Tag Archives: con

Buyers Beware!

“Boy I pulled a fast one over him,” the voice said.

I looked up from my meal. The speaker was several tables down from me in the restaurant.

“He didn’t know what hit him,” he continued, deep satisfaction in his voice. “He’ll only know I had him when it’s too late, and that useless junk will be on his hands.”

I gazed at him in dismay. The speaker was a member of my congregation, a businessman known in the community as a church leader. And here he was, boasting about the sharp (or would that be “dishonest”) deal he had just brought off.

“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight,” (Proverbs 11:1, ESV).

The image of scales reflects the ancient method of weighing grain or some other product on one scale with a weight on the other. An image that is similar to our picture of Madame Justice, blind-folded and holding even scales before her.

It would be fairly simple for a dishonest businessman to fix the weight in order to increase profits, especially when doing business with those members of society who were unable to protest – the poor, for instance, or the widow.

The Christian businessman does not offer a defective product; he does not charge an extortionate price; he does not take advantage of either his competitors or his customers. Not if the “Christian” part of “Christian businessman” is genuine.

“Come-back” customers are the result of fair and honest business dealing. You only cheat a customer once. He won’t come back to be cheated again!

I always wondered what would have happened if that cheated customer came to church one Sunday and saw my Christian business friend leading in worship. There’s a businessman that would have lost far more than a customer. He would have lost his influence, too!

by Stan Mitchell @ www.forthright.net

Another con artist

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Tonight, after our evening service had concluded and most members of the congregation had left, a man walked into the church building and said he was seeking “help.”  He correctly identified me as the minister and asked if he could present his request.

This man said he lived in the state of Michigan and he was on his way to Indianapolis, IN because his 2-year old son had been hit and killed by a car earlier in the day.  His son had been in the custody of his ex-wife and she had failed to properly watch him.

This fellow’s story sounded sincere and it was convincing.  After listening to what he had to say and asking if there were any other details I told him we always verify the details of a person’s story before helping.  In his case we would be glad to give him the money he wanted once we verified his story with the Indianapolis police department.

After introducing the police into our discussion some subtle changes were evident in this fellow’s behavior.  He said he understood that verification was necessary because “some people lie” and “we should check with the police while he went to his cousin’s house down the road to collect some money he was owed.”

In spite of the attempts to tell this man we would give him the full amount of money he wanted after verifying his story, he insisted on “going to see his cousin.”  Although this was suspicious and suggestive of a con artist, if our visitor had truly lost his son a few hours earlier, perhaps the shock of the event was interfering with his ability to correctly reason.  Thus, in view of his unusual claim, we agreed to call the police department while he went to see his cousin.

The police dispatcher in Indianapolis had not heard of a two year old being killed earlier in the day; he also said this type of event would have surely been discussed among the officers.  He said I could check with the Coroner’s office so a second call was made to the morgue.

Fellow Christians waited with me at the building for a reasonable amount of time and the man never returned.  The calls to the police department and the Coroner also failed to validate this man’s story.

The time spent with this man was interesting as well as insightful.  Consider the following thoughts.

Some people lie.

Some of the lies people tell are “whoppers.”

The Bible teaches us to give people the benefit of the doubt, but we must be mindful that con artists are in the world.  We have no obligation to help people be freeloaders.

Try to go the “second mile” with people, even if it seems they do not deserve it.

Jesus said if we could “gain the whole world” this would not be worth our eternal spirit.  Sadly, we find people who will “sell their soul” for a few dollars or a free night in a motel.

Brad Price
www.lordletmegrow.com