religion among many but “to seek and to save” those who are destined for eternal ruin and destruction, i.e. hell. Jesus has come to seek and save people — the “lost” ones, those who have “incurred eternal ruin” and are destined to “eternal destruction” — from hell through His sacrificial death on the cross, in which He experienced the pangs of hell for His people. That is precisely why He cried out, “My God, why have you forsaken Me?” That is the experience of ruin and desolation which He took upon Himself on behalf of His elect people.

An act of vicarious atonement by Jesus took place in space, time and history to take away the sin of a person and rescue them from eternal destruction by giving them eternal life. When they wholly believe this, then that atonement can be seen to be applied to them and they are “saved”. No religion offers that. This is not about any religion. Religions do not seek or save people from the hell of eternal destruction or ruin — they just provide a ‘feel-good factor’, false ‘enlightenment’, and a whole pile of rules, practices, and traditions to conform to. But Jesus does seek and save. Uniquely. He calls on you to believe, then follow Him while denying yourself and taking up your cross in this life (Matthew 16:24). That is not religion but spirituality.

Text No.2 Which Shows Why Jesus Really Came (and it was not to create a religion)

The second such text of Jesus’ words about His “coming” that I want to share with you is this: “I came so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10). This is in the context of speaking about His ‘sheep’ — i.e. those for whom He laid down His life, as He specifically states in the verse following (John 10:11). The “life” about which Jesus is speaking here is not the physical life in this world but the spiritual life as a new creation which, after believing and becoming His disciple, begins now but continues in the afterlife. Ultimately, the abundant life to which Jesus is referring is eternal life. As He says elsewhere: “Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). That is what has happened to the disciple of Christ, a crossing over from death to life. This is what He came to initiate. Again, as He says elsewhere, “Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47). That is abundant life indeed!

This is all about one’s life in the kingdom of God — a life which begins here on earth, regardless of one’s societal status — and continues into the age to come in the new creation. No religion offers this. It is unique to those who have faith in Christ. This is what He came to do — not to start a religion.

Text No.3 Which Shows Why Jesus Really Came (and it was not to create a religion)

The third such text of Jesus’ words about His “coming” that I want to share with you is this: “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). He says “remain in darkness” because that is the actual state of someone who is not a disciple of Christ. They are already in darkness. He rescues people “from the dominion of darkness” (Colossians 1:13). In fact, before becoming a disciple of Christ, people are actually said to be darkness personified (Ephesians 5:8), a thoroughly chilling thought. They are also dead, spiritually speaking, in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13). They are also under the wrath of God (John 3:36), a state which they will remain under into the afterlife, if they do not repent and believe.

This is what the Bible teaches: That the whole unbelieving world — whether it adheres to atheism, Baha’i, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, or Zoroastrianism — is in a terrible state of darkness. No religion teaches this. Only Jesus Christ.

Text No.4 Which Shows Why Jesus Really Came (and it was not to create a religion)

The fourth such text of Jesus’ words about His “coming” that I want to share with you is this: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division” (Luke 12:51). Jesus has come to bring division! This is an astonishing thing to say and I can guarantee that this is not taught by any religion. A parallel text to that one is this: “Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). This does not mean that Jesus is a rabblerousing warmonger. He is accurately describing the effects of His entrance into creation as God manifested in the flesh and the impact that His Gospel has in the world.

After the words in Matthew 10:34, Jesus says by way of explanation (quoting Micah 7:6), “I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household’” (Matthew 10:35-36). The Gospel naturally divides, even in one’s own family, for the family of God takes precedence (Matthew 12:48-50; Luke 8:19-21). The Gospel does not unite anyone other than genuine disciples of Christ. In the world, those disciples will have tribulation (John 16:33) because that world hates Christ and everything He stands for and it also hates everyone who stands with Him (John 15:18-21; 1 John 3:13). This is why genuine disciples of Christ could not ever find themselves in an ecumenical or interfaith relationship with those who reject the truth about Christ, for He did not come to start one more religion of many.

