WOODEN NICKELS AND THREE DOLLAR BILLS...

                                                               FABULOUS FAKE
Having been a coin collector for many years, I have accumulated some knowledge and experience in this area, mostly the hard way. At 63, it still seems to be my primary method of learning. Many years ago I bought a beautiful 1909s VDB Lincoln penny to complete my collection of all Lincoln pennies minted in US history. This particular penny had several things going for it:

1. It was beautiful to the naked eye. All of the features in the face of Mr. Lincoln were clear and distinct, including his hair and beard. It was bright and shinny. It just had to be genuine!
2. The date on the front of the coin was perfect, and so was the coveted mint mark, the letter, (s). The San Francisco Mint (s) has produced some of the rarest coins from any denomination, but the 1909s is at the top, depending on condition.
3. VDB was inscribed on the very bottom of the back of the coin. It's the only coin that bears the designer's initials, Victor David Brenner. 
4. The coin was kept in a plastic casing by the owner, that I had to break into to check the coin under a microscope, because I had just spent $1,800 dollars on this coin, and when professionally graded could be worth more than $50,000. 

I fully expected my new treasure to come back graded MS60 or PF 60 based on my inspection. This coin was breath-taking to behold for this connoisseur of Lincoln pennies. When I got it back, I almost cried, because the coin had been meticulously cleaned and professionally polished by the previous owner, according to grading company. I called down to their Florida office to complain, so they overnighted me pictures of my coin under intense magnification.

There was this gorgeous rare coin microscopically destroyed by the handy-work of the worst type of craftsman. This person found this coin and decided took make the perfect FAKE. It got past my 5x to 30x microscope. It got past my weight test. It got past my eyeball with or without the microscope. The edges were perfect and so on...Unfortunately, I broke my own rules that prohibit falling in love with any coin and thereby sacrificing objectivity. (The EXACT same thing can happen in your choice of spiritual leader or mentor.) None of us is perfect, just like this coin, but when a pastor, priest or politician suggests or implies that you sacrifice your personal values gleaned from the Word of God with the Spirit of God, you have found a "FABULOUS FAKE." 

                                        A BETTER MICROSCOPE

As I continue my reading and study of the Book of Isaiah, I remain moved...

1. Depending on the day and time I begin reading, one of two things happens within the first 10-15 verses. Either I feel like a drone by reading without divine comprehension or feel as though the Spirit of God opens my mind and soul as He teaches me.
2. Just last night, I was a drone...It's been a tough week, the weather is poor, the wife is sick and my kids have issues. In my depressed state, I decided to pick up Isaiah and read anyway. After a couple of chapters, I knew I had done the Word of God an injustice, so I quit. In these instances I can usually play with the dog, listen to music, surf the Internet, watch TV or eat something. 
3. As I mulled this over I began eliminating things that I know are not good for me. Eating, TV and Internet had to go, so I played with our Chihuahua, "ManchoMan", for about 10 minutes, before going back to the Bible. This time I asked God for some help, and explained myself.
4. When I went back to Isaiah, where I began earlier, I was dumbfounded. Suddenly, I could see, I could hear and more importantly, I was listening to "that still small voice."

                                        INSPIRATION OF ISAIAH

This series of events might not be BIG to you, but it was GIGANTIC for me, and here is why. Isaiah is the genuine article. He is the 1909s VDB of his time with no blemishes or distortion. He holds up under the only microscope that counts, the Almighty. Their is nothing FAKE about the way our Lord used him to tell his world for most of his 75 years about the future. He repeatedly told of things to come, and in some cases lived to see the prophecy fulfilled. Listen to what he says:

1. He predicted the fall of Damascus and Israel in Chapter 1.
2. He predicted the rise and fall of Assyria.
3. He predicted the day of the Nazarene; his first prediction of Jesus of Nazareth.
4. He predicted the fall of the Babylonian Empire.
5. He admonished Israel for trusting the Egyptians and Ethiopians instead of God, before they did it.
6. He predicted the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib.
7. He predicted the future Kingdom of Zion.
8. He predicted the suffering of the Messiah.
9. He predicted Christ's mission in coming to live among us and die for our sin.

He accomplished all this and more while serving under four (4) different Kings of Israel, some good and some very bad. In the end King Hezekiah had a son, Manasseh.  In Manasseh's first year Jewish tradition says that Isaiah hid in a hollowed tree from the soldiers of the King. With a wooden saw they cut the trunk of the tree in half, along with this amazing prophet. 

Sometimes the difference between a "false prophet," cannot be seen with the naked eye or heard with divine discernment. Satan is so good at producing replicas that it is easy for those of us who fear our Creator to be led astray. Usually you begin to compromise small things, and before you know it, you have been duped. In the Book of Isaiah devout Jews, including members of the Sanhedrin, were led astray by impostors. Today we can clone. Today we can duplicate. Today we can replicate. Isaiah knew it back then and with God's help says in Chapter 60: "God's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear. For your hands and your fingers are defiled with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has uttered perverseness. None calls for justice, or stands up for the truth: rather they trust in vanity, speak lies, pursue mischief and nurture iniquity."

My grandfather used to say to me regularly, "Jimmy, don't take any wooden nickels or three-dollar bills." Do not be fooled by imitation that is full of pride and arrogance. Do not be fooled by those who only inspire, and never tell you the truth. Do not be fooled by apparent riches, the voice of a songbird or the hand in your pocket. God rarely uses those bathed in this world's signs of wealth and success. He uses the humble, the humbled, the weak, the thankful, the poor, the lame, the sick and the weary. Beneath these saints is built the foundation that will never crumble in good times and in bad, in this life or the next. They have a pure heart and will stand for their Lord and Saviour whenever and wherever necessary. May you be able to do the same.

May God bless you according to those riches stored up for you in the next life...

TDD

                    ISAIAH HOLDING THE ONLY MICROSCOPE THAT MATTERS!!