Hats off to President Ronald Reagan and Congress’s Joint Resolution 178 which established today as National Catfish Day in 1987. Being a country man, Reagan must have enjoyed some time fishing and would have caught a few catfish in his day. If you fish, you know that there’s nothing quite like hooking one of these beasts and they will give you a good fight as you reel them to shore. Then, you coat the fillets in cornmeal and fry it up. Now, that’s some good eatin’!
Why are catfish called catfish? I never thought they looked like a cat, and I’ve never seen them eat a cat. Their scientific order is Siluriformes. “The name [catfish] comes from their appearance. They are named for their prominent barbels, slender, whisker-like tactile organs near the mouth, which give the image of cat-like whiskers.”1
Today, the term “catfish” means more than just a whiskered fish. “According to the official definition from Urban Dictionary, a “catfish” refers to a “fake or stolen online identity created or used for the purposes of beginning a deceptive relationship.” However, Wikipedia has a pretty good definition for it too: “Catfishing is a deceptive activity in which a person creates a fictional persona or fake identity on a social networking service, usually targeting a specific victim. The practice may be used for financial gain, to compromise a victim in some way, as a way to intentionally upset a victim, or for wish fulfillment.”
“While some motivations to catfish can be relatively harmless, others can be emotionally and/or financially damaging and result in painful, if not dangerous, consequences.”2
Catfishing is nothing new and has been around for a few millennia. The professional and original catfisher is found in 2 Corinthians 11:14-15. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” Satan passes himself off as the angel of light, making wrong seem right, bad seem good, and that which is straight from Hell seeming like it came down from “the Father of lights.”
Satan has his emissaries as well. 2 Corinthians 11:13 says, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” Unwary individuals, both saved and lost, get catfished by Satan and are led astray. This is eternally devastating for the lost. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Those who are believers are also at risk from demonic catfishing. 2 Peter 2:1-3 says, “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. (3) And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
Those who catfish others today, preying on the weak, vulnerable, and unsuspecting are vile parts of our world. Carrying so little about the harm done to others and the devastation that can last for years is despicable to say the least. But, we understand the
source of this nefarious action.
The damage caused by spiritual catfish is even more egregious because the results of the damage can last for all eternity.
Don’t get catfished. Be discerning. Keep the guards up in all areas of life. For our safety, we have to be skeptical. A stranger knocks at your door wanting to sell you the deal of a lifetime? Why wouldn’t you say, “Something sounds fishy!” (pun intended) They call you on the phone offering a deal that must be acted upon in the next 10 minutes. Why doesn’t that pressure to get you to spend money set off the alarm bells?!?
And why do we not measure the words of a “prophet” against the words of the Holy Scripture? Rather than getting spiritually catfished, instead “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)
1https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Catfish#Catfish_as_food
2https://parade.com/living/catfishing
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