Last updated on October 8, 2019
“It’s such a great scam, quite honestly,” said Steve Wahrlich. Every few days, a customer arrives at his hotel, The Best Western Clocktower Inn in Billings, convinced they have a room reserved – a room they have already paid for. As he explained in a July 25, 2019 Billings Gazette article about fake online hotel booking sites, the customer booked the room on a website that appeared to be the Clocktower Inn’s. The site had photos of the hotel, photos of rooms, and a way to “book” the room by paying in advance with your credit card.
Mike Nelson, the owner of the Northern Hotel in Billings has endured similar problems, as he describes in an October 12, 2016 Billings Gazette article. Someone had set up an entire website to convince online customers they were on the actual Northern Hotel website, including a phone number to call. When Nelson called, he heard “Northern Hotel, thank you for calling” from a voice he did not recognize as one of his employees.
In both cases, the fake booking websites did a pretty convincing job they were real. And it makes a great scam because people did not question whether the site was real or not.
Paul says, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:4). Satan has always done a pretty good job convincing us his way was the real way. He presents himself as a convincing alternative to God. He tells us what we want to hear, instead of the truth. He convinces us to glorify ourselves instead of God. He persuades us to be motivated by prestige and material gain, instead of the message of service and sacrifice based on the example of Jesus.
But it’s a scam, because he plays on our human desires for money, power, and prestige, not our spiritual needs, like unconditional love, a sense of community, and being right with God.
What convincing masquerades are pulling you away from the truth of God?