Faith: It began many years ago. The flashback begins We view Mac walking in the First Realm Faith: narrating Back in the old times. Mac looks around the desert as he meets Faith Faith: narrating Mac was the only one I cared about. That was when I met him. Faith approaches him Faith: Hello. Mac Grimborn: No. Faith on the March by A.H. Recounting of the history of the Watchtower/Jehovah's Witness' movement in an autobiographical style by A.H. Macmillan, who worked with Charles Taze Russell, 'Judge' Joseph F. Rutherford and N.H. Explore the world of Mac. Check out MacBook Pro, iMac Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, and more. Visit the Apple site to learn, buy, and get support.
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Daniel Knight - 2001.04.13 -
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- Pastor Mac Hammond: Faith, politics and public discourse Federal law draws boundaries, but not barriers, for churches. My wife and I will rigorously adhere to those rules.
There are a lot of parallels between Macintosh evangelism andreligion, an issue which has come to the forefront this week thanksto Rodney O. Lain's 'Fallacies ofChristianity' piece on Applelinks. But this time the focus ison the Christian faith and church more than on the Macintosh.
Rodney is an iconoclast. (The term refers to those who destroyedimages in the Roman Catholic churches during the Reformation andalso to the earlier IconoclasticControversy in the Byzantiine church.) He knows where he standsand states his position without mincing words. You've gotta respectthat.
You've also gotta understand what the church did to him: Theyencouraged him in ministry, grew jealous of his success, andexcommunicated him. Excommunicated. They cut him off from thechurch, from fellowship, from the Lord's table.
Okay, that's Rodney's spin on things; I'm sure his former pastorwould tell a very different story. Still, I'm inclined to believeRodney's tale is closer to the truth, because I've comeface-to-face with an ugly truth the church is loathe to admit: Thechurch is flawed.
Sure, we confess our need of salvation on Sunday and our needfor grace, but we like to pretend our fear and pride stop at thechurch door. Sorry, but it just isn't so. Churches are imperfectand filled with imperfect people, from the pastor on down.
When the dysfunction reaches the point of church discipline, youhave three choices: grin and bear it, find another church, or turnyour back on the whole lot of hypocrites. If the dysfunction isinstitutionalized in the leadership of the church, staying reallyisn't an option.
For reasons that remain unclear to us many years later, my wifeand I were put in a similar position by our previous church. We'dbeen members for years and were both actively involved in ministry.We knew there were some unspoken problems, but we avoided churchpolitics.
Evil can twist the good, just as Satan tried to tempt Jesus byquoting Scripture. 'Jump! God won't let you stub your toe.' In ourcase, the church had used the Network program developed by WillowCreek Church to help us discover our style, our gifts, and ourpassions. Mine is building communities. My wife's is buildingfamilies.
Of course, with the Network results in our file, when theleadership decided it was time for us to move on, all they had todo was attack the things that were most important to us. In ourcase, they attacked us as parents using exactly the phrases asocial worker (Linda) would see as most damning. They attacked hercore; our family never attended that church again.
We spent months trying to find a comfortable church - and endedup in one with several other refugees from our previous church.
It's not the same. In some ways, it's a whole let better. Theydon't condemn people and attack kids for being different; they love'em and minister to 'em. But I miss my choir and other aspects ofour old church. Still, after the way they tore into my wife,there's no way we can go back while the present leadership isentrenched.
(Since leaving, we've talked with many other individuals andcouples who have been 'nudged' out of that church. The pattern issimilar: someone perceives a threat, cuts to the core, and drivesyet another 'troublesome' family or individual away. It seldom, ifever, comes to excommunication; we leave first.)
So Rodney went through a period of disillusionment. Count on it.It hurts being betrayed by 'the body of Christ.' On one level, itgives us some idea how Jesus felt when Judas betrayed him with akiss.
I'm not going to debate theology with Rodney. There's no point.You don't make disciples that way, but you can deepen the riftbetween God's child and God's community.
At core, you either go on believing that God exists, call it alla lie, or try to ignore the issue. If God exists, you continue totrust him, but you've grown wary of his followers. It's not the waythe church is supposed to be, but what do you expect from humanbeings?
Unless you turn your back on God, you trust that all things willsomehow work out for those who trust him - sometimes against allevidence to the contrary. You hope, but you also know betrayal. Youtry not to let the bitterness grow within you and turn your warmfaith to ice.
Rodney's experience with churches was far more negative thanmine. Then again, some traditions are a lot more into authority andcontrol than others - as are some people.
