Mike called last night; he and Sue are area church friends. He asked about the recent scam message they received, purportedly from me, abroad, robbed, desperately needing funds in the far country to return home. This remains an oft-repeated story. Recent weeks brought calls from MI., TX., Canada, and numerous other places, all for the same purpose.
I was hacked online. I was trespassed, violated, robbed of numerous contacts, and used for selfish purposes--scam my friends and family. That describes Satan in the Old Testament story of Job. Anyway you read Job, he was invaded--trespassed. The writer claims Satan’s primary role is that of trespasser on posted property that belongs to God by creation.
The Bible abundantly describes this trespassing of God’s posted property. My numerous callers represent today’s church [church member] in current society, which brings me back to my recent week at Warner Memorial Camp.
“Tracks” (the daily camp newsletter), reported “many generational families on grounds!!” The observer reported “4 families of 4 generations” and sought to learn of more. That is nice, perhaps, but I suggest this is normal procedure for the average church family. When we remain alert to those forces trespassing God’s posted property (our families) and alert them to the “hackers in their lives” that is going on, we are only acting as parents that love our kids. This seems only normal, rational, and the “Christian” thing to do!
Having shared this opinion, let me go one step further. From the same issue of “Tracks”, the reporter shared from Pastor Gary’s message the night before. Gary introduced his theme (sermon if you will) by recognizing a problem in our churches. He suggested we need to return to the example of the early church and learn from them. He claimed the Bible is our manual for learning how to live (we claim it as “inspired“ but we too often ignore it).
Going to church will neither save us, nor change us where we need to be changed. Cleaning up a pig and tying a bow on it will not prevent that pig from doing what it does naturally--wallow in the mud. Improving our economics, and changing our circumstances, will not stop our “hackers” from trespassing our lives and using that information to scam still others. It happens all the time, from government to the gutter.
I enjoy the historical aspects of Warner Camp. I love the religious heritage I learned via the Church of God (Anderson Convention). I do not enjoy the fact that we have so many spiritually obese people waddling around full of historical tradition and theological certainty while overlooking the obvious fact that our world is full of people needing someone to call, email, or otherwise contact them and let them know they have been hacked.
A trespasser lurks in their lives, seeking whomever he can devour. Many are oblivious of their hacker; they fail to recognize the scamming taking place. They see only this or that misfortune, or lack of opportunity, or some other social-or-moral diagnosis. And, some plainly do not care; they are too full of themselves and are intent only on getting WHAT THEY WANT, which is what they have been led to believe is what they need. THIS IS THE BIGGEST SCAM ever been perpetuated on our society, by profit-seeking social designers.
We are in an economic CRUNCH, for several reasons. However, we are in an even LARGER MORAL CRUNCH. We remain a rudderless society sailing around in a social mud puddle, looking in all the wrong places for the right solution. Going back to what Gary talked about--we need to change our lives. We need to give evidence of Holy Living. We need as Christians to live like Christians (little Christ’s) or we need to change our name from Christians to something else. We need to share that sense of family (we call it unity), which means we need to be more interested in taking the message of Jesus around the globe than we are concerned about all Christians coming to our Sheep Pen at Anderson, IN.
We have a bigger mission than that. Christ’s mission did not begin with D. S. Warner in 1881; it began with the “1st century disciples” when Jesus instructed them to go into ALL the world and share His Story. Jesus is the gate on which history swings, and as nearly as I can tell, it is His story … this is Warner’s World … walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
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