Vol. 30, No. 9 -- October 2010
CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE DEAF
9545 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE DEAF
9545 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Exposing a Scam
A few weeks ago, when our son, Mark, checked his iPod for new messages, he saw something that startled him. "Dad! Did you send me another 'friend' request on Facebook?" There, front and center, was my picture, my name, and a 'friend' request sent at 2:30 in the morning. It was from an impostor who had stolen my identity. He simply copied my name and my profile picture. He made up a fake birthday, and he created a fake profile. Then he sent out 'friend' requests to everyone on my Facebook list.
What is his motive? My impostor is taking the old familiar Nigerian Email lottery scam to a new level. He sends out messages in my name saying, "I won the lottery, and so did you. Contact this email address to collect your prize." My family and friends are amused. They tell me that my evil twin has very poor grammar.
I have reported him, although it takes forever for Facebook to close bogus accounts. So for the present time the scammer and I are playing a game of cat-and-mouse. He tries to fool my people into becoming his 'friends,' and I get them to 'unfriend' and block him. And I try to help others similarly victimized by this person. Some of his victims are not so amused. They are angry that he has lied about them or lied to them.
If we become this concerned when people say things about us that are not true, or they lie about our friends, how do you think God feels when people say things about Him that are not true? And how concerned are we that they misrepresent Him? Doesn't that Commandment about misusing God's Name apply here?
Every year on the last weekend of October, we commemorate the exposure of a grand scam that happened in Europe in the early 1500's. Religious leaders who called themselves "Christian" devised a fund raising scheme more diabolical than bogus Email lotteries. They claimed that they could sell God's forgiveness and guarantee a place in heaven for anyone who paid the fee. A young priest of that church, whose name was Martin Luther, blew his top when he heard church leaders lying about God. The people who swallowed this lie risked losing more than money. Their eternal souls were at risk. Plus the scammers were trashing the precious sacrifice which Christ offered for us on the cross. Only He can pay our debt that earns our forgiveness. Only He can guarantee our place in heaven.
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses to his church door in Wittenburg, Germany, in hopes of exposing this scam to the world. Fortunately, many people took notice, and they responded much like the Berean believers who "examined the Scriptures to see if these things were true." (Acts 17.10-12)
But that was almost 500 years ago. How long does it take for us to get past that and move on? Unfortunately, the scam that plagued the world 500 years ago is still alive and growing today. Just like Email lottery scams, they will never go away. Scammers find new and creative ways to do their dirty work. Still today people offer to sell forgiveness for money, for prayers, for self-righteous works, or any other precious commodity. Still people are saying things about God that are absolutely false, while they trash Christ's precious gift.
Get over it? Never! It is my goal to spend my life defending God's good Name as much, or more, than I do my own.
~~Pastor Ron