Donovan: "Catch the Wind"

Have you ever had a crush on somebody but that person wanted nothing to do with you? This is what Donovan sang about in this song of unrequited love. Check it out here.

When I was a teenager, an errant church taught me that if I just had enough faith, I could get what I wanted from God. They often quoted verses like Luke 17:5 and 6 (Bible in Basic English) as their proof text. "And the twelve said to the Lord, 'Make our faith greater.' And the Lord said, 'If your faith was only as great as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this tree, Be rooted up and planted in the sea; and it would be done.'"

what they didn't understand is that God is sovereign. In fact, it's blasphemous to assume that he's obligated to give us anything.

Luke 11:2 (King James Version) tells us who's will must be done. "And he said unto them, 'When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.'"

James 1:6 (BBE) was another verse the elders browbeat me with when my eyes weren't healed. "Let him make his request in faith, doubting nothing; for he who has doubt in his heart is like the waves of the sea, which are troubled by the driving of the wind."

That accusation stung. I did my utmost to quench all doubts. No matter how hard I tried, it seemed never to be enough for God. Consequently, I turned my back on him for nine long years.

Those wicked people never took Ephesians 6:4 (KJV) to heart. ""And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

If Christ hasn't returned by Saturday, I hope to post about John Lennon's painful childhood.

Saturday Song: Bachman-Turner Overdrive, "Quick Change Artist"

I'm sure we've all encountered people who will do one thing and then change their actions in the company of others. My brother, Roy is like that. He'll be so nice and polite in the company of Christians, such as my sister Jentien but once he's with non Christians, he reverts to his vulgar self.

This song by Canadian band Bachman-Turner Overdrive is about a woman who keeps changing her mind. She's with one man one minute and then leaves for another the next.

Listen to this song here.

James certainly had something to say about such unstable people. He wrote in James 1:8 (KJV) that, "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."

Our chief duty as Christians is to proclaim the gospel. But how can people believe us if we keep changing our minds and attitudes? Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:8 (KJV) that, "For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"

And as we should be steadfast in our trust in the Lord, so we must pray with total trust in him. James 1:6 (KJV) says, "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

And Paul summed up steadfastness in prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV). "Pray without ceasing."

I hope you liked this song and what I wrote. Please comment in the box below if you wish to.

On Monday, I'll be posting about the difference between believing about and believing in God. It's important to know why we need to believe in him and in Christ.

WHAT FAITH IS

The word "faith" certainly has a number of connotations. Some people use it as a synonym for a religion or sect of one. Others use it to mean acceptance of unprovable ideas. For true students of Scripture, it has a much deeper meaning.

Lately, a group of charismatic ministers have arbitrarily added a new definition to the biblical doctrine of faith. In their view, faith is a force that Christians can use to cause things to happen, either positively or negatively, to themselves.

They further teach that words are containers of this force. In their distorted view, a Christian 0can become free from the "curse' of poverty by speaking to a wallet and positively confessing that it be filled with money. Similarly, they believe that any disease can be cured by speaking faith-filled words to it.

Forty years ago, I was a member of an aberrant house church. Its minister taught that Christians with enough faith had the power to speak forth healing over people on whom they laid their hands. The leader often quoted James 1:6 (KJV) which says "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed".

Whenever the members laid hands on me and prayed in tongues, as well as rebuking the demon of poor sight in English, nothing happened. Though I seemed to see better after one prayer session, my vision remained as bad as it always was.

To make matters worse, the elders commanded me not to wear my eye glasses lest I lose my healing. Later, out of habit, I put them on and felt extremely depressed at my supposedly weak faith. I've lost track of how many times these Ernest-but-misguided people performed this ritual without any improvement in my vision.

I became so fed up with this cycle of failure, as I believed it was, that I turned my back on God for nine years. Eventually, I realized God wasn't at fault. It was those deluded folks who were to blame for teaching me blasphemous theology and then condemning me for lacking faith. I learned that God is sovereign and what he allows to happen is part of his good plan.

It didn't seem good to me that I was stuck with limited vision but I now see his wisdom in not healing me. God isn't a genie in a bottle or an intergalactic Santa Clause but a loving heavenly Father who gives us what will make us holy.

Because so many well-meaning believers struggle with the charismatic notion of faith, I wrote How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. I show how hard I tried to live up to the wrong standard and how I eventually learned the truth. This marvelous testimony of God's providential guidance is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers.