by Warren Baldwin

Many Americans have recently received an Email from the prestigious Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, known as the FDIC. Or have they really?

The fraudulent e-mail claims to be from the FDIC and informs recipients that their bank account has been denied insurance as a result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. David Barr, a spokesman for the FDIC, said that the letter is mostly free of the grammatical and spelling mistakes that usually act as a sign that the message is not genuine. The scheme is only the latest attempt to get personal and financial information through fraud, a criminal activity known as "phishing."

The letter states that unless recipients confirm their personal information by going to what looks like an FDIC web site, their account will lose its protection. The address bar in Internet Explorer displays "www.fdic.gov," while the actual Web site is at a different address in Pakistan.

If there is a way to cheat someone, someone will think of it.

I thought this information would be good to share with you because, for one thing, you might get that e-mail! I don't want any of you to have your personal and financial records nosed through by some criminal, and possibly have money diverted from your account to theirs. (That is still known as "stealing.")

Second, this story reminds me of how EASY it is for us to be deceived by "wolves in sheep's clothing." An e-mail from a "concerned" source wants to help protect us from financial and personal predators, yet the "concerned" source is the actual predator! And since they work out of or through Pakistan, we can't even track down or identify who the predators are!

Sadly, there are other predators like these, only more sinister and devious.

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves" (Matt. 7:15).

"There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord" (2 Pet. 1:11).

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith" (1 Pet. 5:8,9a).

The work of these spiritual predators may take several tacks:

• to get us away from the sound doctrine of the Bible.

• divert our attention from the eternal God to some lesser god.

• get is to settle for the deceiving pleasures that last only a season.

• fill us with pride and arrogance.

• lead us to never think of eternity. What matters is "right now."

I've seen spiritual bank accounts robbed by predators gaining access to a Christian's heart. Hope lost. Faith lost. Salvation lost.

But the good news is ... it doesn't have to happen. Heed the warning: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (Jas 4:7).

God PROMISES VICTORY to those who remember the source of the true life... God himself.