Isolated

Who wouldn’t like to hear the words, “You’ve won a trip to Florida, all expenses paid!”? My phone rang one evening, and after answering the call, those were the exact words I heard. The caller proceeded to tell me there were only a few conditions I needed to comply with in order to claim the prize. He had my attention. First, my wife, my checkbook, and I needed to attend a brief presentation by a travel club representative; second, at the end of the presentation, I would need to draw the winning ticket from the winner’s barrel. “Oh, that’s the catch!,” I said suspiciously. The caller assured me that my odds of claiming the prize I had won was 1 in 15, since I would be drawing for the winning ticket against only fourteen other families. I asked him if the location of the presentation was air-conditioned (my air conditioner was broken). He said, “Yes!!” I went because I figured, at the least, I had won an afternoon of air conditioning.

The room was air conditioned as promised, but it seemed unusual that there were about twenty large tables (large enough to seat ten people) scattered throughout the space. Each of the winning families was instructed to sit at separate tables. We were further instructed by a charming young British man to save all of our questions until the end of the presentation. We would then be able to ask as many questions as we wanted with our very own “personal” travel club representative. The young Brit went on to extol how the travel club he represented could make all of our lives better. We each would be able to enjoy the amenities of five star resorts all around the world. Why settle for the public park near your home when there were eager servants in Fiji, Aruba, and the Indian Ocean just waiting to pamper us (in the off-season)? If we joined the club that day, we would be “locked-in” at current (and incredibly expensive) club prices protected from future inflated prices (not including air-fare).

After the anything but brief presentation, travel club representatives sat with each of the families. They were actually high-pressure, contract-toting salesmen. They went in for the kill immediately after they sat down and introduced themselves. If we joined the travel club right there on the spot our winning claim would be upgraded to a week-long trip to Disney World. My wife and I made it clear to our salesman that if he really needed to earn a commission he needed to go to a different table, because we weren’t joining - for a multitude of obvious reasons. Besides, our lawyer would need to review the ten page contract he was holding in his hand before we would sign on the dotted line and part with the five thousand dollar deposit. He fled our table.

As I watched a different salesman pressure the family at the table nearest us, it became clear why we had been separated in the first place. They weren’t privy to our objections, though they had their own. But right after the salesman asked their physically disabled daughter if she wanted to go see Mickey Mouse, they caved in, signed the contract, and gave the non-refundable deposit. Being separated from the larger group, they were attacked at their weakest spot with a vulgar, yet successful tactic to “close” the deal. Seeing as how that couple initially refused the offer to join the club, I’m sure that if they had known the salesman’s tactics beforehand, they would not have brought their daughter, and might even have passed altogether on the chance to claim their “winnings.” By the way, when the time eventually came for the prize drawing, we drew from a barrel that contained over 10,000 cards. The “odds” we had been lured with were a lie, and no one won anything that day.

Speaking of not winning, there is a high-pressure salesman that wants to sell us a bag of lies and isolate us from the life that God wants for us; his name is Satan. He is a formidable foe, so we would be wise to recognize his tactics so that he will not be able to “close” any deals with us, or with those we care about and love (2 Corinthians 2:10-11). His attempts to isolate us come in numerous forms. The devil knows we are stronger when we are in community (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12), so he tries to make maintaining and living in community difficult. He speaks lies into relationships, and takes advantage of wounded feelings in order to isolate people from one another. The evil one also tries to isolate us by altering our language; the meaning of words are stolen and re-defined in an attempt to separate us from the truth of what God intends to teach us (1 Timothy 6:3-5). His strategy even includes isolating us from our Christian brothers and sisters who have preceded us by speaking the lie that their lives have no relevance to ours – that it’s just ancient history with no value to modern people. The truth is they are a great crowd of witnesses to the life of faith (Hebrews 12:1).

The devil wants us isolated, but he can not force us to sit at “separate tables.” Therefore, he speaks lies into our lives so that when we believe them, we unwittingly choose to sit at “separate tables.” If I am ignorant of the devil’s schemes, I am setting myself up to be outsmarted and isolated - you are too.

Grace to you.

Dave Paukner