My article from the April 2003 edition of the Wesley Chapel UMC (IL) ‘The Circuit Rider’, the monthly newsletter I wrote/edited for some years during that time!

NOTE!: Remember, this was 2003!?! 🙂

[In] September [of 2003], my [then] wife and I had a chance to see Elvis & the Superstars in a small theatre in downtown Branson, and enjoyed it so much that we took my mother and son there over Christmas [that same year]. The first half of the show consisted of a very good impersonation of Elvis doing songs from different times of his career, while the second half was the same guy doing such artists as Roy Orbison, Tom Jones, and Liberace. One song put him as Neil Diamond and one of his lady assistants as Barbra Streisand together on stage doing their big duo hit ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.’ They did it very well, but I really wanted to tell them that in reality, that scene had probably never happened!

            You see, I have a record (you remember records… about 12’’ across made out of very flat vinyl with a small hole in the center?) of Neil Diamond doing that song solo that I bought some years before the duet was released. Amazingly, the music and his parts are identical to the later release! I’m sure that it was a case of somebody saying, “Hey, this would be a great song for Barbra to join in on!” Then it would have been a case of, “Have your people contact my people,” and eventually Barbra recorded her part in a studio probably not too far from home. Then the engineers got together and, through the magic of technology, removed Neil’s’ voice and added hers in some places, while mixing the two together in others. The ‘picture’ of the two of them standing in the same recording studio and singing together never happened. It was all fabricated… an illusion created just for us! And this was in the sixties!

            In the seventies, almost all of the special-effects in the very first Star Wars were done with clay and/or plastic models and mockups. In the latest one, Yoda used the ‘force’ to full effect as he jumped and dodged all around the room. And, while it all seemed very believable, it was, of course, all computer generated… it wasn’t real! Indeed, for the animated film, Shrek, the ‘artists’ had to ‘tone it down’ a notch… the princess looked TOO real!

            The fact is, in today’s world it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between what is reality and what somebody wants us to believe is reality. In fact the entire culture of this country sometimes seems to center on creating the illusion in people of wanting or needing something… that’s the JOB of advertising! And so, it comes to us to determine what is real and what isn’t.

            For example, much of today’s rock music isn’t ‘real’, in the sense that it is made with real musicians playing real instruments… it’s all done electronically. That doesn’t mean it’s bad… I kinda like most of it! But I tend to admire a well thought out computer program differently than I do a superb live performance! I mean, yes, the newest cut of Big Yellow Taxi is a lot ‘zippier’ than the original, but knowing that Joni Mitchell wrote and arranged it, and accompanied herself on the guitar as she performed it was just much more impressive!

            One would think that if there was one place in today’s world that one could find unquestionable reality, it would be in the church. Unfortunately, even this isn’t always the case. One doesn’t have to go back very many years to remember seeing television evangelists in court being sentenced to jail terms for defrauding the public. Seldom, though, are the abuses that blatant.

            The ‘feel good’ emphasis of our society has grown to the point that, over time, many religions and religious personages have attempted to minimize the ‘negative’ aspects of the Bible and concentrate only on those that people ‘want’ to think about! And in many instances this has reached the point where some teachings are not only ignored, but are ‘rewritten’ in the name of updating… in other words, some people are claiming that Jesus didn’t really mean to say what’s printed, but something else altogether different… something that would make modern people feel more comfortable with their own lives if Jesus had, indeed, said it! If everybody knew their Bible the way we all should, these falsehoods would never stand a chance. But, too many times, too many people accept what they are told without question… after all, maybe that person really does know more about it than we do!

            The time has come that we all must begin to question almost everything around us. Are the lyrics of that song scriptural… or merely lyrical? Are our Bible studies and devotions based on the fundamental truths of God’s word… or on the dreams and longings of a modern-day spiritualist? Are our missionaries and mission trips about doing God’s work… or having fun?

            In today’s world we can no longer trust what others tell us… indeed, it is sometimes difficult to trust our own eyes and ears. We must seek out for ourselves what is real. And we must use the Word of God as our ‘rock of reality’ … the measuring standard with which to judge all other standards. After all…

the only real reality is GOD!!!