Leaving Religion
First off - Leaving Religion is not about " not believing" - It is the very opposite. It's about leaving mainstream religion for a true spiritual connection. We dig deep and deal with Religious trauma and we strive towards a real religious coexistence
My name is Richard Ravenbrook. Some call me The Pagan Preacher. I am a man, a clairvoyan life coach, and a spiritual guide. Throughout my quest for truth, the spirit has guided me along various paths. My roles have included church ministry, street ministry, and publishing, among others. I have shared this journey with Christian companions as well as pagan allies. I have received ordination in Christian ministry and I have also embraced initiation into the magical arts.
The leaving Religion podcast encapsulates the wisdom and insights accumulated from these varied theologies, traditions, and philosophies. Leaving religion is about seeking true divinity and truth rather than simply following the crowd.
Leaving Religion
Discovering the Divine Within Beyond Organized Religion
What if true religious freedom isn't as free as we think? Join us on this episode of the Pagan Preacher as we question the necessity of imposing religious beliefs on others and challenge the societal norms that push people to conform. We scrutinize the concept of religious freedom in the United States, arguing that true freedom appears to be a luxury reserved primarily for the Christian Church. We'll also explore the tension between personal spirituality and organized religion, pondering the profound peace that could be achieved if spirituality remained a personal affair.
Through a critical lens, we analyze Christianity’s influence on American laws and societal norms, citing biblical examples that clash with modern values. This episode emphasizes the importance of personal spirituality, advocating for love, compassion, and self-discovery over institutionalized religion. We reflect on the historical consequences of religious dominance and the need for mutual respect among differing beliefs. Ultimately, we highlight the transformative power of recognizing the divine spirit within each person, fostering a community grounded in unconditional love and support. Share this inspiring conversation and help spread the message of spiritual growth and acceptance.
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Welcome everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Pagan Preacher, this Spiritual Journey, talking today about why we can't, as individuals, live our lives without labels, without descriptive religious titles. Why can't we simply be what it is that we are? Why can't we walk our own paths, our own individual paths, without constant persecution? We live in a country that says we're free, that we shouldn't have persecution, and, even though persecution doesn't necessarily come from our government, it comes from the religious people within our country and around the world, people that for some reason, feel that they have to play the role of their God, of their God. You know, I often sit and just ponder what it would be like to be able to walk your spiritual journey without labels, without these fundamental laws of what you have to do and what you can't do, and that we can simply learn to listen and learn to follow the voice that's within us, learn to recognize who we are and what it is that we're here for, what it is that completes us.
Speaker 1:We have so many people, so many different radical extremists that want to push their religion, their narrative, in our country, in our lives, our homes, now we even see it in our schools. It just seems to grow and grow and grow. It seems like maybe we can never achieve peace as long as we have religion in public affairs, in public places, that there is a place for religion in our lives, or should I say, a place of spirituality in our lives, because religion is man-made. It's man-made rules. Some will try to tell you that, no, these are God-ordained rules. But no, these are rules applied by man trying to be more perfect, trying to be more like God, rather than just letting the God within us develop and be real and be real and be true. Religion can't save anybody. It can't even give us enlightenment. It can't. It can't let us grow or we can get no growth from it. Because unless we grow from inside out, we can never truly grow. Unless we can be open to the voice within us, the kingdom that is within us, we can never be truly free. Because most of us, of us, we walk this, we walk this earth, we walk our country, trying to be someone else, trying to make everyone else around us happy, trying to make our Christian parents happy, or trying to make our Muslim parents happy, or whoever it may be, rather than trying to make our Muslim parents happy, or whoever it may be rather than trying to just be.
