As I was shopping in the grocery store the other day I noticed long coolers full of imitation milk products and even butter and cheese. It took a long time to find real cow’s milk. And on television I keep hearing about imitation beef and chicken products in fast foods to take the place of real meat. I am amazed that they are trying to produce imitations for all the good foods I grew up on and enjoyed throughout my life. I was always under the impression that whole milk products and real meat contributed to how healthy I have been throughout my life, but it seems that people are more impressed with synthetics. Personally, I’d rather have the synthetics in fabrics than in my food. Nylon and polyester are fine products, but I’d rather have real food in my body.

To create silk, a silkworm spins a silken thread to be used in creating a cocoon in which it will live. God created the silkworm for a specific purpose and when we buy a real silk product we know we have a beautiful object. The synthetic silk is a man-made product that resembles the real thing in some degree, but is a counterfeit, artificially made to fool people. It costs less, but is made by man and isn’t the real deal. 

I’ve also noticed that people are more inclined to follow the counterfeit religions and philosophies that are filling large churches these days. Happy sayings and self-help techniques sound good, but have no foundation to hold unto. They remind me of the synthetics; made to imitate, artificial, not real, made to fool the people who follow them. People may think they cost less to follow, because you don’t have to deal directly with sin and with Jesus Christ, you just have to be good and lead a good life according to what you believe is “good”. It leaves you with no real foundation and no one to turn to when things go wrong. Leading this kind of life leads to death away from God the Father and there’s no synthetic heaven awaiting them. It is separation from God for all eternity, and there’s nothing “good” about that. 

There is a cost involved in following Jesus; He wants us to follow Him and be faithful to Him only and learn and grow in our knowledge of Him. It isn’t hard, He has given us a Holy Workbook to read and study and learn about Him, and He has created a deep vacuum in our being that can only be filled by Him to bring us closer to Him and to find deep peace in our relationship with Him. 

 It was God who created us, not man, not a synthetic process somewhere, and not cloning. Since God created us and formed us together in the womb, He knows what is best for us and desires to show us and help us every step of the way. Self-help books can’t help us because we don’t really know some of the hidden strengths we have and what we were created to do. They can give us tips that help us in life, but there is no eternal plan involved in their help. And eastern religions have man-made images to worship that have nothing to do with how we are to relate to other people and deal with sin. Their synthetic philosophies only cover certain things and aren’t enough to build a life upon. 

When you put your faith and trust in God, and repent of your sins and ask forgiveness for your sin, and believe that Jesus Christ, God’s Son shed his blood on the cross as a sacrifice for your sin, you become a child of God. Then, as you join a Bible Study group and begin to attend a Bible oriented church, you begin to realize what a genuine relationship with God is and how valuable it is. There is nothing synthetic or counterfeit about the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. And when you accept Christ into your life, God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within you and be your guide. What a deal. 

John 14:6,15-17 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me.”15-17,”If you love Me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another “Helper”, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.”

Be alert, don’t be fooled, Jesus Christ is the real deal. There is nothing counterfeit in Him.