Stephen Crosby comments

Biblical faith is not autosuggestion plus a Bible verse!

The continually active (alive) and objectified quality of biblical faith is what distinguishes it from the pagan, psychic, and occultic use of faith as a metaphysical power of the soul. Some might say: "But brother, I don't care what you say, I have tried it (ii) and it works."

Indeed, faith works-no matter what kind of faith it is! Faith was sown into the fabric of the universe at creation. A person doesn't have to be a believer to get faith to work. Just as gravity affects the believer and unbeliever alike, so faith works for anyone who exercises it. A farmer exercises faith when he plants a crop. An entrepreneur exercises faith when he invests in a product. Muslims exercise faith when they pray five times a day.

Biblical faith has three important objective elements: His Word, His Person, and His Cross. These three are in fact, one. The Word is the revelation of His Person. The Cross is the instrument of revelation. The Holy Spirit actively administers both the Word and the Cross to us. We get into trouble when we try to separate these three from one another. We're pretty clear on the Word/promises of God part, but we're not so clear on the rest. Biblical faith has a Living Lord. There is a Living Master who, by the Living Spirit, administrates His Living Word to us. His Word is not the heavenly shopping list of blessings we get to pick from in our time of crisis. His Word is the revelation of His Person. (iii) We do not present our crisis to the Scriptures first. We present our crisis to His Cross first, from which His Person (the Living Word), will speak through His written Word. Calvary is the frequency of all divine thought.

Shameless pandering to self-interest, and self-realization justified in the name of God with a proof text, has a lot of appeal. It's a role reversal. In this motif, we don't exist to obey and serve the Lord, the Lord exists to obey and serve us if we leverage Him with enough of His own decrees. He's obliged, mandated by His own law, to bless us, heal us, or make us rich if we just can accrue enough Scriptures and faith to convince Him that He owes us. This is not Christianity. It's paganism underwritten with Bible verses.

I wish I could unpack it all. However, I have to stay on topic. Here's the short version of Theology 101:

He is God . . . we are not.
God knows it . . . we forget it.
He gives orders . . . He doesn't take them.
We live for His purposes . . . He doesn't exist for ours.

Celebrityism

Being a Christian celebrity plays into the worst elements of our culture that are impressed by fame and fortune rather than character and message. Fame and fortune have taken down many a mighty oak. Fame is inherently intoxicating. Christian media is deeply complicit in the state of affairs, because the entire premise of its existence is based on celebrityism and worldly value systems of success. Here are examples of where the logical end of Christian celebrityism will take us excerpted from an article by Lee Grady: (iv)

"One friend of mine in Texas recently inquired to see if a prominent preacher could speak at her conference. The minister's assistant faxed back a list of requirements that had to be met in order to book a speaking engagement. The demands included:

* a five-figure honorarium
* a $10,000 gasoline deposit for the private plane
* a manicurist and hairstylist for the speaker
* a suite in a five-star hotel
* a luxury car from the airport to the hotel (2004 model or newer)
* room-temperature Perrier

It gets worse, if you can believe it. At a charismatic conference in an East Coast city recently, a pastor stood on a stage in front of a large crowd and smugly announced that the guest speaker was "more than an apostle." Then the host asked everyone to bow down to the person, claiming that this posture was necessary to release God's power. "This is the only way you can receive this kind of anointing!" the host declared, bowing in front of the speaker. Immediately, about 80 percent of the audience fell prostrate on the floor. The few who were uncomfortable with the weird spiritual control in the room either walked out or stood in silent protest."

Variations of these aberrances are not hard to come by. As long as we support the people and ministries who embody this value system, nothing will change. It will be a chronic cycle of hero making and hero demise, and it is OUR FAULT.

Conclusion