The sunk cost fallacy is a lack of reasoning when it comes to a position. It goes like this. Let’s say you are walking to a store to buy an item. About 1/2 way to the store, you realize the store is now closed. Instead of turning back home, you reason to yourself “I have already walked 10 blocks, so I will just continue on all the way to the store”. Or let’s say you are painting a room for a friend, and realize that you bought the wrong color of paint they requested, but you paint the room anyway instead of returning to the store to get the right color. Or let’s say you are being scammed by another. Your friend provides you damning evidence and then tells you “they are scamming you, stop giving them money!” But instead you reason to yourself, “I have already given them money, so why not give them more”. This is called the sunk cost fallacy. When pride becomes part of the investment.

This fallacy is used in the illogical reasoning of many Catholics near and dear to your heart. Instead of listening to the Gospel and heeding all the warning lights you have clearly showed them, they reason it away by the sunk cost fallacy.

They will think for example in this fallacy, “I have put in many years of service in the RCC, so it doesn’t matter if this person is telling me the truth, I will just continue on”. Or “My parents and grandparents died Catholics, they spent decades of time in the RCC, so I will just continue on”. Or they think “but what about all my sacrament participation, “good” works, and stellar Mass attendance?” as they view leaving the RCC as a sunk cost by these things, thus it envelops this fallacy.

Despite what you may have heard, Roman Catholicism is an effort/works religion. The more you put in, supposedly will be a return on that investment. It is a very much quid pro quo mindset when they think of God.

Be aware of this mindset and reasoning when you question and witness to Catholics. Challenge this reasoning. Ask questions in reference to the sunk cost fallacy such as “are you worried that all that time and effort is all for not?” Then point out the ONLY effort we can rely on is Jesus Christ’s perfect effort, to place their faith alone in Him!

The RCC and every cult like religion employs through their indoctrination the sunk cost fallacy as a way to keep the Catholic from ever leaving despite any challenge to the RCC doctrines. The person who says “I was born a Catholic, and will die a Catholic” is very much using the sunk cost fallacy in their reasoning. They are basically telling you that even if Jesus Himself came down from Heaven and showed them the same things from His word you have shown them, they could not leave the RCC based on the time and investment they put into the RCC.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Nothing rings more true in today’s modern society than the call to ground oneself to Scripture alone.

Recently, a highly prominent radio ministry pastor, James MacDonald of Harvest Ministries – Walk in the Word, was exposed for many serious problems. Allegations ranging from a vile sexual attack on a Harvest worship leader, financial problems with the ministry, to being a power hungry narcissist with a temper. He recently was ousted in the ministry he started, along with his sons and family. It threw his church and its members into a chaotic upheaval.

I bring this example up, because if you have listened to MacDonald preach on the radio, you probably could find little wrong in his application from Scripture. He isn’t an expository teacher, meaning dissecting the word from the original language and provides a systematic context of each verse. But he was more of the life application teacher, taking Scripture and applying it to sanctification. I personally found little wrong in his applications in the test against Scripture.

The problem I or anyone else would of had is IF we weren’t using Scripture as our authority, but MacDonald. We would be quite lost and in despair at this point, since his ministry went up in smoke recently. I do pray that by this, he is being disciplined by God in his personal walk, and that James comes out this stronger in the end.

If we have Scripture as our ultimate authority, the pastor can come and they can go, but we remain steady and grounded because we are in the word of God. Our dependence is not on the human teacher, but Christ as our teacher. This is why we exhort Catholics for example to test their doctrines against Scripture, because the Catholic’s dependence is on the human teacher.

The Gospel will march forward, nothing can stop it! We are saddened and shocked at times what happens in the church. Some we would never suspect falling out of favor from God, but it does happen, and it will happen. But it will never stop the Gospel from moving to save any sinner in need of it! Thanks be to God!

If you currently are witnessing in the largest mission field on the planet, the RCC, these are some ways to grow your witness to them.

1. Do not take extended time outs. We all need a break here and there, the mission field can be exhausting, but do not leave for an extended period of time. You will lose your audience, and Catholics will see you as non-committal.

2. Study the CCC, which is the Catholic Catechism. It is available online. A good way to research a subject is to type in your Google search for example as “CCC baptism”, and the corresponding reference will come up. You can do this with about any topic. You will grow in knowledge as to what the RCC is actually teaching, instead of blindly throwing quips out you may have heard from a Youtube video or a pastor.