I grew up in a tradition that tried to teach us to think andlive as Christians. As is true of all organizations, some followedlike sheep and some learned to find their own way within the faith.I'm now two steps removed from that tradition, deeply appreciatethe good that came from it, and see the shortcomings even moreclearly from the outside than I did on the inside. It's a goodtradition, but I've found another that fits better.
What About the Mac?
Yeah, the church can be abusive, but they're far from unique inthat regard. Look at all the sheep who use the OS with 63,000 knownbugs, fears and laughs about the blue screen of death, and thinksreinstalling the operating system is just part of the computingexperience.
Yet for the most part, people stay with the state church,following the faith of their IT staff. Few are willing to becomeProtestants, whether Lutherans, Baptists, Calvinists, Pentecostals,etc.
Even among Mac users, we may not be safe. There is the OS Xcult, which condemns those who don't jump right in as luddites.There is the Traditional Mac OS faction, which just wants things towork as they always have. Here there are even cults of System 6 andSystem 7 fans. There is the power cult, which can't comprehend howanyone could still be using a Quadra, let alone a Mac Plus. Andthere is the Compact Mac cult, which things everything larger thanthe Color Classic was untrue to the original Macintosh vision.
At the same time, we tend to be pretty civil in ourdisagreements - at least until someone says something nice aboutMicrosoft Office, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, or even(shudder) Windows. That's been the cause of more flames on theLow End Mac lists than religion,politics, handguns, and other 'off topic' subjects.
In the words of Rodney King, 'Can't we all just get along?'
Looking at the history of the fragmented Christian church, myanswer is, 'Probably not.' But we should still hold that as animportant goal.
Links
- Weaning you offthe Kool-Aid™: Fallacies of Christianity and the Macreligion, Rodney O. Lain, Mac Spirit, Applelinks, 04.09
- What is good about the 'Mac religion'?, David Schultz,Applelust, 04.11.
- Testimony andCredo: A reply to Rodney O. Lain, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,04.12.
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Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986,sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, andhas been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
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A lady once said to me, “If God gives me faith, then I’ll have it. If He doesn’t, I won’t.” That may sound like a good theory, but that isn’t a correct view of faith.
“But, Pastor Lynne, it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that God gives certain people faith!”
Yes, but that verse is talking specifically about the gift of faith, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. That gift isn’t given to everyone, but it is one type of faith that God has provided for us as believers.
It’s important that we don’t put every verse about faith into a sack, mix it up, and shake it all out together. We need to understand the types of faith available to us as believers.
What the Gift of Faith Is Not
The first kind of faith is saving faith, which every believer has. We see this general faith described in Ephesians 2:8–9. This is the faith you’re saved by and it comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
Galatians chapter 5 talks about another kind of faith: the fruit of faith or faithfulness. This is a fruit of the Spirit, which grows in the life of a Christian to establish him in spiritual character.
Today, I want to talk to you specifically about the gift of faith mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. This gift of faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit and the greatest of what is often classified as the three power gifts of the Spirit: the gift of faith, the working of miracles, and the gift of healing. When a believer has the gift of faith or special faith, they believe God in such a way that He honors their word as His own and miraculously brings to pass what that faith has given them. This manifestation of the gift of faith comes after the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
One of the biggest differences between the gifts of faith and the general faith believers have is that general faith can be increased by feeding on the Word of God and exercising it in every arena of your life. On the other hand, we don’t all have the gift of faith; it is a supernatural manifestation.
Gift of Faith vs. Gift of Miracles
Put your hand out in front of you for a moment and then pull it back next to your body. This is the way we receive something. The gift of faith is a gift of the Spirit where the believer passively receives a miracle. This is different from the working of miracles, where the believer actively works a miracle under the power of the Spirit. Both gifts produce miracles, but the gift of faith is passive and the working of miracles is active.
Let me show you some biblical examples of these gifts in action. When Elijah ascended to heaven, he dropped his mantle. Elisha, who had asked for a double portion of Elijah’s anointing, saw that mantle, picked it up, and swished it from right to left as he parted the Jordan. He was actively operating in the working of miracles through the Spirit and power of God.
On the other hand, throughout Daniel’s ministry, we see the passive gift of faith working many times. One example was when he received a miracle in the lions’ den. In those days as well as down through history, people thrown into a lions’ den were eaten. Why didn’t they eat Daniel? Well, the Bible says that Daniel believed God. God had shut the mouth of the lions because of Daniel’s faith. As a result, Daniel wasn’t hurt. That’s the gift of faith in operation. Daniel didn’t do anything. He probably just laid down and went to sleep among the lions while he received a special manifestation to receive his deliverance.
