My Financial Windfall

By John Grant
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“Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15

In these ever turbulent economic times, as I watch my savings deplete, suddenly there are financial lifelines. I get them several times a week, and I am sure you do too. They are like the following: “You won $2.5 million from the Malaysia Sweepstakes. Contact, Andy Jerry via email: with your secret pin code and your reference number.�
 
Or sometimes they are like this: “I am asking for your assistance to claim this inheritance fund belonging to my late client.  Since his death, the fund has been unclaimed because i have not been able to locate any of his relatives abroad and you are the closest relative. Please, if you are interested, sincere and ready to assist me with this claim, do respond to this message so I can give you the detailed information on how to proceed on this inheritance claim.� Or like this, “There is the sum of $30,000,000 in my bank. There were no beneficiaries stated concerning these funds which means no one would ever come for the claims. That is why I ask to you assist me so as to have the sum transferred out of my bank into your account.

I never realized that I had so many rich relatives around the world. Usually the e-mails tell about my wealthy and long lost cousin who has died and strangely, I am his closest heir. I am promised millions, but usually have to pay some legal fees in advance. I know of one man who paid $75,000 to get his millions and never heard a word from anyone thereafter. Most of the time these fraud schemes want your bank account information so they can clean it out. The FBI refers to this as an “Advance Fee Fraud.�

How could anyone fall for this? I have a friend who sits on a bank board and he tells me they average about two customers a month who get taken and usually for large amounts of money. A recent news article confirmed that just in the United States the loss is about $100 million per year.

How does this happen? The answer is greed. People are so excited about getting such a large financial windfall that they lose all sense of reason. This is why as Christians, we should use the Bible as our guide to all actions. Jeremiah tells us that “everyone is greedy for gain,� and Luke warns us to “be on guard against every form of greed; life is not in possessions.� Peter warns of false prophets who “in their greed will exploit you with false words� and whose hearts are “trained in greed.�

It is so easy to get caught up in the world of materialism which stirs our greed and causes us to do foolish things. As Christians let us remember:  In Christ alone I place my trust, and find my glory in the power of the cross. In every victory, let it be said of me, my source of strength, my source of hope is Christ alone.
 (a thought on life from John Grant )

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