3. Stay away from non-proofs. Much is out there on the Internet, do not share information which is not true about the RCC. There is much disinformation being shared, mainly on the pope which gets disproved and you look silly for sharing it. Stay away from those obscure links, they will serve you no purpose. Want to be cast as an “Anti-Catholic Hater”? Just post disinformation or non-proofs on the church. Use credible websites and news organizations as your sources. A tip on this, is there will always be many news articles on a topic if it is factual, if there are just one or two from obscure weblinks stay away from them.

4. Ask questions rather than projecting. Posts or comments telling Catholics they are lost without telling them WHY they are will not help your cause with them. Try forming a strong witness from Jesus Christ to them from His word which they cannot get around. Do NOT ask a question to which you do not know the answer. Trial lawyers know this, those sharing the Gospel must as well. Asking a question which you do not know the answer, will lose your witness to a Catholic.

5. Learn from mistakes. We all make them, we are human. We may in a rush do or say something to a Catholic and then regret doing this. Learning is part of GROWING. What is there to be proud about outside of Jesus Christ? Nothing, so don’t take it personal. We hate making mistakes, but the key is to admit the mistake and then learn from it. Take any job you have had, we all start by learning, we make mistakes, and over time we become more experienced.

6. LEARN WHEN TO STOP! This to me is one of the hardest things for me to do, but we must learn when to stop playing on a Catholic’s merry go round. Rest in the Gospel you just shared, stop engaging them if they want to repeat something you just refuted a couple of times. Move along to the next Catholic. You did your duty for the King, just move forward. It is kind of like trying to give water to a marathon runner, don’t chase after them if they spurn your effort.

7. Study Scripture. Don’t relax your studying of Scripture. In order to be an effective witness, you need to be grounded in Scripture. You must be prepared for the Catholic’s questions on any point in Scripture, they are seeking ways to dismiss you and this is one of the ways they attempt to. Usually a Catholic will attempt to cherry pick a verse, so be prepared to refute their position which will be by imposing Catholicism into the verse or passage which is NOT there.

8. Preparation in your own witness or as Peter said “be prepared to given an account for the hope that is in you”. Do you have a personal witness and testimony? If you are a Christian, you do! But we need to think on these things a bit more. The Catholic needs to know that you are living by the Gospel you are preaching. So if you are going to tell them they are unsaved for example, explain to them why YOU are saved.

9. Expand your reach. Let go of some Catholics and search for new ones. Look and seek for ways to engage them. You don’t have to look too far, by the way. With growth comes boldness. Over time, your reach will be able to go anywhere. You should be confident to debate any RCC priest, bishop, or even the pope if necessary. Remember that KEY ALLY who indwells you, the Holy Spirit, rely on Him, trust in Him! Also remember you are the means being used by God to His ends, a very valuable component of His to the Kingdom!

10. Study logical fallacies, such as strawmans, begging the question, non sequiturs. These are the three main invalid arguments you will find with Catholics. They are attempts to divert away from a question you ask without answering your question. A typical fallacy they provide is when you ask “tell me what must one do to be saved”, and the Catholic over a course of comments will say “what about those 33,000 denominations”. Discern these fallacies, call them out when they use one, point out that that response to your question is invalid.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

In today’s highly charged political society, it can be tempting to engage in debates with opposing political viewpoints. The danger is that it becomes a higher purpose in your life, and the kingdom of Jesus gets put in the closet. It in fact then becomes your religion.

In the 2016 election primaries, we viewed these rampant religions parted by political lines. People taking off of work, their families, going to church, etc. to attend political rallies on a whim where they could cheer on their idol.

Social media is littered with the back and forth, each party trying to one up the other. Each party playing the victim and the predator at the same time. People being triggered at the mere mention of the president’s name. People attacking others for wearing a hat, spewing out “you are a racist!”, and other darkness we all have witnessed.

It is perfectly fine to stay on top of things, to view the issues, but there is a line not to cross. The line is when your political views now are dominating your life so much so it defines you. In other words, you are not seen as a Christian, but as a Republican or Democrat or any other party.

