After 20+ years in the military, I know how to stretch our limited personal budget. One of best ways is to buy generic substitutes! Generics can be half the price of name brand and are as good, or at least good enough. They have the same ingredients, so I don’t bother looking further.
My mother-in-law lived with us for years and didn’t like generic products. She was sure the name-brand product would work better. Perhaps it’s because of the low-quality or fake products sold in the Philippines. I remember scammers buying empty coffee jars so they could fill them with local coffee to sell at higher prices. People enjoyed it thinking it was higher quality.
After I got a better job, I could afford name-brand products, but I still like to get more value for my money. My wife and I realized some substitutes didn’t give us what we want, so we paid the higher price. The price isn’t always the determining factor when it comes to good value.
That’s the context I view many messages on the internet. Well-meaning people flood the internet with substitute faith, hope, healing and even salvation messages. They don’t mean it and if asked, they will say it’s understood that the message is about JESUS. Sadly, they are training others to accept a lower quality product because without JESUS it has a lower price. Unfortunately, those messages come from “the thief who “cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10 KJV) and is targeting our hearts and minds.
I see encouraging words about what we can have if we only believe! You might think it’s from the Bible, perhaps a modern translation, but there is no scripture reference. The beautiful pictures are comforting. You’ve are being offered a generic version of faith without GOD because He has no part in it. You say, but it’s understood that it’s about GOD.
Is it so hard to specifically include GOD? But that might offend someone who believes differently so settle for a generic substitute “fill-in-the-blank” or “one-size-fits all” version. The substitute is cheaper because it doesn’t have to line up with scripture and has no commandments. Sadly, that cheaper faith can cost you everything in the end!
The pattern continues with substitutes for healing and even salvation! JESUS said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6 KJV). If you don’t believe specifically in JESUS you will hear “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Mat 7:23 KJV) so “what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36 KJV). You see “by His wounds we are healed” (Isa 53:5 KJV) and “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb 11:6 KJV) and “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17 KJV).
Don’t accept a generic substitute for JESUS! “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many…But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mat 24: 10, 11, 13 KJV). You can only “endure to the end” and be saved with the real Savior, JESUS CHRIST!
Wayne Lance – That’s Good News to Share!