GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 13:22
Credit Card, Please.
I was in a large northeastern city, and street merchants were hawking Rolex watches and Gucci handbags for $25 each. Sure the were.
Recently, there was a news report warning about an email scam. The AARP magazine also ran a major article on scams targeting seniors. In one story, a woman received a notice that her streaming service account had been hacked, and the email instructed her to call a phone number to stop the intrusion. She called, and the scammer sent her to another email address—well, by the time the scammers were through, they had her credit card number, bank account number, Social Security number, and phone number. She became another victim. The warning: Never open an unknown email attachment or respond to an unknown caller or an unfamiliar phone number. Pseudo-businesses are finding new ways to separate victims from their money.
As Jesus taught his audience about what lay ahead, he said, “And then if someone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ; look there!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.” (Mark 13:21-22)
Josephus, writing shortly after the city of Jerusalem fell to the Roman army, tells of Simon of Gerasa, Eleazar, and John, men who gained admission to the besieged city by pretending to be deliverers of the people. They gathered a crowd of followers around themselves, and some of them plundered the temple.
In the midst of Jesus’ dire warning about being led astray, he inserted the phrase “if possible” (εἰ δυνατὸν). The message in this small expression is that the preserving power of the Father is greater than the deceptive power of the deceivers. This protection does not come without investment—prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and disciplined living—the “whole armor of God.”
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