{"id":353173,"date":"2026-10-06T18:16:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T22:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/?p=353173"},"modified":"2026-10-06T18:17:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T22:17:49","slug":"sincere-faith-or-religion-understand-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/post\/sincere-faith-or-religion-understand-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Sincere Faith or Religion? Understand the Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"border-left: 7px solid #365b81; height: 25%; padding: 21px;\"><big>A person can attend church, pray, worship, and know the Scriptures. Even so, if they choose to ignore what they know to be God\u2019s will, they run the risk of living only a life of religiosity.<\/big><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Faith Must Be More Than Words<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>This was one of the main points highlighted by <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universal.org\/en\/bispo-macedo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bishop Macedo<\/a><\/span> in Tuesday\u2019s message (October 6). Speaking about sincerity before God, he explained that faith should not remain only in words or religious practices, but must also be demonstrated through obedience to the Word of God.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Faith Also Requires Obedience<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Forgiveness was one of the examples mentioned. A person may know what the Bible teaches, but at the same time continue to hold on to grudges, resentment, and a desire for revenge.<\/p>\n<p>Going to church or following religious practices does not replace obedience to the Word. For this reason, the message called for self-evaluation: Does the faith you say you have correspond to what is written in the Scriptures?<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the reflection showed that sincerity does not mean being free from mistakes. A sincere person recognizes when they fail, admits their mistake before God, and seeks to change.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, someone who knows what is right and consciously continues in error ends up resisting the very Word they claim to follow.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mercy Also Reaches Those Who Repent<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>At the end of the message, Bishop Macedo cites the story of King Manasseh as an example. Despite the serious mistakes he made, he recognized his condition, repented, and cried out to God.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, the reflection reinforces that God\u2019s mercy reaches those who recognize their mistakes and turn to Him with sincerity.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Watch the Full Message<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1233447147?h=4ebe46d00c&amp;badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479\" width=\"432\" height=\"768\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" title=\"Evil Has Power Over Those Who Obey It\u2026\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; A person can attend church, pray, worship, and know the Scriptures. Even so, if they choose to ignore what they know to be God\u2019s will, they run the risk of living only a life of religiosity. &nbsp; &nbsp; Faith Must Be More Than Words This was one of the main points highlighted by Bishop [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":353175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[323],"tags":[6245,6223],"site":[],"class_list":["post-353173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-school-of-faith","tag-bishop-macedo","tag-meditation"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353173"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353178,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353173\/revisions\/353178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353173"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=353173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}