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Faith, Works and Knowledge

By Reverend Ed Crabtree, ULC

     More years ago, more than I care to numerate here, I was a young boy in a seventh grade biology class, and the teacher instructed us to look at but a single drop of water taken from a nearby stream under a microscope. I was amazed to find that the seemingly crystal clear water abounded with a diversity of life. Multitudes of tiny creatures inhabited that water that to the naked eye seemed to contain nothing. Later in that same class we were shown how plants turn light into energy in the process of photosynthesis and that also was truly amazing.

     As I continued on through school I learned how electrons orbit around the nucleus of an atom, and other mysteries of science. Now years later I walk outside at night and with the same wide eyed amazement of the boy in junior high science class learning about the wonders of biology, physics, and the other sciences, I walk out onto my patio at night and look at the mighty Oaks, their limbs seemingly out stretched to the heavens, as though giving thanks to the creator for their very existence, appearing to touch the stars in the sky above, and I think about the stupendous orbits of the Moon around the Earth. How the Earth revolves around the Sun and how during that revolution the Earth tilts on its axis so as to provide the changing of the seasons.

     I think about the stars in the heavens and the seemingly infinite distances that the light from those stars has traveled across that cold dark void, just to bring a moment of pleasure to these old eyes. I think of all these things and more and marvel at the complexity of God's creations from the tiniest creature in but a single drop of water to the gas giant stars millions of light years distance in the heavens. Surely God's knowledge and that of his only begotten Son of all of the sciences must truly be amazing, from basic biology to quantum physics, the knowledge to create all of these wonders, and initiate such a plan that it continues to unfold yet today is a testimony to the greatness of the Father and his Son. Surely Christ the son of God had a knowledge of all the sciences, all these wondrous things, that have been since time immemorial and times yet to come.

Our good friend and mentor, Reverend Ernest A. Steadman, D.D. The founder of the Interfaith Christian Church, once wrote;

"faith without knowledge, no man is saved in ignorance" is a device invented to insure failure

     Since the beginning of organized church denominations, some have realized that the truth of the Bible and Christ's message was contradictory to the agenda of some of the clergy as well as the state that supported or tolerated their existence. An agenda that sought to control the laity, control their support for the church, keep them in line and control the cash flow. Many a true believer has found inspiring beauty and grace in the grand and glorious edifices, both physical and speculative structures that have been constructed in the name of the Lord. Many have blindly followed the admonitions of the leaders and beat the nonbeliever into submission, claiming their works to be in the name of the Lord when actually their actions only served to support the hierarchy and those edifices of man.

Faith, knowledge, and works must all go hand in hand on the path way to salvation.

(Matthew 19:24) It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

     Knowledge of the truth of Christ's message, knowledge of the grandness of God's plan, must guide us in our works, otherwise Faith alone is not enough to allow us to pass through the eye of the needle. Knowledge of Christ's message, God's stupendous plan, and the use of the power of reasoning that God, in his plan bestowed upon us, that power that sets us apart from the beasts of the field that he put under our dominion, that power that we must use to recognize wrong, and always do only that which is right as we promised to do when we joined the Universal Life Church. We should always study and never blindly accept and follow such as sheep, using knowledge to determine what is right.

     How many times have we witnessed our church leaders, popular evangelists, captains of industry and politicians practice "slight of hand," their right hand raised professing to be a born again Christians espousing their "good" works, and all the while with their left hand they were reaching into our pockets amassing personal fortunes, or solidifying their grasp and control over our hearts and minds so that we would follow them along a path contradictory to the true meaning of Christ's teachings. All far too often we accept rhetoric and doctrine, never examining but as sheep blindly accepting. Failing to use that gift God gave us, the power of reasoning.

     It has often been said that "ours is not to reason why but to blindly follow, follow, follow," I submit that we should revere God's wondrous plan and Christ's beautiful message, but always hold man's interpretation thereof under close scrutiny, otherwise we risk being led by those wolves in "sheep's clothing" to slaughter. As Reverend Steadman wrote, (there are those who would)---

"set no one free into God's will for their lives and strive to control all converts."---

I add to this that there are those who would use the doctrines we have come to blindly accept, never questioning, as a means to divide the faithful, divide and control, divide and conquer. Faith, knowledge, and works must all go hand in hand on the path way to salvation. We are all God's children, we should let no doctrine of man, no agenda of man, no glorification of the works of man divide us. We must by our works, demonstrate to others by walking in the Light of the Lord the beauty of his message, always doing that which is right. We must show them that patience, common courtesy, charity, and relief, are our tenants. We must follow all his commandments and try to rise above the sins of jealousy and greed that have consumed those that deceive us. With the knowledge he has given us we must search out the truth in all things and learn to recognize when we are being deceived by those hiding behind false façades. And by Faith in Christ and his message, Faith in God, we can obtain salvation.

     The Lighthouse On The Corner Ministries, is dedicated to helping you learn the truth about the message of Jesus Christ, the message that Faith, Knowledge, and Works are vastly more important than building stupendous edifices that gorily man and not God. The message of brotherly love, friendship, compassion. We have set out upon an exciting new adventure, that of "building" a church on the information superhighway. Won't you join us in our exciting new adventure, why not take a moment to join us, so that we might walk shoulder to shoulder together in search of the truth. Just click here to learn more about becoming a member of our church.

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