Wise and Harmless

Yesterday, I started to Google something, and SLAM BAM, the warning pictured above (less the ip number) came up with a LOUD buzz that wouldn’t stop. I tried every key to stop it and nothing worked. My computer was totally locked up and my first thought, "This is a scam!" I called Larry, my technical guru son, who told me it was a scam and to just reboot my computer, which I didn’t want to do because of unsaved work I had on it. Nevertheless, I did and when my computer came back up it was fine, and so was my inspiration for today's blog and FB post about being wise AND harmless in a day when we every reason to be wary of evil that seems abounding. Scammers and scams seem to be on the rise like never before.

While I was taking some r/e continuing ed classes last week, the instructor told us to put our phones on silent, to which we all did. But, right in the middle of the class, the instructor’s phone speaker loudly said, “This is the Internal Revenue Service and you are under criminal investigation for past due payments. You will be arrested if you do not call within 24 hours…….” She assured us she had no payments due to the IRS and she verified that her phone was on silent, yet the scammers were able to even get around that technology. The IRS says taxpayers across the nation have been faced with a deluge of these aggressive phone scams.

Not long ago, I had fraudulent charges hit my bank account. Fortunately, my bank caught it before I did and resolved it for me.
We’ve all heard the sad stories of how people lost their entire life’s savings to scammers. How could people be so cruel to do that to someone AND how can people have such lack of wisdom to fall for those scams?

Jesus cautioned His disciples, men who were just heading out to spread good news to the world, that they were doing dangerous work. He said, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves”. Matthew 10:16. In this day and age, how can WE be wise and harmless at the same time?

How are serpents wise? To be wise means to be marked by understanding of people and situations, to have keen and unusual discernment, and a capacity for sound judgment in dealing with people and situations. To discern means to detect with the eyes and with senses other than vision. It also means to read character or motives. Snakes are pros at escaping. Their most common form of self-protection is avoidance. A snake’s first line of defense is to escape to safety among rocks or vegetation. Snakes have to be alert to dangers. Most snakes are not aggressive. Snakes do not want to attack humans. Snakes bite humans only in self-defense. They would rather not confront us. So it seems that we can be as wise as serpents by perceiving and avoiding danger and escaping from it!

How are doves harmless? To be harmless is to lack the capacity to injure or to be free from inflicting physical or mental damage. Doves are referred to as birds of peace. Their temperament is calm and their disposition is sweet. Doves really are harmless. Doves aren’t that bright as seen in how they build their nests quite poorly. I read that they will even lay their eggs on a windowsill. I can’t fault them for that. How many “delivering” human mamas end up giving birth in a car or some other less-than-comfy place?

Wise and Harmless – it seems like God was giving us the tools to make it when it seems the enemy is out to get us everywhere we turn. We need to heed Jesus’ instruction to His disciples: “Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Detect and avoid danger, while living in gentleness, kindness and innocence. Be wise and harmless—always. When taken together, these instructions just may be our best OFFENSE and DEFENSE against the snare of the fowler. "Surely He will save you from the snare of the fowler" Psalm 91:3.

The Enemy is a Lion WITHOUT Teeth

Day 297 of Photo Inspirations -- The Enemy is a Lion WITHOUT Teeth
Tuesday Night, our Hyde-Out Clubhouse was packed to hear "News On 6" Anchor and Crime Reporter Lori Fullbright provide the latest crime trends and the best ways we can all be safer. She believes "knowledge is power". She shared victims' stories and the current scams that are set up to steal from us -- particularly scams that convince innocent victims that they are dealing with "so called" nice, friendly people.  There are tech support scams, counterfeit merchandise scams, grant scams, free trips scams, timeshare scams, dating scams, door-to-door yarkwork or home repairs scams, collection agency scams.  And those scammers end up stealing thousands of dollars from their victims.

As I listened to Lori, I thought "How gullible can people be to fall prey to these scammers?  Common sense should keep us wide awake from such ploys."  But Lori said, highly intelligent professionals (and even her own mother) hear the nice people speaking to them, and think that it's for real.

Immediately, I thought about how our enemy, Satan, goes about as a roaring lion seeking who he can devour, but he can only devour those who are naive and easily deceived.  We need to be on high alert against the wiles of the enemy.  "He came to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life more abundantly." (John 10:10)  But we need to KNOW the difference between LIGHT and darkness and the only way to know the difference is knowing HIM. Is  Satan powerful? Yes. Is God MORE powerful?  Absolutely.

"He ain't got no teeth!"  I loved this story I heard from a man who recounted his experience of watching a lion in a zoo. "As I stood there," he said, "an attendant entered the cage. He had nothing in his hands but a broom.  Carefully closing the door, he proceeded to sweep the floor of the cage." He observed that the worker had no weapon to ward off an attack by the beast. In fact, when he got to the corner of the cage where the lion was lying, he poked the animal with the broom. The lion hissed at him and then laid down in another corner of the enclosure.

The man remarked to the attendant, "You certainly are a brave man." "No, I ain't brave," he replied as he continued to sweep. "Well, then, that cat must be tame." "No," came the reply, "he ain't tame." "If you aren't brave and the lion isn't tame, then I can't understand why he doesn't attack you." The attendant chuckled, then replied with an air of confidence, "Mister, he's old -- and he ain't got no teeth."

That’s the devil.  Ever since Jesus died on the cross, he "ain’t got no teeth."  He can growl and he can roar, but he’s a defeated foe. As long as we become more and more knowledgeable, like Lori said, "Knowledge is power", and stay in touch with our Lord Who will give us wisdom against the enemy, there is nothing he can do to harm us.  But we can't just ignore the enemy.  Remember, he's out there and will roam around to snag us or drag us into all kinds of distractions and steal from us.  We must always be on our guard.  This final verse says it precisely:

1 Peter 5:8-9  (LB) "Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart. Stand firm when he attacks. Trust the Lord...."