"Tough Times Are A-Coming!"

             They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone. (II Timothy 3:6-9)

          The sort of people described in yesterday’s past, the sort we don’t want to be are precisely the sort of people who turn up when the going gets rough. Consider why people get taken in by the “extended warranty” ploy. Isn’t it because they are afraid that their warranty has run out, or that they’re going to get stuck with huge bills if they don’t? “Tough times are a-coming, you’d better prepare! And isn’t this your lucky day, because I have just the solution to your problem!” They’re the kind folks who go in and listen to the sad, sad story of a desperate woman (and I’ll use the word woman because most of you, readers, are women, and because women are so often the victims of these folks. And because they listen, the women tend to trust them.

          The next phrase in the passage is a grammatical mystery. Does “who are loaded down with sins…” refer to “they” and “the kind who worm their way into homes…”? Or does it refer to the women? I think both are likely. The people who worm their way into houses aren’t little angels, and the gullible women, because they’re gullible, may also be loaded down with sins, etc. Based on the rest of the passage, “they” seems to refer to the false teachers, but the whole point is that they load the gullible women with sins, etc. So in a way, it’s both.

          In the next statement, we seem to get a glimpse of Paul’s insight and humor. These men are like Jannes and Jambres, who were supposedly the Pharoah’s magicians who hardened the Pharoah’s heart by performing the same signs as Moses. So, the men Paul’s writing about find a woman facing a plague, and they produce more plague. And they claim they’re helping.

          When the going gets tough, we need to be careful who we listen to.