“All that glitters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscroll’d:
Fare you well; your suit is cold,” Shakespeare

“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” Matthew 19:24.

There are many treasures in this world that some have spent a life time to acquire.

However, just as there are original items of value in the world, there are also many fake ones. We all probably know or have heard of “fools gold,” which is a shiny mineral called pyrite that bears great resemblance to, and is often confused with, real gold.

Throughout the world one can find beautiful paintings and sculptures in museums. There are famous and well-known paintings by various masters from different time periods that hang on the walls for all to see.

We have a well-known person who resides in an important house and position in our land. He claims that he has an original painting of Renior hanging on one of his lavishly-decorated walls.

He says this even though the Art Institute in Chicago says that they have the original and have had it for many years.

But one of them is a fake — and the Art Institute says it isn’t the one in Chicago. The other person continues to disagree in spite of the actual evidence.

Even after this person sold one of his jets, the “Renoir” apparently made its way to a Tower in New York, where it was visible in the background during an interview he gave “60 Minutes” after an important victory.

An official with the Art Institute of Chicago says the museum was gifted Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Two Sisters (On The Terrace)” in 1933. (Pierre-Auguste Renoir)

Art Institute spokeswoman Amanda Hicks said the institute is “satisfied that our version is real.” The Renoir was gifted to the Art Institute in 1933 by Annie Swan Coburn, who purchased it for $100,000 from the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who purchased it from the artist in 1881, Hicks said.

Many things in this world may appear at first to be gilded with gold. Appearances can be deceiving as we may well know, and “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

When a person strives after beauty and lavish things, the pursuit of these things only multiplies, and the thirst for them is never satisfied.

But when someone continues to believe certain things instead of facts; when lies continue in their downward spiral; when narcissism shrouds its self in continuous behavior, then there is an ugliness that becomes very dangerous and destructive.

God has called us to be genuine and not fake in our appearances or in what we say. Lies have a way of catching up with a person, but truth does matter. One of the worst things that a person can do is to believe their own lies, and then in time, lies have to be uttered in order to dissuade the truth.

We know who the father of lies is and his deception is whispered in the ears and minds of many.

But we have the Spirit of truth found within the Son of God, and this spirit resides within those who know Him. May the lies within the hearts of some be exposed in this hour, and may the light of God bring out these things.

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it,” John 8:44.

Amen.

 

Selah,
~ Stephen Hanson

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Stephen Hanson of In His Truth Ministries came to the LORD is a special way in 1975 and has prophesied regularly since. In these end-time birthing pangs we are reminded that judgment must first begin with the household of God. Will we be prepared and ready?

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