The Pearl of Great Price Analogy
Revised June 13, 2011
When we professed, we were “selling all” and buying a field that contained a “treasure” or “the pearl of great price.” Only to find out that the treasure or pearl (pick your verse in Mat. 24) wasn’t really the one of great price — it was a man-made imitation. A forgery.
Now we weren’t told this at the beginning; we were told that it was the real thing and we believed those who told us. And we “sold all.” For some of us that meant effectively abandoning our natural families because they were still in “worldly religions.” But we believed those who told us that this treasure was the real thing from God.
Then we find out that some man named William Irvine made this treasure. He followed a pattern partially from the Faith Mission and partially of his own interpretation and he MADE it with his own two hands to look like what he believed the REAL treasure would look like. Later, some of his followers helped reshape it a bit because they themselves had their own ideas about what the REAL treasure looked like.
So the treasure that we all bought was not the real one from God, but the replica made by these men. This fact was kept from those who bought it for many decades, though some knew, but apparently agreed that it was “close enough” and did not fuss.
Later when we asked some of those who had represented the treasure as having been the real thing from God, they said, “Well, it’s just like the real thing. That’s what we MEANT. Sorry that you thought we were saying that it WAS the real thing. So, since it’s just like the real thing, everything is dandy and why be bothered? After all, nobody else has made anything even close.”
If this scenario happened to even the most hearty professing person in a retail store with a piece of merchandise, for example, they’d be none too happy. Probably call the Better Business Bureau.
By B.G.
(A TLC member)