"...the scam artist will join the church [and] serve for a while"

“Typically what happens is the scam artist will join the church [and] serve for a while,” the investor fraud expert explains. “The people who encounter them will be convinced that they are humble servants of Christ, and thereby, they gain the trust of the people they come in contact with.”

The church may be a place where predators can filter in and sue the dynamic to victimize, but a Christian who is studying, praying, educating themselves, and exercising spiritual discernment is far less likely to fall prey to any kind of scam. Folks should not talk themselves out of their ‘gut feeling’ that something is not quite right about Mr. Snodgrass or Mrs. Jones, just because they claim to be a Christian and they are ‘such a nice person’. It may be an extreme example, but the BTK Killer, for cryin’ out loud, was on the City Council, was a Cub Scout leader, and served on a church board as President. People described him as being friendly, the guy to go to to get things done, and as an all-around nice guy. He only killed ten people. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php] http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-confused002.gif

Christians spend way too much time trying to be nice, IMO. If you think someone is strange or creepy, don’t buy insurance, or laundry soap, or vitamins, or stocks and bonds from them, or have them over for pot roast.