The Preacher's Pen

Want to buy the Eiffel Tower? Lots of people did in 1925. In that year a swindler, card shark, and all-around confidence man named Victor Lustig ran one of the most brazen and outrageous scams of all time. He sold the Eiffel Tower -- twice! Posing as a government official he invited Parisian scrap metal dealers to a secret meeting. He told them that the government could no longer afford the upkeep on the Tower, and so wanted it removed. These scrap dealers, Lustig said, had been selected and brought to the meeting because of their stellar reputations, and would have the opportunity to secretly bid on the project. On and on he went, feeding their egos and discussing how much money the Tower would be worth to them. It didn't take long for Lustig to pick one of the dealers as his "mark" and take him to the cleaners. Lustig then fled Paris, only to learn that his victim was too embarrassed to tell anyone he had been fleeced. So Lustig returned to Paris, lined up a different set of scrap metal dealers and ran the same scam again. Incredibly, it worked again. What a salesman!

We chuckle at such, until the news comes on and tells us that a salesman in San Diego sold 38 people on the idea of killing themselves so they could ride a spaceship hiding behind a comet. How can such happen? Is it too much to suggest there is a connection between Victor Lustig and Marshall Applewhite? Both told people what they wanted to hear. One stroked pride and greed, the other insecurity and acceptance, but both salesman gave the customer exactly what he or she wanted. As one expert on swindles said "Scams work because we want to believe them."

All of this points to how vitally important our attitude toward truth is. If we want to believe lies then, as awful as this is to say, we will. If we want to be deceived we will be. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 says that God will allow people to believe lies if they want to, and people believe those lies "because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved." What do you love? Righteousness or evil? The truth that is found in Jesus Christ, or would you rather believe the devil's lies? Satan will gladly sell you a tower that is not for sale, or kill you to ride a spaceship that does not exist if you want to believe him. Or you can have the abundant life in Jesus Christ. It is all in what you want. What do you want to believe? Be careful here, because that is what you will believe.