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The Mystery Of Faith
Fred M. Fariss
A Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - New
Testament - Hebrews 11:1
In the verse above, look at the awesomeness of the depth of what faith is and what it accomplishes as a result of its exercise.
Faith is the vehicle through which the person who is exercising the dynamic of faith is connected in experience with the
object toward which faith is extended.
In this context, what a person has faith towards becomes one and the same. Without faith, there is no connection toward
any object to be the object of faith. Without faith, there is no belief as a foundation for believing. AFaith is the substance ...@ The substance of faith is the validation of what is true - about the promise. The substance is not in the promise.
Because without faith, the promise has no significance. Exercising faith in the promise, is how one establishes a contact
experientially with the promise. An old cliché= is: ASeeing is believing.@ or ABelieving is seeing.@ The conviction, the peace, the joy, can be present, even before the actuality
of the outcome of faith has occurred. This is not magic nor miracle. This is something that we practice everyday to one degree
or another.
There is a fine line between faith and presumption. Often, people confuse the two elements as being one and the same. But
they are not the same. Faith is an action of believing through projection onto the elements that are peculiar and intrinsic
to the object of faith. Presumption is an act of predetermined ideas projected upon the object of faith, so as to give to
the object of faith, qualities that are not intrinsic to the object of faith within itself.
For this reason, many times people find that their faith does not work because what they are exercising is not faith but
presumption. AFaith,@ in the guise of presumption is impotent.
Faith is often confused with feelings. Just because one might feel very powerfully that something is so, does not make
it to be so. On the other hand, faith is not simply an exercise in logical thinking. Cold analytical reasoning is not an act
of faith. Just saying something is so logically does not result in a transforming experience of profound faith. Faith must
have connection with the object of faith to make the object an act of faith efficacious. When the intent of the act of faith
is not congruent with the intrinsic elements of the object of faith, then the act of faith is in vain. For example, if one
is believing Buddha to be their savior from sin and the Bible clearly says Jesus is the only Savior, then the exercise of
their faith is in vain regardless of how sincere they might be, because they have chosen the wrong object for their faith
which does not have the intrinsic qualities to accommodate the quest of faith exercised.
It is important to understand, if one =s presumption
adds onto the object of faith, things that are not intrinsic to the original promise, then the promise becomes contaminated
and loses its potency. The Bible presents Jesus= death
on the cross as the only way of salvation. People are invited to exercise faith in this indisputable fact to be saved. If
one who is exercising faith, through presumption adds baptism, doing good works, etc., then their faith is in vain because
they have embraced a promise that indeed is not the offer for salvation that God made! Remember, sincerity is not enough.
AI did not know the gun was loaded,@ does not help the man who was shot.
When it comes to spiritual matters, people are very eager to believe because they want answers that will bring peace of
mind and give a sense of security. The primary problem is not in the ability to believe, but what and whom to believe. In
the world there many false voices offering many contaminated promises that are not from God. Many of the contaminated promises
sound good. The false voices have ulterior motives to offer false promises, maybe because many of those who speak falsely
do so because they have been seduced by false voices. In their false sense of security, they offer their false voice because
it is all they know and experience. If there is any mystery in faith, it is not in the exercise of faith, but in the object
of faith. There are people who are willing to die for their faith in a contaminated idea about God. This has been true throughout
the ages - from the time of the crusades until the present Islamic movement. Fanaticism is driven by emotions - founded upon
a presumptive perspective of Afaith@ in an contaminated object of faith. What is so dangerous about it all is
that the outcome of feelings can be the same for those who are exercising valid faith and those who are exercising presumptive
faith.
It is profoundly obvious that the outcome is different between valid faith and presumptive faith. For example: Christianity
and Islam both lay claim to being Athe only way@ religion. They cannot both be right. To say that both are right
is to defy all the dynamics of valid faith and presumptive faith because in this case each religion lays claim to be the only
way. There are some people who want to get around this by presenting universalism which is another definition of the object
of faith. Universalism says that all ways of approach to the idea of salvation are valid if a person is sincere in his faith,
he will go to Heaven when he dies.
People for centuries, have labored to find a solution to the many religions problems. It is often said there are many paths
that lead to the same place. For this to be so, it will be necessary to eliminate all the Aonly way= religions. Two
of the Aonly way@ religions are Christianity and Islam, as already mentioned.
If one were to read the Bible the same way he reads the Readers Digest, with a simple comprehensive approach, it would
make it more readily understandable for him to grasp what the Bible is saying. In contrast, if we were to read the Readers
Digest like we usually read the Bible, I am sure the subscription rate would drop radically because people would find the
information in the Readers Digest to be incredibly unacceptable. The biggest problem would be the confusion about the meaning
of the content of the magazine because how the readers would go about defining what it said. Some would say: AReader=s Digest is all myth. Don=t take it too seriously.@ Others would say: AReader=s Digest is trustworthy because it is scientific
- you can take it literally.@ And others would say that
it is a little bit of both myth and literal.
