When a person gives their life to Jesus, that person will be changed, never wanting to go back to their old sinful ways.
I wish it were that easy and simple. It never was for me. I became aware of some things—literally overnight—and some behaviors changed immediately. But through no fault of my own, others hung around for a lifetime.
Being a good Baptist, I learned how to thrive on the condemnation routinely spewed like raw sewage from the pulpit. I doubted my salvation; I prayed the sinner’s prayer weekly, if not daily, and confessed the same sins over and over, but nothing changed. So, I embraced the sewage and self-condemnation, figuring this was what I needed to keep me straight.
At some point in my journey, I had begun to learn Father’s voice—thanks be to God because the Baptists I hung out with couldn’t teach that if their lives depended upon it—when during one of my groveling confession sessions, Father spoke so clearly that had it been any louder, I would have heard Him with my ears, bellowing in the room: “Never confess those sins to me again. Don’t bring it to me if you don’t remember when it happened or remember doing it.”
For you see, I knew—as aptly taught—that I was just a worm, a sinner saved by grace, so it didn’t really matter what sin I confessed because, at some point, I’d certainly done it in some fashion. Hence, repeat, ad nauseam.
After that encounter, I didn’t pray again for two weeks because I had nothing else to say or talk about.
That was probably the turning point in my learning who I am in Christ.
It has been suggested that the definition of faith is believing in something without proof or evidence to substantiate said thing: a typical Evangelical Christian definition based chiefly on a verse found somewhere in the book of Hebrews (chapter 11, verse 1, to be precise).
However, I would suggest that there’s not only archeological evidence but also other tangible evidence that God is and keeps His word—the Bible, right?
After all, some say that today, God only speaks to us through the Bible.
So then, how is the Bible used, and what does it have to do with blind faith?
We use it as a historical record illustrating that God is trustworthy and His nature is Good. By any definition of the word, the Bible becomes our record of evidence of His existence and nature. But therein is the rub.
Using their definition, that faith must be blind, that faith must not rely on tangible evidence, then believing in and trusting God solely based on what one has read in the Bible does not constitute an application of faith, because – according to them – the very essence of faith must transcend the need for empirical validation resting instead on a profound sense of trust and conviction that is literally based upon nothing:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
What we see, then, is that these people try to define faith as empty and convince you that faith is blind. They take Hebrews 11:1 out of context and propose a new, seemingly better definition.
However, in adhering to their wishes and using their own definitions, we discover their blindness to the very nature of their origins.
What do they possess, then? Nothing more than a commitment to a logical conclusion drawn from historical evidence found in both the Bible and extrabiblical sources – because their faith must be blind and based upon no observable evidence at all.
Really Understanding Faith
While our reference to the text of the Book of Hebrews is correct, and the words found therein are true, we must move beyond blind, unsubstantiated faith. Perhaps a further reading of the text will bring elucidation:
For by it {faith} the people of old received their commendation.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
In all of the examples provided, each one is backed up by tangible evidence.
The Word of God was spoken throughout history so that those from Adam and beyond knew from whence they came, this being the evidence of testimony.
How did Able know what to bring as an offering? Not through the Bible, but by having a living conversation with God – trusting and believing His testimony.
Enoch believed and trusted God that he would not see death but be taken up instead. He had reason to believe and trust God’s word.
Noah acted on God’s tangible word after being warned and instructed.
A Better Understanding of Faith
In any court, testimony is considered evidence. Even so, without trust there can be no faith.
Suppose you want to hire Yardman to mow your grass, as you have an acre of grass to maintain. To that end, you interview a few people.
The first person arrives with scissors and promises to show up on time every week. He asserts that he will cut your grass with his scissors and be done in about an hour. The second person you interview arrives with useful lawn equipment that seems to be seldom used. Your neighbors have warned you that he’s unreliable and may not show up but only once a month, if that. The third person arrives looking tattered, hot, and with grass clippings stuck in his hair. He provides, like the others, a fair price for the job.
Which one do you hire, and why?
You avoid Scissor Man because you don’t believe he can do the job.
You avoid Seldom Man because you don’t trust him to do the job.
