Tag: counterfeits

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Counterfeit Anointing :: Counterfeits

Presented at Curwensville Alliance on 3/31/2019 by Pastor Steve Shields

It’s both a blessing and a curse. We live in a world where anyone can present anything that’s on their mind in text, audio, or video. Whether it’s accurate or not, people have great power to publish whatever they want. It’s a blessing because you can get good biblical teaching like never before. It’s a curse because not all teaching that calls itself biblical is genuinely biblical.

This is dangerous in many areas, but perhaps it’s most dangerous in the area of Christian faith.

For example, I know a woman who is leading a campus ministry at a major university who doesn’t really understand the gospel. What she does understand about the gospel, she doesn’t believe. She’s feeding pluralism to young minds, suggesting that the death and resurrection of Christ are superfluous. That’s false teaching. It’s empowered by a false anointing.

How do you discern a genuine anointing from a counterfeit one?

How do you discern a trustworthy ministry from one that is filled with deception?

This podcast addresses that question head on.

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Counterfeit Knowledge :: Counterfeits

Presented at Curwensville Alliance by Pastor Steve Shields on 3/17/2019

One of my many embarrassing moments came my freshman year in college.

I am a fan of Beatles music. I have been since my childhood. I was ruining my brother’s vinyl LPs when I was barely tall enough to see where to place the needle on the record.

So my freshman year, I was sitting in one of the townhouse apartments listening to the Beatles with an upperclassman we called Monk, when he pointed to one of them and said, “John is my favorite Beatle.”

I laughed and said, “That’s George!” I went on, as freshmen sometimes do, and named each Beatle pictured on each of his albums. Showing him that he was wrong.

Then he got out a book on the Beatles — and it was I who was mistaken.

Being wrong wasn’t the problem. Laughing at him because I thought he was wrong…. that was embarrassing.

Getting the names of a couple pop musicians wrong is trivial. But there are other areas of life where, if we get it wrong, the consequences can be staggering.

This podcast addresses counterfeit knowledge and genuine knowledge, and speaks of how to tell them apart.

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Counterfeit Security :: Counterfeits

Presented at Curwensville Alliance on 3/3/2019 by Pastor Steve Shields

A few decades ago, a Christian author proposed that people have two basic needs — beyond the physical. Security and Significance. He went on to say these are often gender specific. Okay. Maybe. But we all know that, whatever your gender, you want to be secure. And whatever your gender, you want your life to have meaning.

And often, as we work to make our lives secure, we grab some counterfeits — things we think make us secure, but don’t really.

This podcast speaks of counterfeit security and shows us how to find genuine security.

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Counterfeit vs Genuine Intimacy :: Counterfeits

Presented at Curwensville Alliance on 2/24/2019

There are two kinds of relationships: Deep ones and casual ones.

Have you ever wondered what makes the difference? It is similar interests? It is similar values? What about similar backgrounds? Similar outlooks?

All of those things play a role, but I believe that which makes a friendship deep is something called covenant.

This podcast speaks of genuine friendship — real intimacy — and offers the key to making it real in many contexts of life.

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What Gives Life Meaning? :: Counterfeits

Presented at Curwensville Alliance on 1/27/2019 by Pastor Steve Shields

Have you ever fallen for a counterfeit? Counterfeit wisdom, meaning, morality, intimacy, security, knowledge, and authority.

I want to be honest with you.

When I look at them, I see how I have been – and continue to be – vulnerable to them.

I have accepted counterfeit wisdom many times throughout my life.

And it has caused me damage.

I’ve allowed myself be confused by the other counterfeits to a greater or lesser degree.

Today’s counterfeit – counterfeit meaning – is no exception.

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Identifying and Replacing Counterfeit Wisdom :: Counterfeits

Presented by Pastor Steve Shields at Curwensville Alliance on 1/13/2019

Have you ever done something and thought, “What was I thinking”?

The common answer to that question is that you weren’t.

But there’s a strong possibility you actually were thinking.

You were just drawing from the wrong pool of wisdom.

Much of what passes for wisdom today is counterfeit. But how do you identify counterfeit wisdom? Is there some litmus test you can use?

This podcast addresses this question with practical answers.

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Seven Counterfeits You May Own :: Counterfeits

Presented by Pastor Steve Shields at Curwensville Alliance on 1/6/2019

Several years ago, I received a phone call in the middle of the night from someone alleging he’d been to our church and was now stranded with his wife and daughters in Florida.

Pastor – I was in your church just a month-and-a-half ago. How can you not remember me?

I didn’t remember him.

He was quite convincing and told me of his visit to my church and that he needed money for bus tickets home.

And, because I am so bad at remembering names, I wired him $200.

Later, I thought to Google his name. And when I found it, I learned he was a scammer. He pretended to be one thing, but he was another.

When someone pretends to be someone else, that’s fraud. When something pretends to be something else, that’s counterfeiting.

In the weeks that are ahead, we’ll talk about seven counterfeits to which Christians often fall prey. This podcast outlines them as a preview of coming attractions.

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