How many of you have heard of the “five-second rule”? It’s the popular notion that food dropped on the floor and picked up within five seconds is “safe,” because bacteria need at least five seconds to transfer from the floor to the food. Parents sometimes apply the rule to pacifiers (after their first child of course). So what is the source of the five-second rule? One legend traces the rule to Genghis Khan, who declared that food could be on the ground for five hours and still be safe to eat.
The five-second rule is so popular that Professor Donald W. Schaffner, a food microbiologist at Rutgers University, conducted a two-year study just a few years ago (2016) to determine whether it is true. Professor Schaffner tested four surfaces—stainless steel, ceramic tile, wood, and carpet—and four different foods: cut watermelon, bread, buttered bread, and strawberry gummy candy. They were dropped from a height of five inches onto surfaces treated with a bacterium. The researchers tested four contact times—less than one second, five seconds, 30 and 300 seconds. A total of 128 possible combinations of surface, food, and seconds were replicated 20 times each, yielding 2,560 measurements.
It’s amazing how your tax dollars are spent! Well, after 2,560 drops of food, Professor Schaffner concluded that no matter how fast you pick up food from the floor, you will pick up bacteria with it. He said, “Bacteria can contaminate instantaneously,” and so debunked the legendary five second rule. (Christopher Mele, “'Five-Second Rule' for Food on Floor Is Untrue, Study Finds,” The New York Times, 9-19-16; www.PreachingToday.com)
It makes you wonder what other popular notions are not true. Now, a little bacterium on your food may or may not kill you, but there are some ideas that are downright deadly to your well-being and may, in fact, land you in hell.
So how do you keep from being misled? How do you prevent yourself from being deceived? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 7, Matthew 7, where Jesus tells us how to uncover counterfeits.
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. (ESV)
When it comes to discerning who is true and who is false, Jesus says...
LOOK PAST THEIR APPAREL.
See beyond the outward appearance. Examine what’s under the clothes.
A shepherd in Jesus’ day typically wore a sheepskin with the fleece inside and the skin outside. But a man might wear a shepherd’s dress and still not be a shepherd (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol.1).
He might be an imposter, intending to steal some sheep or fleece them for his own selfish gain. Jesus described “the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy” sheep in contrast to Him as the Good Shepherd, who came that “they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
The false preacher might look good on the outside; but on the inside, he is like a ravenous wolf. He is violently greedy. He doesn’t care about the wellbeing of the sheep at all. He pursues them only for what he can take from them.
Many of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day were like that. They looked good on the outside, all pious and holy, but they enjoyed the prestige of their position, and they made a lot of money exploiting their followers.
The early church honored traveling preachers, but they were also wary. They said of such preachers, “He shall remain one day, and, if necessary, another day also; but if he remain three days, he is a false prophet.” They also said, “He must never ask for anything but bread. If he asks for money, he is a false prophet” (The Didache, written about A.D. 100, William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol.1).
It makes you wonder about many televangelists today who have made millions asking for money, who live in multi-million-dollar mansions, and fly around the world in multi-million-dollar jets. They look good on the outside, all pious and holy, but when you look under the surface, all you see is greedy, self-serving, ravenous wolves. So don’t be fooled by their outward appearance.
Jane Dinscore, from San Antonio, rescued what appeared to be two abandoned Bengal kittens. She brought them home and attempted to nurse them back to health. She gave them some milk; but they were so aggressive, they destroyed the feeding bottles. Then, after enduring a few nasty scratches, Dinscore realized these were no ordinary kittens and contacted the local Animal Control Service. It turns out the two kittens were bobcats from the wild. (Hilary Hanson, “Woman Says She Took Home 'Kittens,' Only To Find Out They Were Bobcats” MSN News, 5-10-18; www.PreachingToday.com)
Appearances are deceiving, so don’t be fooled. Otherwise, you could end up with more than just a few scratches.
Think about it. If a medical student told his advisor, “I'm not into anatomy this year, I'm into relating” and asked to skip anatomy class to focus on people, the medical school would reply, “Who do you think you are, kid? You're going to take anatomy. If you don't like it, that's tough.” Now, why would the medical school take such a hard stand. It’s because incompetent physicians can hurt people.
