TRYING TO AVOID THE "MILLI VANILLI" SYNDROME

     Real or fake? That is always a battle we face. Do we want to be genuine, or do we want to be Milli Vanilli? I will never forget when the news broke out about this musical group in the late 1980's. Who is Milli Vanilli? Let's take a look at this group...umm fake musical group.

     Milli Vanilli was a German R & B duo group from Munich, created in 1988 by Frank Farian who hired 2 lip-syncing performers whose names were Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Mr. Farian kept a secret from everyone that the actual singers on Milli Vanilli's albums were studio singers Brad Howell and John Davis. The group was known for two big hit songs "Girl you know it's true" and "Blame it on the rain." Mr. Farian admitted that he hired the two lip-syncing performers for their looks. They were two good looking Black German men who knew how to dance but were not known for their singing. Milli Vanilli sold well over 7 million records and won a Grammy award in February 1990 for best new artist. In spite of their supposed fame, the groups world came crashing down. At a concert at a theme park in Connecticut while on MTV, as they were singing a song, the "track" kept skipping. BUSTED! After a difficult press conference by Frank Fanan, he embarrassingly admitted that Milli Vanilli was in fact a fake act consisting of two lip-syncing performers. During that time, Milli Vanilli became the brunt of several jokes and the laughingstock of the music industry. Even thirty-five years later, whenever someone performs the National Anthem by lip-syncing it, Milli Vanilli references are always made. Many people believed in Milli Vanilli only to discover it was totally 100 percent fake!

     I believe this is a lesson in life we can learn. Do we want to live our lives being real and genuine, or do we want to be fake? Several years ago, I spoke at the Smithtown Christian School Elementary Chapel. I did my entire message on this topic. I started the message by telling the kids I was going to play my trumpet. I held the instrument correctly and had the sound person hit play on a CD of a trumpet solo. I pretended to blow into the trumpet very dramatically. I asked the kids if they thought I was really playing the trumpet. Some thought I did. My secret was simple. I have no idea how to play the trumpet. The saxophone? Yes, that I do know how to play. I was being fake, just like Milli Vanilli! Are we real or are we fake? Are we living our lives and being genuine, or are we being phony baloney's? When we are around other people, do we show our real side or are we great actors? When it comes to the Christian life we are living, do we want to please God or "just get by?" I believe in today's day and age we need to be genuine, be real and not be phony. We need to avoid the "Milli Vanilli Syndrome." In the beginning they got away with it. Later on, it destroyed them and their reputation. Friends, let's be real! Fake gets us nowhere. It only leads to disappointment, frustration and chaos. God is calling us to be the light in the darkness. We have the greater one inside of us. Let people see it is real...not fake.