Similarly, just before Luke 12:51, Jesus says: “I have come to ignite a fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:49-50). That fire which Jesus came to ignite has a dual effect: As J.C. Ryle put it in his sermon on Lot’s wife: “The same fire which melts the wax hardens the clay; the same sun which makes the living tree grow, dries up the dead tree, and prepares it for burning”. The Gospel is not a placid unifier of the world but a burning divider of it. In those who respond positively to it, it brings the peace which surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). But in those who refuse it, it provokes nothing but turmoil and hatred for it and thereby damnation. No religion teaches this.

About that “baptism” which Jesus said that He had to undergo; to what is it referring? It was referring to His total immersion into the suffering and death associated with His experience leading up to and including the cross. His ‘passion’. He had that ‘baptism’ to undergo, and how distressed He was for it to be accomplished. His saying this was a kind of prelude to what He also expressed in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before His arrest (Matthew 26:37-41; cf. Luke 22:41-44). And immediately after speaking of this “baptism” which He had to undergo, He said, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division”. No religion teaches this. These words of Jesus are a complete repudiation of the very idea that the world can be as one if all religions come together, including the fake religion of “Christianity”.

Although Jesus is described as the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), that does not mean that He came to create a peaceful world in this present fallen creation. It means that He came to bring peace in the souls of all those who follow Him because of their having been reconciled to God (Colossians 1:20; Romans 5:1) and, ultimately, peace in the new creation in the age to come. But in this present fallen creation, His name and Gospel can only create mayhem because — as I said above — this world hates Him and everything He stands for and it also hates everyone who stands with Him (John 15:18-21; 1 John 3:13). The world does not mind a “Christianity” which solely speaks of love and peace, being nice to our next-door neighbours, being charitable, and which cosies-up to other religions to create global harmony. But start speaking about the atonement, or the messianic uniqueness of Christ, or eternal damnation in outer darkness, and all those nice squidgy faces of warm acceptance will be transformed into the human equivalent of gargoyles!

Understanding these texts in Luke 12:51 and Matthew 10:34 is foundational to the realisation that there can be no such thing as a “Christianity” which seeks reconciliation and even unity with what are essentially false religions, the adherents of which reject the unique truths about Christ. So when King Charles III said to the US Congress that he is “inspired by the profound respect that develops as people of different faiths grow in their understanding of each other”, and that Congress rises unanimously to its feet in a standing ovation for those words, they are all essentially endorsing false religions and have sold out the true faith. All of them.

Text No.5 Which Shows Why Jesus Really Came (and it was not to create a religion)

The fifth such text of Jesus’ words about His “coming” that I want to share with you is this: “I have not come to call righteous ones, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:32). Bear in mind that only God can forgive sins (Mark 2:7,10; Luke 5:21), yet Jesus forgives sins! Jesus did not come to bring people to ‘enlightenment’ so that they can become Divine (as many religions teach). Neither did He present Himself as a mere prophet (as is taught in Islam) but as Divine, with the ability to forgive sins (see this article as proof of Jesus Divinity: https://diakrisis-project.com/2024/06/24/the-divinity-of-christ-proven-a-sermonic-exposition/ ). Jesus is the unique gateway to salvation (John 10:9) and there is no other name by which anyone can be saved (Acts 4:12). He uniquely came to call sinners to repentance. That repentance (Greek: metanoia) involves turning one’s life around completely through the power of God so that one is “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) who has received the truth which sets him or her free (John 8:32). They are saved not by choosing a religion, or by doing lots of good deeds, or performing loads of rituals, but simply by the electing grace of God (John 1:13; Ephesians 2:4-10; Colossians 2:13; Titus 3:5). No religion teaches this. Therefore there can be no such religion as “Christianity”.

Text No.6 Which Shows Why Jesus Really Came (and it was not to create a religion)

The sixth such text of Jesus’ words about His “coming” that I want to share with you is this: “I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice” (John 18:37).

