Like Sheep

I love the metaphor of the Lord is my shepherd. It paints such a tangible picture of the relationship between a believer and God. One aspect of this picture is the sheep.

We really are like sheep. I have heard that sheep will follow a leader off of a cliff. This idea brings to mind all of the odd groups, and many cults that are lead into cliff like situations.

Do you remember the people that were obsessed with the hail-bop comet? In one sense, it seems like these groups are indicting believers along with themselves, after all, the bible has some very strong and controversial things in it. I guess that a initial response would be to play down these elements. But the problem seems to me to be that people are following something other than the shepherd. To play down the bible would make it seem that the problem is whether or not the leader or teaching is popular or common. If you look at champions of the truth throughout history, many were indicted in their respective context. So it seems that the strong controversial aspects of these groups is not necessarily the problem, but that these groups are not based in truth. They are not following the truth who is the shepherd.