Some “evangelicals” try to blur the lines. They get really engaged in the political debate, while claiming they are “evangelicals” at the same time. Christianity has no equal King, Jesus Christ is and was always above any political party. Everything that becomes equal or greater in your life is an IDOL, thus you commit idolatry.

Look at this way, the political candidate you might be quite passionate about is quite temporal. Many leave office after a few years, Jesus Christ is eternal. Is it not silly to waste your passion on them? Being informed and engaged is one thing, giving up your money and all of your time to a political party is another thing. The latter shows that it has become your new religion.

So what is the advice? It is called discerning balance. Never allow a passion to surpass or even come close to equal to your passion in Jesus Christ. Don’t let those things such as politics or sports or anything else define you if you are a Christian. Imagine your tombstone, would you want written on it “He was a great Republican” or “The most awesome fan of XYZ team”? Don’t let those passions define you! Let Christ define you!

Recently several U.S. Democrat politicians have claimed that “without addressing climate change with very radical changes which must be made, the world will end in 12 years”. When pressed what this is based on, they will scream, “it is science you dummy!”. Make no mistake the climate change phenomenon is a religion which is in a hyper-mode in the United States. Many are currently worshiping at the climate change altar, some so devoted to this idol, they would probably give up their life for this false religion. If challenged, you will be declared a lunatic as they emotionally declare “how DARE you even question us!”…Every cult-like false religion does this mind you!

Around 10-15 years ago, former U.S. VP Al Gore declared the precursor to this religion, who called it “global warming”. Charts and graphs were displayed indicating that because of man made carbon dioxide emissions, the polar bears and ice caps would be extinct in ten years based on this supposed rapid warming of the earth’s atmosphere based on an invisible CO2 cloud which acts as a heat trap, creating a greenhouse effect. The polar bears and ice caps are still here, and some reports have shown they have grown.

So what does EVERY false religion do? They move the goal post. The Millerites, a religious sect who now have morphed into the Seventh Day Adventist church, claimed that the end of the world would precisely come on 4-28-1843. They prepared for this date, sold everything they had, and when the world did not end, they moved the date to “sometime before the end of 1843”. They produced mathematical analysis from the Book of Daniel, claiming this would be the year the world would end. When 1843 came and went, they moved the date to 3-21-1844. When that date failed, they moved it to 10-22-1844. When that date failed, they twisted the meaning into claiming that Christ did return and produced an investigative judgment, something the current SDA church believes. That basically the world ended “spiritually”, so they claimed they weren’t technically wrong.

Harold Camping, a false teacher, claimed the same thing as the Millerites in 2011. He claimed the end would come on 5-21-2011. When that date failed, he moved the date to 10-21-2011, claiming a miscalculation. When that date failed, he claimed that there was a “Spiritual Judgment” took place on his earlier May-2011 predicted date.

Camping and the Millerites are just two examples, but throughout history there have been MANY false religions and false prophets giving predictions to the end, and people buy it hook, line, and sinker. When the Bible says clearly, there will be signs of the end, but NO ONE will know the exact time and date other than God Himself. Some have done this as a money making scheme as I see with the climate change pastors of this new false religion which is garnering publicity.

See? If you can sell the claim that the world will end on a specific date or year, there are people who will obviously buy into the religion. Just scare the wits out of an ignorant crowd, and you have succeeded. Put up some charts, graphs, mathematical convoluted theories, along with tearful emotional passionate pleadings, and you will gather your flock. 12-21-2012 was another supposed end of the world date, a grandiose fictional Hollywood movie was made based on this.

The progression of the climate change religion is the same as every false teaching throughout history. Putting prediction dates down as factual is the last ploy to gather as many ignorant people into your camp as possible in order for the scheme to become supercharged. They say “if nothing is done, and severe radical changes (to one country mind you), the world will cease to exist in 12 years”. The scam is to get a massive movement to the altar of climate change, the more worshipers in this religion and the stronger the worshiping of the climate change IDOL, the more power they believe they have, and the skewed misinformation seems more factual, where the goal posts can continue to move.

So what is the clue of the scam in this religion? The “12 years proclamation”. Read between the lines to know what the U.S. Dem Party is doing by that number. A U.S. President’s term is 4 years, with a maximum of 8 years. By 12 years, they are indicating that IF you do not buy into their religion, meaning electing a Democratic President and Congress in 2020, 2024, and in 2028, the world will end. This is an attempt to scare the ignorant American into their votes, meaning a power grab. They aren’t out to save the planet, they are out to secure political power for a generation. They then can employ infanticide, their progressive spending ideology, and other immoralities with ease. Let’s face it, it would be only way they can think the U.S. would abandon capitalism for socialism, and climate change is the vehicle they believe will get them there.

