Counterfeits

 

Federal Investigators are meticulously trained to detect counterfeit money.  However, in their training they don't focus on counterfeits. They focus on studying legitimate currency.  They learn the feel of the authentic paper's texture.  They study the designs and patterns of the legal printing.  They learn the coloration of the genuine ink when fresh and aged.  They learn the appearances and locations of legitimate security traits.  They learn the over all authenticity of the genuine bills.  Over a lengthy period of studying legal currency, they gain such an intimate level of familiarity with the authentic that they can spot a counterfeit with little effort.  Intimately knowing what is legitimate is easier than trying to learn all of the counterfeiting traits.

This is precisely the way in which we should approach our knowledge of God, Jesus, scripture, and doctrine.  If we expose ourselves just enough to have only superficial knowledge of these, then it is easy for counterfeits to appear good and acceptable.  But if we pursue an intimate knowledge of these, then as we gain that knowledge it is increasingly more difficult for counterfeits to slip past our awareness and infect our thoughts and beliefs.

There are many fraudulent gospels, illegitimate "scriptures", false doctrines, and alternative views of God and Jesus.  If you don't know the legitimate well enough, you may be easily deceived by the illegitimate and fall into a devilish trap.

What would you do if someone came to your home inviting you to their church, and during the course of your interaction with them you learn that they start explaining how Jesus was God's first creation, Jesus was originally the archangel formerly known as Michael, he was born just a man, he was resurrected only spiritually after his crucifixion, and that salvation comes from three things: believing in Jesus, being a member of their specific organization, and strictly obeying all of the organization's rules?

What would you do if you found yourself in conversation with someone who agrees that Jesus was a great prophet, he was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life, but that he was just a man and not God, that it is blasphemous to call him the son of God, because that would make him equal with God and there is only one God, that he was not crucified but God made another man look like him and that man was crucified instead, and Jesus never died but was bodily taken up into paradise until he is sent back again?

What would you do if someone began citing historical studies showing that Jesus never existed, or if on the off-chance that he did then he was just some guy that had some good moral teachings and sayings like Buddha or Mahatma Gandhi, and people who liked what he had to say started making up myths about him hundreds of years later?

What would you do if a friend or family member tells you that God says in His word that He wants you right now in this earthly life to be completely healthy, free from all disease and infirmity, and extravagantly prosperous because you are a child of God which makes you a little god, and like the creatures that God made to produce after their kind, God created man in His likeness and after His kind, and that as such you have the attributes of God and can speak things into existence, and if you are not experiencing all of those things then you have weak faith at best?

What would you do if a friend or family member tells you that you don't have an accurate or complete bible because it has been translated so many times it has been changed or at best has lost its original meaning, or that it is full of contradictions, or that corrupt religious and political leaders have either altered its text or left out books or added and omitted passages, or that only one specific translation can be trusted?

What would you do if someone came to your home telling you about God and how the true word of God and his church was corrupted and lost, but it was reintroduced to a modern prophet, that God was once a man who lived on a different planet, that he had lived righteously and the god of his universe awarded him a planet/universe of his own to govern, that he still has a physical body, that he has a wife with whom he has physical relations that result in spirit children who are later born into bodies as humans, that Jesus was this god's first born spirit child and Lucifer is his younger brother, and that if you live a good enough life you can too become a god of your own planet/universe with your own god-wife just like God did?  As did his god before him, as did his god before him, as did his god before him, and so forth for infinity past.

What would you do if someone you know who is kind and moral, and publicly and boldly claims to be a Christian and follower of Jesus, reads their bible, quotes bible verses, and prays, but are actively and proudly pursuing a lifestyle contrary to what you think God's word says, and they tell you that it is ok to live true to yourself and your desires because God doesn't make mistakes and made us how we are, "God is love", "God forgives", and "God is merciful"? 

If you have a superficial understanding of God, Jesus, scripture, and doctrine, you may not see the counterfeits in scenarios like these and others.  Counterfeits are dressed up appealingly enough to draw in the unwary and unwise.  Perhaps you may see the counterfeits but don't know that there are biblical passages to refute them.  Perhaps you may see them but lack the knowledge to recognize their harm.  Proponents of bad and unbiblical doctrines will either introduce extra biblical sources (other books and publications such as the Apocrypha, the New World Translation bible, or The Watchtower publication), or misapply, misinterpret, and misrepresent legitimate scripture to make it fit their beliefs and desires.  Sometimes, the false teacher can perform complex mental gymnastics in order to make their point.  At other times the corruption can be almost imperceivable, but that's all it takes to introduce error. 

As Paul warned the church in Galatia nearly 2,000 years ago, and Christianity was still young, individuals were already trying to creep in and corrupt the faith:

You were running well.  Who hindered you from obeying the truth?   This persuasion is not from Him who calls you.  A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 

(Galatians 5:7-9)

Not scripture but a favorite quote from one of my favorite movies, Ladyhawke, a character states: "Great storms announce themselves with a simple breeze."  And so it can also be with a granule of corruption in doctrine.

So how does one gain this intimate knowledge of God, Jesus, scripture, and doctrine?  By intensely studying them just as a Federal agent studies authentic currency.  Here are some starting points:

• Find and join a church that is biblically true and adherent.  Don't simply find a church you agree with and that fits your lifestyle; that is simply joining a club that "tickles your ears".  Investigate the church's Statement of Faith which will indicate what they believe.  Find a church that both teaches and follows the essential doctrines of Christianity and fit your lifestyle to God's Word.
• Hold unwaveringly to the essential doctrines.  A breaking of fellowship can be warranted on disagreement on them.  
• God is the eternal uncaused cause of all creation.
• God is one God revealed to us in three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each identical in nature, power, attributes, and glory.  Each worthy of identical obedience and worship.  This revelation of God is referred to as the Trinity.
• Jesus, God the Son, is the second Person of the Trinity.
• The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity.  He witnesses of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, convicts people of their sin, encourages faithfulness to God, quickens spiritual righteousness and knowledge, and seals the salvation of Christians.
• Humanity was created male and female and made in the image of God,  designed as "helpmates" complimentary to one another, and mandated to join together male and female "as one flesh" for marital partnership and procreation.
• Because of the disobedient sin of Adam, he lost his spiritual life becoming "dead in his sin" and resulting in eventual physical death.  As a result, his descendants (humanity) are born spiritually dead and separated from God by sin.
• Jesus set aside His divine glory to became a man born of the virgin Mary.  He was conceived in Mary by the miraculous creative work of the Holy Spirit and without the curse of sin through Adam's lineage. He was simultaneously fully God and fully man.
• Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life, was crucified, died, was buried, and bodily rose again to life on the third day in victory over sin and death.
• Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father and intercede on the behalf of those who accept Him as their Savior.
• Salvation, which is the forgiveness of sin and eternal restoration with God, is given only by God's grace through faith in Jesus' substitutional death and His physical resurrection.  It can not be earned by doing good no matter how much or how great.
• Jesus will come again and gather His people from both the living and the dead.  He will reign on earth for a period before a final day of judgement of all people. On that day He will reward those who accepted Him as Lord with eternal existence with Him, and He will send into eternal punishment of complete separation from Him all of those who rejected Him.
• Be willing to hold secondary doctrines important but not so important that they adversely affect or destroy Christian fellowship.
• Be willing to hold tertiary doctrines loosely as more of opinions and without any detriment to Christian fellowship at all.
• Read and study the bible frequently if not daily.
• The bible is the Word of God, inerrant in its original writings and preserved through the ages with incredible accuracy.  It is a codex that consists of 66 books, written by more than 40 authors from all walks of life under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, written in 3 languages, written using more than a dozen literary methods, written on 3 continents, and written over a span of more than 1,400 years, yet contains a singular story of redemption and reconciliation with God through Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah.
• Seek study material recommendations from trusted friends and sources.
• Utilize study bibles, bible dictionaries, and bible commentaries.
• Support biblical scripture with biblical scripture.  The bible will not contradict itself.  Areas where it appears that it does indicates deeper study, devotion, and prayer is required to discern the truth.  
• Attend church regularly and get involved with a study group or life group at the church.
• Fellowship with other believers exposes you to the Word of God, brings you into corporate worship and presence of the Holy Spirit with fellow believers, provides encouragement and accountability to prevent missteps or falling away, and provides a refocusing on right living after a misstep.  Mutual trust, transparency, and honesty are crucial.
• Test all teaching for truthfulness and accuracy with what the bible itself teaches just as the men of Barea even tested what Paul taught them (Acts 17:10-11).  In both personal studying and testing of teachings, remember context of the text is important.  
• Test the context against accepted Christian doctrine.
• Test the context with surrounding scripture.
• Test for topical consistency and harmony with all of scripture. 
• Test if it is applicable for all people for all time or if it was written for a particular people for a particular time.

Time and again, Jesus and the biblical authors urge us to not be swayed by false teachers and false doctrines.  They were already spreading corruption during the early years after Jesus' ascension, and it is still taking place today.  To not be swayed by false doctrines, we need to be firmly rooted in true doctrines.

The enemy doesn't rest.  Neither should we relax. 

Be diligent!

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

(2 Timothy 2:15)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

(1 John 4:1)

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

(2 Timothy 4:3-4)

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

(1 Timothy 6:3-5)

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