Real Or Fake? …Hello weekend readers. I am musing on the word: ‘tumultuous’ which, from the Webster’s dictionary says: “full of tumult or riotousness; marked by disturbance and uproar, raising a great clatter and commotion; disorderly and noisy. Why I am musing on this? Because we are indeed in tumultuous times and for many, it provokes fear and a loss of hope. How sad.

As I thought about this word ‘tumultuous’ it reminded me of Jesus whose words from the Apostle John 10:11-13 NLT: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.”

I’m not sure if many of you knew this, but in Jesus’ day, religious and political leaders were sometimes called shepherds. Jesus wanted His followers to recognize that some shepherds aren’t what they appear to be. After Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath, the religious leaders hounded, intimidated, and threatened the man and his family and friends. They wanted the family to support their lie that Jesus didn’t actually heal the man. These leaders, who were supposed to be shepherds, cared nothing about the sheep in their flock. They were quick to mistreat them when it suited their needs because for them, it was all about them!

I believe we are in a new age of shepherds, FAKE shepherds who get their positions in other ways. They use their connections and money. They try to dazzle people with their education, and credentials; they lie and manipulate and often they intimidate and threaten. They make bold power plays. They do whatever it takes to satisfy their ambition and the rest of the people “be damned” as they say. But oh, do they love the limelight! Their focus is on the size of the “flock” that flocks to them in adulation. EGO—they have it in spades…and ego means “edging God out.”

A good shepherd, however, calls his own sheep by their name and has a personal connection with them. They are concerned with the specific needs of their flock and tends to them as a loving family. And–they inspire confidence and loyalty by spending time amongst them and sharing their heart with them. Is that not the nature of our Savior?

So why are we following fake shepherds? They drive their flocks into the dirt; they make them bend to their will or they kick them out. They demand loyalty or you’re out, you’re degraded and mocked. Why would you want to even be around someone like this?

In verse 4 of John 10, Jesus said this about a good shepherd: “After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.” If we follow Jesus, we have to know His voice. We have to know what he said—and what he didn’t say. We must not fall into the fake shepherds who try to speak for Jesus the way they think Jesus should do things. They want you to support their issues, who to vote for and most of all, they’re after your money! And yet, many embrace the fake shepherds.

Whose voice are you following? If we aren’t listening to Jesus, we risk being led in the wrong direction. The only way we can recognize Jesus’ voice is learning from him in Scripture. Then we can apply them to our daily lives and follow him. “The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep” Jesus said. He proved himself to be that Good Shepherd. So shake off the fake shepherds, don’t listen to them. We have everything to gain and nothing to lose when we follow our Savior—and him alone! AMEN.