Faith

Faith – Confidence based on an intelligent understanding of someone or something; An accurate and complete body of knowledge.

God used this word in its various forms 362 times in Scripture: 58 times to Israel in their Masoretic Text Old Testament; 44 times to Israel in their Koine Greek Old Testament; 6 times to Israel in the transition book of Acts; 10 times to the Body of Christ in the transition book of Acts; 164 times to the Body of Christ in the Gospel of Grace (Romans thru Philemon); and 80 times to Israel’s Little Flock in their tribulation books (Hebrews thru Revelation).

Preachers just throw the word out there and leave you hanging … “you just have to have faith” … as if it is something mystical and magical.

This word has been corrupted by Christianity, the modern dictionary definition is – Complete trust or confidence in someone or something; Belief in the absence of any evidence.

Using their revised definition, Christianity teaches the false doctrine of “blind faith”.  According to Scripture, their doctrine is impossible.  They tie their false doctrine to John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.  This verse is addressing belief, not faith; and the benefit is ‘blessed’, not stablished or saved.

They also use Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  But they twist it into something magical and mystical.

God says that Faith has substance, it is tangible; you cannot hold it in your hand, but it is something that you possess; you can give it, but when you give it, you do not have less; it can grow, and it can die; you can lose it or abandon it.

Faith is not magic or spiritual mysticism; it is confidence based on an intelligent understanding. Hebrews 11:1 is statement of fact and has nothing to do with their false doctrine.

You need to also understand that Faith is not only be born from truth; it can also be born from a lie.  If you believe God according to Rightly Divided Scripture, you have the faith of Jesus Christ.  If you believe in God according to your preacher or religious training, you have the faith of your religious institution, not the faith of Jesus Christ.

So, how do you get faith?  By Hearing.  

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith is given through teaching, and acquired through learning.

In Luke 17:5 the disciples asked Jesus for more faith, and in the remainder of the paragraph, Jesus taught them.

Belief and Faith are distinctly different.  Neither faith nor belief require, or are limited to, truth.  Therefore, faith is not limited to the faith of God.  Faith is simply having confidence based on an intelligent understanding of a body of knowledge.

Believe: To accept something as being true; To feel sure of the truth of.

Just because you accept something as being true does not mean that it is true.  It simply means that you feel sure of it, you have confidence in it.  With Christianity, or any religion, you have confidence in a lie.

To give you an example, I will use late-night TV infomercials.  Someone tells you about a product: by explaining the quality, benefits, and features they produce Faith – Confidence based on an intelligent understanding of something.  Then, they instill a sense of credibility by using testimonials in order to bring about a decision from you.  If they have instilled confidence in their product, and you believe them, you will and buy it.

They usually omit the problems and complaints, and the product may be complete junk, but if you believe them, now you have faith in it: Confidence based on an intelligent understanding of what they told you.  If you buy the product, even if they lied or omitted some truth, then you have faith, believing.

To have faith in God, you have to have an intelligent understanding of His purpose, His plan, His programs, His agencies, His salvation, etc.: Your knowledge has to come from God.  The way God gives you that information is through His word; Preaching, teaching, or reading of  God’s word!  Not transliterations of His word (variant versions), and not paraphrases of His Word.  And certainly not from the opinions and viewpoints of men and their institutions.

I Corinthians 2:4-5 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

I Timothy 1:7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

Now comes the kicker.  According to God, Redemption requires Justification, which produces Salvation, which requires that you have to hear (via preaching, teaching, or reading), Intelligently understand, and believe the Word of God given for the age that you live in; the Gospel for your Dispensation.

So, to break the process down; Faith is when you have confidence, based on an intelligent understanding of an honest and completely accurate body of knowledge.

1. You have to hear the information: preaching, teaching, or reading.
   • God’s information is contained in His book, the actual Words of God (the Authorized Version King James Bible of 1611), NOT in invariant versions or paraphrases.
2. You have to gain an Intelligent understanding of the information.
3. You have to trust the information, have confidence.
4. Details: The information must be specifically TO your Dispensation.
   • Christianity either denies or does not accurately distinguish the divisions in Scripture: Christianity is simply false doctrine and vain babblings.
   • You may believe them, and thus have trust in them, but you are simply believing a lie. If you are trying to have an intelligent understanding of God, first you have hear the truth (via preaching, teaching, or reading) , which will never happen in religion … Christianity does not teach the truth.
     1. They deny and co-mingle dispensations
     2. They co-mingle gospels
     3. They mystify and spiritualize the Scripture
     4. They redefine words to support their agenda (recruitment)
     5. They apply verses out of context; snippets strung together to support their agenda and give the impression of facts.
5. Believe: To accept something as being true; To feel sure of the truth of.
   • To have God’s salvation you must accept what God tells your dispensation, through His Word, in context, and rightly divided, as the absolute truth and feel sure of it.
   • You are then Justified; Shown or proven to be right or reasonable; Having, or marked by, a good or legitimate reason.  Justification is not available through any religion or variant version of what people call God’s Word
   • Redemption is not available through any religion, especially Christianity. If you accept their version of information, you are relying on them to redeem you.
   • Salvation is not available by the tenants and doctrine that God gave to another dispensation; it is certainly not available through religion.
6. Faith is when you have confidence, based on an intelligent understanding, of an honest and completely accurate body of knowledge.