So the 12 years will most likely come and go, but the climate change adherents and pastors will continue to move the goal post. The new claim at that point will be, “we miscalculated, science changes, so we believe it will be another 12 years”, and so on. Those who oppose this false religion will be deemed “nut cases”. New charts will be made, more drastic scare tactics will be issued, just more nonsense in the scheme to hold political power.

**A FALSE RELIGION WILL ALWAYS APPEAL TO THE SUPPOSED INFALLIBILITY OF THEIR TEACHERS, THEY CANNOT BE WRONG.**
“It is climate change stupid, ever heard of it? Scientists say it is real and beyond your human reason”

Yes, make NO mistake, climate change hoaxers are peddling a religion. You will hear the claim that their scientists are basically infallible. They cannot be challenged, incapable of being wrong. Every false religion will have the pleading to infallible false teachers. You now hear this in political debates, the appeal to science is always pleaded as infallible. Yet, anyone with a scientific background understands something called the Scientific Method. Like evolution, climate change is a theory, not a fact, because there is no real time laboratory data to prove the theorem. So fancy charts and predictors are made in the scheme to claim that this has to be an “infallible fact”..mind you, with many holes, convoluted goal post moving, and questions unanswered.

There are three reasons why the climate change religion has taken hold. A secular society who does not believe in a Creator who actually is the only one who has deemed the end, the attempt to garner power over an ignorant secular society by a scare tactic, and the money which can be made by this religion.

Some religious adherents believing they are “saving the climate”, will give up all their money, they will gladly have their homes and cars confiscated by a central government, they will do everything their clueless politician tells them to do, only to sadly find out as the Millerites did in 1844 and every other “end of the world” religion, that they had been scammed.

If you are worshiping at the altar of climate change, STOP and THINK! Do your politicians have your best interest in mind? Or are they out to take what’s in your pocket while moving the goal post so as to keep you hooked on their FALSE religion so they stay in power. Don’t be the sad sack 12 years from now, when you are told a whole new set of “facts” while trying in futility to defend your false religion.

1 John 4:6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Some evangelicals, not all, are confused as to the precept of sola scriptura which is placing Scripture as the highest standard for faith and practice. We preach this standard to steer clear of the spirit of error and hold to the spirit of truth.

But what sola scriptura does not mean is that every Christian develops their own interpretations of Scripture and by which binds the church by them. The central Gospel message of Scripture is non-negotiable for the church which is that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. The church has always taught this central message. Any deviation from this is heresy.

When we look at secondary messages, this is where some straying from Scripture can be seen in place of worldly tradition. These would be for example in the eschatology debate, where one might believe their interpretation is non-negotiable, but cannot claim this truly if Scripture is their ultimate authority, because Scripture has not disclosed the fullest of counsels in this realm.

One can be a pre-milleniest and hold to the central Gospel message for example, or hold to amillennialism and hold to the central Gospel message. The secondary messages are negotiable since the fullest counsel of that particular secondary doctrine has not been yet surmised, the primary Gospel though is not negotiable.

So what does this mean? It means we should not automatically discard confessions and testimonies in past church history, and hold just to our own private understanding. Our understanding should not stray from Scripture, and the historical confession of that understanding should also be shown. Meaning that you after 2,000 years for example are not given some new revelation, the revealed word of God is the same as it was then. I see this with some doctrines in the modern church, a pastor or group will claim some new girated version of a doctrine they were given, of which no one previously before held.

So steering clear of the spirit of error encompasses discernment. We hold Scripture above teachings, and that the interpretations have some historical backing in the body of Christ. Contemplative prayer comes to mind. We cannot find this in Scripture nor does it have historical backing in the body of Christ. That doctrine would be conceived by the spirit of error.

The spirit of truth will have two distinct properties
1. Scripture is the ultimate authority, it cannot error.
2. Doctrines must have backing in the FULL historical church, not just of this age. This would be called the efficacy of the doctrine, as it must past Scripture’s test and by its history this can be proven.

