S5 E15 - A Fraudulent Package

Someone kept trying to deliver a package to us that we were supposed to pay for. We had no idea what this package was. After going into the post office, it turns out it was a fraud - a fairly common scam. They post officer workers are trained in what to look for, and therefore we promptly rejected it. 

There are many fraudulent gospels floating around today too. False doctrine that we must be trained to to identify and reject for our own protection as well as the rest of the church. Be alert and test the spirits to see if they truly are from God. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 5 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Let’s grow together! 

There’s never any telling what is going to come in our mail nowadays. My wife for the most part takes care of the things around our home, and she does an incredible job of it by the way, and frequently as things are needed, she will order them, and they show up. It’s not uncommon for me to come home from work and bring in a package or two waiting on our doorstep that I have absolutely no knowledge of the contents therein. The kids and I enjoy opening up our mystery boxes together, because what we find inside is as much of a surprise to me as it is to them. But over the past couple weeks, we got something that tried to come in the mail that was just as much of a surprise to Kylie as it was to me.  It started about two weeks ago; I walked out to check the mail and there was a bright pink slip left inside of our mailbox. The slip stated that they attempted to deliver a package but could not because for it to be delivered we needed to pay a postage balance of $19.15. Um…what? Have you ever heard of such a thing? We sure hadn’t. The slip stated that they would redeliver in a few days, so I figured we would simply get to the bottom of it then. But when all of us were out of the house on Wednesday, they attempted to redeliver and left another slip in our box. The slip stated that a certain “Lif Meem LLC” was attempting to ship us this package that we were supposed to pay the near $20 for. I asked Kylie if she had ordered anything from this company or had ever heard of it, and she said no. So, at this point I knew it was just time to go into the post office and get some answers in person. 

I picked Dane up from school yesterday and took him to the post office with me on our way home to see if we could get some answers. Pink slip in hand, I approached the counter, and the attendant asked how she could help me. I responded that I wasn’t sure, and produced the pink slip for her to examine while I explained our bewilderment. She walked to the back and came back out a few moments later with a very standard looking package addressed to my wife. “Well,” she said, “what it appears to be is a fraud.” “I beg your pardon?” I responded, unsure as to what all that entailed. “We get these frequently,” she went on to explain, “where someone will send you something you didn’t order, usually junk, and make the recipient pay the postage through a phony label.” “Interesting,” I said, “So, aside from asking the recipient to pay postage, how can you tell it’s a fraud?” She smiled and said, “Oh that’s easy! There are clear things you can look for that if they are not present, it’s not the real thing. For example, there is no return address on the fake postage label that claims it’s paid. Second, it’s marked C020 – which we don’t have here in this region. There are some other things, but it’s essentially things we’re trained to look for and make it very easy to spot a fraud when it comes through.” With that being said, we promptly rejected the package and went about our business. 

It's a shame that fraudulent packages are apparently such a common occurrence in today’s society, though this was our first experience with one. But what is even a greater shame is that there are so many fraudulent gospels that are floating around and deceiving people today as well. We are warned in Scripture that false doctrines and fraudulent messages packaged as being from God would circulate throughout the church, deceiving those who had once believed the truth. I am reminded of Paul’s words to the Ephesian elders recorded in Acts 20, warning them of this very danger. He would tell them starting in vv. 28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.” Paul would likewise warn Timothy of the same dangers in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.” But how can we know if something is false doctrine or a fraudulent distortion of the gospel? That’s a very good question. Let’s examine just a few things together. 

First, you need those who are trained in what to look for. Remember in Acts 20, Paul is solemnly warning the elders of that church to be on guard for such things – why? Because that is part of their role as elders of a local church – that they are properly equipped and prepared to protect the church from false doctrine. In writing to Titus about the qualifications and characteristics of those who hold the office of elder, he would say such men are to be, “holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:9). Much like the attendants at the post office are trained to be able to spot a fraud, so elders of a local church have been so trained and equipped over the course of their lives to be able to do the same. Such men are not novices, they have a clear grasp of sound doctrine, sound teaching, and are able to accurately both teach the truth as well as refute that which is false. In God’s great wisdom, elders of a local church are one of our first lines of defense against false doctrine and fraudulent gospels. 

Secondly, you have to know what to look for. While there are many things that we could potentially discuss regarding ways to know something is a fraudulent teaching, John would summarize as a whole what it comes down to in 2 John 6-11, “This is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love. Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and do not greet him; for the one who greets him shares in his evil works.” John’s message is clear – you have to hold every teaching up against the teachings of Christ and the rest of Scripture. If they do not fall in line with the truth that has been revealed already once for all, then you know that such teachings are fraudulent and not of Christ. We are not to add or take away from that which has been revealed through Scripture, for whatever is added or taken away by men is not from God. John would write similarly in his first epistle, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.” (1 John 4:1-3) My friends, do not simply accept anything that someone brings to you claiming it is “from God” – you need to test the spirits. Like the Bereans of Acts 17, we must be of noble character so as to receive the word with eagerness but also examine the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so. 

Finally, like the package that we rejected at the post office, any such doctrine or teaching that is proven to be not of God and fraudulent is likewise to be rejected and not followed. Paul would tell the Galatians, who were guilty of accepting fraudulent teachings, the following in Galatians 1:6-9, “I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!” My friends, truth was revealed once for all. As Jude tells us, we are to contend for it. Stay vigilant, be alert, and hold fast to what is truly from God. 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 5 episode 15 – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped every Friday, so be sure to tune in next week.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating or most importantly share it with someone else – it would help to reach others that I never could alone.  And more than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.