Ephesians 3:16 That He would grant you... to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, (17) That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, (18) ...apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are (19) And to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Ehp 1:22 ...the church, (23) Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

When Christ makes His home in our hearts and when we are strong to apprehend with all the saints the dimensions of Christ and to know by experience His knowledge-surpassing love, we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God. All this fullness dwells in Christ (Col. 1:19; 2:9). Through His indwelling [us], Christ continually imparts the very element of God into our being. We can be filled with God to such a measure and can attain such a standard, even unto all the fullness of God. In this way we fulfill God's intention that the church should be the expression of God.

In the light of such a vision we see that it is utterly wrong to regard the church as a material building where “services” are held. It is also not adequate to view the church merely as the ecclesia, the gathering together of God's called-out people. Although many Christians today use the term “the Body of Christ,” few have any clear realization of what this term signifies. The Body of Christ is the expression of Christ. It is also the fullness of Christ, which is the fullness of God. This fullness of God comes into existence in a practical way by our being strengthened into the inner man, by Christ making his home in our hearts, by our being rooted and grounded in love, by our grasping the dimensions of the immeasurable Christ, and by our knowing Him as the knowledge-surpassing love. When we have been filled with all the riches of Christ and metabolically saturated with all that Christ is, we become partakers of the Divine Nature and Fullness of God. Surely this is the highest definition of the church!

What does God say about religion?

Ezekiel 22:26-28
“Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; … Your leaders are like wolves who tear apart their victims. They actually destroy people’s lives for money! And your prophets cover up for them by announcing false visions and making lying predictions. They say, ‘My message is from the Sovereign Lord, ‘when the Lord hasn’t spoken a single word to them.”

Ezekiel 13:4,6,8-9
“Your prophets, …are like jackals among ruins… Instead, they have told lies and made false predictions. They say, ‘This message is from the Lord, ‘even though the Lord never sent them. Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because what you say is false and your visions are a lie, I will stand against you, says the Sovereign Lord. I will raise my fist against all the prophets who see false visions and make lying predictions…”

2 Timothy 4:3,4
For the time will come when they will not tolerate the healthy teaching; but according to their own lusts they will heap up to themselves teachers, having itching ears, And they will turn away their ear from the truth and will be turned aside to myths.

As the decline of many churches today worsen, ears seek pleasant speaking for their own pleasure, and their own selfish needs — disregarding God's Word and replacing it with myths, philosophies, and traditions. The itching ears and turned-away ear is the main factor in the worsening decline in the churches today. Whether you are in Religion, Christianity, or Judaism your focus should be on Christ and Him alone, not the organization or the person who leads it. To know Christ is not merely to have the knowledge concerning Him, but to gain His very person. Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9). To gain Christ is to experience, enjoy, and take possession of all His unsearchable riches (Eph. 3:8).

“Your focus should be on Christ not Religious
traditions and practices”