When she confessed to me that she had beaten herself bloody with a
lead pipe, it actually didn’t surprise me, in fact - I had
accused her of that several weeks earlier. Before we back up and
unveil Lynn’s story, please know two things:
#1. This story is 100% true. I know because I was first hand
witness or participant to the details in this story.
#2. Even though Lynn was a seasoned and professional scam artist,
I am not resentful or cynical. (This article is a brief version with
highlights. The complete story with all of her activities would be a
very long story.)
We first met Lynn when she showed up with her 4 year old son at our
church where I was the pastor to the single adults. The first few
weeks my wife and I had a caution in our heart about her, but
couldn’t put our finger on it. Fortunately we trust in the Holy
Spirit’s gift of discernment, and would soon learn to what
extent we can and should. The only thing not right at first was
Lynn’s ability to engage members of the church to baby sit her
son, Jake. For single parents this was not unusual as the need for a
break is needed, but sometimes hard to come by.
One
of her first mistakes involved a single guy she started to see. To
make a long story short, she had taken his ATM card and got cash. He
wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, and somehow she got his
pin number. He came to me, and she denied it of course, but
eventually the video at the ATM machine proved him right. She even
denied the video was of her as a hood covered most of her face. I
knew it was her. She left our singles group and got involved in the
choir. Our church had thousands of people, and she was going from
group to group, as she had gone church to church before. I tried to
warn the staff at church, but she had deceived them. Some church
members were even mad at me for a while thinking I was being hard on
this poor young mother.
I walked into the main office one day and the head secretary was
working on an article for our church newspaper. She wanted me to see
it because Lynn was giving me credit for praying for her son and him
getting healed. I guess she knew she had to do something to try to
get the wool pulled over my eyes. I warned the secretary not to
publish the article unless she got documentation that the healing was
genuine. She looked at me with disapproval in her eyes. The next week
this secretary asked me to come to her office and with a smile on her
face, she showed me a very official looking document from a hospital
and doctor. I looked at it, prayed, put it back on her desk and
declared: "There is no such hospital, and no such doctor. It is
a fake." Now there were staff that thought I had finally cracked
up. The next day, they discovered I was right. Even with that
discovery, many still felt sorry for her (I call this unsanctified
mercy.) She knew the game was almost over - so she pulled out the big
stick, or I mean the big pipe.
A few days later we got a call at home that Lynn was in the hospital
emergency room and she wanted us to come. The story was sketchy but
something about her mom attacking her and getting in an accident as
she fled the scene. Of course we prayed on the way to the hospital,
but felt again something was askew. We arrived at the hospital and
several people from our church were already there, as were doctors
and nurses attending to her.
Real blood.
Real bruises.
I stood back a few feet in the small room with my arms crossed. I
knew then just how far she would go. She looked over a few times
checking to see if I was buying the story. As the doctors were
attending to her, she finally looked over and screamed - "What
do you think I did Pastor, hit myself with a pipe?" The doctors,
nurses, and church people all looked at me and I said: "Yes,
Lynn, that is exactly what I think you did." Oh my.
After my wife and I were escorted from the room and the hospital, you
might have thought we would have had doubts, but we didn’t. We
knew we blew her scam wide open.
She didn’t come back to the church after that, until a few weeks
later. She showed up at my office. I still really don’t know why
she came, other than it was a gift from the Lord for me. She simply
told me she was a professional scam artist. She said she had a great
thing going at our church and had everyone duped - except me. (Which
wasn’t quite true - others "saw" her also, but
weren’t in the position to stand up to her evil ways.)
It was not fun or easy dealing with someone like her. God loved her,
and she desperately needed help. One of the many lessons I learned in
dealing with Lynn was just the simple reality of how depraved people
can be - and not want help.
Insight to apply to your Christian Home Based Business:
The reality is that there are scam artists out there looking
for suckers.
One Possible application: When you look for the best business and/or
tools to grow your business, use discernment and wisdom.
