Trailing God

9

Where Sin Abounds

Grace abounds even more.

—Romans 5:20

In the last few weeks, I have been dealing with an experience that has made me see evil face-to-face. It has made me evaluate the words of the Bible verse, “When sin abounds, grace abounds even more.”

I found that I was about to become the next victim of cyber fraud and theft. One day, I got a call at seven o’clock in the morning from fraudsters who pretended to be my bank agents, telling me that my credit card had been compromised. I am sure many of us have gotten these crank calls and promptly dismissed the fraudsters, but that morning, they caught me in a state of fear, as I was worried that my son might be stuck in a snowbank or something—it had been snowing heavily over the past few days—and it was way too early in the morning for me to get a regular call.

In my state of anxiety, it was very easy for them to get me hooked on the lies they were feeding me. Of course, I did all they asked, including giving them access into my computer, ostensibly so they could show me how much they claimed had been taken from my credit card and account. This was all in an effort to convince me that they were legitimate but actually was to get access to my personal information and online banking details.

They kept me on the phone for about an hour, perpetuating this hoax. I spoke with three individuals who pretended to work in three different departments of the bank, including the fraud department, no less.

It took me a little while to catch on, but when they asked me to use my credit card to commit fraud, as part of their investigative process, I flat-out refused. I told them I needed that instruction to come directly from the fraud investigations officer, written out on paper with the bank letterhead and signed with authorization from him.

As soon as they realized I wouldn’t cooperate, they dropped the call—and that’s when it dawned on me that they were con artists. I immediately called my bank and made them check my accounts to ensure no money had been stolen. My account seemed normal; no unusual activity had taken place in the last hour, I was told.

I thought I had escaped being defrauded—a narrow escape, I thought. A week later, I found out that $5,700 had been taken from my accounts for “pseudo” legitimate payments to the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) and 407 toll fees.This has led to weeks of trying to recover the money from these institutions.

Why did I tell you about this experience? I’m not the first to experience such a situation, and neither will I be the last. The story, however, does not end there.

It’s this next part of the story that makes me think of the Bible phrase, “The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV).

During the course of my bank’s investigation, the fraud investigation officer looked into my accounts and insisted that the disputed withdrawals from my accounts were legitimate, as I had made the payments directly to the CRA and 407. I was totally stunned, as I had done no such thing—and I told him so. Eventually, I relayed the entire story of what had happened. After he listened intently, he said he thought he knew what had happened:

So what happened you ask? Here’s the kicker. Wait for it……...

Because I refused to commit a crime for the fraudsters with my credit card, and so the end result of their scam, after they had spent over an hour talking to me, was nothing for them, they then proceeded to take money from my accounts and pay everyone to whom I had made a payment to at one time or the other. They distributed my money like I was Santa Claus. Because they weren’t successful with their scam, they decided to make me suffer by trying to retrieve my money from the various institutions to which they sent it. I had wasted their time, so they were going to waste mine.

The thought of this made me feel sick. I saw how desperately wicked the heart of man had become and the depths to which it had sunk. It wasn’t enough that they were common thieves; but the mere hatred of complete strangers, just because they were unsuccessful with their scam, now, that is evil.

What turns men’s hearts so against their fellow human being, who is a complete stranger to them? Someone who has no connection to them, and they don’t know what he or she was going through in their world?

How have we become so callous that we do not care what we do to one another? How have we become so desperate in the current world and sunk so low as to blatantly ask another person to commit fraud? We are no longer picking pockets without the knowledge of the victim, but now we confront innocent people and tell them to give you access to their accounts so we can steal from them.

When Jesus says that there are only two commandments we are to obey, and all other laws fall under these two laws. We might think, Just two laws? That’s easy for people to follow—but that’s not true.

Law 1: “Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul” (Matthew 22:37 NIV).

Law2: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39 NIV).

Two laws. How difficult can these be to follow? But I am experiencing what happens when those laws do not influence the decisions that we make.

My heart breaks about this. No, I have not lost money—I will eventually retrieve the money that was sent out—but my heart breaks for the heart of humankind and the slow descent into the pits of hell, where humankind’s heart seems to be heading. But God says, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.”

If grace abounds even more, what does that look like? The Bible says the grace of God brings about salvation. God is compassionate and gracious and desires that all individuals receive his salvation.

I know that as wicked as the heart of humankind is, God has already made a provision of redemption to claw us back from the edges of the pit of hell. This is what God’s grace is.

With this knowledge, my spirit is lifted, knowing that even for these fraudsters, God has a salvation plan. All I can do right now is pray that laborers are sent on their paths to tell them of God’s love and salvation plan, so that those two laws become meaningful in their lives.

Darkness will never overcome light, for God’s light will shine into their world of darkness, and although their darkness won’t comprehend it, change shall surely come.