Pure Religion

PURE and UNDEFILED RELIGION
"For the LORD your God is God supreme (of gods) and Lord supreme (of lords) the great, the mighty and the awesome God, who shows no favour and takes no bribe, but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing. -- You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." [Deuteronomy 10. 17 - 19 Tanakh, Torah]

There are many answers from people when asked, what true religion is, but the only way to know for sure is to see what the Holy One's heart and mind is by reading Scripture. Then we can see how we compare to what He is looking for. And His concept is the only one that is important, not popular opinions.

"Do not neglect the Levite in your community, for he has no inherited portion as you have. Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your yield of that year, but leave it within your settlements. Then the Levite, who has no inherited portion as you have, and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow in your settlement shall come and eat their fill, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the enterprises you undertake." [Deuteronomy 14. 27 - 29 Tanakh, Torah]

"Wash yourselves clean, put your evil doings away from My sight. Cease to do evil; learn to do good; devote yourself to justice, aid the wronged; uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow." [Isaiah 1. 16 - 17 Tanakh, Nevi'im]

"Woe! to those who write out evil writs and compose iniquitous documents, to subvert the cause of the poor, to rob of their rights the needy of My people; that widows may be their spoil, and fatherless children their booty! What will you do on the day of punishment, when the calamity comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And how will you save your carcasses?" [Isaiah 10. 1 - 3 Tanakh, Nevi'im]

"The ear that heard me acclaimed me, the eye that saw, commended me. For I saved the poor man who cried out, the orphan who had none to help him. I received the blessing of the lost; I gladdened the heart of the widow. I clothed myself in righteousness and it covered me; justice was my cloak and turban." [Job 29. 11 - 14 Tanakh, Kethuvim] "...break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor." [Daniel 4. 27 Tanakh, Kethuvim]

"The LORD of Hosts says: Execute true justice, deal loyally, mercifully and compassionately with one another. Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger or the poor. Do not plot evil against one another." [Zechariah 7. 9 - 10 Tanakh, Nevi'im]

"The LORD says: Do what is just and right; rescue from the defrauder him who is robbed; do not wrong the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow; commit no lawless act, and do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place." [Jeremiah 22. 3 Tanakh, Nevi'im]

"For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." [James 1. 23 - 27]

"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." [l John 3. 1 6- 18]

This next text is in regards too a 'bishop' but anyone naming the name of Messiah Jesus "must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. [Titus 1. 7 - 9]