Speaker 1:You know that the Christians have a say that God is in control. But if God is in control, why do we have so many people feel that they have to more than share the gospel, more than share love, but they have to constantly, constantly be the physical force of God, be the negative pushback, the resistance of every other religion, the resistance of every other religion? If God is truly in control, then why does he need fleshly people to do every action on this earth? Or does he? Maybe the reason why we have so many issues is the fact that we have people that want to play God, that feel that they have to intervene for God, that they feel that they need to not only teach and guide, but that they have to physically pick us up and put us where we're supposed to be, because some of us just aren't in tune or intelligent enough to do it on our own. And agreed, we all come from an immature state until spirit gets us to the point where we obviously are more mature, us to the point where we obviously are more mature. But what we can do is we teach people how to listen, how to discern, how to distinguish the voice that is within, to the voices that are surrounding us. How does someone distinguish truth from lies, reality from fiction when it comes to spirituality? Because there are so many, so many things out there, so many different beliefs out there, and obviously they can't all be true. But this factor, this factor of people trying to play God, it destroys peace, it destroys mankind's ability to live free, and the whole time religious people are speaking about freedom, especially in the United States of America.
Speaker 1:We speak of freedom, religious freedom that we're free to be who it is we are and without persecution. Free to be who it is we are and without persecution. But how many pagan festivals do you see without a Christian influence surrounding it, telling everyone that they're gonna burn in Hades for what they're doing and that they need to end the corruption and push the devil away? Or how many psychic businesses go without persecution? What would happen if a Muslim group decided it wanted to open a temple up on the square? Or if a pagan society decided they wanted to start an organization in your local town, decided they wanted to start an organization in your local town?
Speaker 1:How many believe that this would happen without resistance and how many can tell me that they truly believe that this is a country of religious freedom, because I speak this over and over and over that the only religious freedom that I see in this country is for the Christian Church. It seems like the only people in this country that truly have the freedom that we call freedom is the Christian Church. Is it because that's the way God wants it? No, because if it is the way God wanted it, if it is the way your God wanted it, why does he need you to intervene? Why does he need a church on every corner? Why does he need it on the radio stations and flyers and pamphlets? Why can't you simply get on social media and express yourself without being attacked or persecuted from a Christian?
Speaker 1:Now, I understand as a former Christian or a former churchgoer, should I say that I understand the desire to attempt to save souls. When you're in that kind of indoctrination, you have a burden. You want to teach people, you believe what it is that you have is true, and when you're indoctrinated, you believe that everything else is wrong. And until we get out of that mindset, we'll never have peace, nor will we ever have truth, because we're all spinning our wheels, because not even the Christian church in America knows what the truth is? My gosh, just look outside and look through your phone book If we still have those now. People just got to look through Google.
Speaker 1:But you know how many churches are in your town, how many different denominations in your town, how many different teachings are in your town. How many Christians will ridicule another Christian group, saying that they're not really Christian, and that Christian group will ridicule another Christian group saying that they're not real either. At the whole time, these same both of these Christian groups are ridiculing the pagans and the Muslim and the Buddhists and the Hindu, saying that they're not real, that they don't serve the real God, that they all serve Satan. We all know that's not true. We all know that if we study that, the word Satan isn't even a name, it's a title. It means adversary or adversary. I can't even talk Adversary. Yeah, you know what I'm trying to say. Sorry about that, that I'm getting tongue-tied. Adversary, there you go.
Speaker 1:But you know, in this country we have a turmoil and a problem and it doesn't come from the government when it comes to spirituality. Not going to get into our problems with politics right now, because we all know we have problems in politics, lord knows. We see it all over the place right now, people trying to push the Ten Commandments back in school. You know when some people would think that that's great, oh, that's just fantastic. God is doing miracles. God is doing work. No, god is not doing it, because God believes in choice. It's all about choice. How disrespectful it is to have one religion in school and no others.
Speaker 1:People want to say that you know, the United States and the laws that we have were all based upon the Bible. But anybody that knows the truth knows that's just not the case and we can't use the Bible. We can't have a biblical USA, because why can't we have a biblical USA? Even for the people that believe, the Bible is the dead set, unquestionable, undeniable law and rule of God. Where do we draw the line?
