THE STING

A few weeks ago I again watched the movie The Sting on the Turner Classic Movie Channel. In the movie, Paul Newman and Robert Redford play con men who set up an elaborate “sting.” One of their friends had been killed and they set up a high stakes con to take away the money and business from the crook who ordered the killing. It’s a fun movie to watch.

In Joshua 9 we see that the leaders of Israel were victims of a high stakes sting. Joshua and the nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan River and were beginning to rampage through the Promised Land, dispossessing the inhabitants as they went. One of the tribes that was about to be “sent packing” was the Gibeonites. The Gibeonite leaders decided that instead of fighting the Jews and getting killed, they would set up an elaborate deception and try to fool the Jews into signing a peace treaty with them. The ruse was to send a delegation to Joshua and pretend that they had come from far away, that they had heard of the great victories God had given the Jews, and they wanted to be the friends of Israel and sign a peace accord. To make the situation look authentic, the delegation dressed in the oldest clothes they could find, saddled their animals with decrepit equipment, and filled their sacks with moldy bread and rotten food. Off they went toward the camp of the Jews and the con was on.

Arriving at the camp of the Jews, the delegation was taken to Joshua. The Gibeonites told Joshua and his leaders that they had come a long away and wanted to be at peace with Israel. Joshua and his crew looked at this bedraggled group with their shabby clothes and worn-out equipment and heard one of them say, “Our equipment, food, and clothes were all new when we left to travel here.”

Joshua and his men bought the con. It says in Joshua 9:14: “The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD.” A peace treaty was signed and the delegation from “faraway” left. Within days Joshua knew that he had been tricked.

We read a story like this, we watch the Newman/Redford movie, and we are amused and entertained. But here is what we have to be aware of. The Gibeonites were con men who pulled a trick on the Jews; however, none of this had to happen. The Jews fell for the ruse entirely because they did not employ their first line of defense—they did not inquire of the Lord.

The spirit of the con is loose in the world today and it is loose in the church. The spirit of the con has brought large segments of the contemporary church into areas of compromise. In the name of cultural relevance, the spirit of the con has called into question the importance of prayer, the relevance of the Word, and the power of worship. The spirit of the con is attempting to strip the Bride of Christ/the church of its identity.

More than once when I have expressed caution about a particular ministry, people have said to me, “But the Bible says that a tree is known by its fruit” (see Matthew12:33). Yes, the Bible does say that, but it does not say that fruit is the only criteria by which we should evaluate the validity of a ministry, a life or a teaching.

The Jews sampled the provisions that the Gibeonites brought with them and said, “This stuff is really old and tastes like camel dung, so that proves they came from a long distance because worn-out clothes, moldy bread and green cheese are the ‘fruit’ of a long journey.” They are also the “fruit” of an elaborate con.

We daily face an enemy whose native tongue is lying (see John 8:44) and whose basic character trait is deception. The focus of his deception is you; he wants to deceive, disrupt and destroy everything that is of God. The enemy will attempt to deceive us into believing that certain actions or beliefs are acceptable because on the surface they appear acceptable. The devil has brought compromise into the church through the naiveté of Biblically illiterate believers.

Our first line of defense is to learn how to inquire of the Lord. Children tend to take things at face value and say childish things such as, “Well, the Bible says we will know them by their fruit and that’s good enough for me.” Or they say, “They were born that way and we must never judge,” and they never inquire of the Lord.

Inquiring of the Lord is not simply asking in prayer; that’s a large part of it, but not the whole.

           1.       What does the Bible say? Is this ministry/life fully in agreement with the Scripture or is it operating in some questionable doctrinal and extra-scriptural practices? “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). There is no activity that we cannot find appropriate scriptural counsel on.

           2.       What are trusted counselors saying? Don’t go to the Internet to see what the chatter is. That’s fun but it cannot be trusted. Go to people whose walk with God you have confidence in and ask them. “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).

           3.       Most importantly, what is the Lord saying to you about this? Pray over it—and not just a little one-sentence prayer. Pray and fast about it. Get on your knees or on your face and talk to God about it. It may take several prayer sessions over a few days or a week or longer, but you will get an answer (see 1 John 5:14-15).

Inquiring hearts will get to know!