Scam Averted

Earlier this week one of my neighbors rang my doorbell. As I greeted him, he handed me two $100 gift cards that he said my husband had requested for two ladies in the hospital. Walking away, he said we could settle up later. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I simply took the gift cards and placed them on the counter for Justin.

When Justin arrived home from work, he was equally confused by the gift cards and the encounter with our neighbor, so he called him for clarification. Apparently, someone had sent a text message to our friend claiming to be Pastor Justin. This "Pastor Justin" was in a meeting and needed someone to buy gift cards for two ladies in our church battling cancer in the hospital. Once our neighbor told "Pastor Justin" he had bought the gift cards, he was instructed to take pictures of the card numbers and send them to him. Fortunately, our neighbor brought the gift cards to me instead of taking any pictures. Scam averted.

Some of you may be thinking you would never fall for such an obvious scam, but the foul play in this story is not blatantly obvious if you know a few more details. The victim of this particular scam is a friend of ours. He lives in our neighborhood, he faithfully attends our church, and he plays golf with my husband weekly. There would be nothing odd about my husband asking a favor from him.

Therein lies the issue. We are not deceived by the things we know to be false but rather by the things we think to be true.

We are not deceived by the things we know to be false but rather by the things we think to be true.

The Apostle Paul touches on the sneakiness of deceit when he addresses the Corinthian church. He says, "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough" (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). May we not readily put up with such falsehood!

So many Christians today are easily deceived and "led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ" because of clever marketing. If something is sold at a Christian bookstore, bears the name of Jesus, or contains the words "spiritual" or "gospel," it is often accepted as truth. We should not expect anything different. It is how the enemy works. A few verses later, Paul speaks of people who diguise themselves as apostles of Christ and says, "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness" (vv. 14-15).

It is easy to fall into the traps of poor teaching, the prosperity gospel, or New York Times bestselling books if we are not testing everything by the inerrant Word of God. Just because something is popular in so-called Christian culture does not make it good and right. I recently finished Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis. It was the most theologically painful book I have ever read, and yet it was published by a Christian publisher and has sold over 4.5 million copies!

But if we cannot depend on Christian publishers or popular Christian culture or any other "angels of light" to lead us in the right direction, what hope do we have? How can we possibly discern the truth when there are so many imposters vying for our attention? As simple as it sounds, we must look to the Scriptures. Too many Christians are neglecting to open their Bibles. They're quick to read a devotional book or popular Christian title, but they do not take the time to filter it through the lens of Scripture. When we fail at that step, we can - and will - be easily deceived.

My neighbor averted a financial scam when he disregarded the final request of "Pastor Justin" to send pictures of the gift card numbers. He instead came to the house of the real Pastor Justin he knows, the one who is his neighbor, friend, and golfing buddy. Similarly, we can avert the scams of spiritual deceivers by going to the real and true God we know, the one who has revealed himself to us in his perfect Word.