Some base their faith on emotion and
"hearing the voice of God" which is as vague as oil in water. The only basis for real faith is God's Word, and not what one feels "or hears". True faith is "being sure of what we hope for and
and being certain of what we do not see". For if we can "see" or "hear"
faith is no longer required.

V E R I T A S

by Cynthia Buhain - Baello
July 15, 2008


Hannah Whitall Smith wrote, "Sight
is not faith, and hearing is not faith,
neither is feeling faith; but believing
when we neither see, hear, nor feel is
faith....Therefore, we must believe
before we feel, and often against our
feelings if we would honor God by our
faith."

Recently, I encountered a really disturbing article that related how a
"believer" distinctly heard the voice of God. I've had a friend who used to dominate our Bible studies with stories of how God "told" her what to do with her business and how to deal with certain customers. It was questionable from the start because the "voice of God" that she heard was AUDIBLE. I mean she really hears it as distinctly as me and you saying
"Hello, anybody home?". It was illogical as the messages God
supposedly told her were "trivial"
and I believe she wanted us to think
that "she's more spiritual" because of this, just plain spiritual superiority.

We are walking on dangerous grounds here when we "believe" all that people say about God talking to them in an
audible "voice". Cults have been set up based on this leverage and many people have fallen victims to modern-day self-proclaimed "Moseses".

The more disturbing fact is that we do not have evidence to prove or refute their "experience" because ANYONE can say "God spoke to me and told me....". Some have used it to gain millions from followers who blindly surrender their finances to these unscrupulous masquerading "angels of light".

A preacher in my country used this to declare that God spoke to him, appeared to him, and made him His
"appointed Son". His congregation is
so large it covers Asia and the Middle
East, so imagine the "blessings" if
those Arab princes get into his church.

Some followers of cults have even lost their lives after drinking poison (as the leader purportedly claimed that
God told him to) while some lost their virgin daughters to the preacher/leader who tells them God said it is to be.

In the Bible, God spoke to people FOR A PURPOSE and He always had a direction pointing to the coming of His Son and the plan of redemption. Even now the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts for a REASON. Almost always it is to convict us of sin and move us to repentance.

The God of the Bible SPEAKS through His Word. He is not like the
Internet that "pops" up at His whim and fancy and says something He needs to remind us of. That would be trivializing His Deity and Power.

The Bible says "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by You..."
(Jeremiah 29:13-14) Clearly God promised we will find Him, and He is a
Faithful God Who cannot lie, and does
not play hide-and-seek.

After finding God, we have what
is termed "eternal life", a new life
found in knowing Him personally. This is a life-changing process that goes on
until death. Just what is eternal life?

The Bible says "This is eternal life: that they may know You the One True God and Jesus Christ whom You sent."(John 17:3)

Knowing God is possible because He REVEALS Himself in daily experiences and answered prayers.

"But when He, the Spirit of truth comes
,He will guide you into all truth."
(John 16:13) Therefore it is only rational that God said we can find Him
so He never leaves us "in the dark" or
allows us to grope through mysteries.

The process of change requires constant connection to God daily (prayer and reading the Word) and
obedience to His Word. Broadly stated, obedience does not occur because of who we are or what denomination we belong to. It happens because we experience God in our life and He moves in our hearts on a daily transformation work through His Holy Spirit that makes us "obey". If we try to "work out" our transfomation by "being good" or "doing ministry" it is a human effort and it may succeed to earn some applause from the world, but it does not originate from God.

"For it is God Who works in you to will and to act according to His good
purpose."(Philippians 2:13)

We obey God's Word out of love for
Him. The good deeds we do is the
RESULT of our new relationship with God and we are a "new creation in Christ". (2 Corithians 5:17).

Hence some Christians are "busy"
with ministry but "not intimate" with the Reason for ministry. The result is
a guilt complex, a messiah complex, and
spiritual pride. There is no joy nor peace, only a vivid imagination that hears "voices", and the uncertainty of
whether or not they are "acceptable" to God for their efforts.

Spiritual pride exalts itself in
human wisdom and makes judgments on
fellow-believers "as coming from God"
based on their audio connections with the God of the Universe. They point
fingers on the "sinful and the damned"
forgetting that the other three fingers are pointed back at them.

Pride makes a believer feel he is the
"fruit inspector" of heaven and acts
like it.

How then does one "know" God? The Bible tells us that Moses left these words to the Israelites when he was about to die: "They are not just idle words for you- they are your life."
(Deuteronomy 32:47).

The Word of God is living and
active, it grows inside one's heart and gives "life". Reading His Word is the way to know Him, because that is the road map He gave.

Our Lord Himself told His apostles: "The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The Words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." (John 6:63) The WORD OF GOD is the way to know Him and the way to be CHANGED by Him.

In John 17:17, Jesus even prayed to His Father for us, "Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth." We are not sanctified by our good works, God's Word does the sanctification work.

We cannot even earn God's mercy by "being good" because "He saved us,not because of righteous things we have done, BUT BECAUSE OF HIS MERCY." (Titus 3:4)

So where can we find God? The Bible says "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly of spirit..." (Isaiah 57:15)

And in the finality of time, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God." (Revelation 21:3)

God enters and dwells the human heart,
and not the lofty cathedrals, grandiose buildings we try to put Him in. "The Lord is close to the broken
hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalms 34:18).

When we search for God, let us not divert our eyes and focus on our fellowmen and so "stumble along the way".

Let us not "have a form of godliness, but deny its power" nor "always be learning but never really knowing the truth."(2 Timothy 3:
5, 7).

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
(Hebrews 12:2). For Jesus promised
"I tell you the truth, he who believes has eternal life." (John 6:47).

This promise is eternal, and nothing you do in the future can remove it. "For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels
nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, ....nor anything else in ALL creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(ROMANS 8:38)




Copyright 2008 - Cynthia B. Baello