an earthly moral life and an earthly rational mind, and morality and
rationality that are earthly are intrinsically dead. Because such people are
dead, they have no faith.
People who are merely earthly and are dead in relation to faith are
indeed able to speak and teach aboutfaith, goodwill, and God, but they
cannot speak and teach fromfaith, goodwill, and God.
The only people who have faith are those who believe in the Lord.
Others have no faith, as is clear from the following passages: “Those who
believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have
already been judged because they have not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God” (John 3 : 18 ). “Those who believe in the Son
have eternal life. Those who do not believe in the Son will not see life;
instead God’s anger will remain upon them” (John 3 : 36 ). “Jesus said,
‘When the Spirit of Truth has come, it will convict the world of sin
because they do not believe in me’” (John 16 : 8 , 9 ). And to the Jews the
Lord said, “Unless you have believed that I am [he], you will die in your
sins” (John 8 : 24 ). This is why David says, “I will announce a decision.
Jehovah said, ‘You are my Son. Today I fathered you.’ Kiss the Son or he
will be angry and you will perish on the way. Blessed are all those who
trust in him” (Psalms 2 : 7 , 12 ).
In the Gospels the Lord predicted that at the close of the age (mean-
ing the last period of the church) there would be no faith because there
would be no belief in the Lord as the Son of God, as the God of heaven
and earth, and as someone who is one with the Father: “The abomina-
tion of desolation will come, and an affliction such as has never existed
before and never will again. The sun will be darkened and the moon will
not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven” (Matthew 24 : 15 , 21 , 29 ).
And in the Book of Revelation: “Satan will be released from his prison.
He will go out to lead astray the nations that are in the four corners of
the earth, whose number is like the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20 : 7 , 8 ).
Because the Lord foresaw this, he also said, “But when the Son of
Humankind comes, is he going to find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18 : 8 ).385 To these points I will add these memorable occurrences.
The first memorable occurrence.Once an angel said to me, “Do you
want to see clearly what faith and goodwill are, and therefore what faith