We are one of the few families that still maintains a home line in addition to our mobile phones. We have honestly thought about getting rid of it, but there have been instances when Janet has needed to make an emergency call and didn’t have her cell phone nearby. To be sure, AT&T is making it very expensive to keep a landline but for the time being we are staying the course. And that decision has resulted in receiving countless spam calls even though we are on the “no call” list that is supposed to prevent such intrusions into our lives.
We have had calls regarding our car warranty expiring, our home warranty needing to be updated, the constant calls about Medicare and how we need to sign up for our 2025 plan and even the “new, recently passed” legislation for “funeral insurance.” This supposedly guarantees us the ability to pay for our funeral expenses and leave a little left over for loved ones. As you are undoubtedly aware, all of these are scams, primarily designed to get older people confused and commit to spend money or give access to private information. Inevitably, this leads to some sort of financial loss for the wronged party.
Janet absolutely hates it when I answer the phone and play along with the caller. Sometimes, I get annoyed and hang up but most of the time I like to see where the caller is trying to get me to go. Lately, a relatively new scam has become somewhat popular in our area. It happens to involve grandchildren and the fact that they have been arrested or are in trouble and need our financial help.
The calls usually start out with a male voice referring to me as “Grandpa” and letting me know that they have been in a car accident or have been picked up by the police. Invariably, they are either in a hospital or a police station and need some sort of assistance. I play it cool and ask what happened… I get some sob story that is completely made up. I have learned to never ask which “grandson” is calling or I get hung up on. Of course, I am “upset” to learn that they are hurt or in trouble. Eventually, when they want a credit card number or some other sort of financial assistance, I offer to come to the hospital or the police station and pick them up when I “pay” the “bill.”
That typically ends the conversation. I now try to keep the caller on the phone as long as possible to see how the end of the call plays out. But I haven’t been successful yet. Janet is thrilled when the call ends – as I said, she hates it when I play along although I think she finds it unbelievable that these scammers are playing to elderly folks with strong emotional attachments to family members.
I can’t help but be reminded that these callers remind me of the deceptions of Satan. In fact, one of my doctoral dissertations was on this very subject – how Satan tries to imitate God and convince us that he is the real thing. Nothing is further from the truth. One of the main problems with Satanic deceptions is the fact that Satan is smart enough to include a morsel of truth in his deception that makes his false argument more believable.
At various places in the Bible, Satan taunts Jesus in the desert and misquotes Scripture in a failed attempt to convince Jesus to follow him. In Revelation, he also finally fights Michael and his archangels resulting in his expulsion from heaven – being cast down to earth with approximately a third of the angels. That would be the fallen angels. It is clear that this is a future war in heaven – it hasn’t happened yet…
Probably, one of the most revealing things about Satan is the section of Scripture that highlights what are called the five “I wills.” These verses from Isaiah tell us that Satan (Lucifer) wants to imitate God and convince people that he is the real thing… Our verse for tonight highlights the Scripture where Satan issues his statement. Isaiah tells us, in Isaiah 14:12-15, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (KJV)
The KJV actually refers to Lucifer as the son of the morning, or the Morning Star. Notice that five times in this section of Scripture, Satan makes comments about things that he will do… He even has the audacity to say that he will be like the most High God. Blasphemy! We know that eventually, however, God will prevail and Satan will wind up in hell!
My encouragement this evening is that as Christians we already know the end of the story – God wins and we win with Him. My prayer is that we won’t be persuaded by the deceptions of Satan any more than the scammers who prey on the helplessness of our elder population. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…