The New Faith

Be very careful what you read and listen to with regards to the word “faith.”  Not all who profess faith are speaking of faith in God, but it is easy to get caught up in the excitement and be swept away.

“For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness”  (2 Corinthians 11:13-15a).

As I plugged words into Google, hoping to find inspiration for this article, I Googled, “Why is family faith so important?” The first spot was given to, “Why is family so important to Mormons?”  It wasn’t what I was looking for at all.  In the number five spot was an article in “Psychology Today.”  I thought to myself, “This will be interesting to see how faith was portrayed in a secular publication.”

It stated out well, asserting in the subtitle, “Faith speaks the language of the heart,” which it does.  However, the real message became clear a few sentences in.  The faith the article touted is really anti-faith.  It is faith in self, basically.  Faith is “an expression of hope for something better.”  It speaks of faith in a bright future, yet it is just a counterfeit belief, here only for the lifetime of the person.  It is a counterfeit belief in self and the innate goodness of people, which shows to be at best ideological, even in the best of situations.

It is the story of self-reliance, the gospel of the good intentions, with which “the road to Hell is paved.”  It goes on to say, “All that we hold precious rests upon a faith in people.”  How misguided is this ploy of Satan’s that leads to destruction?  Over and over, we see scenes of anarchy taking over during a crisis, such as during a devastating hurricane resulting in riots, mass chaos and looting.  Is this the “tenderness, kindness and concern [and] that takes the bigger part of our hearts,” as the author states?

“Without faith in ourselves we would hold ourselves cheap, and without a faith in others we could never live as free people.”  https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201209/why-faith-is-important

Yet we know that, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).  Satan twists all that is holy; anyone that has not seen this, I encourage to investigate further.   He has taken the basic tenet of faith in God and changed it into something that condemns instead of saves.

What do you believe faith to be? Where have you placed your faith?