You hire Tattered and Dirty Man because you believe he can do the job and trust that he will keep his word.
So, you hired the Tattered and Diry Man, because why? Because of the faith generated by the evidence provided.
The Scientific Method
Whether supernatural or natural, faith is always based on the evidence provided. It is generated and grows by believing the evidence and trusting its Maker. As such, the Scientific Method is the best example of our generation of natural faith.
Something is observed, and a curiosity is formed along with an idea of why the thing is. Tests are devised and investigated for their applicability and trustworthiness. The tests are performed, and the results are evaluated as conforming to the qualifications previously devised. Once the results are confirmed, we let someone else run the same experiments. The more times they’re run, the more times they show the same results, the more our belief in the original hypothesis and theories increase, along with the trust in the validity of the devised tests. All because of trust placed into the original systems of belief and the qualities of trustworthiness of the tests performed.
We have faith because we know the One who speaks, and we believe because we have found Him to be Trustworthy.
Thus, faith is never blind, regardless of how often someone removes Hebrews 11:1 from its context.
So, the next time someone tells you that faith is blind, ask them if they believe the Bible provides evidence of a Creator, Moral Giver, and Judge. If they assert that as true, then remind them they have simply believed a logical construct, seeing that their faith must, by their definition, be blind.
The Protestant churches I attended did a mediocre job of teaching that guilt of sin was transferred to the cross.
But they all excelled at keeping people in bondage to shame.
My therapist helped me work through shame by helping me understand that guilt is understanding that “I’ve done something wrong,” and shame is “I am badly made” or “I am wrongful in who I am,” either through my actions or the actions of others against me.
Guilt carries remorse, but shame carries anger and disgust against oneself or another.
Given the context of my therapy, I had a few problems with guilt, but boy, howdy, did I ever feel shame. Once I learned and accepted that I had done nothing wrong (no guilt), I then had to learn that I was not bad (or wrong), nor was I the cause of what happened to me because of who I am (or was).
I did not ask for, condone, or do anything to deserve my assault, and it was wrong for me to carry anger and disgust against myself resulting from that action against me.
We have a Savior that eliminates guilt – but perhaps does not remove you from the earthly consequences thereof. Shame, however, has no place in our lives: our Savior removes all of it.
Who among you fears Adonai? Who obeys what his servant says? Even when he walks in the dark, without any light, he will trust in Adonai’s reputation and rely on his God.
But all of you who are lighting fires and arming yourselves with firebrands: go, walk in the flame of your own fire, among the firebrands you lit! From my hands this [fate] awaits you: you will lie down in torment.
Isaiah 50:10-11 CJB
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A person’s name is their reputation, character, and personal qualities.
Taking the name of God in vain is not using it as a curse word.
Taking the name of God in vain is connecting yourself with Him and subsequently refusing His qualities, power, and desires.
Adhering to cessationism is taking the name of God in vain.
The apostolic period extends from the day of Pentecost to the death of St. John, and covers about seventy years, from 30 A.D. to 100 A.D. The field of action is Palestine, and gradually extends over Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. The most prominent centers are Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome, which represent respectively the mother churches of Jewish, Gentile and united catholic Christianity.
The first problem is the suggestion that there was an apostolic age that began and then ended. But given that we can, with well-indoctrinated cognitive dissonance, suggest this Scripture is both the word of God and is not, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that some have defined an apostolic age:
"... And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues."
In other words, Scripture clearly says one thing, and Man says another. Therefore, one either adheres to cessationism or continuationism. There is no middle road.
What is the Word of God?
But to have this conversion, we must define what is the word of God? Is the Bible the word of God, or does it contain the word of God?
So then, we’re left with suggesting how the story is told, and the fact that the story is in the Bible is God’s idea – making it the word of God because it’s His STORY, but not His IDEA. Hence, the Bible both contains the Word of God and is the Word of God.
If we bring that logic forward, we’re left with this question: at what point did parts of Acts, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians stop being “God’s IDEA” (aka, His WORD) and become just His STORY that He wanted to tell to make some here-to-now unknown point? And which other parts of the New Testament are just His “story bits” that we should now ignore, presuming them to not be God’s idea?