Even worse, an incompetent preacher can damage a soul forever! You don't want your doctor to simply be popular or relatable; you want him or her to practice medicine correctly and truthfully. In the same way, you need to be discerning about who you trust with the care of your soul even more so than who you trust with the care of your body. (Stanley Hauerwas, “Sinsick,” in Trish Harrison Warren, “Who's in Charge of the Christian Blogosphere?” Christianity Today, April 2017; www.Preaching Today.com)
So be careful whose teaching you accept. To discern true and false preachers, look past their apparel. More than that...
LOOK PAST THEIR APPEAL.
See beyond their charm and check their fruit. Examine the results of their teaching both in themselves and in their followers.
Matthew 7:16 You will recognize them by their fruits.
That is, you really get to know people not by observing their upfront, platform performance, no! You really get to know people by observing what happens when they come down from the platform, when the microphone is not on, so to speak.
Earlier in Matthew, Jesus urged the Pharisees and Sadducees to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8), i.e., to show evidence of a changed life. Then later in Matthew, Jesus talks about the seed of God’s Word, which falls on good soil and produces fruit “some a hundredfold, some sixty, [and] some thirty” (Matthew 13:8, 23). There, the fruit multiplies in others who exhibit a changed life. Thus, the concept of fruit in Matthew refers to evidence of a changed life both in the teacher and in his or her followers.
You see, in this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught people to live in humble dependence upon God, which produced the fruit of genuine, selfless, sacrificial love. So check for that kind of love in your teachers and their followers. Look beyond their platform performance to the way they treat people when no one is looking.
If you see genuine, selfless, sacrificial love, pay attention to what they have to say. Otherwise, avoid them like the Corona virus!
Matthew 7:16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? (ESV)
There was a certain thorn, the buckthorn, which had little black berries that closely resembled little grapes. And there was a certain thistle which had a ?ower which, at least at a distance, might well be taken for a ?g. In the same way, there may be a super?cial resemblance between the true and the false prophet. The false prophet may wear the right clothes and use the right language; but just as the berries of a buckthorn or the ?owers of a thistle cannot sustain life, so the teaching of a false prophet cannot sustain the soul (adapted from William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol.1). So look closely at the fruit!
Matthew 7:17-20 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. (ESV)
So be fruit inspectors! Examine the results of a preacher’s teaching in the character of the preacher and in the character of his or her followers. That will tell you whether the preacher is healthy or diseased.
For example, look closely at the fruit of such teaching as “live your best life now!” (Joel Osteen). Does it promote selfless, sacrificial love? No! It only makes the preacher rich at the expense of many poor people, who are also looking to become rich. It looks and sounds good, but it is sick!
A little more than a year ago (October 2018), Ashley Veilleux and David Mellen said their vows before James Stern in a town near Yarmuth, Massachusetts. They found him online, where he advertised himself as “a non-denominational minister committed to helping all persons achieve their dream wedding.”
It turns out that James Stern was a fraud. After their wedding, Ashley and David discovered he was not licensed to perform weddings in Massachusetts and that their marriage was not official because he never submitted a marriage license to city hall.
To make matters worse, he stole credit card information from two of the bridesmaids. Two weeks after the wedding, the bridesmaids reported irregular, unauthorized charges on their credit cards for purchases totaling thousands of dollars. When police began to investigate Stern, they found a lengthy criminal history in neighboring states, and at least one active warrant for his arrest. Just days before their wedding, Stern had been arrested for another set of fraud-related charges in Rhode Island.
As a result, the bride and groom scheduled another wedding ceremony with a small guest list at a local restaurant. “I feel like we have turned a negative situation into a positive one,” Ashley said. “This man is forever in our photos and videos, we can’t change that, but we can share [our mistake] with others, and that’s been making a difference.” (David Moye, “Man Poses as Minister to Steal Bridesmaids’ Credit Card Info: Police,” The Huffington Post, 10-26-18; www.PreachingToday.com)
Just because someone looks and sounds good does not mean he or she is the real thing! There are many false preachers out there, so look past their apparel; look past their appeal; and finally...
LOOK PAST THEIR APPROACH.
See beyond the words that they use. Examine the life they live, not just the assertions they make.
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. (ESV)
Don’t be fooled by those who call Jesus Lord, but don’t obey Him.
Historian Simon Schama, in his book Landscape and Memory, describes one of the first environmental movements in the 20th Century. It initiated some of the first recycling programs, taught people how to garden for themselves, and intentionally took youth into the wilderness to experience the wonders of nature.
