Our local police department has put out a brochure entitled “Scam Alert”. It warns local citizens of several common scams that are going around. Among those listed are incarcerated family member scam, IRS scam, FPL scam, family member in a crash scam, computer virus scam, home rental scam, and text scam. Victims of these scams can lose their personal information and a whole lot of money. At the bottom of the brochure the police department says: Citizens Beware!
God’s Word frequently alerts us of the dangers of spiritual scammers. Paul wrote to the Colossian believers giving them a scam alert in Col. 2:4-8: “I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude. Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ”. To be able to resist the false teachers we need to be strongly rooted in our relationship to Christ and fully immersed in a knowledge of scripture. There are those who want to deceive us and take advantage of us. The Colossian believers were bombarded with various mystical philosophies that reduced the supremacy of Christ. There were also teachings that majored in keeping the law and exalting the position of angels. Paul fortified their ability to resist these various philosophies by explaining that they were complete in Him. Nothing more was needed.
Behind all these false teachings is the greatest scammer of all- the devil, who has been deceiving people since the Garden of Eden. Paul warned the Corinthians about scammers in 2 Cor. 11:3: “But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete and pure devotion to Christ”.
The scam alert brochure was put out by the police department to protect local citizens from those who would steal our money. God’s scam alerts found in the Bible are there to protect our soul. Believer Beware!