Have you ever gotten one of those emails from Nigeria asking you to help someone smuggle some money out of the country that you can keep if you help? One website lists 542 different examples of this basic email scam involving free money from Nigeria. Of course, to get the free money, you have to give them money, open them a bank account, or give them a credit card. Hint: The friendly folks from Nigeria are interested in getting your money, not giving it away.
According to a report that will air tonight on ABC’s 20/20, these spammer-scammers are now targeting American churches and ministers, cheating them out of millions with the promise of helping them improve their church building or finance their ministries. Of course, the church has to pony up some legal fees, taxes and expenses up front. Gotcha! The scam cheated members of the Hickory Ridge Community Church (Sussex County, Del.) out of $350,000 on the promise that they would receive $41 million. An accountant hired by the church was duped when the Nigerians confessed faith in Christ and professed that they want to promote the gospel with the money. This scam has done more than deplete the church treasury. According to prosecutors, Mary Winkler, the Tennessee preacher’s wife who shot her husband had been duped by this same scam. They suggest (her family has a different story) that she shot her husband after he confronted her about the scam.
Greed. When it came time for someone to draw up the list of seven deadly sins, greed was put on the list. And it should be. Paul says that greed (somehow the older “covetousness” doesn’t seem as severe) is like the sin of idolatry (Col 3:5). The word here (pleonexia) is related to the word for "exploit" (pleonekteĊ), and it makes sense. Those who are greedy sure make it easier for others to exploit them, right? Somehow I’m not as frustrated with those behind the Nigeria scam as I am with the churches and ministers who seem to be so easily duped. Were they just naive, or were they greedy? Paul was able to say with a clear conscience that he neither showed greed nor exploitation in his ministry, “You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness” (1 Thess 2:5). We need to be able to say the same thing.
BTW, the news article that reported this in ABC’s website is basically a blog that allows reader’s comments. Do you know what most people said in response to this story? Here’s a very representative comment, “These churches are probably just seeing dollar signs, like usual. And besides, many of them scam money out of people every Sunday (every day of the week on the television). What goes around comes around.” Oh, sure, churches and ministers are just interested in getting money! Where would they get that lame idea? Hmmm…
1 comment:
When we allow ourselves to be robbed of our own or other’s funding, we are putting money and power into the hands of criminals. What they do with that money becomes our responsibility. What criminals do with money is not good. Terrorist and other evil doers cannot function without funds. Cut off their money and you cut off their ability to harm our nation and others. It is that simple, and we supply criminals with the power to harm us when we are not good stewards of our funds or when we allow others to distribute our donations recklessly. Close the loop and leave the criminals on the outside (do not give them a foot hold). If you profit from helping criminals, you are a criminal and will be held accountable in a court of law. Deprived of funding criminal organizations die. Immeasurable heartache can be avoided, do not give evil a foothold, mark them accordingly as they reveal themselves and you will be rewarded with the knowledge that you have done the right thing and that is something no amount of money can buy. (rightontuck)
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