The everlasting loss of the soul is by far the greatest loss anyone could ever suffer. There are two ways a person may lose their own soul. [1] A man may lose his soul by going through life without any religion at all.  A person may live in this world without any regard for God or the things of God; he may exist as if he were as a beast: godless, prayerless, graceless and faithless. He may devote himself to amassing great wealth, obtaining vast amount of secular knowledge or acquiring great possessions. Our Lord said of one man whose goal in life was to increase his riches, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall these things be” (Luke 12:20). The end of such a person will be everlasting destruction. [2] A person may lose his soul by taking up some sort of useless religion. He may build a refuge of lies, feeling secure with a false Christianity, resting on the shifting sands of having been sprinkled or baptized, joining a church, living a moral life or doing good deeds for others. Many will follow this route to hell.

    What kind of religion is useless? A useless religion is one in which the Lord Jesus Christ is not the sole object of faith. A useless religion is one in which the Lord our God is not declared in His awesome holiness, universal sovereignty and inflexible justice. The advocates of useless religion have no clue as to the necessity of the death of Christ. They have no idea of how God can be just and justify the ungodly. Their religion is filled with sentimentality and emotionalism, but void of truth. A useless religion speaks in general about the love and mercy of God, but there is no emphasis upon the justice of God; a useless religion rests upon the footing of man’s works and deeds, not upon the sure foundation of the righteousness of Christ established by His obedience unto death and freely imputed to undeserving sinners. A useless religion is one in which the Lord our God is declared to be unable to fulfill His will toward men unless they give Him permission. A useless religion is occupied with the welfare of the sinner more than the glory of the Creator. A useless religion makes salvation dependent upon man’s will, not God’s will. A useless religion leaves a man feeling good about himself. A useless religion is based on ideas, principles and man-made creeds, not the pure Word of the living God. A useless religion looks good to the eyes of men and makes one feel noble to be involved in it, but religion without Christ will do the deceived one no good in the day of death and judgment. A useless religion will never result in the salvation of the soul. A useless religion can never meet the approval of the thrice holy God who demands “it must be perfect to be accepted.” Follow this road and you will, just like the non- religious, hear these soul-horrifying words: “Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13).