Sermon Illustrations

SPINNING A WEB: ANDY'S STORY

Andy Fastow was a brilliant kid in the high school graduating class in New Providence, New Jersey. He was one of the really good kids. In fact, he was the student body president of his senior class. He went on to get a great education and a fantastic job. He climbed his way up the ladder until he became the Chief Financial Officer of his corporation. In fact he became one of the most powerful businessmen in America.

But in order to climb that ladder he had to cheat. I’m sure he didn’t start out his career thinking he’d cheat his way to the top, but somewhere along the way he decided to negotiate his sin rather than eradicate it. Eventually he spun one of the greatest webs of sin corporate America has ever seen. You may have heard of Andy Fastow, because the corporation he was CFO of was Enron. He was indicted on 78 counts of fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.

When you try to negotiate sin, you just continue to weave the web that will eventually ensnare you. People are always looking for spectacular miracles or answers. They are looking at the temporal and forgetting the eternal.

(From a sermon by Terry Blankenship, Living in Unbelief, 5/16/2011)

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