Recently I got one of the emails that so many of us get all the time. You know what it is, “I am a friend of the president of some country and we have to move some funds….” Yeah sure! Open that bank account, give them your number and they take your money.

Today I received a new angle on the scam. GOD!, and Christian charity. Let me say that at first thought I wondered who would really fall for such a thing. Doesn’t everyone realize that if I had access to $62,000,000 dollars I have access to lawyers, financial handlers surely I have friends and the list could go on and on. I would not need to be calling for help!

I have posted part of the email here:

Dear Beloved ,

It is by the grace of God that I received Christ, knowing the truth and the truth have set me free.

Having known the truth I had no choice than to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God mercy and glory upon my life.
I am Alty Susan Jane. I am married to Dr. Alty Michael , who worked with Chevron/Texaco for TWENTY years before he died in the year 2005.We were married for Fifteen years without a child, He died during one of the riots in IRAN. He was held hostage and slain to death by protesting youths before his death we were both born again Christians.

Since his death I decided not to re-marry. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of ($62,000,000.00.( Sixty Million US. Dollars)with ( Security Company in Dublin Ireland .) and now the management of the bank have just wrote me to come forward to receive the money or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf if I can not come over. I am presently with my laptop in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment for cancer of the lungs, I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few months to live. It is my last wish to see that this money is invested and at the end of every year distributed among charity organization.

For your compensation, as soon as the money enters your account or delivered you take 30% of the total money, 5% for any expenses while 65% will be for the work of GOD. I took this decision because i know that there are a lot of poor people suffering from different kind of disease and nobody to come to their aid. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of (Security Company in Dublin Ireland) were the money is been deposited. . .

I could not believe at first that someone would use the charitable hearts of some un-suspecting Christian brother or sister to work this scam. Then I thought about all the Gospel of Wealth preachers who preach their versions of God’s blessing and material wealth; all the while asking that the listeners support them as a true sign of their faith.

The problem is that both of these scams will have good hearted Christians falling for the idea of making some easy money, or getting God’s blessing through those new houses, cars or whatever and that makes me wonder who will be judged the hardest. The Christian who seems to want more than the peace of Christ or the scammer who takes advantage of “the least of these”.