Religious Scam Artist

(Acts 8:4-13) When I was preparing to write last week’s article, We Can Do Better, I thought, about how some people in ministry mislead the people that they claim to be serving. I thought that’s what “scam artist” do. They claim to be giving a person an opportunity to get better in some aspect of their life, but in reality the scam artist is only looking out for their self. Usually when we talk about scam artist we are talking about a person who is out to exploit someone for financial benefits. The truth is that there are persons in Christian ministry who exploit those that they are supposed to be serving. These include preachers, pastors and other church leaders who exploit the people for fame, power, and money. A few days ago I heard on the news about a scam in which the people are invited to pay to pray with an influential religious leader. The funny thing is that they were using the name of a person who is a legitimate Christian leader. He came forward and identified himself and denied that he had anything to do with the scam. The idea that there are religious scam artists is not new. Throughout history there have been people who claimed to have a special relationship with God. Their claim is that God has given me special powers to bring about good into your life if you will follow my instructions. I will admit that the claims of some scam artist seem to be just as authentic as true Christian leaders who have received gifts of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-14). Since I wanted to be sure of what I was thinking I decided to go on the internet and Google “scam artist.” I found an article Confidence trick from Wikipedia the free encyclopedia ( HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trick3/17/2016" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trick3/17/2016). It gave this definition of “confidence trick.” “A confidence trick (synonyms include confidence game, confidence scheme, scam, and stratagem) is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their confidence, used in the classical sense of trust. Confidence tricks exploit characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty, honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, naiveté, and greed. Since I am a nurse, I immediately associated this definition with contacting a disease. In order for a person to contact a disease three factors are necessary. First, there has to be a virulent antigen that causes the disease. This virulent antigen comes into contact with a susceptible host (the human victim), and the host must have a suitable environment for the antigen to grow and spread; typically a warm, moist, and dark environment. In addition the host has an immune system that is unable to ward off the invading antigen. As I looked at the definition above, I realized that the only way a scam artist can be successful is if the victim possesses characteristics that make him or her susceptible to what the scam artists is saying to them. The victim becomes a victim when he or she acts upon what they are instructed to do. In the book of Acts (8:4-13) Luke records the story of Simon who practiced magic. The people consider him to be the “GREAT POWER of GOD (NASB) and they pay attention to what he says because they see his magic tricks (vv. 9-11). As we look at this story we can see that the things that are taking place are very similar to what takes place in scams today. We discover that both the perpetrator and the victims share culpability in what takes place. Religious scam artist operate using the same methods as the secular scam artist, and the victims of religious scams like those in secular scams possess the same traits as those in secular scams. Let us return to the story of Simon the Sorcerer to see what takes place. First, the perpetrator makes preparation before making contact with the victim. In this story Simon learns to practice magic. Next, after seeing some people who show signs that they are vulnerable the scammer makes contact with the potential victims. The scammer preys upon their needs, desires, and weaknesses and offers them some way in which their needs can be met. In this story the people’s signs are that they pay attention to Simon and they show that they believe in him. The people do whatever Simon tells the people to do in hope of getting their needs met. In return Simon gets their allegiance and their money. The victims have great, maybe desperate needs. The only hope and as far as they know, their best hope is in Simon. When the people go to Simon they get a small benefit of some kind. This increases their faith in Simon, and their hope for better things is increased. Everything seems to be well with both Simon and the people until Philip arrives in town. Philip arrives in Samaria (v. 5) and he preaches “the kingdom of God and the name Jesus Christ” (v.12) and performs signs to support what he is saying. The people are really impressed because they witness Philip performing acts that they had never seen before. “For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed” (v. 7, NASB). At last the people had their greatest needs met. The people are baptized showing their conversion to the Christian faith. Simon sees what is taking place and he is baptized and follows Philip. As the story continues (vv. 14-24) Luke records that the apostles in Jerusalem send Peter and John to Samaria to confirm that the people had received the word of God. They pray and the people receive the Holy Spirit. Simon offers Peter and John money for the ability to lay hands on people so that they can receive the Holy Spirit, but Peter rebukes him and encourages Simon to repent. When I first begin to think about religious scam artists I wanted to help people to identify the scam artist. After reading the list of characteristics of the victims I realized that it is just as important that people be able to identify and admit to themselves the truth about themselves that make them possible victims. In the story of Simon the Sorcerer the following observations are made. The people are susceptible to scams because of factors in their psyche. They are mentally conditioned by the thoughts of this world, and they live accordingly. They look for solutions in the methods of the world, and they use them in their own lives. Many have no real knowledge of God even though they have heard about God and many go to church. Yet, they know not Jesus and His teachings. As a result, their faith is in the philosophies and theories offered by the world systems of government, finances, education, psychology and sociology, and they are unable to distinguish the differences. As seen in the story of Simon, the solution is in Jesus and life in the kingdom of God. It is the responsibility of the church both cooperative and individuals to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world; proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and making disciples of Jesus. The only way that people can choose better is to be made aware of something better. The late gospel singer James Cleveland sang “Jesus is the best thing that ever happened to me.” Christians can avoid scam artists by having a genuine personal relationship with Christ. Reading God’s words in the Bible and prayer and living the Word are the ways that Christian leaders can encourage people to grow in their relationship to God. When our lights shine scammers can often detect this, and they will not waste their time trying to pull a scam on us.