Real or Fake?

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Rachel Lam
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat 05 May 05 2012 12:05 am

Real or Fake?

Post by Rachel Lam »

Hi Ps Daniel,

As I was looking through your posts on New Age infiltrating Christianity and your numerous links to New Agey sites, I was just thinking how helpful is it to do so? I do understand that your intention is to bring to awareness that we may have let in teachings that seem dubious and no doubt, the onus is on us to see if these are false teaching.

However, I think it can be jumping the gun for most of us COOS staff as what I am hear from the ground is a cry to be taught how we can better equip ourselves in studying the Truths of God in light of the reality that most of the pastoral and ministry staff are already so tied up in their time with going for meetings after meetings.

I'm thinking what you could help us now is highlight what is and could possibly be wrong or false teaching SO THAT we see the importance for us as ministry workers to see that we need to take more ownership in making the study of Truth part of our ministry. And not to make pointing out false teaching an end in itself.

Taking the principle of the International Anti-counterfeiting Coalition (IACC), "Counterfeiting is big business. You guessed it: every item pictured in the counterfeit gallery is fake to illustrate how pervasive the problem is and how convincingly real counterfeits can look. So, how can you protect yourself? First, don’t be part of the problem. JUST DON’T. Counterfeiting has increased over 10,000 percent in the past two decades due in part to consumer demand."

This is a good lesson for us is that it is not acceptable among God's children to have a lazy mindset of simply "consuming" the his word through other people's "manufacturing" which has led us to unknowingly play a part in propagating false teaching due to our lack of awareness and simple ignorance.

So what is the solution? Another principle we can learn from the IACC
Knowing whether or not an item is fake sometimes takes a forensic expert, but as a rule of thumb for any product you purchase, use the Three P’s: Price, Product and Place.

Price: If the price is too good to be true, it probably is. Know the usual price range for your intended purchases.
The spiritual principle would be, God puts a high price on His truth, are we willing to pay the price of time, effort and devotion to seek the truths that we need to bear the good fruit in our lives that gives God the glory due to Him? Prov 25:2 it is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter (NKJ). The price that God has put on our lives is the precious blood of Christ Jesus. Anything less than our lives in devotion to His Lordship is to devalue the work of the cross.

Product: Inspect the quality of the product – look at labels, detailing and packaging. Are there any misspellings? Does the country of origin match the country that normally produces the product? Does the packaging look banged-up, old or sloppy? If you see any of these warning signs, the product very well could be fake.
The spiritual principle would be, don't be lazy which leads to being easily deceived! Use the word of God (all 66 books of the Bible) to inspect the teachings that are being presented to you. Consider every aspect and facet of the teaching against the real thing - God's word. The best way to unveil a counterfeit is to contrast it with the real thing. James 1:7 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (NASV) After having scrutinized almost every book of the Bible, I realized that though God progressively reveals himself from OT to NT, this progressive revelation is always building up or adding another layer to the foundation of who He has already revealed Himself to be. Likewise, even as certain teachings can come packaged in new ways, yet the core markings of God will be there when we know where and what to look out for.

Place: Legitimate product is not sold on street corners, in flea markets, mall kiosks, dark alleys or on suspect online auction sites. Know who is an authorized dealer for the product you are planning to purchase and make your purchases from the most legitimate source possible.
The spiritual principle here is, Jesus is our cornerstone. Eph 2:20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself (NLT). The Church is God's dedicated body to live out His truths and uphold His standards and commandments as taught by Jesus. There is need for Bible students to be well-equipped to teach God's word by the power of His Holy Spirit. It is the witness of the Holy Spirit to the words of the Father that makes it legitimate and we the Church have also been commissioned to be this witness that Jesus Christ is real and Jesus himself is the witness of the truth of His and our Heavenly Father.

May this forum provides us all a place to spur each other on to know the Real Thing through our collective efforts to equip the Body of Christ with the Truths of God. :)

Be blessed!
Daniel Wee
Site Admin
Posts: 2449
Joined: Wed 25 Feb 25 2009 8:00 pm

Re: Real or Fake?

Post by Daniel Wee »

That's really useful Rachel, thanks for posting it.

As for the New Age stuff - I put it there for reference because of some of the material from Joshua Mills has strong similarities. Whilst it is important to learn discernment, when it comes to actually pointing out errors, it is good to be substantiated with documentary evidence or we may be accused of baseless accusations. Think of the list of documents as my own collection of data and information for when it becomes needed, if needed. Most of these posts of mine serve as a kind of repository of information that are relevant and that I may call upon. This is how I approach most issues - being over prepared for every possible contingency. It's a bad habit that never left me from my debating days.

