Today's Devotional

 

 December 24, 2008

                                                                                                                        

Subject:  Satan's Ponzi Scheme 

John 8:44b "...When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." 

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You may have heard recently about the Ponzi Scheme of billionaire Bernard Madoff.  My first reaction was, "what is a Ponzi Scheme?"  So I had to research it to see and the definition of a Ponzi Scheme is - a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors out of the money paid by subsequent investors rather than from profit.  In the latest scandal millions of people lost billons of dollars.  One investor who lost billions of his clients money committed suicide yesterday.  

I realized that a Ponzi Scheme, like any other scheme, is rooted in the same deception that Satan bases most everything he does; i.e. promises that turn out to be lies.  See Satan is banking on the fact that we, in our desire to be rich, healthy, wealthy and wise, will invest our lives in things that will give us a big payoff and the sooner the better.  So his scheme is to make much in this world look as though it will do just that.  

For instance, the promise of pornography that the deceiver makes is that one will be satisfied in his/her sexual life, but what happens in the end is that he or she finds less fulfillment and they eventually invest more and more to achieve the returns they expected and were "promised."  

Another example is the promise he makes concerning alcohol, cigarettes or drugs.  The substances are initially taken in moderation or on a trial basis.  I've heard many, who later became addicts talk about how it made them relax or feel more at ease.  That's his scheme.  It will make you feel better immediately (quick return for investors), but in then end, alcoholics, addicted smokers and drug users wish they had never ever tried the substances that have now defrauded them of life.

Satan's Ponzi Schemes have been around since the beginning of time and are based on the fact that his promises are all lies because as the scripture says, he is the father of lies. 

Today, don't invest in his schemes, any of them.  They are all Ponzi schemes and you'll lost more than just millions of dollars in the end.                       

Carlen