On a sunny June afternoon, motorists on the busy highway of Poonamalee, in India, stopped rapidly in a concert of skids when a truck lost its glistening cargo. Unpolished gold fragments and gold dust. People spilled from their cars and scurried around the highway, creating a chaotic bottleneck as more and more cars stopped and crowds joined in the fervor. Traffic jammed for miles on one of the nation’s busiest highways. They called their friends and relatives, and even more people hurried to get their share. But then, that’s why they call it a gold rush.
Bob WeathersToo good to be true? Yes, it was. The cargo that glistened wasn’t gold but copper and scrap iron. As the truck was hauling its load, some dropped off on the highway, and, seeing it in the bright sun, motorists jumped to the conclusion that their ship had come it. Or truck, as the case may be.
So were these people too ignorant to know the difference? Poor, uneducated? Easily duped? Not at all. The Poonamalee Highway is an important road junction for the nation, connecting cities that include commercial, industrial and military complexes. Many of the travelers that day probably worked in the factories that produced the scrap iron and copper that they clamored to scoop up. The fact is, even the best and brightest can be fooled by scrap if it shines bright enough.
And so it is with religion. We live in an age of shiny, glittering religion. Flash and flare rule. Celebrities are the experts. And we clamber to the next shiny thing. But is it real? Is it the gospel?
The same problem haunted the earliest believers, so the apostles warned them repeatedly to test what they heard and be wary of who they listened to. “Test the spirits,” John said. Not every teacher is teaching God’s truth (1 John 4:1). And Paul called on believers to reject even the preaching of angels if it did not match the true gospel of grace that he proclaimed (Galatians 1:8). If your ears are itchy, be careful who scratches them (2 Timothy 4:3). Just because it glitters doesn’t mean it’s the gospel.
And if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.