THREE KINDS OF FAITH

T

he Bible speaks of three kinds of people, the field, the tares and the seed (Matthew 13:38). It is something that can be compared to three dice thrown on the table each turning up a different number. We associate numbers with wealth; the more numbers appear in your bank account the richer you are. Six zeros added to any other number represent a million or millions.

Each parable of Jesus contains a deep meaning; these are the secrets of God’s kingdom, which many words could not explain. Similes and metaphors—according to today’s knowledge—can only be grasped by a mind that is also able to think in abstracts. Mathematics does not improve our brain as much as abstract thinking. But, this abstract thinking is actually infinite and boundless. It’s been proven that we remember better by associating. For example: you have misplaced buttons, which you have planned to attach to your garment, and have forgotten the place where you have left them. But, if you had associated the place with a skyscraper like Chicago’s Sears Tower; and then those buttons with the huge wheels of a Mack Truck, or an earthmover; then you would have no problem finding those buttons. However, the opposite is with computers, the more data you enter the more you clutter the disc space and eventually you will run out of memory. But, our brain seems to have infinite space; the more you put into it the quicker it works. The more you educate it, the better it remembers and faster it connects. These opposites must be accepted with understanding. The last is first, and the first is last. The great is small, and the small can be great. The rich is poor, and the poor can be rich… A circle has no beginning, and no end. All round objects in space represent infinity; hence, our earth and its moon look endless. They might fall apart, but their debris can be re-gathered, changed, and restored back to their former round shapes.

Our earth and moon may fall apart, yet they exist in the mind of the Creator, and also in fragments somewhere in space. All fragments in space testify of their origin, which is in the One. Even a minute dust particle can be gathered back to the unit from which it broke off. Even fire itself, which decimates a rock, can be rolled back in time and be reconstituted. Both the fire, and the rock, can return to their former state. Nothing is lost.

God has the substance of things hoped for, but He does not need to hope for anything for hope represents a need and anticipation, which in turn needs a span of time. God is infinite and timeless. Unlike our thoughts His thoughts are instantaneous; hence in His mind, things are, and hope plays no role. To a physical person, invisible and intangible things seem nonexistent, yet we also have the proclivity to create, and also the capacity that can bring thoughts into visible tangible reality.

Let’s imagine that you have no brain, you live, but in a vegetating kind of state. You may breathe, but no muscle moves because it has no physical brain to command it and to coordinate any movement. The physical commander is the brain; because of the commander’s absence the entire structure remains motionless.

Let’s imagine God who is Spirit (John 4:24) having no contour or physical mass. Many people worship His creation as they would worship God; hence, these people keep on attaching body to the Spirit. This need, to touch and physically see, is enormous. 

[Deuteronomy 4:15-18] So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male, or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth.    

A blessing awaits anyone who has not physically touched, tasted or seen, and yet has believed, but with what kind of faith, blind or educated; hence also intelligent? We glorify faith itself as something magical, so many nurture only wishful thinking in this regard. A blind faith is fruitless, and it does not come from the disciplined creative part of our being, but rather from the primitive one. Like a Neanderthal that believes that he can make a kill with his javelin; so he stalks and runs toward the prey. If that kind of a faith is also applied to God, and the supernatural works; then one runs, huffs, and puffs but to nowhere.  

[John 20:27] Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.

An educated faith is quite different from anything else we have ever come across. For example: Philip heard the Holy Spirit telling him to join the Ethiopian Eunuch. Philip did hear, but hearing alone does not do the job. It’s like a flying plane that never lands. Once Philip had obeyed God’s voice, he then landed on the ground and did some work. He shared the Gospel, baptized the man and then went on his way, but then that same Holy Spirit snatched him and transported him to the Azotus street, where another mission awaited Philip (Acts 8:40). That’s an educated, or intelligent faith. That faith must bring forth the intended fruit for which it was sent; it must land on the ground like that plane, which was not only designed to fly, but also to take off and land somewhere else.

Faith is God’s gift; (1 Corinthians 12:9) this divine power affects the miraculous in our lives. The exclusion of this possibility brings harmful sadness into our lives, which blinds us for we have limited ourselves to just the tangible and the seen. We activate only the natural man and neglect the spiritual man. Just as there is the need to prepare a place for love or peace in our lives, we must also prepare room for God’s gift of faith. 