Finally, who is in charge of discerning and promulgating what should be sliced and diced out as authoritative?
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” It’s an interesting turn of phrases when we understand that the Kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Righteousness is a derivative: think of it as a verb or action word that can only be derived from the necessary quality of Holiness. Holiness is a state of being, a noun, and it means to be separate from the unclean. Hence, we are called to be holy: “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.”
An important distinction between the two is that any person can perform righteous acts – doing the right thing or being holy in behavior – but nobody can be made holy outside the new life imputed by God.
Seeking first the kingdom means that we seek those righteous behaviors, which consequently are followed first by peace, then joy.
But seeking “His righteousness” means to seek after that righteousness that can only be found in Jesus. Hence, we can seek “righteousness, peace, joy, and His righteousness” knowing that they are all distinct threads woven together making the tapestry of His kingdom.
If you’re like me, you grew up in circles where we learned that poor Eve, because of some inherent weakness, was deceived by the Serpent, but Adam, on the other hand, deserved the greater condemnation because he made a choice to rebel against God. In this theology, Eve was judged because she did not fall back to, or rely upon, the truth she knew: that which God had previously spoken. Hence, the words of the Serpent, “hath God said…”
In reality, deception – or the act of being deceived – is no better than choosing to be rebellious. And relying upon what you know is just as dangerous. In rebellion, we know and understand both sides of the picture: we can see the lie masquerading as truth, but we choose to align ourselves with the lie.
We might argue in favor of the deceived, that the problem is that they don’t know they’re being deceived. How, then, can that be as bad as knowing the truth but choosing the lie?
This is what the Lord says: Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find a resting place for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ And I set watchmen over you, saying ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ (Jer. 6:16-17)
The problem of deception is that we choose to be deceived through our failure of action, and consequently, through our action of self-exaltation.
When deceived, we act out of a place where we have chosen not to test the spirits; instead, we rely upon our intellect and wisdom. But perhaps we might argue, “I’ve read the word of God, I know what to do!” So, then, oh knower of the Bible, what shall you do with the fool?
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. (Prov. 26:4-5)
So then, the question becomes, “do we answer the fool according to his folly, or not?” Without spiritual discernment, it is impossible:
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues … (2 Cor. 12:10)
The Solution: Test the Spirits
To avoid deception, we must test the spirit of everything; it’s really that simple:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 John 4:1)
Therefore, deception is as wrong as rebellion because, like rebellion, deception uses self’s power over God’s mercies and grace. In deception, we elevate our intellect and abilities to know good from bad, right from wrong, above and beyond God’s fresh revelation and wisdom. This does not mean we ignore the word of God; it simply means we understand His ideas, but we take the time to double-check our actions. We live and walk through life using His word, in conjunction with His spiritual discernment to judge and course-correct:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:13-17)
That is why we will not be excused, just as Eve was not excused, from the sin of deception.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Heb. 5:13-14)
If you’re like me, you may have learned something other than what is called “spiritual discernment” by the Bible.A doctrine that teaches spiritual discernment was given only to the first-century believers, or perhaps to those a bit later, for the purpose of discerning the writings inspired by God, as opposed to those things that were not inspired by God.Essentially, what these people are saying is that nobody today can pick up a Bible and discern that it is God-breathed, that the only way we know we have God’s word is through tradition.
But enough of that rabbit hole. Let’s just cut to the chase:
Spiritual maturity is not related
to how long you have been a Christian.
Spiritual maturity is not related
to how much scripture you have learned for the purpose of applying it to life at just the right time.
Spiritual maturity is having your senses trained to
discern between good and evil.
In the year 2020, we’ve watched practicing physicians lose their jobs (at worst) or be censored (at best) for discussing and reporting on their success in treating COVID-19 with innovative treatments. In my opinion, the virus anti-remedy rhetoric was the cusp, the fringe of the arriving great delusion;
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
For the time {has} come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they {have accumulated} for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Soon, the 2020 election will occur. Regardless of who wins, there is likely to be turmoil. The cheaters will be attacked, or the racists will be cleansed. In either case, it will look much the same.
