Think Again!

38 • Think Again: Transformation That Yields a Return on God’s Investment

you remove trashy thoughts, resulting in comfort and peace. But if you allow the enemy to narrate your circumstances, you permit the decaying pile of garbage to grow, resulting in even more damage. Rats prefer to invade at night, where they can’t be seen. In the same way, the adversary likes to keep you unaware of his activities. When you resist him, bringing the truth into the light, he will flee (James 4.7). Con Artist Another metaphor of the pillaging deceiver is the con artist. One of my favorite movies is The Sting , which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1973. I found the plot twists amazing, the music spectacular, and the depression-era setting intriguing. Growing up, my grandmother told me stories about the hardships she faced during the Great Depression, so I have always found it interesting to know more about that time period. The main characters in the movie (played by Robert Redford and Paul Newman) are confidence artists, commonly known as “con men.” They made their living by designing elaborate schemes to draw people into their confidence, and then have the victims (“the mark”) hand over their money voluntarily. Redford and Newman craft a scheme to entice a mob boss (played by Robert Shaw) to place a bet on a fake horse race. Working patiently and methodically, they win Shaw’s confidence before closing the trap. Con artists are still active today, using updated techniques. Most people have heard of the “ponzi scheme,” where the con artist gets the mark to invest in a business that starts paying dividends. The con artist slowly siphons off the investment money, leaving the mark with no return and loss of the initial investment.