An animal is hungry so it forages in order to satisfy the need for food. Predatory creatures hunt. We work and earn money, buy food, or go to a restaurant, but this kind of faith is called little (Matthew 6:30). The frontal lobe has little to do with this kind of faith. It is the limbic system that coordinates our movements just as it does in a pack of wolves working out their hunting strategies.  

I

heard God telling me to go to Russia for a nth time and again smuggle Bibles. A couple of days before my flight I had a frightful dream. I woke up in a cold sweat. It was clear to me that I was going to be arrested and imprisoned. It was still Communism (1984), and I was more than a Bible smuggler. There were many other reasons that might have given the authorities grounds, not only for my indefinite arrest, but also for an exile to Siberia—with which I was later threatened.

I asked the LORD regarding this dream, which He obviously gave as a warning against my going. Being quite confident in my logic I asked Him ‘if I should go?’ To my surprise, He said that ‘He had appointed an angel to deliver me and that I should go to Moscow.’ I had reasoned within myself as to whether I should stick my neck out, and see the angel, or stay where I was and see no angel. I chose the first option because an educated faith dictates it. (Some years earlier, I had made a solid covenant with God regarding my own will. Well, I lost my will then. My life ceased to be precious in my own eyes, neither had I realized then that ‘I no longer have my own free will’ nor do I have ‘my own eyes.’ All is His.) Imagining things is empty and futile. Proving things as coming from God is not just the substance, but also the actual work of faith. I had exchanged my attachment to life for something far better.

I went straight into the lion’s mouth. I was searched, arrested and imprisoned, but before they took me, God appointed a time for me to preach the Gospel. I seized the opportunity knowing very well that this was my chance to fulfill my mission in life as His Evangelist. I picked up one of the confiscated Bibles. I lifted it and said, “This is the Bread of Life, which you are about to take away from the hungry mouths.” From there on it was like prophesying. All the arriving travelers were not in a great hurry to go anywhere. They stood around me for about 20 minutes while I kept preaching in Russian. (I learned Russian in school, and from my father, a native of Russia.) No one dared to move. All officers stood frozen, still, and terribly perspiring. Their frightened red faces dripped sweat.

People just stood there watching this wild preacher. I was practically laying down my life for the Gospel. The Lion of Judah in me roared, and I seemed to have lost my natural senses. I can imagine watching myself through their eyes—as something extraordinary.

I finished my preaching and invited all those around me (about 100 people) to give their lives to Jesus. One of the Customs officers in charge whispered in my ear telling me that his mother was also a born-again Christian. Then I told him, “Now you know what to do with those Bibles.” He winked.

The next day, an angel of the LORD with a smiling face came to the rescue. My being was flooded with the heavenly peace. Then, he told me to run after him. I wanted to remember his face. All I can say is that his rather golden short hair was well trimmed. His eyes were piercing blue. His face glowed. His skin seemed transparent without one crease or a wrinkle, discoloration or even a minute pimple. He wore a high-ranking military uniform and everyone along the way kept saluting. He took me through all the security checkpoints bypassing all the metal detecting gates and scanners. There was no time to go through it. Everyone watched us running in disbelief as if Yuri Andropov himself was passing through. He brought me to a plane departing for Frankfurt, West Germany. He seated me in First-Class. The plane was almost completely empty. The door closed, and I arrived in Frankfurt. 

Another example from my life: I received a call from a stranger who had a dream in which he saw the exact spelling of the name Luxum. This man told me about his dream, about his spirituality, and the prophetic call on his life. He was interested in my response. Instantly I realized, that this young man needed some sorting out. Obviously, God had directed him to me to do just that. But, this man started to hide behind the stereotypes, which too often keep getting recycled. He talked about seducing spirits, false teachers, and prophets, and of being careful. I could not tell him otherwise and could not bring him closer to spiritually logical sobriety. The time was inadequately too short. I referred him to my website and my writings. I also told him that if he wants to be cautious and remain in that attitude—never venturing out to find out if both the dream, and the leading is of God, of man, or of seducing spirits—then he should not have attempted to even find a man with the name Luxum. It’s better for him to squander the opportunity and go nowhere. He seemed to have chosen caution having only the satisfaction of being ‘spiritual’ which is fine if that’s all that matters to you. I never heard from him again.