Lent 17. Authenticity

I was watching Joseph Prince the other night.  On TBN - the Christian channel on Freeview.   I've seen him before and really liked him and last night I was wondering what it was about him that I found so good to listen to when so many other Bible teachers on that channel leave me cold.   On pondering that question the word  ' authentic'  came to mind.    I have a feeling that Joseph Prince is authentic.  The real deal.  There is something about him which seems true and genuine and real.   I have no idea why I feel that. because I know nothing about the guy and for all I know he could be a money grabbing, immoral wife beater.   But in my spirit I feel that he is an authentic preacher of the gospel.    And these days I tend to go with my spirit as much as possible.

The dictionary defines authentic as  

• : real or genuine 
• : not copied or false
• : true and accurate
• : of undisputed origin or authorship
• synonms include  accurate, true, certain, reliable, legitimate, authoritative, factual, truthful, 
• dependable, trustworthy,veracious

The Bible tells us that in the last days many will be deceived by people who come claiming to teach the truth ( some even claiming to be the Messiah) so it seems to me that it is crucial that the church knows, in these times, how to discern the authentic from the fake. We know that we have an enemy who loves to dress up in garments of light to trick and deceive God's people, luring them away from the truth.   How do we recognise the fake from the real?  Well here are a couple of things which might help us.

1)  Know the Word.  The more steeped and soaked in the truth of the word of God we are, the less likely we are to be led astray.  

2) Stick together.  We are in much more danger when we wander off from the flock than if we stay close to the rest of the sheep and stick with the Pastor of the flock.  The lion is prowling about looking for the strays and stragglers to devour.  Dont be tempted to try to go it alone.  We all need to be part of a church family.   However difficult and annoying that can be at times :)

3) Pray for discernment.   Discernment is a spiritual gift we should be asking for - along with wisdom.  If we ask for it God will give it to us.   And boy, do we need it!

4) Become acquainted with the real thing.   People who are trained to spot forged bank notes do not spend hours and hours studying fakes.  They spend hours and hours and hours studying real bank notes.   The look of them, the feel of them, the smell of them.   They handle hundreds of thousands of real notes so that when a fake one comes across their path they can identify it easily.    As Christians we need to fill ourselves with good, biblical, Godly teaching and fellowship.  We need to ask advice and opinions of more mature christians and be accountable to others about what we are watching/listening to/reading.   There are lots of ' fads' in the Christian church.  There is always another bandwagon to jump on.  Some of the bandwagons are not bad in themselves, they just might not be terribly relevant to where we are at.   So lets look before we leap.

5) Trust your instincts.  If something makes you feel uncomfortable in your spirit, if you find your peace is disturbed then trust that feeling and steer clear.   Some people just don't sit well with us.  Some teaching, ' ministries', organisations and movements just make us feel unsettled and suspicious.  If you feel like that, then regardless of how many other people might be being blessed and however spectacularly God might be working it is probably just not for you at this time.  In order to be authentic yourself you have to be true to what God is doing IN YOU.   He gives us peace in our spirits to keep us on the right track.  When we lose that sense of peace we are heading in the wrong direction.  

Final thought -  I believe it was the authenticity of Jesus which was the big attraction to the people around Him.  He was utterly true to Himself.  He did not compromise or pretend or hide or exaggerate.  Jesus is Truth and Light so there is no falsehood or shadow in Him.  That is deeply attractive in a world which dissembles and cheats and lies and flatters.   Jesus offers us real life.  A life free from pretending and hiding.  An authentic, honest, vulnerable life.   When we can grasp this and start to live it we become deeply attractive people to those who are lost.