I have stated this in my testimony, that breakpoint for me with Catholicism once and for all came upon the reading of the Gospel of Mark. Specifically when we got to the passage of Mark 3:31-35.

Mark 3:31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
33 But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

Before this point, with my eyes just opened by God, I was quite excited to actually understand Scripture. The words were jumping off the page. I stopped going to RCC Mass after the first chapter,not because I declared an official break from the RCC but because I was engulfed in wonderment of Scripture. However, I felt NO guilt by not attending for the first time in my life.

I kept asking myself, “why in the world didn’t I know this before”. So when we got to Chapter 3, conviction set in. I could NOT believe what I just read. I had to read the entire Chapter several times, and the passage above several more times. I was shown that I had been deceived by the RCC, and I was truly aghast! I studied every word carefully, giving it one last chance, and there was no way around it!

As a Catholic, I confess I was quite devoted to Mary since my youth. I prayed to her, I had statues, I even prayed in Latin to her. She was an integral part of my faith. I viewed her as with me as much as I would say God was. But she was little more special since I was led to believe she was to be elevated. Despite what a Catholic might hide from you online, there is much more than their words about Mary in their life. Make no mistake, to a Catholic, she is basically like a god who intimately knows you, helps you, interacts with Jesus for you, powerful enough to convince Him to do your bidding.

They will angrily say “NO, she is not a god to us! We honor her as Christ’s mother”, this is simply to hide the faith they are practicing. Just view the contrast how they speak about Mary and how they do Jesus Christ. They can go on for hours about Mary, but will be silent about Jesus in their life. They are MUCH MORE passionate about Mary than God Himself!

So as the passage goes, before this in V21, Mary being a part of Jesus’ family claimed “He was out of His mind”. I had to ask based on what I thought of Mary, could she really be a part of this? The answer was yes as Mark 3:31-35 clearly demonstrated. Maybe she had doubt, and I don’t question her as a Christian, but she was NOT the Mary I was led to believe by the RCC.

Mary was a sinner just like I was. She struggled in her faith just as a human being would. But those are side issues to the real issue which was that Jesus clearly said that she was not to be elevated as I was led to believe. That ANYONE who does the will of the Father would be His brother, sister, and mother.

I was completely convicted, having 4 decades of idolatry under my belt. I wanted to hide under a rock know how terrible that sin was to God. And it was at this specific point I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I could NEVER EVER return to the RCC again. The statues, rosaries, and prayer books were all thrown out, I could not have those idols, they disgusted me as I was disgusted with myself.

From there God showed me MORE serious problems with Catholicism about each day as I read through the word. It was a false gospel I was following for 4 decades. I felt like one being scammed, I gave everything I had to that church, and they in turn wasted 4 decades of my life on lies and deception. There has been NO regret whatsoever, no thought of maybe I was hastily condemning the RCC. There has been absolutely nothing through Scripture which would allow me to rethink things, nothing of which would tell me that Catholicism was teaching the Christian gospel.

I praise God for opening my eyes to this! I thank Him for forgiving these sins and all my sins in my Lord Jesus Christ. I was as wretched as they come, worse than many knew, yet God redeemed me in no part of myself.

Catholics, I implore you to remove your preconceived notions and allow God to teach you these things. Don’t take my word for it, please please please take His word! Don’t allow yourself to be deceived, and trust that God would NEVER deceive you! The RCC has, this is obvious to the discerning eye, so again test things out for yourself before it is too late to do so!

Former Catholics, now Christians, will often be the most vocal in sounding the warning to current Catholics that they are being deceived. We are NOT doing this because we hate Catholics, or that we somehow are just speculating. Many of us would tell you that we would STILL be Catholics if not for God opening our eyes to His truth.

A Catholic reading the title of this post, might immediately think “no, it won’t fail me”. That is your natural reaction. It is like someone being scammed out of their money, and friends or family coming along and telling you point for point that you are indeed being scammed. The natural reaction is of pride and claim “that cannot be!” But it doesn’t dismiss reality.

What is the truth? Catholicism does not teach the saving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It has invented a Jesus, who looks good on the surface, the religious pomp and circumstance may make it look as if they love God, as if they are following Jesus Christ, but just digging a little deeper than surface observations should tell you that the Roman Catholic Church is not a church Jesus is building.