The complete book - the Bible - is a book of faith. The content of the Bible presents a very compelling message that defies
logic because it presents a plan that goes beyond our natural experience. It seems that many people have a great need to dissect
and rearrange the message of the Bible to fit their predetermined ideas. The more educated they are the more intent they are
to read into the Bible their ideas of what the Bible should say rather than what the Bible is saying. We have the same
problem with politics. If we don =t like some governmental
process, we are willing to distort or destroy the constitution for our own convenience.
Of the present world religions, one of the Aonly way@ religions that has been around the longest is Christianity - with
its roots in Judaism.
The outstanding tenets of Christianity are: One book - the Bible - Genesis to Revelation. One God. One Savior - Jesus who
is God. One salvation - through Jesus = death on the cross.
One resurrection - Jesus Christ. One Heaven - in which God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the eternal persons of worship
and no one else. This statement alone eliminates all other religions and religious ideas.
The biggest challenge that Christianity has had to face is mostly from within its own ranks. Church history is a record
of the contamination of ideas that have been imposed upon the Bible from ministers and theological teachers, all in the name
of God. Schools, that were established many years ago for the purpose of preserving and promoting the Bible - today have become
its worse enemy. They have changed the object of faith - Christianity - into something that indeed makes a mockery of the
Bible. Someone might say: AHow can this be?@ The Bible explains it in simple terms that any body who can read
the Reader=s Digest magazine can understand. There is
a warfare going on and the worse enemy is within.
As the interpreters of the Bible lost their contact with the intrinsic element of the promises of the Bible, they also
lost their ability to understand its message. What makes it so complex and mysterious is the contamination that has been very
subtle and occurred over a long period of time. People can get into the organizational structure of the church and alter it
and its message for their own sake. They change the message and the focus of that message of which the Apostle Paul called
Aanother gospel.@
Are the principles that govern general faith the same as the principles of faith set forth in the Bible? The answer is
categorically - Yes!
If we were in a strange and unfamiliar place and we were offered to sit down in a chair we had never seen before, what
we would do is quickly look at the chair and compare its durability with our stored experiences of the durability of other
chairs we have stored in our memory. Then upon that deduction, we would, if our information were convincing, sit down in the
chair. The outcome of the experience would depend on how well we had observed the chair and the accuracy of our stored information
about the durability of chairs.
However, suppose in the same context, someone offers us an opportunity to participate in an exercise of raising someone
from the dead? Wow! For most people, all the warning lights would go on - tilt! How many experiences do you have of raising
anyone from the dead? Our immediate problem would be when we checked into our memory bank for information on raising people
from the dead we would find it empty. To compensate, we would begin to intellectualize about whether it is possible for anyone
to raise anyone from the dead. Have you read, heard or seen on TV any announcement of a citywide meeting by a preacher who
was going to be raising people from the dead? Although, I did hear of a preacher who raised a chicken from the dead! It would
be very difficult for him to fake this as it is with supposed healing of people.
The point is that we have a lot of information with which to support the exercise of general principles of faith, but greatly
lack in knowledge and experience when it comes to the more profound principles of faith set forth in the Bible. What we lack
is knowledge of faith in the principles of faith as set forth in the Bible. For example, we call events to be miracles when
they are natural dynamics that are at work under the natural principles of faith. For example, people will call a normal birth
of a child to be a miracle. Or they will call the results of an operation by a skilled surgeon to be a miracle. What about
the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, was that a miracle?
The people of faith are to live and believe in their lives by the biblical principles of faith not just for salvation,
but for an orientation to life itself as to its purpose and direction. The stumbling block is they might be led to define
the purpose based upon a definition of interpretation of the Bible that has been read into the text rather than deducted
from the text.
The power of true faith comes from its authenticity exercised toward objects of faith that is congruent to God =s design.
The more sterile that the institutional church becomes the more it will lack in the exercise of faith and its outcome of
the extraordinary. What the church and its people need to beware of is the substitution of modern means and programs as a
representation of the dynamics of faith when it is only an exercise in human genius instead of a demonstration of God =s presence and power.
Applications of Faith -
1. For Healing
Jesus, who is God, validated his earthly ministry by the demonstration of his power through the healing of the sick, the
restoring of sight to the blind, making the lame to walk and raising the dead. He, later on in his ministry, passed this power
onto his disciples - to heal the sick, to restore sight to the blind, make the lame to walk, and to raise up the dead from
the grave.
In the movie AJudas,@ Judas was portrayed as being motivated by greed. He offered to Jesus the idea of making Jesus= healing ministry a financial enterprise. We could sell healing the
sick for so much and heal the blind for another fee. Wow! Just think what amount for raising the dead would bring!
We all know where Judas = love for money drove him.
He sold out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Beware of modern day healing ministries and their emphasis on money. Read the
record, Jesus freely gave away his power to heal - without charge or offering. He said to his disciples: "Freely ye have received,
freely give.@ Jesus= ministry was not a big business enterprise.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God changed the direction of the ministry of Christianity from a motley
crew of men - called disciples - to a new institution called the church. The beginning of this new institution is recorded
in the 2nd chapter of the book of Acts. (33 A. D.) The scope of the church was limited to a local venue.
