REAL ENOUGH

USGN article
by Terry Franklin
November 1998

Back in the sixties the Beatles had this song about "Strawberry Fields...nothing is real."

I will admit, sometimes. I wonder, "Is anything real?" Now I know what you're thinking, "Terry, aren't you getting just a little esoteric on us here. (Don't you love that word, esoteric? Okay, you're not impressed.) But really, so much of what we see is fake.

A few years back Barbi and I went through all the old historic buildings in Philadelphia. I mean, this is where Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, in every room that we walked into, Barbi had to ask, original--a pen holder! They threw out everything that was original, so what we were looking at were reproductions. Fakes.

I believe this idea of "reproducing the original" touches on Christian music in the 1990s Technologically, "you can sing a song out of tune and out of time...run that vocal through a computer...and fix all of the blemishes. It's amazing.

But one thing you cannot manufacture is anointing. You can reproduce emotion, or have charisma, but it's not the same thing. Back in the mid 1970's I was recording my first record album with our little Southern Gospel group at a studio in South Carolina. In one of the other rooms, a gospel singing icon of the day cried his way through a song that later became a hit...and he was drunk as a skunk. It was emotion, not anointing. Years ago the comedian George Burns said, "People love sincerity. If you can fake sincerity you can make it anywhere."

The unsaved world is crying out for what is real, not just artificial emotion. Let's not be guilty of "creating a moment," as though we can do anything in our own flesh to really benefit people for the kingdom. Let's listen for God and say what's on His heart and mind. That's real enough for me.

Previous Article | Next Article | All Articles

©1998 Terry & Barbi Franklin.