Did you hear about the Pittsburgh man last week?

Did you hear about the Pittsburgh man last week who went in to a Giant Eagle supermarket and paid for a head of lettuce with a $1 million bill?  That’s right—one million dollars.   And he asked for change!  The wide-eyed but suspicious clerk notified the manager, who promptly confiscated the bill.  Whereupon the customer promptly flew into a tirade, smashing the electronic funds-transfer machine beside the cashier and grabbing the scanner gun.  Police arrested the man.  When later asked by a reporter for comment, a police spokeswoman replied, “It’s a bit different.” It certainly is!  The U.S. Treasury has never printed a one million dollar bill.  Since 1969, when the Grover Cleveland $1,000 bill was taken out of circulation, the $100 bill has been the largest banknote in circulation.   And the man asked for change. Bogus bills and counterfeit banknotes.  You aren’t going to fool anybody with a million dollar bill.  But ATF agents with the Department of Treasury are on constant lookout for counterfeit $20 and $100 bills.  Why?  Because counterfeits are based upon the genuine, not on somebody’s wishful thinking. Obviously, it is the existence of the genuine that makes the counterfeits possible. Which is why today’s teaching, “How to Stone the Prophet,” is so critical.  God has always offered the genuine.  And since the beginning, the dark moral counterfeiter of earth (whom we know as the devil) has attempted to pass off his counterfeits of that divine genuine.  And not surprisingly, given the length of time the devil has had to practice and perfect his cunning counterfeit, more than a few have been duped and deceived. In fact so confusing is the deception, that now there are some who have reversed reality, and are declaring the genuine to be a counterfeit, and the counterfeit to be the genuine! Which is why I hope you’ll prayerfully examine this teaching.  Download it from this website as a podcast, and ruminate over it with your MP3 player.  Pull out your Bible, and review the evidence.  The counterfeit is so prevalent that this may be the first time you’ve ever examined the genuine.  Take your time.  Too much is at stake to be wrong.  The Spirit of God will guide you, if you ask him. And that $1 million bill?  Police now believe it was a promotional piece from a Dallas-based ministry that distributed thousands of religious pamphlets with a picture of President Grover Cleveland on a $1 million bill.   You see, when it comes to identifying the genuine, not even a church will do.  So, stick with the Word of God.