How many ‘truths’ are there? According to the way of thinking today, there is your truth and my truth and everyone else’s truth and they are all as valid as each other. The interfaithists believe that all religions offer a different aspect of truth, with the religion of “Christianity” as merely one of those aspects. It’s like choosing tapas from a big plate of varieties of food. Some will take Albondigas (meatballs), others take Patatas Bravas (fried potatoes with spicy sauce), others Tortillas (omelettes), and others Montaditos (little sandwiches). Take your pick! The Hindu saying is that:

“There are hundreds of paths up the mountain, all leading to the same place, so it doesn’t matter which path you take. The only person wasting time is the one who runs around the mountain, telling everyone that his or her path is wrong”.

This is the basis for religious interfaithism. Have you noticed that all your relatives and friends will tolerate your “Christianity” so long as you do not claim that it is uniquely the truth? But as soon as you start to say that there is only one way to heaven, all ‘hell’ will break loose! However, Jesus claimed uniquely to present the truth: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Those words “I am” are the great representation of God in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14), which Jesus used in another place too, to profound effect (John 8:58)

Jesus also said that all those who came before Him who claimed messianic status and to be mediators of salvation were “thieves and robbers” of the soul (John 10:8). Many (even including many Bible teachers and academics) wish to limit that expression of Jesus as if it merely referred to the Pharisees or similar. But, as the late George Beasley-Murray — former Principal of Spurgeon’s College, London, and later Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary — rightly puts it in his commentary on this text in John 10:8,

“The saying is directed against those who claim to be mediators of salvation. As such it would embrace false messiahs within Judaism and redeemer gods of the pagan world” [emphasis added] (G.R. Beasley-Murray, Word Bible Commentary, Vol.36, John, Thomas Nelson, 1999, p.170).

Thus, those “thieves and robbers” of the soul to which the Lord Jesus Christ refers include not only the Pharisees but also all the teachers of any religion or none who offer a pretended ‘enlightenment’, or salvation or, worse still, the dreadful illusory possibility of achieving ‘personal divinity’, as many religions teach. False mediators between God and Man, all of them. For there is only “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Always has been — always will be, in this present fallen creation. Those who came before Christ and those who have come since, who taught that salvation is through them, are the false Christs who Jesus so vigorously warned us about (Matthew 24:4-5,23-26). No religion teaches all this. The truths of Christ are unique. He was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. THE truth, not a truth or one among many. There can therefore be no religion among many which is called “Christianity”.

Text No.7 Which Shows Why Jesus Really Came (and it was not to create a religion)

The seventh such text of Jesus’ words about His “coming” that I want to share with you is this: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them” (Matthew 5:17). He came to fulfil the Old Testament law in unique ways. He came to fulfil all the ceremonial laws which served as types which found their mirror and antitype on the cross. All that expiatory blood on the altar in the Old Testament pointed forward to the expiatory blood of Christ on the cross in so many ways. He thereby “cancelled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross” and thus fulfilled the law (Colossians 2:14). See also these texts: “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31). “Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). Jesus said, “You pore over the [Old Testament] Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me” (John 5:39). Moreover, Jesus fulfilled the prophets by fulfilling the hundreds of prophecies about Him in the books of the Old Testament prophets.

Judaism does not accept that Jesus Christ fulfils all this, because their idea of the Messiah is that he creates world peace on this earth as it is presently constituted, which is why they will accept the Antichrist (John 5:43), who will create a quasi-peace on earth through a phony globalist oneness. But, as we have seen already, Jesus did not come to bring peace in this creation but “division” and “a sword”.

This fulfilling of the law and the prophets in this way is not taught by any religion. It is uniquely taught in the Bible. There can be no such conciliatory religion as “Christianity”.

Text No.8 Which Shows Why Jesus Really Came (and it was not to create a religion)

The eighth such text of Jesus’ words about His “coming” that I want to share with you is this: “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind” (John 9:39). This is an interesting saying and one which is unique, having no place in interfaith teachings, for obvious reasons. We can again invoke Ryle’s saying here, “The same fire which melts the wax hardens the clay; the same sun which makes the living tree grow, dries up the dead tree, and prepares it for burning”. Jesus is referring to the remarkable effects of the Gospel in the world and its work in bringing “division” and as “a sword”, as we saw in other texts above from Luke 12:51 and Matthew 10:34.

