If we define the terms correctly, there should not be a difference between assent to the word of God and trust in the word of God. This is because of what things the word of God says. They are such that if you agree or assent to them, then you also trust them. If you assent to the proposition, “I trust God,” then you do trust God. The reason for the confusion is false assent. A person can pretend to assent to the word of God, but in fact he does not. As God said, “They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” People would say that this person has assent, but not trust, in order to make a distinction. However, the distinction should be between true and false assent, not assent and trust. It is important to grasp this because if we invent a distinction where there should not be one, then a person who has true assent toward the word of God would still attempt to develop something more in himself, which he considers to be trust, when he already trusts God, because he truly assents to his word.

We need to insist on the necessity of this true assent, or trust in the word of God. Nevertheless, we discuss assent in the first place because men have used it in their theological formulations, especially to create artificial distinctions. We can discard the term and return to what the Bible calls it, which is faith. The Bible says that, without faith, it is impossible to please God. We must have faith that God exists, and that God exists as a rewarder. This second part is usually neglected, but it is integral to true faith. We believe that there is a God, but what do we believe about this God? He is a rewarder of those who seek him. To those who have faith, God is not a punisher, he is not a taker, but he is a rewarder and a giver. Why is it that Christian teachers often present God as a punisher, taker, and withholder even to his own people? It is because they have no faith. It is because their religion is fundamentally different from a religion of faith. And God is not pleased with them. Since the Bible says that faith sees God as a rewarder, this means that if someone teaches God as a taker and withholder, then it must mean that this person has no faith, and that he is a false teacher. What rewards does God give? The Bible also tells us in the same context. It says that God rewards with victories that subdued entire nations, healing miracles that created new life in the wombs and raised the dead, miracles that shielded men from fires, lions, and swords, and things like these. Even when God grants the honor of martyrdom to a person of faith, it is the death of a hero, not the defeat of a spiritual loser who never truly believed God’s promises.

However, there is a difference between merely admiring the word of God and believing the word of God. Now I do not want to overturn a false distinction about faith only to create another one. The distinction is still between true faith and false faith. My purpose is to use a descriptive word to discuss the way counterfeit faith often manifests. You can use a different word than “admire” if you wish. A person can admire the word of God and not agree with it, and not believe it. He admires it as an object of beauty, an object of culture and religion, an object of study and of debate. It is something he can make a hobby out of, or even a vocation to profit from. But this does not mean that he agrees with any of it. There is no sincere agreement, no belief in it, and no faith. The claim is that he lives before the face of God, and he can spit out a number of Latin phrases as he boasts about it, but the reality is that his heart is far from God. This is the condition of most professional theologians. And it is also the condition of most everyday people who consider themselves knowledgeable in the things of God. They admire the word of God as an object that they fiddle with, not as a revelation from God that they believe and obey. It is not something that they would build their lives upon.

There are many people who present themselves as leaders of the faith. They will prescribe what you must think, and then order you to defend it. But when it comes time to act on the word of God, and to stake their lives on it, they make excuses. They spin out convoluted theories to explain why the word of God does not guarantee what it promises. Jesus said that a man who hears the word of God but does not do what it says is like a foolish man who builds his house on a foundation of sand, so that when a storm comes, the structure falls. This is like a theologian, or a pastor, or any church member who supposes himself spiritual, who hears the word of God and even admonishes others about it, but who refuses to build his life on God’s teachings and promises, such as miraculous healing and supernatural prosperity, and when trouble comes, he is ruined. He becomes a victim of circumstances just like any unbeliever who has never known God. He is a stupid, worthless person.

He is an admirer, not a believer. He is a spectator and commentator to the things of God, not a participant. Perhaps he would like the word of God to be true, but he does not commit himself to it. He does not believe it. In fact, he would like other people to think that he believes it, to think that he is spiritual, that he is one of the faithful ones. But he is not. Even before a situation occurs where he is compelled to walk by faith and act on the word of God, he makes excuses. He hedges. He makes elaborate theological theories to prepare for failure. Those who truly believe the word of God and build their whole lives on it are heretics in his eyes, such as those who make momentous decisions based on God’s promises to save, to heal, to protect, and to prosper. He considers such people who commit their lives to the word of God as fanatics, uneducated in theology. He persecutes such people in the name of God. The truth is that he wishes to destroy these people to protect himself, because their faith stands as a contrast to his hypocrisy.

