There are sheep, and there are goats, and they look remarkably the same. “Discernment” is the ability, learned through time, wisdom, and experience, to differentiate between the two.

In our younger years, prior to children, the Norwegian Artist and I traveled through and lived in South America, where our most fervent hope was that we would be thought to be Canadians, Danes, Australians, or anything other than Americans, for two main reasons:

1) Because of our exported media products — movies and TV shows — people were convinced that all Americans are rich and carry massive amounts of cash on them,

and

2) Nobody liked our president. Everything he did and said, they blamed on us.

“We are not our politicians or our media moguls,” we told those who would listen. “They speak for us as about as much as your politicians, or your guerrilla groups, speak for you.”

Sometimes, that got through, but most of the time they countered with, “But where do you park all of your cars?”

Sigh.

As Christians, we face a similar problem today, and again it stems from media and national icons: non-Christians judge us upon the voices of self-appointed leaders who keep cropping up, like fungus on the backside of a log, “speaking” (and writing, and selling books) purportedly for Christ.

Please follow the link to read the rest at False Leaders, Speaking in Our Name, at my BeliefNet Blog, Commonsense Christianity. As individual Christians, we need to be strong enough in our relationship with Christ that 1) we recognize the wolves and 2) we don’t follow them!

The artwork in my articles is by my Norwegian Artist, Steve Henderson, whose work is available as original paintings and licensed open edition prints. The painting show is Golden Opportunity.

This article is linked to Modest Mom, A Mama’s Story, What Joy is Mine, Life of Faith, Moms the Word, Women of Worship, The Multi-tasking Mum, The Fairy and the Frog, Stitch by Stitch, Monday manic link up, Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, Mopping the Floor, Frugal Crafty Home, Raising Homemakers, Wholehearted Home, My Daily Walk, A Little R and R, We Are That Family, Makeover Motherhood, Crystal and Company, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, Ducks in a Row,This Girl’s Life, Cherished Bliss, My Disorganized Life, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Joy Dare, Moms in the Word, Table for Seven, A Peek into My Paradise, Tuesday Link up