If you really have placed faith in God, you know without a doubt, and believe blindly that He is God in all of His majesty and power. That if Jesus promises you eternal life by placing your faith alone in Him, you shall be saved, that this promise cannot go away. God cannot lie to you.

What Catholicism teaches is that you WILL fail. They teach you to doubt in Jesus Christ, and place your trust in yourself. Will you make it to Sunday Mass for example? Will you participate religiously in every sacrament? Will God cleanse you in a fictional place called purgatory through the indulgences of other sinners like yourself? Will Mary intercede for your sins?

Jesus Christ never fails, Catholicism has failed and will continue to fail you. Look no further to today’s headlines of cover-ups and crimes against children to realize that it will fail you. Scripture is clear, there is no other way you can be saved other than through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Placing extra biblical traditions OVER the word of God is one CLEAR way the Catholic Church shows their hand at deception. They want you to believe that without those extra biblical traditions, you cannot be saved. Yet they fail the very revealed word of God every step of the way. So yes, if you have any doubt about Catholicism, know that it fails you!

If you are prideful Catholic as I was for four decades? That pride leads to bitterness, uncertainty, and in the end lest you repent, eternal hell. I and other Christians know we cannot convert you, we can only keep exhorting you to TEST these things in light of Scripture. Remove that pride.

Do non-Catholics desire Catholics to end up in hell? NOT IN THE LEAST! I would not even desire that for my WORST enemy. Hell is place where there will no time for a change of mind! Take the worst day of your life and multiply it to an eternity, and that is what you will experience in hell. Do you really want to end up where Satan and his demons are going?

You can discard this message with distaste if you wish. Just know every parroted talking point, lie, innuendo, rationalization, and excuse will be of NOTHING on Judgment Day. All those Catholic talking points you will find failed you when you are in front of God and the ONLY comparison He will make is YOU to Himself! And if Jesus Christ is not your sole Mediator, it will be off to hell without another thought.

So today, if you have not done so, PLEASE believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Leave the Roman Catholic Church and you shall see His glory! No more be bound by the chains of a world religion and come into the rest of Jesus Christ where He offers only peace, joy, and thanksgiving by His grace alone!

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

As discussed in my previous post, faith is NOT merely believing in something. It flying without wings, walking blindly, it removes all conditions and anxiousness and questions. It the “substance” of things hoped for as Hebrews 11:1 states. A substance is defined as “a particular kind of matter with uniform properties.”

The substance the writer of Hebrews is speaking about in context is saving faith, the substance is Jesus Christ. It is the placing faith in Him alone. Blindly believing, following, and being obedient to Him and His promises of righteousness and perfection.

The faith which saves a Christian is one which rests in the redemption and resurrection of Jesus Christ, nothing else. As mentioned in the previous post, by ADDING faith in anything else fully NEGATES faith in Jesus Christ. So adding faith to works, church activity and attendance, sacrament participation, repentance, etc. eliminates faith in Jesus Christ. The substance is only Him, not in those other things for saving faith to be true.

Why can’t we naturally just place faith alone in Jesus Christ? Our fallen nature rejects this notion. The substance of Him is contrary to our fallen nature. We cannot naturally believe that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. This is why God’s divine intervention, one must be born again, is necessary for this faith. God changes the fallen creature to a new creature, only then a saved sinner will place their faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Many world religions grope in the dark because they will NOT submit to the reality that man is fallen, and that faith comes from God. So they then naturally teach other things are necessary to be saved. “Place your faith in yourself” is the battle cry of every world religion. The problem is, it isn’t faith for one thing, it is unbelief in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

If you have been granted by God saving faith, the natural place you place this faith is only in Jesus Christ! There is no other place more deserving! The substance being Jesus, we hope only in Him. We put on the blindfolds so to speak and rest that He alone redeemed us from our sins, that He rose from the dead and we shall to rise in Him. That we won’t come into judgment, because our faith is what saved us.

There is a great example of this in Luke 7. There were many in a room who thought they already had saving faith. That they were heaven bound by it. A woman came in and attended to Jesus while they sat there. She was granted saving faith in that she KNEW her sins were to be forgiven only by Jesus. Jesus said in Luke 7:Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” It was simple, she placed her granted faith in Him, Jesus said that this faith saved her. It wasn’t merely believing, she walked blindly, not by sight.

