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Text Box: FEAR (BUT NOT FEAR AS IN BEING SCARED), A REQUISITE OF FAITH Distinguishing Faith and Belief Many people and all the angels and devils believe that Jesus Christ is King, Our Lord, and God, the Second of Person of the Blessed Trinity. But not many people have Faith that this is true. All the angels have Faith that this is true, but none of the devils have Faith that this is true. Faith requires belief in God as revealed in Holy Scripture, and as dogmatically proclaimed by the Apostles including Saint Paul, coupled with following, doing, and desiring that which has been proclaimed and revealed. Those who believe that only those who exclude themselves from communion with God go to Hell do not have Faith, for God is our Judge and He will either reward us with Heaven or Hell in accordance with His law which does not change. Therefore, those who reject God for just one favorite sin, and believe they will automatically go to Heaven because they have not said they wish to go to Hell, run the risk of going to Hell. We do not judge ourselves at the Last Judgment nor are we convicted by ourselves. We are Judged by the Supreme Judge. Therefore, those who say they can not believe in a God who would send anyone to Hell, have a very large problem. Faith is not working one’s self into a frenzy. Remember the Centurion whose servant was ill (Matthew 8:5-13)? The Centurion obviously not only believed in God, but knew God and obeyed God. He accepted God and God’s will. If Our Lord had told him that his servant would not be cured, the Centurion would have accepted this without question, for he had and has Faith. If the Centurion had worked himself into a frenzy of belief, that would not have made any difference in Our Lord’s decision to heal or not to heal the servant; and the Centurion would not have had Faith, but just belief.

Text Box: Belief that Jesus Christ is God and Savior without behavior in accordance with that belief is just belief, it is not Faith. But belief with behavior in accordance with that belief is Faith; for Faith makes us modify our behavior into its accord, but belief does make us so modify. Thus it is that the bad thief had severe problems, but the Good Thief accepted his punishment on the cross as justly being allowed by God and asked only that Our Lord not forget him when He came to His Kingdom. The Good Thief was rewarded with eternal happiness. To have Faith one must have fear of God who is so completely different from us as to be incomprehensible, and love of God who is completely intimate and personal. Faith causes us to perceive God both as completely unknowable, different from us, and distant, and yet as being also our best friend, who responds to us the way we respond to Him and better, and who is closely intimate to us. If we do not Fear God, then He becomes in our mind a super intelligent and super strong person, but not much more. Those who do not fear God treat God as one who unconditionally loves and therefore will not punish. Those who do not fear God treat God as one who always gives good, even good for evil, and Who will allow everyone into Heaven, even the bad people. They are wrong, for Our Lord has told us that evil people go to Hell with the devils. Faith requires we study God, but when we study God we must study under proper supervision; otherwise every person will have a different opinion and perspective about God. The Church is the deposit of the Faith, and of all the dogmatic truth revealed to us by God. This truth is the same today as it was when Our Lord walked the Earth. Those who have changed it and who call themselves Christians and who call themselves the church are promoting what they want, and not what God wants - and they may go to hell because of their promoting what they want instead of what God wants.

Text Box: Those who believe the Sacred Elements, Holy Communion, merely represents Christ, or that Our Lord is present along with the bread and wine, do not have Faith, for what they believe is not true. They will have an extremely difficult time getting to Heaven for they have cut themselves off from that which Our Lord said is necessary for salvation - they have cut themselves off from eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Remember, it was Our Lord Himself who said, unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood we shall not have life in us (John 6:48-59). Is should now be very easy to understand the difference between belief and Faith; between what a person would like God to have said, and what God has actually said; between how we would like God to respond to what we desire, what we do, and how we follow His teachings, and how He actually does respond to what we desire, what we do, and how we follow His teachings. Forget belief. Anyone can believe and can believe wrongly - it was once believed that the moon was inhabited by people like us but that belief did not make the moon inhabited by people like us. Have Faith, real Faith; and then what you believe will conform to Faith and will be accurate. Then you will be able to acquire Hope, and can have Charity instead of just simple love. Ref: Colos. 1:12-20; John 18:33-37 +

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