Believe in God

 

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14.1
 
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” James 2.19

 
I suppose we should expect that belief in God is a good thing – that it should at least draw someone into some sphere of morality. But, what about those who conform to a religion based upon something other than biblical Christianity? Just the other day I ran across a religion called The religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism. Yep, believe it or not, it is a religion with a few thousand followers. It is a satirical belief system created in 2005 by Bobby Henderson to protest the teaching of creationism in schools, promoting tolerance and separation of church and state through humor, with followers venerating pirates, celebrating Fridays as holidays, and wearing colanders as religious headwear, all while playfully critiquing organized religion’s dogmas and practices. Its chief deity is the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
 
While most view this as a farce, there are others who wholeheartedly have their faith in this “religion” and have received ordination papers by requesting such from the leadership. And, those ordination papers offer certain privileges afforded more mainline denominations.
 
In the case of the devils of James’ epistle, they not only believe that there is one God, but they also believe in the One True God. The verse reads “…the devils also believe, and tremble.” The “one God” intended here indicates more precisely “that God is One” following what James’ readers would have understood and also admitting to Jesus’ words found in John 10.30. “I and my Father are one.” The word “one” is a powerful word indicating “one and the same.”
 
The devils (demons) are Trinitarians who believe that God is One God in three Persons. To that they readily adhere – they never doubt the fact of God’s existence as described in the Bible. Seeing things in the ethereal realm, those fallen spirits will readily admit to the Person and Identity of God in all His glorious grandeur. As a matter of fact, when they consider the Person of God they not only believe, but they also tremble. The word “tremble” translates a word meaning, “To bristle and to have one’s hair stand on end.” In the New Testament it means to shudder or quake from fear or aversion.
 
Such respect for God by the demons finds no parallel in the human world, yet that type of fear and respect for God will not effectively handle the evil of the demons. Believing in God does not bring salvation. Salvation is the product of the work Jesus Christ (who is God clothed in a robe of flesh) accomplished on the Cross. Salvation is found only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
 
It seems that many today are worshiping God and referring to God in their praise services. While doing that, we must be sure to base our salvation upon the finished work of Christ. For, only in Him can a person find eternal salvation.
 
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4.12)