You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! (James 2:19)

Dead Faith

The religious world is a world of religious diversity and non-unity. There are as many ways to find God as there are modes of faith described through human wisdom. Satan has thoroughly filled the landscape of religion to be a potpourri of appeasing and appealing theology to soothe the fragile consciousness of those who seek God. As the father of lies, the devil created the greatest lie perpetrated on the human race. He does not object to someone believing in God and sometimes encourages such a belief. How he deceives the hearts of the unaware is to convince them to trust that God will save them only if they believe.

The modern world calls it salvation by “faith only.” Nothing is expected or demanded, but the heart must accept Christ as a personal Savior and believe He is the Son of God upon that acceptance. Based upon a feeling of joy in accepting Christ, the individual rejoices that he is now saved in Christ and Heaven is the glory awaiting them in death. There is nothing further from the truth. The blinded hearts of the deceived accepting the doctrine of salvation by faith alone die expecting to see the Lord in glory; finding only the misery of a false doctrine perpetrated by Satan.

Few passages can be any more explicit than the declarations found in the book of James. The text’s subject matter is about the relationships found in the body of Christ, but the application of such principles is rooted in the question of salvation. If a man can be saved by faith alone, it must be concluded that demons will also be saved – and with greater clarity.

Will a man be saved because he believes there is one God? Impossible. During the ministry of Jesus, the demons proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God. The Lord refused the demons to acknowledge who He was, but they knew and trembled in His presence. If there is any being that knows without doubt Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God – the demons know. This knowledge does not save them even if they tremble. James shows that salvation by faith alone is impossible. He does not deny the power of grace, faith, love, forgiveness, and mercy. He affirms that belief alone or faith alone cannot and will not save one person.

The only time faith alone is found in the Bible is when James writes that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. There is a dead faith, and faith only is a dead faith. Sadly, thousands of helpless souls follow the religious dogma of faith only (sinner’s prayer) and have no hope of Heaven. Believing there is one God is the beginning of faith that saves but refusing to go beyond the acceptance of God’s existence cannot save. Noah believed in God, but that alone did not save him. He accepted the grace of God and moved with godly fear in preparing the ark to the saving of his household. If he had thought faith only would save him, he would have died in the flood with the millions of others who rejected the word of God. Do you believe there is one God? That alone cannot save you. Salvation will only be found by those who do the will of the Father.