When it comes to recognizing spiritual fakes, I'm afraid that it is actually more complex than recognizing a counterfeit note because with the note, you have less psychological and emotional investment. If we study cases of people emerging from cults, the hardest thing for them to do is to admit that they were deceived and most of these people cannot reason at a rational level because the deception is so deep. With such people, one approach is to show facts. Even then, most of them go straight into denial.

With rational people, they're usually not at the highest risk of deep deception and simply reasoning or pointing to biblical teaching would suffice. These are the easy ones to deal with. The hardest are those who cannot accept that they have been deceived.
Rachel Lam
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat 05 May 05 2012 12:05 am

Re: Real or Fake?

Post by Rachel Lam »

Hi Pastor Daniel,

Thank you for explaining to me your rationale for posting all those references. They make sense to me now that I understand the intention of having all that many links!

I have a question with regards to your statement, "When it comes to recognizing spiritual fakes, I'm afraid that it is actually more complex...because with the note, you have less psychological and emotional investment...With such people, one approach is to show facts. Even then, most of them go straight into denial. With rational people, they're usually not at the highest risk of deep deception and simply reasoning or pointing to biblical teaching would suffice. These are the easy ones to deal with. The hardest are those who cannot accept that they have been deceived."

Personally I think the word of God is powerful enough to renew the mind and emotions of people who have been under a lot of psychological and emotional bondage to the enemy's deception, either in cults or through painful life circumstances.
Heb 4:12 "For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Therefore my question is, how can we help people who have been deeply deceived to begin this journey of seeking truth and letting God's truth shine into their darkness?

I mean, to illustrate it figuratively, the only way to cast darkness away is the presence of light and we are the light, according to the word of God. Of course, the greater the darkness, how much more greater our light needs to be! I believe this is why we really need to delve and dig deep into the treasures of God's Word because it is only through His word that prunes, purifies and sanctifies our lives to restore his rightful image in us - His love, grace, mercy, righteousness, etc.
Daniel 12:3 "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."

I confess I myself am on this journey of discovering how it looks like to speak the truth in love, so that that people not just know that the string is gone and they are no longer in bondage. But to help them experience for themselves what true freedom is when they have not known it before in their entire lives due to bondage or deception or hurt.

Interestingly as I'm typing this, I have part of my answer from God. The only way to led others out of bondage is to have been under bondage yourself and have God led you out of it! And if I look at the life of Moses as an example I realize it is NOT an easy nor is it an instant work! Lots of perseverance, encouragement and godly support is needed and mistakes and being fearful is part of the journey of overcoming the lies of the enemy to walk in the light of God's word.

What are your thoughts?
Daniel Wee
Site Admin
Posts: 2449
Joined: Wed 25 Feb 25 2009 8:00 pm

Re: Real or Fake?

Post by Daniel Wee »

Answer:-
1. lots of prayer
2. persistence in the truth of God
3. grace of God
4. lots of love and understanding
5. a safe place to confront reality
6. time

People who are in the fog have a lot to deal with before they arrive at a place where they can be free. As an illustration - imagine you are trying to get from A to B and someone shows you a way. You try it and it does seem to get you from A to B but its a rather winding and even dangerous road. Over time you put in more effort to improve that road as best as you can, pouring in money, time, effort, tears, to make the road good because you want to help people get from A to B.

One day, someone shows up and says that the correct way to get from A to B is via a different route.

Now, regardless of whether that person is right or not, you will have immediately before you - the amount of investment you have made into that way you have believed to be correct for a long time. You've taught people that way, and persuaded many that it's the right way. Now you are confronted not just with the true/false question of the new way - there is a whole lot of emotional baggage associated with the decision. These would include:-

1. you mean I had been wrong all along
2. you mean I've taught people the wrong thing all along
3. you mean I've let myself be misled/duped
4. this is making me look like a fool
5. you mean all my effort could have been better placed elsewhere
6. what would people think or say of me if they found out that there is a better way

All of these, and many others, will need to be addressed before the person can come to a place of sufficient objectivity to evaluate the true/false issue of the new proposed way. Most people find it more expedient to simply deny the possibility of there being any other way, for human reasons.

For those with less invested, they will see the light more easily.

Ultimately you are right - light will eventually reveal that which is hidden in darkness but we have to choose to open our eyes to see it.
Rachel Lam
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat 05 May 05 2012 12:05 am

Re: Real or Fake?

Post by Rachel Lam »

Thanks Ps Daniel!

Shall munch on it.
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