We used to watch Candid Camera on TV as part of our Sunday evening entertainment. Allen Funt set the scene for us of unsuspecting people in weird situations. At the end of each person’s encounter the words “Smile! You’re on Candid Camera!” would be said to the amusement of the audience and, most of the time, the person who had just been pranked.
In more recent times, there have been other TV shows that have played out fake scenarios involving people going about their days. In essence, we’ve been familiar with scams since we were born into this world.
Scams, however, have taken on a new life form. Ninety percent of the cell phone calls I receive are scam calls. Lord only knows how many “real” calls I’ve missed because I didn’t recognize the phone number. My iPhone gives me a nice warning that the call from PoDunk, Wisconsin, is a scam, but today I didn’t answer a call from my pharmaceutical company because it wasn’t familiar and was coming from Arlington Heights, Illinois.
Now we have look-alike imposters, who are very convincing. An elderly lady from our area received a piece of mail recently telling her that she had won the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. The enclosed announcement would have gotten me excited with the believability of its appearance. Thankfully, this octogenarian called one of our local TV stations who investigated it further and uncovered the false claims.
Kindhearted followers of Jesus have been suckers for scam artists. Fake charities and pretend ministries that play on the emotions of empathetic people have been around for a long time. The New York Times published an article about one “charity scammer” who had 76 fake charities that the IRS hadn’t noticed, charities with official-sounding names like “The American Cancer Society for Children of Massachusetts.” In fact, the 76 charities shared the same mailbox.
As my mom used to say, however, “When you point your finger at someone, four other fingers are pointing back at you.” Actually, it’s three because my thumb is pointing toward the sky. But those three fingers remind me that I can be a “Jesus-scammer.” I can convince people that I’m a wholehearted follower of Jesus, even when my thoughts and actions communicate otherwise.
There is even a bundle of times (That means a lot!) when I think I can scam God into not seeing my waywardness, self-centeredness, and lack of commitment. We cringe at the word “scam,” but I’m guilty of pretending to be a person of faith.
That sound harsh and self-condemning, and yet it’s accurate. Maybe I don’t construct fake charities like The United Way of Ohio (Another of the 76!), but I fall short and act out innocence.
And thus, I pray for forgiveness and rely on the promise of the grace of God. For that, I am genuinely…truly thankful!
Words from WW Blog 