The judgement being referred to here, which the Lord Jesus exercises through the Gospel, has a twofold effect. The whole world is spiritually blind by nature. They have been blinded as a result of the work of Satan, “so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). However, the Gospel of Jesus Christ takes away spiritual blindness in those who respond positively to it. But it has another terrible effect. In those who arrogantly think that they can already see, despite their spiritual blindness, and thus who reckon they have no need for the Gospel and therefore reject it, their blindness will only increase. This ‘hardening effect’ of the word of God on those who reject it is everywhere throughout Scripture. God hardens uncontrite hearts as a sovereign act of judgment, to fulfil His purpose, or to display His power. This was notably seen in His dealings with Pharaoh (e.g., Exodus 4:21; 7:3–4; 14:4) and the Canaanite kings (Joshua 11:20). When Jesus performed many signs and the people still did not believe Him, He said, “For this reason they were unable to believe” and He then quotes Isaiah 6:10, saying, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them” (John 12:39-40). John then adds, “Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him” (John 12:41). So Jesus affirms this hardening of hearts, so that “those who [think they] see may become blind”. Then there is this in confirmation: “Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden” (Romans 9:18). Of course, the ultimate act of Divine hardening will take place when the whole unbelieving population of the world follows the Antichrist. Because they will have

“refused the love of the truth that would have saved them… God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

That is hardening par excellence! This is uniquely what the Gospel does in the world. It gives spiritual eyesight to those who love it and receive it, but at the same time it progressively blinds those who wilfully reject it. The Divine prerogative to harden hearts. No religion teaches anything remotely like this. Therefore there can be no such religion as “Christianity”. If the mainstream denominations of the religion of “Christianity” taught what Jesus said in John 9:39, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind”, the religions of this world would have no truck with it whatsoever, would not seek to be bound with it through interfaith enterprises, and would treat it like a pariah. That is how precarious and conditional the interfaith alliance is in this world.

Conclusion

I hope you can now see why there could be no such religion as “Christianity” and that Jesus never came to create such a thing. Once you have seen this truth in all its mighty wonder, your whole perception of this world changes. If you are a genuine disciple of Christ, you could not fulsomely applaud with a standing ovation a speaker who commends interfaithism. Those who would do so are denying the uniqueness of the Gospel and have thereby betrayed truth.

Let us not forget that the Antichrist will eventually be revealed on the back of not only a global government but also an interfaith globally confederated religious alliance. This is why those with genuine faith in Christ can have no truck whatsoever with this burgeoning interfaith development which King Charles and the US Congress so heartily admire. For it is all part of the “mystery of lawlessness” leading to the revealing of the Antichrist. Once the Antichrist has been revealed, the division which Christ came to bring will have reached its zenith: On the one hand there will be the globalist alliance of religion (including that of fake “Christianity”) and cooperating governments which will provide the justificatory support for the Antichrist. On the other hand there will be the disciples of Christ who will have resisted that alliance and also rejected the very idea of a “Christian religion”, which they should be doing even now. At that point, that falsely “loving” and accepting alliance will show its true colours in supporting the Antichrist’s terrible pogrom against the disciples of Christ who have resisted that alliance (Daniel 7:25; 12:1,7; Revelation 11:7; 13:7). This will be the time of great tribulation. All those who persevere to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:21,13). Even now, we are heading in that direction, which is why it is so important to be uncompromisingly faithful.

However, all the above having been said, one must by all means respect the people of the world as human beings without any malice, ill-will or vindictiveness. It is important to be as winsome as possible alongside maintaining a determination not to compromise the truth. This is a fine art and it is to be assiduously cultivated. Nevertheless, the bile of the world will be poured out on you if you do not compromise the Gospel or the word of God in general. That is to be expected and should be received with all joy (Matthew 5:11-12; James 1:2-4; Romans 5:3-4)!

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© Copyright, Alan Morrison, 2026
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]

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