"Corrupt mind and counterfeit faith"

       How timely. Doesn't this sound like it had been written just this morning?  Does this seem to describe the world around us and the world politic here in the United States? Doesn't this sound like so many so many pseudo Christian conservatives, the Evangelicals today? You can say it is fake news but this isn't a snippet, it is an entire passage right out of Christian scripture.

       It seems so obvious that we are not alone in being caught in the struggles of life and evil men. What advice might be offered to help us out. Throw us a bone, will ya?

       One day a few years back I pulled into my local Home Depot. There was a very heated argument going on between a husband and wife. Actually, it was a horribly abusive husband berating his wife who was apparently an employee at the depot. Two young children sat in the back seat of their car as witnesses and victims to all this.  People stared agape as it unfolded.  If this is a microcosm of the world, what are we to do?   Several people, throwing caution to the wind stepped forward. I presume the first one called police who arrived rather quickly. Others simply stepped between the couple to separate him from her.  This could have easily been a rather risky move but it was none the less undertaken swiftly and effectively.

        I recall a somewhat similar scenario involving a man of the cloth who had travelled south from New England to support the Selma Freedom Riders. This holy man, named in the Episcopal text, Holy Women, Holy Men, was subsequently shot and killed as he stepped in front of a young black girl who was at risk from the police. 

        We cannot let the corrupt minds and counterfeit faiths of those who seem in control of the insanity that seems to reign. We step up and step forward. It may be as simple as that and may be as dangerous as that. Your choice.  If you find the kind of 'Christian faith' that supports the actions, activities and opinions  of today's passage a real abomination then we have to ask ourselves what to do. The choice is to stand up and step forward. It is not with weapon in hand except for the weapon Jesus armed us with, that  God graces us with. The weapon is love and intellect. Passivity if we claim any kind of faith is not an option.  Even if all we do is stand up or step forward, it is a major blow to those whose evil runs unchecked.

       Step up, step forward. In love, in faith, in solidarity with the real Gospel message. 

2 Timothy 3:1-17

You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good,treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! For among them are those who make their way into households and captivate silly women, overwhelmed by their sins and swayed by all kinds of desires, who are always being instructed and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these people, of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith, also oppose the truth. But they will not make much progress, because, as in the case of those two men, their folly will become plain to everyone.

 Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.