Soon thereafter, the persecution will begin, when sound biblical doctrine will be outlawed, or in the least, punished. Pastors will be censored from preaching about sin, the kind that so easily offends many people.
With those things in mind…
I would encourage you to re-think the words of Jesus. In Matthew 24, where He outlines the end of the age, He is not talking about a secret rapture – “the coming of the Son of Man” – He is explaining an aspect of the great delusion. That being, everyone one is marching forward with their lives, doing their own things, not perceiving the signs of the time in which they are living:
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
While I would love to believe that the pre-tribulation rapture adherents are correct, I can find no indication that the rapture – secret or not – is ever referred to as “the end:”
But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved
It is time to find your courage.
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.
Do you remember a time when you were hurt very badly? Does it continue to haunt and hurt today when you recall it from memory?
We all carry emotional baggage, or what I’m calling emotional wounds.
Sometimes, we blindly accept that our wounds are necessary to make us who we are or that there’s no real cure for them other than time. We’ll even hear well-meaning pastors or teachers suggest we simply need to learn how to bear our burdens to one another or let go of the past.
I was never a member of a congregation that understood how to help others overcome their past.
The Onion Process
God created our psyche to wrap wounds in protective layers, like an onion. You’ll find that after one emotional wound is healed, another may replace it.
The process I’ve outlined below is an outline of your conversation with God. It consists of the following major points:
First, you must decide: you desire to be healed, or you want the pain it brings. It’s your choice, but you can’t have it both ways.
Identify a hurt, wound, or hurtful feeling.
If necessary, confession of sin surrounding that wound;
Confessing that you want the wound removed
This is a particularly important point. You cannot be double-minded in this regard.
Asking for the wound to be removed and healed.
Accepting the healing.
Identification of new emotional wounds
You’ll know you’re finished when you are at peace with the incident that caused the wound.
The Emotional Healing Process
Speak these things aloud.
Recall that whenever Jesus healed someone, He spoke out against their sickness. When God made the universe, He spoke it into being. We are made in His image; using our voice is part of His design.
Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him
Identify the emotion, giving it a name. It’s okay if all you can call it is pain.
Tell Jesus you want the emotion removed from your soul.
Ask Jesus to heal the wound in your soul and the emotion you feel.
Tell Jesus you receive His healing.
If the emotion is there because you may have believed a lie about that situation, ask Jesus to show you the truth about the situation.
An optional step is asking Jesus to give you something positive to replace the negative emotion He is removing.
If you ask Him to take away sadness, you might ask Him to give you joy.
If you ask Him to take away anger, you might ask Him to give you peace.
Rest for a moment – a minute or two. Ask for His presence to come, and rest in Him.
Recall the situation that caused the painful emotion.
If there is a new negative emotion, begin again at Step 1.
If the emotion is tied to personal sin, ask God to forgive you and receive His forgiveness. It is good to remind yourself of forgiveness principles, such as 1 John 1:9
Say that you believe His blood has taken away the penalty and consequences of your sin.
When I was very young, I was molested/assaulted by an older man. After my memory of the event resurfaced, my emotional healing process progressed something like this:
Jesus, I feel anger towards that person. I don’t want to feel this anger anymore. Please take this anger from me and heal the wound in my soul; I receive your healing. Please give me peace in place of this anger.
Once I was done with this process, I paused for a moment and then recalled the event. I observed that I then felt a different emotion and went through the process again. After several iterations (I don’t remember how many, or the emotions other than anger), I was completely healed of assault against me. It\’s now like a distant memory to me, as if it were something written about me, not something that happened to me.
My Journey into this Process
I should also mention that before I learned this emotional healing process, I had thoroughly used Neil Anderson’s Victory Over Darkness and Bondage Breaker. I think his books will help you immensely, but they don’t always result in helping you heal the resulting wounds.
Thereafter, I developed a process that was different than above, which worked well enough. I then found Praying Medic’s work Emotional Healing in Three Easy Stepsand have continued to use it and other methods ever since.
A Recovering Legalist 