Fake News from The Church What you believe isn’t as important as how strongly you believe it

We've all heard crazy stories that are all but unbelievable, haven't we?  Interestingly, though, no matter how bizarre a story is, a few almost always believe it to be true. This is especially true with stories of alien abductions – people who say that they were taken captive by aliens from another world.  One of the first of these 'abduction' stories hit the news way back in September 1961, and it made quite a splash!

 

The couple involved in this story were a husband and wife named Barney and Betty Hill.  They made their story public and followed the publicity with interviews, investigations, and eventually a best-selling book.  They told the story with great conviction and presented drawings, pictures, and other details; they were pretty convincing in those days!  Mr. Hill died of a stroke a few years later, and Betty continued to tell her story to anyone who would listen for the rest of her life.  Neither of them ever waivered in their story – until their dying days, they were absolutely convinced that their story was the absolute truth!

 

As most of these stories go, this one, too, was thoroughly debunked.  No matter how much the Hills believed the story, it just wasn't true!

           

This sort of thing is not really unusual, is it? Even in the Church, people will tell stories of miracles or experiences and even teach 'truths' that are not true. 

 

This was the case even in the very early years of Christian history.  Timothy was a young pastor of a church struggling with 'what to believe.'  There were false teachers and false teachings everywhere, and those in the Church were having trouble discerning what was true and what was false.  So, Paul, an older pastor, wrote him a letter giving him instructions.  Here is part of what he wrote to the young Pastor: "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths."  II Timothy 4: 2-4

           

Paul anticipated a time in the Church when people would not be satisfied with the biblical message; instead, they would go after what was either new, exciting, or popular in the culture.  The Pastor's task was simple:  teach the word of God!  In discussions, bible studies, sermons, and everyday conversation.  Sometimes, the discussions would be easy and pleasant; at other times, they would be contentious and difficult.  But the task for the Pastor was to always teach the truth according to God's Word and do so with great patience.  How people felt about something did not determine the truth of their beliefs.  People would know the truth only by holding fast to the teachings in God's word!

 

Centuries later, those in the Church still must adhere to the truth of God's Word! Regardless of our title or role in the Church, we must hold fast to biblical teachings and resist the ungodly influences of the world around us.  That is the task of the pastor/teacher and the task of all who would follow Jesus.  What you believe matters!

 

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