Speaker 1:Because we understand that the Bible tells us to stone a rebellious child to death. If you've done everything you can do and you've taken them to the elders and there's nothing left you can do, it says to take him out in the field and stone them to death. Are we going to do that? It also says that it's fully acceptable to get a good price and just sell your daughter. Can we? Can we do that? What about the foods the bible says we can't eat? Are we supposed to make those laws in the country that we can no longer eat pork or or lobster or shrimp or anything like that, because that's in the bible too, you know. We could go on and on and on. It's like, well, we need to make again. Are we crazy?
Speaker 1:We once had a day or a time where the church controlled things. It was called the Dark Ages. It's when more people died, more people were murdered and slaughtered and slain than any other time in history. Because religion destroys, spirituality frees. And I said, you know, I often ponder when it's in the evening time, as I even now, you know, when I'm trying to speak to you and I'm sitting in my office and I'm trying to burn a little bit of sage and I've got a little, paul Sancho, you know just trying to clear the air and help bring a little bit of peace to a crazy day, because it's chaos out there, isn't it?
Speaker 1:People going to and fro, speeding everywhere they go. Everybody's in a hurry, everybody's in a hurry to get there and get back or whatever it is. Nobody just enjoying life. We're all just going through the motions, all of us trying to just survive when happiness is so simple. But we need to stop, we need to take a breath, we need to reflect. We might even need to take a step back. We may need to quit doing entirely what we're doing, but we need to slow down and take a look at what we're doing, and I urge I urge Christians everywhere before you try to make this country everything that you want it to be, remember, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Speaker 1:What would you feel or how would you feel if we wanted this country to go completely pagan or completely Muslim or completely Hindu or Buddhist? Would you like that? Of course you wouldn't. Nobody would like that, because we all want freedom. That's all we want is freedom, and God does not need your intervention, nor your help, nor your persecution to do the work that needs to be done. We spend more time trying to ridicule and belittle and persecute than simply loving, spend more time trying to build buildings and send missionaries and all these other things, rather than doing just what we're supposed to be doing or what you're supposed to be doing Helping those that need help, feeding the hungry, helping the widow, helping people that need help, not judging them, not ridiculing them for where they are or how they're living.
Speaker 1:Simply love them and help them. Show them the God that you believe is real and true. Don't speak it, show it. Even Yeshua said the kingdom of God is within you. Anybody that knows Hindu or Buddhist knows it's all from within. When we start talking about Egyptian, it's all about knowing who we from within. When we start talking about Egyptian, it's all about knowing who we are within. Over and over and over, spirituality points to within. Until we realize who we are, we can never be everything that we can be. It's not about being saved, it's about finding yourself. That's where you're saved, finding who you are on the inside, rather than just spending your whole life in this physical vessel and dying, never understanding who you were and why you were here. You know there's many, many times that I've heard you know when we talk about extraterrestrials and I know people want to laugh when you start talking about those things but I heard once that we were considered just containers. And do you know why they considered us just containers? Because we don't know who we are, we don't know our potential, because the church and so many religious bodies hinder us from ever learning who we are.
Speaker 1:You look through the Bible and most of it, except for the words of Jesus or Yeshua, talk about things outwardly of the body how we're supposed to act, how we're supposed to dress our length of hair, where we're supposed to go and where we're supposed to act, how we're supposed to dress Our length of hair, where we're supposed to go and where we're supposed to be. But if you want to change your life, if you want to grow in enlightenment and in spirituality, if you want to become in tune with the universe and the things around you and God, it starts within you and the things around you in God. It starts within you, walking a path without persecution. That's what this is about. If you take anything from this podcast, it's about whatever religion you are. Don't push that religion on others. Don't feel that you have to label yourself.
Speaker 1:People say well, what are you? I consider myself merely a seeker, a seeker of truth. That means I'm many things. I have said that there are things in the Bible that are true and I hold that in my heart, and I also know Buddhistshas and I know hindu and I know many other religions that I keep within my heart because there is truth in many different things. I am a seeker, just as Yeshua was in the 30 years that aren't shown in the Bible, because, as we know, you know he lived 33 years and only three years of that is actually within scripture. During the 30 years he was learning many, many other different things that the church doesn't want you to know, doesn't want you to, doesn't want you to, because they want to control you. Now, the people that's within the church and a lot of the pastors they don't want to control you. It was the beginning, how it started, and the very top at this ladder, they are the ones that wish that control. Most of the people within the church and leaders within the church are as blind as everybody else, and that's how they get these things done. They have convinced the world that the 66 books of the Bible is all there is, and as long as you know that you have achieved everything you need to do. Well, that's not the case.
