All the Apostles spoke of one important thing – the discernment between the true and the false gospel. This topic is about the power of counterfeit.
“By this you know the Spirit of God (and the spirit of error) in this way: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world” (1 John 4:2-3).
“For certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4).
“There were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring swift destruction on themselves” (2 Peter 2:1).
Today is the age of counterfeit. Everyone knows about it. There are three levels of counterfeit – low-quality, high-quality and super high-quality, which can’t be discerned from the original by an ordinary man. Such information – about the evidence of a low-quality thing – is available only to experts.
And there are people who prefer to buy excellent fakes – they just know that they will buy cheaper products, which common man can’t discern from the original.
It is all the same with the Gospel. There is a very high-quality counterfeit of the Gospel, but there is also a very rough one. The rough one takes away the simple-hearted very easily, and the high-quality one takes away the chosen ones. The chosen ones are tempted by high-quality fakes, expensive ones.
You and I must know the original, be experts on the original, so as not to buy into these things.
Paul taught about this, Jesus said that there will be those who speak from themselves, and not from God. The Lord says, “Whoever commits sin also commits iniquity.” That is, a distinction is needed.
Apostle Peter spoke about the fact that there were false prophets among the people:
“There were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies and, even denying the Lord who bought them, will bring swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber” (II Peter 2:1-3).
There is a prototype of such a “conterfeit” in the Old Testament – the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. The Stone broke it. The body parts of the idol had a different composition: a golden head, symbolizing the Babylonian kingdom, then a silver chest, Medo-Persians, a copper waist, the Greek kingdom, iron legs – the Roman Empire, and then clay mixed with iron – this is our time, the age of fakes.
It talks about counterfeit, how false gospel will be sold as the true one.
People invented ceramet or reinforced concrete. But in God’s eyes those things don’t mix. Even oil can’t be mixed with water. God doesn’t mix things up. He says not to mix different threads in one garment.
How is a fake born? This is a taken part of the original and part of the non-original. It doesn’t have to be all false. If one trumpet is untrue, then all the others are defiled. You take all the parts of the Gospel, they are pure, but there are false inclusions – and the whole teaching and doctrine falls.
In the 19th century there was a prophecy that the time would come for a gospel without the cross, salvation without repentance, and the church without the Holy Spirit. The prophecy said that the age of counterfeits would come and it would go into the church.
When the time of fakes began, people could not understand whether it was good or bad. It seems that expensive things have become more affordable, but their value has fallen.
Therefore, the Gospel in the last time in this sense will be more valuable than ever. And for some it will be priceless.
The pure Gospel is preached, but it is not valued. Therefore, it is not surprising that the bazaars with fakes are full of people. There is no point in arguing which is better – after all, it is clear to any person that the original is irreplaceable. And if this happens to things, then it is not as terrible as the fact that they do the same with the Gospel.
Counterfeit is always associated with deception. And voluntarily going to this deception is stealing from the original. If we support fakes, we support thieves.
In this regard, the Church is also getting weak and stops responding – there is much, there is much more, “rule upon rule”. Gradually it turns into confusion. Metal and clay, metal and sand.
Counterfeit love, counterfeit philosophy, science, false theorems, false channels. It’s all around. If you look through this lens, you will see: false names, false images, false heroes, false gender of people. And they make up a person. Evil age.
What can be seen in Christianity today?
False cross. Cross without suffering. They consider suffering a sign of a curse. Where did you get this? If Scripture says, “Suffer with the Gospel of God.”
False repentance. This is when there is no awe. When there is no real contrition, no shame for sin. Lead the person to real repentance, not to repetition of phrases. Words are nothing if they are not true.
False Holiness. You are only outwardly holy. The image of your behavior is holy, and inside is a “whitewashed tomb”. What’s in your head? What is the person thinking about? Holiness is within.
False salvation. A person seems to go to church, but inside he is not saved. He lives in sin for years, and the shepherds silence the voice of his conscience, encouraging him to stay happy, instead of letting this voice rise. Because if your heart condemns you, then God is even greater.
False ministry. It’s when they always have to plead you to do things. You can’t treat it like that. Ministry is a privilege, you do everything without complaining, as for God.
False commitment. First he will do his own thing, and then – the church.
False gifts – when philosophy comes in, psychology – when gifts work for the ego of a person, instead of serving the Body.
False Jesus. Yes! Not the One who comes with eyes of fire and says: “Repent! Otherwise, I will come and move your lamp and blot your name out of the book of life.” But the one who always loves you, always encourages you, always agrees with what you are doing – this is a false Jesus!
And all this leads to the false church. This is the false Bridegroom that the false community is waiting for. This is not the Bride.
The gospel must be true. You have to believe with precious faith. I want to inspire you about the gift of discernment.
The price of following Jesus is the whole life, it is to give yourself completely to Christ. But many step away because they buy cheap. It even “smells” like the original, but then the end comes.
The original is the original, but a counterfeit is cheap. The devil presents false things to buy you. He will declare himself Christ in the end. He will speak from himself.
This is a good word so that we cling to the true Christ, to the Original.