Faith and Belief are not the same thing, but they go hand-in-hand.

Remember, if your faith is in a lie, your faith is vain; worthless.

If you ask someone, especially in a religious leadership position, something about God and they tell you that “you just have to have faith”, your immediate response should be “then teach me”. But remember, in order to render redemption, the information has to come from Rightly Divided Scripture.

If they say that “you just have to believe God”, your immediate response should be “teach me”, but still, it has to come from Rightly Divided Scripture.

The problem that you will run into with these responses is that these people don’t have anything to give you; they cannot teach you what they do not know (I Timothy 1:7).  They will be happy to teach you their ‘Church Doctrine’, but most of them don’t even have the Scripture (they use variant versions), and if they do have the actual Word of God in English (Authorized Version King James Bible of 1611), they usually don’t know how to Rightly Divide it.  So, they will either make something up (religious doctrine, fables, Presumed Public Knowledge, customs, traditions, superstitions, etc.), or try to get you to accept something that God gave to another dispensation.

The justice of God cannot and will not honor the instructions that He gave to another dispensation; things that God didn’t instruct for today.

If they tell you that ‘God works in mysterious ways’, your immediate response should be ‘Stop lying about God; God has already revealed the Mystery through Paul’.

Because of what you know from Romans 16:25-26 and I Corinthians 2:9-10, wherein God states that the mystery is now revealed, you know that they don’t have a clue about the truth of God: Admonish them and flee from their profane and vain babblings.

When you study, notice things like ‘mutual faith’, ‘faith of’, ‘faith in’.

1. The “faith of” Christ: The intelligent, complete, and accurate body of knowledge about Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished on the cross.
2. The “faith of” Paul: The intelligent, complete, and accurate body of knowledge that Jesus Christ gave to us through Paul.
3. To have the “faith of” Abraham: Complete trust or confidence in God based on an intelligent understanding of what He said TO you, which God provided to us in Rightly Divided Scripture.
4. “Faith of” the operation of God: Complete confidence based on an intelligent understanding of God’s conversion process for the redeemed, what He is accomplishing in the Dispensation of Grace with the formation of the Body of Christ, and His purpose for that institution.
5. To have the “faith of” The Gospel: The accurate and complete body of knowledge provided in the Gospel of Grace.  Remember, there are more than 26 gospels in Scripture. If you choose to believe the wrong one, you are not believing God because He clearly states who that gospel is given to … you cannot simply choose the one you want, you have to accept the one given specifically to you.
6. To have “faith in”: To completely trust because of your knowledge of the information, with an intelligent understanding of the information.  (I hope your information is true and accurate.)
   • ‘Faith in his blood’: To rely on, with an intelligent understanding, what God accomplished through the blood of Jesus Christ for your dispensation.
   • ‘Faith in Christ Jesus’: To trust Jesus Christ, based on an intelligent understanding, concerning what Christ Jesus has accomplished for your dispensation.
7. The Faith: The body of information being exercised or practiced, based on an intelligent understanding.  If your information is not according to the truth of God Rightly Divided, your faith is in vain … you are trusting in a lie.
8. Your Faith: Your level of knowledge and your intelligent understanding … I hope you are not believing the lie of Christianity.
9. Weak or strong in faith: An indication of your level of knowledge and intelligent understanding.  If you want more faith you have to exercise II Timothy 2:15-17.
10. Little faith: A statement of not having very much knowledge and a lack of understanding.

For Israel, in times past, as well as following the Dispensation of Grace, Israel is required to Prove their faith (knowledge, with an intelligent understanding) through their deeds and works.

In the Dispensation of Grace, our faith (knowledge with an intelligent understanding) is expressed by not working to prove it: your deeds or works are worthless regarding salvation.  In the Dispensation of Grace to attempt to earn salvation, as Israel was required to do by doing the law and commandments, is an act of unbelief: salvation today is not by compliance to ordinances, but instead, it is a matter of Grace.

See also Believe, Dispensation, Grace, God, Justified, Redemption , Salvation