The Bible says: “Believers shall…” and lists many things that are supposed to “follow” believers. The list of items that follow, are all good: protection, signs, wonders, healings, Holy Spirit activity and miraculous activity. Believers are promised throughout all of the scriptures many wonderful BLESSINGS that are to follow them — explicitly stated in the New Testament writings.
Yet, some would reply: But your religion is no different than any other religion! Everyone has beliefs; all of them different; all of them disagreeing on some point or other; all of them with different deities. What makes you think that YOU BELIEVERS are any different than … oh, let’s say, people who blow themselves up, or people who believe they shall become gods, or people who believe they shall go to Valhalla, or those who believe they will come back as a beetle to work out their karma. Believers are believers. Every day is a ‘holy-day’ somewhere in the world. Can you really say that your BELIEF is any better than THEIR BELIEF?
My response to that is: Of course I can! The problem is that people miss the whole point about what BELIEVERS are. The opposite of a BELIEVER is not an UNBELIEVER; contrary to most popular notion. If I say I believe a particular doctrine, teaching, or ideology I might or might not be a BELIEVER. If I believe opposite of a particular doctrine, teaching, or ideology that does not mean that I now fall into the category of an UNBELIEVER. It would merely mean, I agree or disagree with your particular view.
For example: Pharisees in the time of Christ believed in the existence of Angels; Sadducees didn’t. However, that is a ‘belief over an idea’; that is not what qualifies you for being called a BELIEVER. The blessing and promises to BELIEVERS are to a different kind of believer; not an ideological believer, but rather an ENLIGHTENED AND EXPERIENTIAL believer. It never was about the WHAT; it was about the WHO.
We do most of our initial believing based NOT upon logic, reason, research, and mental brilliance; but rather upon WHO says it; who do we trust. We all feed and grow off of some ones ‘reputation’, or ability, or logic or whatever — from the time you were a child even to this day.
If I said to you that George Bush recently said, “The moon belongs to me” you might laugh out loud. Why? Because either the idea is absurd, or the man speaking is absurd to you! If a poet says in his writings, ‘the moon belongs to lovers’; you might nod your head in agreement (even though it is a metaphor); either because YOU believe that what you feel about that is true, or because you believe poets are more observant than you.
If I said, ‘God told me today to tell you, “the moon belongs to me”, you would either say, “WOW THAT MAN HEARD FROM GOD” and believe that about God, or you would say to yourself, “well if God exists, and He created it, then it would surely belong to Him.” The idea is believable because the man was believable or the message contained a source that is believable.
When Christ “came unto his own”, his own received HIM not. When Jesus went to Nazareth to do miracles in his home town in the same way as everywhere else, he was not able to do so. Why? Because of their unbelief — not unbelief in his teachings, but IN HIM.
When the Jewish rulers wanted to eradicate him and were arguing over it what were the two cornerstones of their argument: 1) He is a deceiver of the people, and 2) He believes that he is equal to God. The disbelieved HIM first; and therefore his message was ‘rejected’. They had already rejected GOD as an authority (no longer believing in HIM correctly), and therefore came to reject whom GOD SENT; Prophets, John the Baptist, Christ, Christ’s followers. They had made THE FATHER OF LIES their ‘source of truth’; and their light was therefore actually darkness. They were become UNBELIEVERS.
If you believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He is all that He said he was, and all that the disciples said he was, and all of those who have followed in the disciples foot steps say that he is, then BELIEVER is what you become. It is not what you think (mind renewal is important though) but rather what you are transformed into immediately; eventually to be changed day by day.
God never lied; all other so called deities have lied. Christ was who he said he was; all the other prophets of other religions have been proven, or will be proven to not be who they claim (or their followers claim) they are. The writers of the New Testament told it like it was to them: Experientially and Existentially. They did not have an IDEA; they actually handled, touched, witnessed and directly lived in THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIGHT. This is what made them BELIEVERS. This is why SIGNS FOLLOWED THEM.
Who are you believing in? Yourself? A great man? A body of teachings? Traditions of men? Seek HIM while there is yet time for HIM to be found!
Original Copyright: © Anthony J. Massotti, Th.M. 10/29/2006