Speaker 1:If you truly want, if you truly want truth and you truly want to know God, then you will go beyond the book and get into spirit. You will get out of the four walls of the church and seek an odour so you can find. Seek that verb, look, don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to use your power of discern to discern right and wrong. Use the religions that you know as a tool of discern. Filter things within your mind and your heart, your emotions, because it tell you you will feel whether this is right or whether this is wrong. Inside you is a light and the more you feed it, the more it will glow and larger it will become. We are more than a physical vessel. We are a spirit having a physical experience. But you are not going to teach that, or you're not going to learn that from people that want to ridicule you and persecute you and tell you that you're on the wrong path, that you need to get on this path because that's the only way.
Speaker 1:At the same time, they want to say that's the narrow way, that's the narrow way and that's the only way. At the same time, they want to say that's the narrow way, that's the narrow way and that's the hard way. But yet it's the largest, biggest, most powerful organization in the world, a church almost on every corner, it seems. It doesn't seem very narrow to me. It seems very powerful and very loud and very determined to not change from consent, but change from conquest. Take, destroy and consume those emotions, those feelings we've got to expel from this world. We've got to get to the point where we just allow people to be who they are, just allow people to grow.
Speaker 1:If they ask you your spirituality, if they ask you who you are or what you believe, then express that, but express that as a seeker, because we don't. We, none of us know for a fact all truth. We know our truth, we know what spirit has revealed to us, but that could be different for someone else, and we have to honor that and believe that and hold that to be true. That I can guide you to spirit, I can guide you to finding your truth, but only you, only you know that truth to be your truth, the truth that's within you, the truth of who you are, the truth of your purpose and the truth to your destiny and spirit. It is the only one that can show you that Within you are the answers. The answers aren't in church. The answers believe it or not are not in the temple. Now, sometimes, yes, we can find ourselves in those places, but we're finding ourselves. We're finding what is within ourselves.
Speaker 1:Don't mix the physical with spiritual. When I say find yourself, I'm not speaking about anything physical. I'm talking about us spiritually finding the true essence of ourselves, the I am within us, the I am, the I am all things, all things around you, all things alive. I am connected to everything. Take some time, meditate on this, ponder this what if we could just live this life and just be free?
Speaker 1:And if you're one of those people that decide that feel that they have to play God, that they have to intervene or intervene every time someone does something that is not according to your faith or your religion, don't feel that God expects you to go and persecute them, because God doesn't. God wants you even, as your own book says, to worry about the stick that's in your own eye before you ever start talking about another, because no one can judge righteously when you are unrighteous yourself. Let us all just allow freedom, allow spirit to move as spirit chooses to move. Do you believe that your God is in control? Do you believe, then show that live, that just love your neighbor, help your neighbor, do what it takes to show brotherly and sisterly love for each other, no matter what they are, no matter what religion or race or creed or sexuality or sexual orientation, because none of these things matter physically, because ultimately, we are spirits in a physical experience and spirit is the thing that will live on past this physical body.
Speaker 1:Remember that when you look upon someone, that that is a spirit, that is an energy source from the divine. Don't look on the outside. Don't look at all the the errors and flaws and mistakes and boo-boos and whatever else that you can possibly see. Don't look and say I can see the sins all over this person. Just love them, help them and you will be surprised. You will be amazed at what happens to society when people are simply loved, respected and allowed to choose for themselves what spirit has for them. Thank you everybody for taking the time to listen. Please share this podcast. If you've got time, please rate or review the podcast because that helps get it into the search engines, because unless someone's listening spirit isn't getting the message out, share it with friends. But, of all things, be blessed and blessed be.
