Bogus Faith

Just this past Saturday, East Lampeter Police arrested Nikole C. Koreck, 24, of Langhorne, and Jules Cesar, 31, of Brooklyn, N.Y. The pair were charged with passing counterfeit $100 bills at a number of stores at Tanger Outlet. Allegedly they would pay for an item costing a few dollars with the bogus bills with the intent of receiving a large amount of change in return. The two were caught when a store clerk contacted police when she noticed the bill was a phony after the two had left the store. Police quickly located the two who were arrested and sent to Lancaster County Prison.

How did they almost get away with this scheme (police say they hit at least 16 stores)? Apparently the bills were good enough to pass the initial ink test that cashiers use. And often, when cashiers get really busy, if it passes that initial test, they move on. I am guessing that these individuals only went through long checkout lines. So the phony money they were passing along was good ... but not good enough. When more closely examined it became evident to the authorities that the money was indeed counterfeit.

This got me thinking about those who claim to be Christians. I wonder how many people who claim to have genuine faith in Christ don't. I know that Jesus Himself talked about the fact that there are many who claim to know Him who don't (Matthew 7:21-23). This should give us all pause to examine our own faith. Is it genuine? Authentic? True? Do we truly KNOW Jesus ... or are we among those who possess a counterfeit faith? Let me encourage you to examine your faith today (and to help you do so ... check out this excellent article on the marks of genuine saving faith).

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj