05/27/2024
I rolled over in bed this morning and gave my wife a hug. I said to her, “Thank God for protecting us from so many scams!” She laughed and yet was puzzled. In all our years of marriage I had never started the day like this.
But we have had people come to our door regularly to try to get us to buy something or donate money to some cause. Every day we get Chinese hackers and people pretending to be banks or phone companies or parcel pick up - texting us a link hoping we will click on it! Our world seems full of scammers and hackers? So far so good, no scams here.
I was still holding her and I said to her… “I am so glad that when I married you, it wasn’t your mother coming up the aisle. Or one of your three sisters in Finland!” She laughed.
We remembered that Jacob is the father of the twelve tribes of Israel and is a significant figure in Biblical history. God later changes his name to Israel from which the nation finds its name. Jacob’s name means “supplanter” or “one who grabs.” In the case of Jacob, he grabbed his brothers heel when they were being born. His brother’s name was Esau and he was born first - but Jacob grabbed onto his twin brothers heel when they were being born. Esau was the first born of Isaac but he lost his birthright to Jacob. Esau is the father of the Arabic speaking peoples today. There was a natural, bitter rivalry between Jacob and Esau even today there is a supernatural animosity between Israel and the Arab nations surrounding her.
Jacob was sent by his father Isaac to find a wife from a relative’s family. He met Rachel at her family’s well and for him, it was love at first sight. But her father talked him into seven years of working for her. After the seven years of labor, Laban agreed to allow Jacob to marry Rachel. In Jewish wedding ceremonies, the brides usually have their entire face covered with only a small opening for the eyes. After Jacob married the woman and spent the night with his new bride he woke up in horror to discover that he had been tricked. Jacob the grabber had been grabbed. Scammed!
Jacob thought that he had married Rachel but he had instead married Leah. Jacob was outraged and when he confronted Rachel’s father Laban, the father told Jacob that it was customary to have the eldest daughter marry first. Laban said that Jacob could also marry Rachel if he agreed to work another seven years for him. Jacob, smitten by Rachel, quickly agreed and worked another seven years for Laban.
Wow, what a scam!
But what about living in a society where everyone scammed each other? Don Richardson, a missionary from Victoria, B.C. went with his nurse wife to Irian Jaya, Indonesia - up a long series of rivers to a primitive tribe where the greatest virtue was betrayal. No one trusted anyone, most lived outside of arrow range up in the trees!
His famous book “Peace Child” tells the story - from the start - of a man Kautap, who was met by a canoe from upriver. He feared for his life but they invited him to a feast in their village and sent him home with gifts and this went on for months … these villages along the river had been at war since they could remember… but both villages went along sending gifts and using Kautap as sole mediator. Later they had another feast in the upriver village but as they sat down to eat in the long house, they pulled their spears from the ceiling rafters and killed Kautap and cooked and ate him. They celebrated their scam. He was played. The people of the river villages talked often of their greatest scams.
After years Don Richardson a translator had earned their trust and helped them greatly. One day Don had learned enough of their culture, he thought, and language to tell them the Greatest story of Jesus, the Christ. Which was why he and his family had spent years there serving them. When He got to the part about Judas betraying the Son of God, they all cheered and jumped and celebrated. This was the greatest betrayal they had every heard of! Judas was the hero, not Jesus.
Don went home dejected, and tired of the tribal fighting and talked to his wife about leaving these people. God gave Don direction. During a battle he asked them if they could ever make Peace. They said that the chief must give his own baby son to the enemy chief and vice versa but if anything happened to the Peace Child that would be cause for war again. It was a very shaky peace agreement! It turns out that the greatest sin in their culture was to betray a Peace Child - when Don explained that Christ was sent by the Heavenly father to bring peace to the warring sinful people of earth then Judas was seen as the greatest villain, the Betrayer of the Peace Child sent from God. Most of the river tribes became Christians and followed the Bible Teaching and left their lives of scams and betrayals to follow Christ alone. The Sawi story is online.
