He was telling them that what he brought would not fit into the old Jewish ways and if one attempted to combine the two, it will ruin both the old and the new. This is what occurs when Christians mix the old wine of the Jewish system of things with the new wine of Jesus. Both are ruined.

For example, the God that Jesus described appears to be very different from the God the Hebrews described in the Old Testament. If you try to fit Jesus’ loving and merciful God into the old Hebrew descriptions of vengeful and jealous God, the love of the Father is lost, and the God of the Hebrews appears very childish. But if we accept Jesus’ teachings as a new and true revelation, we can look back at the Hebrew descriptions, not as wrong, but as partial and incomplete. (1 Corinthians 13:9-13) We can know the true God as Jesus revealed Him, and still have respect for the Hebrew writings and their attempt to explain God to the best of their limited ability.

What is needed within Christianity is to let go of the old understandings under the Mosaic Law and not try to combine them with Jesus’ teachings. The Jewish religious system has become obsolete (Hebrews 8:13), has been brought to an end (Romans 10:4), and has been canceled and taken away. (Colossians 2:14) Christians must set the “old wine” aside and give Jesus and his teachings their undivided attention. They must start with a blank page and fresh eyes, untainted with the old stories. We believe if that can be accomplished, the veil that currently blinds them will be done away with, and they will live up to their names as being “Christ-like,” the free children of God. (2 Corinthians 3:13-18)

The other reason why Christianity is so confused is because many Christians are following erroneous ideas of men without questioning or critically examining them. In the United States, such people are referred to as “Kool-Aid drinkers,” reminiscent of the tragic death of nearly a thousand followers of the charismatic religious leader, Jim Jones, in 1978. But long before Jim Jones, and continuing long after him, many other men set themselves up as theocracies and religious authorities, spokesmen for God, even the actual second coming of Christ Jesus!

Such charismatic leaders believe they have some special channel to God that allows them to interpret Bible prophecies. Instead of presenting their interpretations as only their view or as speculation or possibilities that could be wrong, such men assert them as if they were the very word of God Himself, and they impress their listeners to accept their interpretations without question on threat of excommunication and loss of God’s favor.

All of their interpretations identify themselves and their followers as the only ones with God’s favor, and all others as destined for destruction. It is this type of “kool-aid” that leads people to do strange things, including condemning those that do not believe as they believe, isolating themselves from family and friends, and even extreme actions designed to ‘bring on’ destruction and make their perverted visions come true.

We should not be surprised at these developments. Jesus taught that after he leaves, many false teachers would arise making grand claims of having God’s backing. Many people would be misled into thinking Christ is exclusively with one group or another. (Matthew 24:23-27) But Jesus said he would not be in one particular place, he would be everywhere – “wherever two or more are gathered in his name.” (Matthew 18:20)

Christians need to: (1) stop drinking the ‘old wine’ by simply setting aside the Old Testament stories as having completed their purpose, as Paul wrote: