After a statement About the Author, this book of essays deals with many topics related to
Faithing,
Personal Behavior,
The Religious Community,
Bible Commentary
Frequently Debated Questions and
Study Tools.
Other categories include: Jesus, God, the Devil and Notes. The conversational style makes for easy reading and the
Appendix contains a synopsis of each piece. Fifty Pieces is just under one megabyte of text, and may be
ordered below.
Also below, FIFTY PIECES IS NOW ON MP3 AND PDF.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"
Not too many years ago I lived in the hills of northern
California. I had a pretty good life. I had a garden, an
orchard, some chickens, a couple of dogs, some cats, two
vehicles, a boat and lots of time to take care of it all. The
reason I had enough time to manage forty acres and all those
things was that I grew marijuana for a living. Thousands of
dollars came rolling in every year. I had it made
Where I lived TV reception was very poor at best and I
couldn't even get any PBS. So, money being no problem, I bought
a satellite dish and was ready for all those movies, sports and
specials; besides PBS.
Now I live "in town" on the busiest corner where all the
trucks for the local supermarket AND all the school buses pass
thirty feet from my bedroom window. I rarely oversleep.
I grew up in a Fundamentalist church and accompanied my
father every Sunday until I was big enough to say no. From that
time on, church was something for other people. I didn't like
what I saw in my tradition-bound, legalistic church, where we
were sure that Catholics weren't even Christians. I went my
merry way.
I moved around the country from Chicago, to the southern
California desert, to Los Angeles, to Monterey, to end up in
Humboldt County, an area that became known as the Emerald
Triangle, because of the three counties there that produced large
quantities of marijuana. At one point I even heard of a person
in England that recognized the brown shopping bag from our local
market, having heard of our good crops. In England!
I had smoked marijuana frequently before moving north, even
got into trouble trying to grow some in Monterey, but that was
for personal use, not sale. And it was four years after I moved
to the hills that I started growing the weed for sale. I had
tried other things like teaching, wood cutting and commercial
fishing. I worked at a saw mill for a while. I still wasn't
"making it".
I grew dope for eight years and feel extremely fortunate that
I didn't get caught. I think God was watching over me. Even
when I started to sell cocaine to get it free for myself, I know
God was behind me keeping me from going overboard. Then I bought
my dish.
In a matter of days after the dish was installed I was
flipping channels and came across a talking, white-haired head.
I couldn't make out what kind of program this might be. I could
tell that there were others in the studio with the White Head,
and I could tell they were responding to what was being said by
their laughter, but they were never shown on camera.
The thing that impressed me about the Head was that it
obviously wasn't using any script, and there didn't seem to be
any real structure to what was going on. I flipped by after
hearing a few words about God.
Now I had read the "Autobiography of a Yogi", a bit of the
Don Juan material and had landed on what I thought was the answer
to life: the Seth Books. A woman named Jane Roberts would go
into a trance and speak, verbatim, volumes of material on the
workings of life and the universe in general. Her husband would
take down all she said and without any editing have the finished
book. There were four or five of these books. Today we would
say the material was channeled. Jane Roberts voice and
mannerisms would change and this entity who called itself Seth
would speak and tell us that we "make our own reality."
I believed what Seth said. I worked on the method of
improving my life. I read and re-read "The Nature of Personal
Reality." I knew that this was the way things really worked, and
that I could make my reality what I wanted, given the time and
energy. It was a lot like the Positive Thinking that I'd been
hearing so much about. This explanation of life made more sense
than anything I'd heard, and it was concrete enough for me to get
a handle on; unlike some of the abstract ways which purport to
deal effectively with reality. Then I flipped by that same White
Head during a church service.
By now I knew that the White Head was named Dr Gene Scott. I
wasn't impressed. Lots of preachers are called doctor. Some
seem prouder even of their title than they are of God.
Dr. Scott was just stepping up to a chalkboard and asking,
"What is faith?" Having studied the Seth material extensively
and knowing what faith was, I thought, "OK, TV preacher, tell me
what faith is." He said, "Faith is an action, based on belief,
sustained by confidence." Imagine my surprise at hearing exactly
what I knew faith to be.
You see, Seth says that we make our reality by acting on
certain beliefs. When we change those beliefs, we change our
reality. Changing one's beliefs is a little too abstract for me
to know just how to go about it, but Seth then follows by telling
us to concentrate, for even five minutes a day, on what we want,
then start acting in a way that demonstrates that we are, or will
get, what we want. He says action will change your beliefs and
thereby change your life. Action based on belief. Just what Doc
said.
That was when my life started to change. Up to that point, I
guess I was like most people where God was concerned. If
pressed, I would admit to some kind of God, somewhere, but not
the God of the Bible. Besides, most of that stuff in the Bible
was too deep to understand anyway. I couldn't figure it out
alone, and didn't care to have any Christian I'd ever seen tell
me what it meant. All they ever seemed to want to do is tell me
about all the bad stuff I'd been doing. It was almost like they
looked for an opening to talk about sin.
I tuned in again to Doc's nighttime program, he calls it the
Festival of Faith, to hear a little more. I got hooked.
"Coincidentally", Doc was teaching on the lost tribes of Israel.
I knew less than nothing about the subject, let alone the fact
that five sevenths of the Bible concerns those folks. In fact,
without understanding the roll that the lost tribes play in
God's plan, you can't even understand Jesus sayings, actions, and
mission on earth.
Now the thing that came out of this teaching was God's
reality. I found that the God of the Bible was indeed real. He
had to be real because all the things that those old prophets
said concerning that northern nation, the ten tribed House of
Israel, had come true over the course of 2500 years of history.
How can a person argue with a track record like that? Do you
realize how much of the Old Testament is prophesy? And do you
realize how much of that same prophesy concerns the House of
Israel? If you exclude the book of Daniel, almost everything
else is directed at those ten tribes.
This knowledge doesn't come overnight. I had to study a lot
of history to know that most of the predictions about the lost
tribes had come true. But the thing that had me vibrating with
excitement was that those people were not the Jews as most
everyone thinks. Those lost tribes became the Celts, the very
people who were my ancestors!
Well that was just too much. Not only was God real, I was
directly descended from the very people of the Bible. It was
staggering. I haven't stopped studying since.
Shortly after I started getting serious about Doc and his
teaching, my marriage got pretty bumpy and I left for a while. I
stayed in a small trailer for three months. I seldom went out.
I hid the clock in a cabinet and mainly pleasured myself. I kept
a tape recorder on hold, and when I'd notice a thought process,
or think of a saying concerning life, or get an insight into my
actions, I'd record a quick note. Soon my routine became taking
drugs, recording notes, fighting with the devil, sleeping, and
transcribing my recorded notes.
I went back to my wife for two years. During those two
years, I watched Doc, supported and prayed that God help me stop
growing marijuana. Little did I know that my whole lifestyle
would change. My marriage failed. I lost my animals, my house,
my land, my whole way of life. I had no job.
This book is the outgrowth of all of the above. Mostly when
I'd be thinking about or acting in faith, something inspiring
would happen and I'd get an insight into the practical side of
life and faithing. These chapters are the individual pieces
which describe and dissect those practicalities.
I won't apologize for the quality of repetition of the
pieces. They all deal with faithing, after all. I also need to
mention that the title "50 Pieces of Faith" was only a working
title. I had about fifty pieces to offer, and I like the number
fifty. Five is the number of Grace, and ten is the number of
human responsibility. I liked the title so much it stuck, in
spite of there not being fifty actual pieces.
You won't find a lot of traditional concepts in this book.
The language may at times sound traditional, but be prepared to
hear the truth. The truth is always hard to hear, especially the
truth about God and the Bible.
I guess I wrote this book for myself, but I hope that someone
else will come to know the God I know by reading what I've
written. I didn't start out to write a book, it just happened.
From what I've experienced with God so far, that seems to be the
way things go. You look back and see the thing after the fact.
Lastly, I need to thank Margaret for her unfailing support in
getting these thoughts into print.
APPENDIX
50 PIECES BOOK ORGANIZATION
Title Page
Dedication Foreword
About the Author-Jax testimony.
Introduction-Introduction-General gestalt of faithing, works, rules
and the eternal.
Preface-Preface-What the book is about.
Table of Contents
Faithing
F48-What Is This Thing Called Faith?-Faith defined, explained,
referenced,compared to belief. Faith is an action.( First in
this section.)
F45-On Highest Authority-Study and know the authority on which
you base your spiritual acts. Bible shown true thru LT prophesy.
Works vs Faith for salvation. (possibly 2nd in section)
F44-It's About Trust-Trust founds all relationships. Same with
God. Trust is based on a track record. God's track record shown.
(possibly 3rd)
F1-Faith-Generic faith explained. Faith is not belief. Examines
faithing in Prayer, Communion, Giving. Faithing saves, not works.
F31-The First Move is Yours-7 Steps in a faith act:set goal,
ask God, do the first thing, listen, tracking, logging, and
thanks. But we must start.
F30-The Magnificent Mute-God stays within His creation when
"working"-mundane miracles. Personal examples of God lining up
things. 7 steps to faithing filled out more, with addition of
Right, Prudent and Possible.
F29-Satan's Death Trap: We Can Do It-F.O.R.=God,Satan,Jesus
truth,Spirit for faithing. Sin discussed. Selfishness discussed
and equated with sin. We mostly act Good. But Good doesn't buy
your way in. You must be perfect. Satan message, you can be
perfect. Bible says you can't. So faithe for the Spirit.
F10-Rules Are Only Rules-The holy war, works or grace. Two
systems explained. How rules work. The Rules(10 commandments) are
Life's rulebook. Purpose of 10 Commandments.God's job;salvation.
Commentary Page
F22-It's Really True-Works show, faith doesn't. God's Spirit
can overcome death. Tithing as faithing.
F33-Claiming the Promise: In Jesus' Name-Claiming a promise
explained. "In Jesus' name" shown to be a promise. Prayer is a
faith act.
F9-Love Isn't Enough-Love thy neighbor for salvation won't do.
Example of LTN being done without faith.Concludes that:LTN won't
save,god's help necessary,no salvation without a missing element,
element encompasses love,element can be thot of as strength,
strength is the Spirit. Start small. No such thing as Do-It-
Yourself salvation.
F50-I Can't Use Your Soul-Investigates the concept of life-
force transfer. How people do it. It's results. It's
remedy(recooping). God's Life-Force is the only one compatible
with ours. We get it by faithing.
Segue
F11-Help Wanted-God advertising for trusters to work for Him in
another place than earth. Lists the attributes necessary to fill
the position.
Jesus
F5-Jesus Doesn't Save-Shows that it's faithing, not Jesus
death/resurrection that saves. Quotes Jax 2:17-23.
F35-Was Jesus Saved By Faith?-Discusses scriptural references
to THE faith of Jesus and God. Faith being defined as a verb, how
did they faithe? Jesus was saved from staying dead(the way we
will be) by acting on God's word to raise him up after three
days.
F43-One Way to God-A different look at the "one way" concept.
It's through the Holy Spirit of Christ that folks come to God;
whether they have heard of Jesus or not. If people faithe, Jesus
is the vehicle that gets their trust in front of God. Makes the
point that there is indeed only one way to God.
F17-The Contradictory Christ-Looks at the confusion produced by
concentrating on Jesus commands. Should we be worshipping Christ
of God? Jesus acts offered as the lesson of salvation. He acted
in trust of God. Jesus also told us that God was all important,
not Himself.
F8-Why Did They Kill Jesus?-Lists the main activities of Jesus
ministry and how each could provoke His death. Zeroes in on
Faithing as the real cause for alarm among the Jewish leaders;
individual faithing puts them out of a job.
S6-Poor Jesus-Debunks common conception that Jesus was poor.
Connects Jesus with Joseph of Arimathaea.
Segue
F6-Grease!!! : An Alliteration In G-God's Grace is grease for
our daily activities. We get His Grace by faithing.
God
F21-Definitely Not God-Exposes human propensity for
constructing a God from human values, not allowing God to be
certain ways that make us uncomfortable; like being able to get
mad. Claims we need to maintain perspective of who we are in
relation to something that can create a universe.
F20-God Is A Woman-Debunks a mainly feminist view that God must
not be termed as only male and some of the possible psychology
behind it. Concludes that a person well grounded in God and not
self knows that God's nature and not name should be the object of
our focus. Also that, surrender being the essential ingredient
if following God, that "...the person who is not willing to
accept God under any name, isn't willing to accept God under any
name.
Faithing(Devil)
F14-Love: God's Nature, The Devil's Tool-The Devil's use of
"Love thy neighbor" to divert us from faithing. Righteousness
through good works discussed. Points out that good acts
accomplished without trusting in God are useless to our
salvation.
F39-Pictures of the Devil-Discusses the thought process that
puts images in our heads. Lays the "bad" pictures at the Devil's door.
Debated Questions:1
F15-Re-incarnation: Does Anyone Need It?- Debunks re-
incarnation through the examination of the suggested reasons of
what re-incarnation does for us and how it fits in with God's
plan for us. Proposes, based on the benefits of re-incarnating,
that it is a demonic dodge set up to steer us away from faithing.
Re-incarnationis Satan's Counterfeit Heaven. We live "forever."
Question:2
Segue
F?-Social Comment-Being nice proposed as a way to fulfill
selfish needs. "People give ya stuff!"
Personal Behavior
S8-Six Esses of Faith-self control, surrender, service,
serenity, Spirit, Salvation. The Christian walk.
F18-Being Good Won't Get You to Heaven-Do-Gooding based in
Pride, laziness, embarrassment and safety; each investigated.
Faithing saves.
F42-Who Do WE Have To Please?-Suggests the impossibility of
pleasing anyone(one can always find fault). We, our basic
selves, don't change.The "old man" is always there. Please
God, and stop seeking others' approval.
F47-Trust as a Frame of Reference-Trust in relationships.
Examines the effect of rules on trust. Proposes God's
plan for driving humans to trust by creating two sexes;
which must trust each other to survive.
F38-A Little Faithing/Growing Up-Discusses giving/keeping your
word. Taking responsibility for our actions. Building trust
thru faithing.
F23-Turn the Other Cheek My Foot!-Different look at old
concept.
"Don't fight fire with fire."Loving is telling someone the truth.
F-51-Stability-Analysis of the Universal yearning for the
spiritual. How people try to stabilize their lives with other-
than-spiritual or pseudo-spiritual systems.
S14-The Big Lie-Four resulting lifestyles thru focusing on
death-abandon, paranoia, apathy, Joy.
F7-Choice Bit of Guidance-My Righter is a way God talks to me.
Righter explored. Thought process discussed: Point of Commitment,
Evaluator, Rationalization. I Wanter's influence. Choosing that
bit of God-guidance.
F34-Taking Control of Your Life-Evaluating activities to
discover priorities. Facilitating the adoption of
productive,strengthening activities. Discovering our capacity for
excess. Freeing ourselves from white-knuckle abstinence by
turning to faith.
F46-Loving Yourself Last-Debunks the concept of loving yourself
in order to love others. Treats Love Thy Neighbor. Faithing helps
build strength and self respect. We love thru the Spirit.
F37-Paradox of Pride-Exposes the insecurity that founds pride.
Common ways we think about pride and their inappropriateness.
Trying to "balance" our insecurities. Faithing does it.
F41-There But for the Grace of God!-New look at the saying.
Small study of the word grace. Our innate excessive capacities
over come by grace thru faith.
521-Communion-Defines faithing. Discusses the origin of
Passover and its transmutation into communion. Overlays the
faithing formula on the communion acts. Communion is faithing.
When to, how to, where to, with who. A talk-through.
ReligiousCommunity
F4-The Great Pretense: Christianity-Faithing likened to
pretending.
F19-Lawyers and Lovers-Jesus commands found legalism and
lovelism. Improper study promotes superficial concepts to saving
status. The Devil's role in the process. Faithing only saves.
F26-God Wants More Than a Little Faith-Exposing superficial
Christian behavior:churchgoing, lipservice. these resulting from
small or no real belief in God.
S16-Bible Small talk-Incomplete, improper Bible study results
in conversations that go no deeper than proper Christian
behavior.
F32-Fellowship is All That's Left-Church concentration on
damnation preaching and lots of fellowship activities. Disfocus
blamed on incomplete and improper Bible study.
S9-Out of Context Christians-Explains that most Christians stay
out of God's true context of judgement, hard work, and surrender
to God's control.
F24-How About the Great Commission?-Everyone is not an
evangelist. Get the Word out by example/faithing. teaching and
telling compared.
Segue
S15-Shadow Exercise-Defines our reality as a "shadow" of the
true reality. List aspects of life and death in both realities.
References Paul's mentions of shadows.
Bible & Study Tools
S7-Pick and Choose-One can't separate the Old and New
Testaments. It's ONE Book. It's God's whole message of faithing,
through Christ.
S22-Common Arguments Against God and The Bible-Debunks faulty
translation, transmission, untrustworthy writers, Christian
hypocrisy, God's inactivity toward world suffering, and the
"Only Male" God as reasons for non-acceptance of the Bible as
God's Word. Shows that proper study and research clears up
doubts as to the meanings of scripture and God's relationship to
man.
Debated Question:2
F36-Original Sin-Examined is the separation from God and it's
effect on our daily lives. Defines sin as simple desire beyond
need(selfishness) and any action not in God's direction.
Analogizes God's provision for circumventing that separation
through faithing. Takes a flesh and blood look at "smart" Adam.
S20-Where James Went Wrong-Short study showing that,by the
definition of faith being a verb, James statement that "faith
without works is dead," is a contradiction in terms. Rewrites the
verse to, "Works without works is dead works."
F40-The Contradiction of Faith Without Works-Faith defined.
Lists examples of our commonly used statements using the word
faith, showing the noun orientation of our traditional concept of
faith. Debunking James.[very much like "where J. went wrong]
Commentary Page
F13-Chosen People. Bunk!!-Challenges traditional thinking that
the Israelites were and are blessed unfairly by God over all
others. Exposes the bondage of living out God's message to the
world. Lists the four main activities in which the Israelites
were to engage, showing them to be, in the world view,
disadvantagious. It's hard being a Christian.
Commentary #2
S11-Faithers in Prophesy-Takes a long look at the exclusion of
believers from the Wrath of God prophesied for end times events.
Lists many endtimes events from Daniel, Revelation and more.
Shows that faithers will be taken out of the way of God's wrath
based on many scriptures that say they are not to receive God's
wrath.
F28-Psalm 23-Personal translation exposing unusual concepts.
Category 8-Understanding the Bible
F52-Don't Read The Bible-Discusses at length the pitfalls of
not studying, just reading, the Bible. Outlines ways and tools
to discover the true meaning of scripture: Bible, Strong's,
literal/symbolic/"spiritual" interpretation, House of Israel in
prophesy.
S119-Understanding the Bible-Making the distinction between
House of Israel and House of Judah. Lists several promises and
prophesies to Israel received and fulfilled in England and the
US. References Jeremiah 31: shows Israel had many different
names. Reduces passages to outline Israel's future history
during the Millenium. Offers a scenario of God's plan for
humanity from universal creation to 3000AD, and Israel's role
therein.
S121-House of Israel in Prophesy-From Isaiah, gestalts Israel's
apostacy, conquering, redemption by Jesus, and gathering back to
Palestine. Cross-references 7 other prophets.
S122-Symbolism-Urges proper study rather than guessing at
scripture's meaning. Gives many example how literal terms are
"symbolized" erroneously. Cites Hosea, Ezekiel, and Revelation
Segue
Introduction to Notes
Notes
S21-Faith Is An Action-37 references showing the action in
faithing. Uses Strong's definitions.
F0-Logic and Evidence for Faithing-Applies the definition of
faithing on a conversion experience. Offers a formula for a
faith act. Deduced conclusions about faithing and salvation.
S2-Communion: Teaching Outline-16 references trace communion
back to the first Passover in Egypt. Communion passages are
harmonized. A composite statement given for the wine and the
bread.
S3-The Tithe: A Teaching Guide-39 references for
tithing/giving. God's reason for requiring our tithing.
F49-Law/Faith Chronology-From the Babylonian system of
justification by works to Jesus establishment of justification
through faithing. Faith shows the inadequacy of the Law to
justify.
F53-Faith:The Straightest Line Between Two Points-Exposes how
fearful actions divert our resources, taking us the long way
round to our goals. Acting in faith gets us there faster.
F27-The Roots of Christian Misbehavior-Self-righteous,
hypocritical behavior laid at the door of incomplete/improper
Bible study. States the need for a teacher and keys in choosing
same.
F16-How Many Shots Did You Fire for God Today?-Shows the nature
of the "war" between God and Satan. A way to fight is offered:
faithing.
Afterword
Spirit-God's hand in arranging the categories.
God's Last Word
Lastword-the smallness of the devil
Appendix
Top Appendix
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Fresh out of the recorder is an audio version of Fifty Pieces, A Personal Walk of Faith. Know that this isn't high studio quality. You may hear the occassional truck in the background. I just sat at my desk and read the book out loud. It felt more comfortable that way. There are very few side comments.
If you'd like to hear a sample, many of these pieces are included in the The Straight Talk Radio Archive! programs.
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