About two years ago my girlfriend Karen needed a real estate agent, so she figured it would be a good idea to contact one from her church. He was also a deacon in that same church. When she met him, she told him about our volunteer group; and he immediately promised to support us financially –, even though we didn’t ask him to. He said that once the house was sold, he would sit down with his Christian men’s group, and they would sponsor us. Karen is young and a little naïve, so she trusted him; I however, have heard this kind of story before.

Poor Karen. I knew she was being conned by “Barry,” but what could I do? – she believed him. Until the very day the house was sold, he kept telling us his men’s group would be meeting in “a couple of weeks,” to vote on how much money they were going to give us. I kept telling her he was a con-artist.

On the day we met, he interrupted our conversation three times to take a call; and when his wife tried to make a point – he raised his hand and silenced her. Worse: he told Karen that if we could get him some business contacts, then he would donate to our volunteer group. He would donate – if – we would get him some business contacts. Hmmm? Karen got the point: Barry was a con-artist.

The story ends sadly for us, and financially well for Barry. The house got sold, and I waited a few weeks. No call him. So, after a little thinking, I phoned him, left some messages, and phoned him again. No response. Finally (I’m not a saint) I got irritated and took the phone from Karen when she was talking to him one day. I asked point blank if we were getting the money, to which he went silent. Then, after an uncomfortable pause, he stumbled out some story about how his men’s group was going in a different direction, and that funding for us was not a possibility – period. End of sentence. This hurt Karen.

On the last occasion I saw Barry, I confronted him with his deceit, but he lied and said he had never promised us the support. Karen told Barry he had misled us, to which he got up angrily, said a few creepy words, and walked out of the room. With his commission I might add.

The point of this article is that we must not trust and rely on someone just because they claim to be Christian – especially where money is involved. Many will claim they are Christian to win our trust, and will then steal from us. They are wolves dressed up as sheep as the Bible says. They are not Christians

What can we do? Firstly: Do not simply accept a person’s words about being a Christian, because on top of that, he should be able to prove he is Christian by how he lives his life, and secondly, all people will sooner or later disappoint us; therefore, it is essential to remember that only God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit can be trusted completely.

I wrote this article to glorify God by warning Christians about people like Barry. Barry is not his real name, but the huge three garage house he has in the country is real. Barry likes to deal almost exclusively with Christians, and I can see why — we’re sheep: warm and woolly, and ready to be fleeced … and Barry would like to have that wool. There’s worse news however: Barry is still a deacon in his church. Poor church!

My article sounds bitter, and that’s because Barry used the Christian church as a cover for his trickery. Two thousand years ago Jesus got angry because people were selling stuff in the church; Karen and I were angry too. We hate to see people getting hurt by others who wrongly claim to be Christian. Jesus didn’t die to have people like Barry make money; therefore, we must keep our eyes open for people like him. Also, and more importantly: we must forgive, pray for, and try to help Barry and those like him.

To those like Barry, the Bible is clear: You can worship God, or you can worship money; however, you can’t worship both. Choose God Barry.