Today’s devotional serves as both a public service announcement as well as having a spiritual application. Today (11/20), I received an email from KSL Associate Law Firm. Here’s how it started.
Hello Pastor John,
On behalf of the trustees and executor to the estate of Late Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III.
I wish to notify you that Late Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, Listed your name among other beneficiaries to benefit from his Estate. He died October 28, 2022 at the age of 73 years, in Harlem, New York, NY. He was Born on July 19, 1949, Bridgeport,CT. He assigned the sum of Nine Hundred & Fifty Thousand Dollars ( $ 950.000.00 Thousand Dollars ) to you on behalf of your parish and families, in the codicil and last testament to his Will.
The letter went on to tell me about the man’s ministry and that “he must have been in contact with you in the past or simply you were nominated to him by few of his numerous favored men of God abroad that wished you and your family good.”
I didn’t even have to read the email before my “spidey senses” started tingling. As I read the letter, I was on full blown “red alert!” Let me share what I found.
- KSL Associate Law seems to be a legitimate company with several scam warnings attached. NEVER CLICK A STRANGE LINK OR ATTACHMENT!! Though the company could be legit, trojans, viruses, ransomware, or other malware could be attached.
- Calvin O. Butts, III really did exist in Harlem. In fact, all the life details shared in the email were correct – according to the Wikipedia article found on the Reverend and the letter plagiarized nearly word for word from the article.
- IF this letter is from a law firm, they obviously need to take a refresher course in grammar! The letter is filled with misspellings and awkward sentence structures. You could take one look at the letter and know that no reputable law firm is going to send out something looking like this without so much as the law firm’s header.
- I never met the man when we were in NY in 2019. I never even heard of him until today.
- All they asked for was my address and phone number. NEVER GIVE THIS OUT TO PEOPLE WHO DON’T REALLY NEED IT. Even then, be cautious. Think about it. They already have my email address. Why would I want them to have my physical address and phone number?
- Kang Seok Lee is the attorney from the law firm who supposedly sent the email. A
little bit of research showed that Mr. Lee really is an attorney registered with the Office of Court Administration in NY State. However, he is NOT with KSL Associate Law. He is with HD KOREA SHIPBUILDING & OFFSHORE ENGINEERING CO., LTD.. The office location is at International Legal Team, Bangeojinsunhwando-Ro, Dong-Gu, Ulsan, South Korea.
I only did this research because the email disgusted me. And I filed a report at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/form/main before introducing my windfall email to the trash. Now, here’s what bothers me.
How many people get similar types of emails, and they feel like they must reply because it’s from a “law firm” or something else that sounds official? They do this without feeling the least bit wary, never detecting that anything just doesn’t feel or sound right. The ranks of the snookered are added to every day!
I am not trying to be critical. I simply feel an urgency to get this warning across to all of us because there are so many deceivers lurking in this world, liars whose lies are fathered by the Devil and ignited from fires of hell. (John 8:44; James 3:6) I don’t want to see anyone taken advantage of and if we keep the guards up, we can avoid it.
There is a strong admonition found in 1 John 4:1. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” This is a command to be discerning.
If there is a lack of discernment concerning earthly matters, why wouldn’t we think that the same individual could be manipulated and fooled in spiritual matters? That’s even more frightening than identity theft or getting scammed out of your money.
There’s nothing wrong with having a healthy dose of skepticism! In these last days especially, it would seem to be a virtuous attribute. Consider this warning in 1 Timothy 4:1. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils…” This failure to discern translates into action according to 2 Peter 2:1-2. “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”
“Follow” is an action verb. And the Bible says that many will take this action. That seems to be an indictment against the church in the last days. Their radar of discernment has been turned off and they just accept and trust anything that sounds religious and spiritual.
We cannot afford to do that!!!!
You’ve heard me say in sermons many times and I say it again, do NOT just take what I say as Gospel truth. I would never intentionally set out to deceive anyone but I’m a fallible human. I can make mistakes, you know! Keep the guards up in earthly as well as spiritual matters. Protect yourself! Use that DELETE button. And just like I did some research about KSL Associate Law, do Biblical research when you hear or read Biblical matters.
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
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