In the 1849 California Gold Rush, many men became obscenely wealthy as a result of finding gold either above or deep within the ground. Even more men had their lives destroyed by the events of the Gold Rush. The miner’s camps were rough, men’s families had been left behind, and there was no assurance of leaving California as wealthy men.
The trip to California was Fool’s Gold for most of the nearly 100,000 miners who hoped for riches from her soil. It was the gleam of hope dashed against the truth of reality that ground their dreams to dust. Their hands dug in the soil, and most of them came up empty, dirty, and scarred.
But Fool’s Gold is quite real, even if it is not real gold. Rather, it is a mineral known as pyrite. It has a metallic gleam causing it to shine like gold, and in 1849, this masquerading mineral convinced many a miner that all his dreams had come true.
What is Fool’s Gold to the Christian of today? 2 Peter 2:1 strips away the lies that men tell. Peter speaks of false teachers that present a way to heaven other than the cross. These false teachers mix elements of true doctrine with lies, tempting the unwary to stray from the narrow way and into a path of destruction.
Some of these false prophets even deny the deity of the Christ, claiming another path to sanctification that supersedes the plan of God.
These men are the pyrite of the Christian faith. They gleam as if carrying truth, yet they are a lie, and they will bring the believer down a path of destruction. Families will be destroyed, and there will be no true hope of heaven as our eternal home.
Those who follow the truth of the Christ will find true gold, and they will become wealthy as a result. Those who chase after false prophets will find themselves holding a handful of pyrite, and they will be cast into the depths of destruction.
We can know the truth by comparing it with the Word of God. Only then can we trust our path to lead us directly to heaven’s door.
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