For several years I’ve had the opportunity to make yearly trips to the Dominican Republic to do mission work with the Haitian Community. Often newer travelers want to pick up a few souvenirs to take back to friends and family in the states so we make a stop by the tourist market in Santiago. The shops are full of local crafts and food Items, and tons and tons of thirty-dollar Rolex watches. They look real, so long as you don’t look too closely. But you can’t rely on one to keep accurate time, and in short order the gold trim and bezel markings rub away to revel the cheap metal underneath.
These fake Rolexes are big sellers for one reason: somewhere, other than the third world tourist market, there are real Rolexes. If there weren’t real ones somewhere, there wouldn’t be a market for the fake ones. These knockoffs owed their very existence to the public’s desire for the original.
Jesus warned His followers that there would be no shortage of false prophets in the world. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that there are wolves in sheep’s clothing in the Church, and we certainly shouldn’t allow them to cause us to question the truth of the Gospel. Charlatans exist because the real thing exists. Forgeries are never made of forgeries. They are not the truth, but without question they are proof of the truth.
Jesus went on to remind us to: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). This Sunday in our walk through Titus we will explore the role of Church leaders in protecting the flock against those who desire to take rather than give the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.
