I was up before dawn. I threw my camera bag over my shoulder and trekked down our little mountain road. I was in search of the kind of beauty that is only found in the early morning hours. My walk covered at least five miles, but I didn't mind. The early bird gets the worm and the early photographer finds an ally in the soft light of daybreak.
I captured this bridge while the fog lingered in the valley, but I didn't tarry. I was on the way to my "big game," an old barn on Soco Road.
Arriving at the barn I could tell the light had yet to make the kind of entrance that I was expecting, so I ambled up the highway and found plenty to keep me occupied, including this spider web.
I was on my way back to the barn when I stopped outside of Seven Silver Seas, a florist and jewelry store. All things being equal I would rather take pictures of old hot rods than flowers. But flowers greeted me in bunches, and old Detroit metal was nowhere to be found.
I took pictures of flowers.
I photographed those flowers in low light, and brighter light, from the top looking down and from the bottom--lying on my back--looking up. I shot them at angles that had me twisting like a pretzel. After awhile I was all petaled out. I left the florist for the barn.
Later that afternoon, I was sifting though the shots. Shannan was helping me sort out the wheat from the chaff. When she got to the pictures from the florist and jewelry shop she stopped -- scrutinized the pictures and said, "You know those are fake, don't you?"
"No way!" I protested, but she was right. I was so caught up in my quest that I didn't even realize that what I was pursuing wasn't the real thing. Take a look for yourself. It is really not hard to see, these are subtly silk.
The fake flowers were an important reminder. Not everything that is beautiful is real. This goes for some teachers and their teaching. In Paul's day false teachers, out to make a name for themselves, peddled an eye-catching message. Only one problem. It was a fake. Masquerading as ministers, they were preaching a different Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15
God wants me to remember that not every "angel" is an angel. Satan is a master of disguises. He wraps lies in silk.
Don't fall for a fake. Test teachers and test their teaching. Do their lives and their lessons square with the Word of God?