Last week, I was involved in an email scam. The person or persons who perpetrated this crime sent me an email posing as my pastor asking me to do a secret project for him. He asked me to buy amazon gift cards to give out to staff members and to take a picture of them with the card id scratched off. You read this and think, how ridiculous, who would fall for that?! I did. I didn’t question it because I didn’t check the email address, it sounded like my pastor. It was an odd request, but sometimes he does things outside the box. Well, I followed-through with the request and lost $600. It was only when the “fake pastor” asked for more gift cards, that I got really suspicious. I called my pastor, and of course, he had no knowledge of this request. Everyone else on the staff received the same email, however they didn’t fall for the lie.
To say I feel stupid, is a mild understatement. I have been lectured, chided, and literally laughed at. Jokes were made. Lectures were given. But the truth is, I feel absolutely violated and broken by what happened. I have cried over it many times of the last few days. Our church gave me the money I lost, which was kind since it wasn’t their fault. However, that just makes me feel worse.
I am a victim of a crime. That’s right a victim. The police cannot redeem the situation. Apparently, scams like this usually come from outside of the country and there is little our local police can do. The bank doesn’t have to return the money, because I authorized the transaction. There is no one who can make me feel better about this or return the money. I am a victim.
I was not only a victim of the crime, but I aided in the theft. I thought I was doing something to please my pastor, but instead was duped to my great humiliation. I believed the lie that this email was from my pastor because hidden in the sentences were little grains of truth, things that overshadowed what I knew to be true. I could have text my pastor to verify. I could have processed it differently and thought, would he have asked this of me? I didn’t go to the source. I didn’t go to what I knew would be true about my pastor.
Through it, I have thought about how the enemy of our souls comes to “steal, kill, and destroy” us. He manipulates us by our own thoughts and feelings. He paints a picture of what he wants us to see about any given situation. We start to believe the lie that he transplants into our minds until it becomes our reality. The enemy cannot destroy us unless we allow him to do so. We aid him in our own downfall. When we have fallen in humiliation, he stands back and laughs at our demise.
We can easily believe every lie he tells us, because hidden in the lie is a tiny grain of truth. We latch onto it and let it grow until it’s our reality. We act upon it. We meditate on it. We react from it. We speak from it.
How quickly we forget that 'The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My (Jesus) purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.' John 10:10. We listen to him instead of going to The Source, which is the Word of God and seeking Jesus in
prayer for the answer. We go by what we feel, what we see, and what we think for our source of truth. But our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and vision can be easily manipulated by our perception and left vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. We fall prey to the enemy, simply because we go it alone and don’t consult the Real Truth.
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. -1 Peter 5:8 NLT
He is ruthless and delights in our failures. So how can we stay alert and not be deceived?
1.Realize that shrouded in every lie, is a tiny grain of truth.
If there was no truth in the lie, you would just shrug it off as outlandish. Think about Adam and Eve in the garden, the enemy deceived them by causing them to doubt God, their Creator. The serpent spoke a grain of truth, but he twisted it. Sometimes, we see the tiny grain of truth and believe the whole lie.
'“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. ' Genesis 3:1-5
2.Our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sight are not truth.
Just because we feel something doesn’t make it real. There is always more going on than what we think, feel and see. We cannot look into someone’s mind or heart, so how can we possibly know their intentions based upon how we feel about the situation. There have been many times, I have perceived a situation a certain way, been hurt, and frustrated by it, only to find out it’s not what I thought it was. I got hurt for no reason. In those times, I felt like a fool and the enemy laughed at my expense.
3. Be wise. Question everything. Go to the Source.
God is not afraid of our questions. He is not afraid of our emotional state. He is not angry with us by asking Him what is the truth. God welcomes us to seek Him and when we seek Him, He will be found. Only God and His word is absolute truth. He sees everything in all situations.
My pastor always says, "that the trap of deception is that you don’t realize you are deceived”. Eve didn’t know she was deceived by the serpent until it was too late. We live in a world with lots of information flying around, especially on social media, so we can easily believe in the tiniest fragment of truth thereby becoming deceived by the big lie. We have to be alert and aware of the enemy’s tactics. His goal is our demise. God’s goal is our abundant life of joy, peace and fulfillment.
My prayer for you today is that you learn from my mistake, that you stay alert, and constantly seek to know God for the answers to your life. Be blessed today!
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