Three Streams

I got some spam mail today saying ‘WE SPECIALISE IN THE BEST REPLICA’S’.

Its not so bad when people are up front about their fake product, but when people try and pass of the fake as the real thing there is a chance of being stung. At times like these you need to know your stuff about the real in order to spot the fake. In order to spot counterfeit dollar bills cashiers do not spend time studying all the fakes, they get to know the real thing. In days of superficiality and counterfeit products we need to ask ourselves ‘Is it the real thing?’ And if this is true in the natural then how much more in the spiritual?

Whenever people claim revival, it is not unbelief to ask ‘Is this the real thing?’ It is common sense and it is biblical!
1 Thessalonians 5:21 “TEST EVERYTHING”

So why do we need to test stuff that seems to be ‘honouring Jesus’?

Quite simply, as in the natural, the replica’s look like the real do so it is in the spiritual. Satan doesnt come with horns, hoofs, red capes and a pitch fork. He comes as an angel of light, and his servants ministers of the light.

2 Corinthians 11

3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Satan’s nature is to decieve. He decieved Eve in order to usher in the fall. He hates Jesus and he hates people getting saved. He uses deception to damn souls into an eternal hell. He doesnt do this through advertising what he is doing! He produces something which is almost identical. Make no mistake, you need discernment!

What are the consequencies?

The consequncies are that you do not end up with the real deal.

Since Jesus involves your eternal destiny, and since He is the only way to be saved, if you have a counterfeit Jesus you also have a counterfeit hope. Your confidence is in sinking sand and in the day of God’s judgement you will hear the words ‘Depart from me I never knew you’.

‘But it must be God, because an angel told me this…’ These statements reveal a lack of knowledge and discernment. If satan can transform himself into an angel of light, then the criteria for judging if something is true cannot be on the basis of an angelic messenger. We judge the message, if it does not line up with scripture, it is infact FAKE!

GALATIANS 1
6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Let me ask you, do you have the real thing?Do you have the ability to know the difference between the real and the fake?

The Word of God is the key, however you need the Holy Spirit to help you understand it. However for those of you who struggle with discernment a good bible commentary would make all the difference! This is because you need to learn how to ‘rightly divide the Word of Truth’

John