The first church in Jerusalem was made up of Jews. From that group the ministry of Christianity spread throughout the known
world. At this time the church became primarily gentile. Because the Jews rejected the ministry of Jesus to be the Messiah,
the Bible says that God turn to the gentiles and made the offer to them. Gentiles, all over the known world at the time, accepted
the offer and local churches were established in places like Ephesus, Corinth, Colosse and Rome. This expansion all took place
by the turn of the century. The books of the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation were written during the time period
of (40 - 100 A.D.).
With planting and establishment of churches throughout the Roman empire, came problems which the Apostle Paul addressed
in the fourteen epistles that he wrote to the local churches. To understand the problems and the solutions given by the apostles,
it is imperative that one studies the progress of doctrine from Matthew to the book of Revelation. It is apparent that there
is an evolutionary unfolding of doctrine of which one needs to be aware because of its progressive nature. The definition
and application of doctrine was fluid as it was being developed in regard to the situations that arose in the churches. To
discover a valid point of view about doctrine, one to needs to consult the whole counsel of God from Genesis to Revelation
on a given subject. Since the development of doctrine is progressive,
to limit oneself to one part of the Bible is to fall into the trap of short-sighted understanding of what the Bible is
saying on a given subject.
The nature and structure of the church evolved as time went on. Its organization, leadership, purpose and mission developed
progressively. There were no church buildings until after 150 A.D. With evolution of the institutional church came the invasion
of false doctrine and practices. As early as 100 A.D., the early church had already faced every form of false doctrine and
practice that we know of today in the form of cults, sects, a corrupted form of Christianity, philosophy and heresy. There
is nothing new under the sun.
The Book of James -
A Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if
he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.@
James 5:14,15
The book of James was written around 40-45 A.D. James is believed to be the brother of Jesus. It is widely accepted that
James was the first pastor of the church at Jerusalem. He was also the first martyr of the church. Martin Luther had a lot
of intellectual struggles with the book of James. Luther called it Aa right strawy epistle@ because of it emphasis
on Aworks.@ However, to the contrary, the book also speaks powerfully about faith. The point being to maintain a balance between
faith and works.
Notice by 40 - 45 A. D. , the organizational structure of the local church is in place. And it is to the authority of the
local church that James appeals for the exercise of faith in regard to the healing of the sick. Notice the elements of the
exercise of faith: The faith of the one who is sick and the faith of the elders. The purpose of this procedure was to regulate
the Awild fire@ teaching about healing by keeping the control under the management of the local church. The phrase
- Athe prayer of faith@ carries unique significance. In this case the object of faith is the healing of the sick for
physical wellness and spiritual wellness. The results were contingent upon the exercise of faith. The promise was: Athe prayer of faith shall save the sick...@ As you can see, early on, the boundaries were set for the so-called Adivine healing@ procedure.
It was the quality of faith and not the amount of faith that made the difference. Jesus said: Aif you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could move mountains.@ The point being whether you have faith or do not have faith. It does not take very much faith
to accomplish great big things. Faith in the promises of God is the vehicle to access the outcome of the promises.
2. For Salvation
Whereas in the Old Testament, the relationship of God is more on a national level - between God and Israel - now - in the
New Testament, a different order of things emerges - the relationship is personalized between God and the individual. Each
person must establish a relationship between himself and God, through the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus is declared
to be the only way to his Father (John 14:6) To reject this declaration is to bring into question the word and character of
Jesus Christ. It makes the suffering and death of Jesus to be worthless and of no consequence.
Consider these Bible verses -
A And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.@
Acts 16:30,31.
A If thou will confess with thy mouth, Jesus as Lord and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation.@
Romans 10:9,10
A For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth im him shall
not perish, but have everlasting life.@
John 3:16
A Jesus saith unto them: I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by
me.@
John 14:6.
Infant baptism or adult baptism, prayers, church membership or doing good works do not give salvation. Set forth in the
above Bible verses on salvation, is the clear object for faith. Central to being saved is faith (believing) in a Savior -
the Lord Jesus Christ, plus nothing else, even though some church may have told you otherwise. Read the verses again for yourself.
It is simple and clear as reading the Reader =s Digest.
The elements in the plan of salvation presented in the Bible are simple and clear.
1. God gave His son,
2. Who died on the cross for me,
3.He rose again from the dead,
4. He is ascended to the right hand of his Father,
5. He is waiting to return the second time.
This is the only plan of salvation set forth in the Bible that must be believed and accepted to get to Heaven.
Faith, Mighty Faith
The promises sees
That looks to God alone
Laughs at impossibilities
And cries it shall be done.
Author Unknown
Personal Inventory (Check At Lease One)
[ ] I have not believed Jesus to be my Lord and Savior for my salvation.
[ ] I am confused about what all this means. I need more information.
[ ] I have believed on Jesus to be my Lord and Savior for my salvation.
[ ] I am now believing Jesus to be my Lord and Savior for salvation.
Signed __________________________________Date_______________
(C)2004 Fred M. Fariss All Rights Reserved
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