The face of the attractive young woman appeared on my social media app that I used to connect to other professional colleagues. Her profile described her as the CIO of a company specializing in decentralized autonomous organizations. What an odd job description. Who is this? Her educational background seemed impressive: Ivy League schools for her bachelors and M.B.A. Previous jobs included a major bank in New York City. Surveying her prolife, I even recognized some of her professional contacts. I dug deeper. The company she currently worked for definitely existed. Yet, somehow, her credentials didn’t pass the sniff test and I rejected the offer to connect. A few days later, one of our mutual contacts emailed me to warn me of a scam by this woman. He assumed she was legitimate contact and had connected with her. His human resources department later informed him that she and a number of her other contacts were fakes.
I was being catfished!
This term has catapulted into the modern vernacular, spurred on by the increasing popularity of social media. This woman created a fake identity on a social networking service with the intention of deception. Many examples are on dating sites and related apps but businesses are a frequent target. Fake identities are nothing new. Satan has been doing this since he first rebelled against God. Like this woman, Satan also recruits his army of demons with similar nefarious motives.
These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NLT)
If Satan and his demons disguise themselves as angels of light and servants of righteousness, we must remain hypervigilant to his schemes. He is not simply trying to defraud us of money. He is playing the ultimate game of catfishing with the sole intention of preventing or harming our relationship with Jesus Christ. Satan can and will use all identities, including the leaders of our churches. Keep the faith and resist the devil so that he will flee from you.
Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.
The Bereans Blog 