This man calls himself a Christian, but he worships only the idea of God, and not the nature of God. He says, “God is sovereign!” Of course God is sovereign, but what does God do with his sovereignty? God declares that he forgives all our sins, and heals all our diseases. He declares that if we have faith, we would perform the same miracles that his Son performed, and even greater miracles. He declares that anyone who follows his Son can heal the sick and cast out demons. This is his sovereign declaration. This is what he does with his sovereignty. A sovereign God can promise anything he wishes, but once he has promised, he will always fulfill his word in his sovereignty. The false believer affirms the mere idea of the sovereignty of God, but he condemns what this God says that he does with his sovereignty. That is, he uses the idea of God’s sovereignty to avoid God’s own enforcement of his sovereignty. He uses the idea of God’s sovereignty to avoid committing to any definite belief or outcome, even when this sovereign God has already declared what we must believe or what outcome we must expect. This man worships the idea of God, which is his own projection of one such deity, but he does not in fact worship God. His God is a spiritual hologram. The same is true with the Bible. The false believer loves the idea of the Bible, but he rejects the content of the Bible. He says, “I will even die for the Bible!” But before the alarm clock sounds in the morning, he will have denied biblical healing three times on social media.

Many historic heroes of the faith, many framers of various creeds, and many modern theologians and leaders, are like this foolish man. They are admirers of Jesus Christ, and they want us to admire them for being such admirers of Jesus Christ, but they have never been believers. They admire, but they do not commit. You say, “Some died for what they believed.” Did they die for what they believed, or did they die for what Jesus said? Jesus commanded the ministry of healing, prophecy, and miracles. Did they believe this? Did they heal the sick and cast out demons? And did they teach that all believers should do the same? Hearing me say this, some people strive hard to dig up one or two obscure references in their favorite heroes where they seem to have supported or experienced these things. But if you need to do this, you have already answered my question. Just stop. Jesus made this a most obvious doctrine. How come they died for what they believed about Christ, but they did not believe what Christ actually said? You see, they died for themselves.

Are you offended that I speak this way? Then I will say the same thing about you. Are you displeased with me because I spoke against Jesus Christ? Where have I done this? Or are you angry because I contradicted his commands and teachings, that I rejected his promises? Show me. I have done none of these things. You are offended because I criticized your human heroes, the idols that you worship instead of Christ. You are offended because I exposed them. And now I have exposed you. One who dies for what he believes is not necessarily a hero. He is a hero only if he dies for the word of God. If he has never committed his life to the word of God, then he dies for what he believes, not what God believes. He is committed to what he himself thinks, so much so that he would die for it. However, a person who dies for Buddhist doctrine does not become a Christian martyr.

Instead of being offended with me, shouldn’t you be offended that your heroes did not believe what Jesus said? Rather than being angry with me, shouldn’t you be angry with yourself, that you adore human heroes more than Christ? You say, “Perhaps they overlooked it. Perhaps they overlooked what Jesus commanded about the ministry of healing and prophecy…and hundreds of such things that are written all over the Bible.” No. Either they never read the Bible, in which case they should not be your heroes, or they did not overlook it. This is one of the most simple, obvious, and extensive teachings in all of Scripture. Of course they saw it. They did not overlook it. They rejected it. They rejected what Jesus commanded. They rejected what Jesus promised. You did not overlook it either. You saw it when you read the Bible. No, you did not overlook it. You rejected it. You rejected Jesus Christ and condemned what he said.

The more you resist me on this, the more it becomes obvious that you are one of the hypocrites, a mere admirer of the Christian faith, a stupid person who hears the word of God but who does not commit to it by acting on it. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you would act on what he said. This means that you would live as if his commands and promises are true. You would live as if those who seek first the kingdom of God would indeed receive mammon, food, clothing, and all the things that the pagans seek. You would live as if Jesus took our infirmities and carried our sicknesses, so that you are healed. You would live as if you can lay hands on the sick and they would recover. You would live as if you can cast out demons. You would live as if you can receive visions and dreams and prophecies, and speak in tongues by the Holy Spirit. You would tell other people these things as solutions to their problems, as the instructions and promises to build their lives upon. The Bible teaches every one of these things, and if you reject every one of these things, on what basis do you call yourself a follower of Jesus? The only basis is your religious arrogance and delusion. You imagine yourself some pious saint, but you represent the worst of humanity.

Don’t be stupid. If you are going to die for something, don’t die for what you believe, but die for what Jesus said. And if what you believe is different from what Jesus said, then don’t die at all. Dying for your mere opinion is the stupidest kind of martyrdom. Just recant.