The subject of this post may seem a bit off point from the blog's title, but really it's not. This nation rest upon the faith and understanding of its founders, they laid the foundation of freedom and government for us. Their foundation and understanding of the world around them were laid in solid theology. It had come out of the Reformation and the minds of the Puritans. Read their writings and you find rich theological words like Providence and Kind benefactor of Heaven. They saw the growth and success of the nation resting in the hands of the Creator who through Providence and the ordinary means of Grace directing their way and setting their course.
To change that theology is to change the way we see the world and understand it, it changes the pillars upon which our society rest, this is the root Jedediah Morse was going after in the quote above. We find the church today much different in our America than it was in their America. Today we live mostly among weak and fictitious theology if you can even get at the theology. The Church in their day held to rich lengthy confessions of faith defining precisely what they believed. Today if you can find a confession of faith at all it is only 8 or 10 brief statements of vague doctrinal thought.
For many years I followed the so-called Word of Faith teachings. They were promoted by such men as Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Myer, and a host of others.
It is amazing how easy it is to be moved away from the Gospel. Gal 1:6 A short time ago God chose you to follow him. He chose you through his grace that came through Christ. But now I am amazed that you are already turning away and believing something different from the Good News we told you.
Gal 1:7 There is no other message that is the Good News, but some people are confusing you. They want to change the Good News about Christ. (ERV)
And change it they did. Preachers came to our little town and brought a new message. Friends and family were drawn to this new message, we began to affirm one another in our new understanding. Other persuasive men came and reaffirmed and undergirded the message. They brought books written by men of renowned, men who were said to have had experiences with God and special revelation with signs affirming them. They told of their experiences and what they had seen, that we too could experience these things and see the wonders also if we would just follow their teaching. It was all wrapped in a Christian package using Christian terminology supported with Biblical scripture and we bought the product. For years we read the Bible through those lenses, scripture taken out of its context can be used to say many things.
Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. (KJV)
These words of Jesus were pulled out of their context and we were taught that we could have what we say if we would believe and not doubt. After all, is that not what Jesus said above? We were told if we needed a job, a car, money, promotion, healing, whatever it was, this was the key to get it. See how easy things go awry, it sounded good to the ears, we could see it in the scripture with our eyes, what else could it mean?
Coupled with that another scripture was pulled out, viz. Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (KJV) It was explained that to be able to do what Jesus said in Mark 11:23 & 24, we had to increase our faith by hearing God's word. To do that we were told to find a scripture such as Mark 11:23 & 24 and confess it over and over again. After doing so long enough it would get from our heads to our heart and faith would rise up and we would believe and it was then we would receive.
You might be saying, who could believe such foolishness? Sadly, most of the Christian Church in America and around the world follow this kind of thinking or in some way influence by it.
Imagine where this takes you, where your focus is looking at Scripture through those lenses! Instead of God being the focus of our faith, it is a focus upon our faith itself and our efforts to produce it. We are, as they say, trying to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.
I recently heard Andrew Wommack say that getting healed is the easiest thing in the world, getting rid of the doubt is what's hard. He was referring to the doubt in Mark 11:23, which was cured by changing what we were saying, and confessing what we wanted over and over again.
So how are we to understand Mark 11:23-24? In context, Jesus is giving a lesson on faith and how it operates. It is all surrounding the event of the fig tree He cursed on the way into Jerusalem. He was explaining the marvelous things that could be accomplished through faith. The statements Jesus makes concerning faith in those verses are all true. They don't have to be taken allegorically to be explained. The issue is not whether the verses mean what they say, but how the faith is obtained. Scripture says, Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (KJV) Faith is not something we obtain by confessing something enough times till it gets from our heads to our hearts. If that is what it's talking about, then all we need to do to get someone saved is to lock them in a room and play John 3:16 over and over again till it gets from their head to their heart. Just hearing the word does not guarantee one will be saved. Paul says it is a gift of God. The Apostles would indeed do many wonderful miracles in Jesus' name, however, the faith they exhibited was not their own.
What you find throughout the Bible are weak and sinful people upon whom God bestows Mercy and much Grace, giving them faith to walk with Him and trust Him in their daily lives. Many do works and accomplish many things they would have never dreamed they would have been able to do. None of which were done or accomplished through their own effort of obtaining such faith. Php 2:13 Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases him, and he gives you the power to do it. (ERV) Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (KJV)
The Churches theology today produces a selfish man-centered view of the purpose of faith and the Gospel. Our focus is on ourselves, our comfort, and our personal success. God is a means to alleviate anything in our life that makes us uncomfortable, He is supposed to fix all our troubles and make our life better. We are told He will do all these things if we will apply his Word properly using all these principles they are teaching.
The truth is, this is not about us, it's about Christ and the Glory of God. It's about redemption and the Glory of it shinning in the face of Jesus Christ. Christ Glorified God through suffering, we are called to do the same. Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (KJV) 2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; (KJV) Heb 10:34 Yes, you helped them in prison and shared in their suffering. And you were still happy when everything you owned was taken away from you. You continued to be happy, because you knew that you had something much better—something that would continue forever. (ERV)
Why is this so important to us as a nation? “Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.” ---- Jedediah Morse. (Source: Jedediah Morse, Election Sermon given at Charleston, MA, on April 25, 1799.)
May God bless you,
David
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