Faith is not a quid pro quo cooperative system. We can never demand anything from God by our works. Faith comes by grace, it is granted. If you find yourself in a religion which is telling you to do something or walk by sight, instead of placing faith alone in Jesus, it is NOT faith they are exhorting.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Are you REALLY walking by faith? Or are you walking by something else such as worldly tradition which is by sight.

When a Christian speaks about “faith”, we must discern what he or she means by this. Faith is not merely belief in something. Faith is power, the substance of things hoped for, an actionable system. It encompasses belief, trust, and full confidence that for example, God is real, He is living, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, died to redeem us from our sins and rose from the dead so that we too may rise. But this is just part of the faith we are speaking about.

One can believe for example that their favorite team will win the game, but don’t really have faith that the outcome will be in their favor. Faith would be not watching the game nor looking up the score, but just going on with your life as if your team won.

One can believe that the car driving in the opposite lane will not cross over, this is merely confidence, but you aren’t really placing faith that this will be the outcome. Faith would be driving blindfold.

I think parents come the closest of realizing what faith is with their children. Children will place their total faith in a parent. Meaning they blindly will believe anything they are taught or done by their parents. The child simply places total trust and confidence in their parent, knowing that the direction given will protect them and it will be to their good. Sadly some parents lose the faith of their children by the decisions they make.

A child of God now sees Him as a GREAT parent. We simply trust and place our full confidence in EVERY promise He has given without a doubt. We walk blind in this faith, not fretting about the outcome because we know without a shadow of a doubt that God is real, He is active, He is alive, and He is the ALMIGHTY. This is called faith, again it is not merely belief.

Those who marched around Jericho in the face of their enemy for example had faith. Exposing themselves to death and fully and blindly trusting God that the outcome would always be in their favor, this is called faith. The blind trust in God, in His rest, at peace with Him, is faith in Him. They didn’t know if they would be slaughtered or not, they had faith in God that it was His purpose for them because He commanded it, and it would perfectly good. They rested and had peace in ANY outcome.

Abraham’s faith is well acknowledged. He had faith that if he sacrificed Isaac as commanded, that God would raise him up. His faith was counted to him as righteousness! Did Abraham self-exert this? No! It was the miraculous work of God in Abraham who gave him the faith to do this!

When the call is to place your faith alone in Jesus Christ, what are we saying? It means NOT placing your faith in other things or people. You can’t have faith in two infallible outcomes, this is called hypocrisy. Either Jesus is Lord and Savior, or something else is. You can’t for example place faith in a worldly institution to help save you and have faith alone in Jesus Christ. You can believe the worldly institution exists, but you can’t place faith in it.

A Christian has faith that Scripture is the very revealed word of God. We aren’t searching for evidence to make it His word, we simply have faith it is His word. With this, it has to be the ultimate authority for faith and practice since there is NO higher source. Some will try and claim other sources, such as Catholics do with their tradition and magisterium, but there is a reason WHY a Christian cannot place faith in those things. Our faith does NOT allow us to because Catholic tradition and magisterium are not the voice of our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not pass Scripture’s test, thus a Christian’s faith will discard them easily.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for! The Christian hopes, meaning longs for, living eternally with Jesus Christ in His heavenly Kingdom. What is the substance? He is! We walk by faith, not by sight. We don’t need caricatures or depictions or statues to believe Jesus is real, that He is coming again, that He is God in the flesh. We have FAITH in all those things!

The Apostle Paul said, “examine yourself if you are in the faith”. He is not saying “tell me what you believe”, he is speaking about being in the faith. Faith is granted by God, it is a good thing. It is not substance you can obtain at the local church or can bribe God to give you. If your faith is weak, you can ask God to strengthen your faith. He will grant this if asked in faith.

We don’t self-generate faith, it comes solely by the grace of God. There isn’t some secret prayer or ritual or checklist to finish to get this faith, it comes solely from God as do all good things! Why is your faith weak or non-existent? Because you are either not believing that your faith came from God or you don’t believe He can grant it.

If you are an unbeliever and feel you are being drawn to God, humbly ask God for faith! Again, He will grant it, if it is of His will. When you are granted saving faith in Jesus Christ, there really is NO doubt what just happened. Your life just went from darkness to light!

Salvation is ONLY by grace alone, meaning granted by God through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.