That movement was the Third Reich. From 1933-1935 Hitler enacted the first significant environmental legislation in modern history. Schama writes, “It is of course painful to acknowledge how ecologically conscientious the most barbaric regime in modern history actually was. Exterminating millions of lives was not at all incompatible with passionate protection of millions of trees” (Simon Schama, Landscape and Memory, Vintage, 1996, p. 119; www.PreachingToday.com).
Just because somebody talks a good talk does not mean they walk a good walk. So look beyond the words people use to examine the life they actually live.
Helmut Thielicke says, “A salty pagan, full of the juices of life, is a hundred times dearer to God, and also far more attractive to men, than a scribe who knows his Bible... in whom none of this results in repentance, action, and above all, death of the self. A terrible curse hangs over the know-it-all who does nothing.” (Helmut Thielicke, Leadership, Vol. 2, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com)
If a teacher claims to have all knowledge, but has no love, he is nothing; he is only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Cor. 13:1-3). So don’t be fooled by those who call Jesus Lord, but don’t obey Him.
And don’t be fooled by those who use Jesus’ name, but don’t know Him.
Matthew 7:22-23 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ (ESV)
Preachers can have good words with mighty works, but still have no relationship with Christ.
It reminds me of the story in Acts 19 where “a group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!’ Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, ‘I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?’ Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered” (Acts 19:13-16, NLT).
Just because someone uses the name of Jesus does not mean they have a relationship with Jesus.
I like the way Agatho, a desert monk of fourth-century Egypt, put it. He said, “If an angry man raises the dead, God is still displeased with his anger” (Owen Chadwick, Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Westminster, 1983; www.PreachingToday.com)
Even a preacher who performs miracles can be far way from God. So don’t be fooled just because you see miracles performed in Jesus’ name.
On Earth Day, 1971, Keep America Beautiful launched what was called one of the “50 greatest commercials of all time.” They called the one-minute ad “The Crying Indian.” Take a look (show video: Crying Indian). It featured a Native American man paddling down a junk-infested river, surrounded by smog, pollution, and trash. The camera then panned to the Indian's cheerless face just as a single tear rolls down his cheek.
The ad's star performer, a man called “Iron Eyes Cody,” became the “face of Native Americans,” and was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Long before his fame in the 1970s, Iron Eyes Cody was featured as “the noble Indian,” starring in a variety of Western films alongside actors like John Wayne and Ronald Reagan. By all accounts, he was Hollywood's—and America's—favorite Native American.
But several (real) Native American actors soon came to doubt Iron Eyes' authenticity. Jay Silverheels, the Indian actor who played “Tonto” in The Lone Ranger, and Running Deer, a Native American stuntman, agreed that there was something strangely off-putting about the man's heritage.
Then a reporter visited Iron Eyes Cody's hometown and made a startling discovery: both his parents were full-blooded Italians. How did he fake his real identity for so long? Apparently, the residents of his hometown in Louisiana were too invested in supporting their successful local boy. Hollywood, along with the ad agencies that profited from his image, relied on his false image. Even after his history was revealed, old Iron Eyes Cody refused to admit the truth behind his public personae. He continued to wear his braided wig, headdress, and moccasins, and kept talking about his connection to “the Great Spirit.” (Zachary Crockett, “The True Story of ‘The Crying Indian,’” Priceonomics blog, 9-9-14; www. PreacingToday.com)
The man was an Italian even though he looked like an Indian. Looks can be deceiving. Perception is NOT reality, so be careful whose teaching you follow.
To discern who is true and who is false, look beyond their apparel; look beyond their appeal; and look beyond their approach.
Sam Shoemaker, a personal friend of Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, talked about the difference between appearance and reality. He said:
“You know what a lot of religious people are like? They are like a lot of people sitting around a railroad station thinking they are on a train. Everybody is talking about travel, and you hear the names of the stations and you have got the tickets, and there is the smell of baggage around you and a great deal of stir, and if you sit there long enough you almost think you are on a train. But you are not.
“You only start to get converted at that point where you get on the train and get pulled out of the station. And you do get pulled out; you do not walk out.” (Sam Shoemaker, in a July l955 speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous; www.PreachingToday.com)
While you’re checking to see if your preachers are authentic, make sure you’re an authentic follower of Jesus, as well. Don’t be content just to talk about Jesus and be around people who do. Get on the train, so to speak. Trust Christ with your life, and let Him pull you out of your old hurts, habits, and hang-ups. For only He can make you a genuine Christian. You cannot walk out of your old life on your own, so let Him pull you out!
