Impostors

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true . . . 

 - From 2 Corinthians 5 & 6

One of the sickest practices of fallen humanity, is the way that phonies and fakes invest so much energy into convincing everybody that the real people, the simple, genuine, authentic people, are the phony ones. Rather than just look at themselves honestly, realize that they are fallen and imperfect, own it, and work on themselves, they waste time, damage their own health, by stirring up vitriol against others - against the actual good people. 

Why?

It catches up to you eventually. And when it does, it becomes way costlier than it would have been, if you just nipped it in the bud initially.

The Regents of the University of Michigan, and Dr Robert Anderson, are a case in point. The U of M ignored decades of students asking questions, reporting on practices of Dr. Anderson, that seemed unnecessary and possibly criminal. They looked the other way. But they also maligned hundreds, thousands of students that sought answers. They could have done something along the way, to correct the problem. They could have clarified to Dr. Anderson, way back in the 1970s, that the practices had to be stopped. They could have gotten him help - provide simple and inexpensive reparations to the few students who, at the time, had come forward. But they kicked it down the road, insulted the student-victims, and ultimately were require to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. 

Usually, you will have two sides in opposition to each other, each labeling the other as the phony.

Does this sound familiar?

It gets very confusing. But here's the "siren song" that I personally believe we all should be the most aware of:

The "intellectuals" are the ones you need to watch out for. Since the time of Christ, and His constant run-ins with the Pharisees, the Romans, and other well-educated groups, the "upper crust" has always been a problem. Christ went straight to blue-collar fishermen without college degrees, to build His church. 

But the Old Testament has analogues as well. Moses dropped all of his elitist pretentions, and became the brother of slaves. He squared off against the paradigm of evil for his time (for all time?) - the Pharaoh and all of his "experts" that ran the world's greatest empire of its time: Egypt. 

Who are the true fakers in 2023? Which side is it?

I can draw a straight line from Scripture, to the most sincere and humble people of modern times: and it is not the experts from academia. It is not the celebrities in Hollywood. And it is not the swamp creatures operating inside the DC Beltway. 

You have to go to fly-over country to find the real people - them that are the most genuinely "good." The plant workers. The gardeners and landscapers. The artists piecing together an income. The teachers that do not prioritize union dictates. The mechanics and farmers. The retired NCOs from the military. 

2023 wants to confuse all of us, and divide us from each other. 2023 is obsessed with pointing out some group of people that must be stigmatized for spreading "disinformation." But who are the real people? Who really can we trust?

Look no further than right down the road. 

Look not at the "leaders," or people that successfully got their moment of fame, on tonight's news. And certainly, look not at all . . . not at all . . . at successful politicians. They are good only at being good fakers. Their life itself is misinformation. 

You family. Your friends. The people that would take a bullet for you. Listen to them. Heed them.