This past Saturday night in Vancouver Soccer fans paid over 12000 dollars to see Lionel Messi, the great Argentine Star come with Luis Suarez and others from Inter Miami Football Club, to play the local ‘Whitecaps’. For Messi's debut in Vancouver, BC Place Stadium was fully opened up, to the top deck with thousands more tickets available than usual. Even so, the cheapest tickets currently on the resale market are essentially $340 (after fees)
Messi’s career has been packed with incredible goalscoring consistency with over 50 goals scored in six of his seasons in Catalonia, as part of a club career record of 713 goals and an overall tally of 816, including his goals for Argentina (103).
But Messi and Suarez didn’t come. Instead they sent his mother. But she had scored no goals! No, they didn’t send her - but still what a scam! Fans were offered half price food and a free ticket to another game but… Well, local people are still demanding their money back. The Club still lost to a Messiless Miami!!! The league will have a lawsuit and - what a mess!
This has happened before in other sports where NBA Stars like Steph Curry or Lebron didn’t show up to a city because of an injury or “load management” ! People paying to see their idols - ended being ripped off.
Elvis Presley performed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on August 31, 1957. This concert took place at the old Empire Stadium and is considered one of the most legendary performances of his career. Estimates suggest that the crowd ranged from 16,000 to over 26,000 people, making it the largest audience he faced in 1957. During the show, the excited crowd even charged the stage, prompting Elvis to cut his performance short to about 22 minutes. It turned out to be his last performance outside the United States!
I wonder how much a minute people had paid for? I wonder how much a minute Elvis was paid for coming, but at least he didn’t send his mother to sub in…
Perhaps the worst scam ever was when sincere Catholics who had heard about - the Jewish Messiah, the Savior of all nations - who healed the blind, who cleansed leprosy covered - hopeless people. Christ made the lame to walk, He walked on water and calmed storms and fulfilled over 350 prophecies in His first coming! He came to explain how no longer would they have to sacrifice an innocent animal and shed innocent blood to pay for their own guilty offences. He would take their place on a cross. These people who had no righteousness in themselves… He would be their covering, their righteousness before God. He would shed his innocent blood in atonement for all sinners on earth past, present and future . All who would respond to His enormous love and accept Him as full payment for their debt with a Holy God - could be saved eternally instead perishing forever.
Yet even today so many are intrigued and show up wanting to find Jesus Christ and to see Him in all His glory. The One who existed before the Temple, the One who claimed to be greater than Abraham! The One who had created all things and upholds the universe.
Sadly Catholics stepped into the stadium - and there was only Mary the mother of Jesus and a few former friends and followers. What a scam! What a travesty! Surely there could be nothing worse. But there is…
Sincere but deluded people show up daily wanting to see Jesus Christ the Lord of Creation and Salvation - and are pointed to a thin wafer biscuit and told not only to worship the wafer but that the wafer is Christ Himself, in the flesh.
Somehow magically - a designated man, a false priest comes and says some magic words, a bell rings and the wafer becomes the actual physical body of Christ our Creator and Saviour! They put this monstrous blasphemy into a gold monstrance and people bow to it thinking it is Christ. They have been told that. They have been sold into History’s greatest scam. They keep buying idols of Jesus and his mother and even venerating dead bones of past “followers”. They keep giving money to the richest entity on the planet. More gold and real estate than any other - except perhaps the U.S. government.
These poor sincere folks came to see and discover the Resurrected and Ascended into Heaven Jesus Christ and instead are offered a wafer and his mother as co redemptrix, what ever that means. Seems to be trix to me.
Could there be a worse scam in the Universe? They are told to be satisfied with an invented false imposter mother - instead of the Great Goal scorer, the greatest Champion ever - who conquered death and sin and uniquely offers us forgiveness and eternal life. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father but by me”
He said it. Fulfilled prophecy backs it all up! Anything else, anyone else is just a scam. Or am I wrong?
Hey, just asking…
