Messin’ With Scammers, Episode 13

Dear son, It is so good to finally hear from you again, although I must confess, it is no surprise that as always, the only time you ever contact me is when you need money. Apparently you have already burned through the $40,000 we gave you for hair plugs.

I am assuming that you have probably also frittered away the $20,000 before that, which you said you needed as venture capital for your startup business, which would produce undergarments that generate electricity through flatulence, which could then be used to power electronic devices. After blowing up seven cell phones, was it not obvious that you should have been powering factories instead?

I’m sorry, son, but I cannot give you any more money. For starters, I want to be able to retire in comfort to a much nicer trailer park than the one we currently live in. And secondly, you are not actually my son. That being the case, rather than me paying the two scam invoices, how about you returning the $60,000 I claimed to have sent you? We can call it a “plug and poof” refund. Kindest regards, Greta Garbonzobean

Exodus 20:15 says, “Thou shalt not steal.” Short, to the point, and still very much in effect for today.

God has never approved of theft, no matter what form it takes. And it is very easy to be righteously indignant at the thief who scams elderly people out of their money (as has happened to some people very dear to me) or who breaks into houses and takes what people have worked a lifetime to accumulate.

But there are other forms of theft, forms that if we are not careful, we ourselves may become guilty of. Stealing time at work by not giving our full time and best effort. Stealing a reputation by repeating gossip.

Stealing from our spouse by having a fantasy life that allows others to have our emotional attention. Stealing from our children by being a buddy before being a parent. Stealing from the old people we will one day be by refusing to save and invest while we have the strength and youth to do so.

There are so many more. But no matter what form theft takes, it is always wrong, and a Christian especially should not engage in it.

Please pardon me though, I just received an email that I need to answer. It seems I have just been awarded a $10 million prize from someone in Nigeria…

Bo Wagner is pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Mooresboro, N.C., a widely traveled evangelist, and author of several books, including a kid’s fiction book about the Battle of Chickamauga, “Broken Brotherhood.” He can be emailed at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.