COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANITY
[6-minute read]
Counterfeits are fake impressions, things or identities that are like real. The trick is to be believable. Cybercriminals operate on making people believe that the text message or email they send asking for cash is from a legitimate source. Illegal businesses produce and sell knock-offs of branded products at knock-down prices. But do you know that there are also counterfeit Christians? It’s hard to spot them because they act and sound so much like true believers that even they are convinced that they are authentic!
The Bible introduced Simon as a counterfeit follower in the book of Acts chapter 8. Contrastingly, chapter 7 described another follower named Stephen who was stoned to death because he spoke up publicly and shared the Gospel passionately. Up until his last breath, Stephen was described as a person who was “full of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:55). Simon, on the other hand, was full of himself and relied on the dark powers to pull off sensational wizardry. In fact, Acts 8 recorded that he “boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” (Acts 8:9-10).
After Stephen died, the church was attacked and for the first time, believers scattered all over but they “preached the word wherever they went.” (Acts 8:4). Philip was one of them, performing signs and miracles that drew large crowds. And Simon was right there, hoping to find out more about this new source of power that drew away his followers away!
Here are three questions to ask ourselves:
Firstly, do we hype up and sensationalize God’s miracles and play down the God of miracles and His desire for a deeper relationship with us?
Secondly, are we staying in Christian circles to be seen as a godly person yet we remain uninterested in personal and relational growth, and unaccountable to anyone?
To all onlookers, Simon was a good disciple because he trailed Philip everywhere he went. But although he followed Philip faithfully and looked the part of a believer in so many ways, he wasn’t so much curious as he was interested in checking out the competition. Up until Jesus’ disciples were scattered and Philip showed up on the scene, Simon was the talk of the town. Talk about being upstaged! His zeal for God was only a façade to conceal his insatiable hunger for special powers.
The third question is confession (saying we are one thing) without transformation (doing another thing). It is perilous when we do not allow anyone to correct any long-held erroneous beliefs, perceptions and arguments in relation to God and His Word. To be sure, there will always be people like Simon in churches and Christian circles - always around but unreformed on the inside.
There are four ways to examine our authenticity as believers:
EXAMINE MY HEART
Jesus reserved the strongest word for those who lived double lives as believers. He called them ‘hypocrites!’ with an exclamation point to underscore the problem of religious hypocrisy. “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” (Matthew 15:8-9). These are people whose public presentations did not match their inner convictions.
We can be guilty of blatant hypocrisy if we attend church gatherings only to avoid being accused of not being involved. It is totally possible that we heartily sing worship songs yet refuse to open our hearts to God or trust anyone. We are culpable of hypocrisy if we let self-interest and self-preservation take priority over loving others and taking relational risks to help others grow in their faith.
Contrastingly, Peter was not afraid of calling Simon out when he tried to monetize the free gift of receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15-17), even though it was a time when many people in Samaria had turned to God. In fact, he openly chastised Simon: “You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.” (Acts 8:20). We can make a difference in another person’s life only when we stop thinking that tolerance of bad is a virtue over speaking to them about a problematic behaviour.
EXAMINE MY TONGUE
Nowadays, our faith is palpable not only in how we talk and what we say, but also what we text each other, and what we post online. Most of us do not speak loudly or act aggressively, but our lips and our lives can preach two different messages! As pointed out in James 1:26: “If a person thinks that he is religious but can’t control his tongue, he is fooling himself. That person’s religion is worthless.”
At the same time, while we may not blatantly blaspheme God or character-assassinate anyone, if we are constantly promoting self-help over trusting God, and if we doggedly avoid putting ourselves in places of uncertainties, we are telling people that we, not God, are in control of our lives.
Tellingly, Christian author Mark Batteson opined, “The distance between your head and your heart is only twelve inches, but it's the difference between information and transformation.”
EXAMINE MY ACTIONS
If we consistently live out our profession of faith in God and our commitment to Him, we literally become the walking bibles that people read. Yet, this biblical truth eludes many of our experience of life with God. We are so obsessed with remaining impartial that we hide our spiritual convictions and avoid revealing our personal stories to others. The apostle Paul wrote a strong warning about living with such double standards - when we behave differently with different crowds: “They claim to know God, but they deny him by what they do. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit to do anything good.” (Titus 1:16).
When no one is watching, do we catch ourselves doing what pleases God, or do we quietly let another opportunity to touch someone’s life go by and do nothing about it?
EXAMINE MY LOVE FOR OTHERS
1 John 2:9 says that “Those who say that they are in the light but hate other believers are still in the dark.” We may not have any enemies but when we do not act in love towards each other, when we do not nurture relationships, when we use people, when we do not share our lives with anyone, when our relationships lack honesty, when we hold our tongue instead of warning someone who is walking down a wrong path, we are acting as though we hate the other person.
Lest we subtly and unknowingly slip into the counterfeit Christianity mode, these examinations must be done daily if we desire to continue strong in our faith journey with God.
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 14 January 2023.
