GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 12:40
Devouring the Houses of Widows
The feature article in the last edition of the AARP Bulletin warned readers about several scams targeting seniors. The article identified some scammers who were captured; however, the damage they caused could not be undone.
The latest edition of TIME magazine carried a story about one senior citizen who was scammed out of $50,000, and she was a financial advisor, someone who should have been able to identify a scam and thwart it. But criminals are at work devising ingenious, believable new ways to steal money.
One of Jesus’ harshest condemnations was against religious scammers. “And in his teaching he said, ‘Watch out for the scribes who desire to walk about in long robes and who desire greetings in the marketplace, and the first seats in synagogues, and places of honor at meals. They devour the houses of widows and in pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.’” (Mark 12:38-40)
Mark’s word “devour” is the Greek word katesthio (κατεσθίω, from κατά “down,” intensifying ἐσθίω, “eat”), a compound word meaning to eat all the way down—to consume with a rapacious, voracious appetite. Jesus’ judgment was especially severe because these religious scammers devoured the whole substance of the vulnerable—the widows—even to the consuming of their houses.
In one famous scam—known as the affinity or faith-based fraud—the host of a Christian radio show called “It’s God’s Money” between 2004 and 2010 persuaded 38 people to deposit their life savings—about $8 million—in a fraudulent company set up by the show’s host, Gary Gauthier, and his partner, David Dreslin. Gauthier and Dreslin were arrested for racketeering and securities fraud, but the $8 million was gone—gobbled up.
In another case, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest in Chicago, the Rev. Nicholas Chervyatiuk, defrauded his 93-year-old former church secretary, who suffered from dementia, of $500,000, spending the money on hair salons, restaurants, and rental properties. When arrested, he showed remorse, claiming it was what the woman would have wanted.
Jesus taught that people who perpetrate fraud under the cloak of religion will receive “greater condemnation.”
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