What was the end result for Daniel and Elisha? Both received a miracle, but they each received it in different ways.
Sleeping Through the Storm
In Matthew 8:23–27, we see Jesus exercising the gift of faith as He slept on a pillow in the back of a ship during a raging storm.
Someone might say, “Yes, but that was Jesus. He was the Son of God. He could do anything.”
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Jesus never did anything but by the power of the Holy Ghost. He stripped Himself of power as the Son of God. He did not work any miracles prior to the time when He was anointed by the Holy Ghost, and when His ministry began, He ministered as a man anointed by the Spirit.
Think about it like this. If He had worked miracles by some power that was inherent in Him as the Son of God, then He couldn’t have told us in John 14:12 that we could do the works that He did and even greater.
Jesus wasn’t bothered by the storm just as Daniel wasn’t bothered by the lions. They both laid down and slept right there in the face of danger. This is actually a common characteristic throughout the Bible of those who operated in this gift: the gift of faith primarily worked for individuals in the face of danger and provided them with a calmness that was supernatural. You can also see this same calmness in the stories of those who were martyred for the sake of the Gospel in other lands and especially those who were burned at the stake. Even the night before, many had such calmness that they laid down and slept all night before being taken to the stake. That’s the gift of faith in operation.
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Other Operations of the Gift of Faith
So the gift of faith employs faith that passively expects a sustained or continuous miracle. At times, when this gift is in operation, nothing may be seen immediately; this gift may carry over and work for a long period of time.
The best example of this was the gift of faith the patriarchs of old had as they laid hands on their children at the time of their death and pronounced a blessing. Sometimes it would take many years for that blessing to come to pass. We see that with Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph. This was the gift of faith. They believed it would come to pass and, over the years, it did.
Smith Wigglesworth said that often times, if you will take a step of faith and use your general faith you have as an individual Christian, when you come to the end of that faith, very often, supernatural faith will take over or kick in. The reason it hasn’t happened like this for a lot of folks is because they don’t first use what they already have.
More than once, people were raised from the dead through Smith Wigglesworth’s ministry. The first miracle of this kind happened while Brother Wigglesworth was still working as a plumber. He came home from work one afternoon and learned that his neighbor who had been sick had just died. He began to pray. As he was praying, his wife kept shaking him saying, “Stop praying. She’s already dead. It’s too late.”
That didn’t stop him. He continued to pray. Soon a point came in his praying when he came to the end of his faith. When he did, he was conscious of a faith that took hold of him and he knew he absolutely could not be denied. While he was praying in his own faith, he said, it almost seemed like God was saying no. As he pressed in and the gift of faith came over him, he looked right up into heaven and said, “Yes! Yes!”
Without realizing what he was doing, the next thing he knew he took hold of that woman, pulled her out of bed, stood her up against the wall, and commanded her to walk in Jesus’ name. She started breathing and walking again. She was raised up.
This is way beyond anybody’s ordinary faith. In our ordinary faith, we could probably pull somebody out of the bed like Smith did and stand them up and tell them to walk, but I don’t believe they’re going to walk unless God’s power supernaturally manifests to receive a miracle such as this.
Another operation of the gift of faith is supernatural sustenance in a time of famine as when Elijah was fed by the ravens. Elijah’s faith had to be given to him supernaturally because it was beyond the Word of God to believe that ravens would feed him. Yet that’s exactly what happened: ravens brought him food, morning and night.
The gift of faith also can be employed in the casting out of evil spirits. You are trusting God to honor your word when you command a spirit to come out in the name of Jesus. You may notice, though, that other gifts of the Spirit are in operation in this situation as well, and that’s absolutely true. When someone casts out a demon, the gift of discerning of spirits and the gift of faith are in operation. Sometimes the word of knowledge is as well. If you don’t discern the spirit when you’re casting out demons, very often it’s revealed through the word of knowledge. Either way, the gift of faith still has to be exercised while casting out the spirit.
These Gifts Aren’t for Us
In Galatians 3:5, Paul writes:
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He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (KJV)
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When the gift of faith is in operation, it can literally minister the Spirit by the hearing of faith. God works through demonstrations of power and He works through supernatural manifestations. Therefore, the gift of faith can minister the Spirit. It can impart the fullness which is the promise of the Father. It can enrich your soul. It can empower you for service.
I could write so much more about the various ways we see in the Word that the gift of faith can operate so I’ll simply say this: it’s so marvelous of our Lord that He gave these gifts to us in these many different manifestations so that believers can demonstrate His power. In other words, these gifts of the Spirit are not for us. They are to be a sign to this world.
by Lynne Hammond