One Hundred Percent Genuine Imitation

I was watching a commercial on television recently, but unfortunately, I cannot remember the brand that was paying for their product to be advertised. What I do remember is that the announcer boldly stated that the product was made from one hundred percent genuine imitation leather. My first reaction to the commercial was how bold it was for them to honestly tell everyone that their product was made from fake leather. My second reaction was how many people would buy this product because the advertiser used the words one hundred percent genuine in their commercial.

You may be wondering why I am writing about a commercial for fake leather products after all my blogs tend to be about Biblical topics and not television commercials. The reason is that we are about to enter a season in which the Fall Holy Days will be celebrated. In the coming months, people will be gathering in synagogues around the world to observe Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. In Leviticus 23, G-D gave these days to His people to be kept, observed, or celebrated forever. These as well as all of the other Biblically commanded Holy Days were observed not only by those who were G-D’s people before the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus), but also by Yeshua while He was alive as well as the Apostles and Disciples of Yeshua after His resurrection. 

Yet, many people who proclaim to follow the teachings and examples of Yeshua and His Apostles no longer observe these Appointed Times. When I read the Bible verses concerning these days and the commandments regarding their observance, those verses use words like, everlasting and eternal. Yet, for many people who claim to be followers of Yeshua, they hold no meaning or relevance to these days, apart from knowing it is something that the Jews do or that they read about in the Old Testament. The truth, however, is that G-D designed and gave these Appointed Times as eternal signs of His covenant with His people and all those who believe and claim to follow the teachings of Yeshua should regard these Holy Days as an important part of their faith and walk as disciples of Yeshua. After all, the word “disciple” means one who is a follower and for us to be a disciple of Yeshua, that would mean we would be doing those things He did. We know from the Scriptures that He kept these Holy Days, so we should follow His example to the best of our ability. 

For us to remove these Holy Days completely from our faith walk, makes our faith walk like the product in the commercial mentioned above. Instead of our belief system being made up of 100 percent genuine Biblical material, the genuine gets replaced by 100 percent genuine imitation materials. In other words, we replace what G-D made with something man-made instead. The man-made stuff may sound good, look good, and feel good. It may be presented to us with a slick presentation by someone with a strong confident voice. But no matter how good the presentation, no matter how pleasant the wording, and no matter how confident the spokesperson, one hundred percent imitation is still one hundred percent fake. 

Unfortunately, a lot of people have bought into and accepted a faith that includes stuff that is one hundred percent genuine imitation. Some because of the salesperson and some because it sounded and looked good, but most buy something that is one hundred percent genuine imitation because it costs less. But our faith isn’t supposed to be cheap and inexpensive.

As I write these words today, please don’t read them as being condemnation or judgemental, because that is not my intention. My intention was to remind myself and those who read these words to examine how we live out our faith in the Messiah and to make sure that we have not compromised by buying any belief that is one hundred percent genuine imitation, no matter how inexpensive or how effective the salesperson says it is. Always remember that a little leaven leavens the whole loaf. 

So, if you are a believer in Yeshua and claim to be His disciple, let me refer you to read Leviticus 23 concerning the Fall Holy Days and encourage you to choose to trade anything that is a hundred percent genuine imitation for something that is simply one hundred percent genuine.