{"id":34759,"date":"2024-08-02T10:06:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T10:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/ransacking-results-from-falsified-sign\/"},"modified":"2024-08-02T10:06:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T10:06:00","slug":"ransacking-results-from-falsified-sign","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/ransacking-results-from-falsified-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"Ransacking Results from Falsified Sign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dozens of people crowded a warehouse in Northwest Portland, lured by a sign promising free items, including furniture. The sign, however, wasn&#39;t posted by the business owner, and the items weren&#39;t free. Carl Sciacchitano, a local resident, noticed the commotion around 9 a.m. and asked a woman if people were selling items. She replied, &ldquo;No, it&rsquo;s all free.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner revealed that the sign was allegedly posted by 51-year-old Shannon Clark, asking for volunteers to distribute the warehouse&#39;s contents to people in the neighborhood. Clark was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary, theft by deceiving, and aggravated burglary, but prosecutors declined to file charges. He was released the same day. Elizabeth Merah, spokesperson for the Multnomah County District Attorney&rsquo;s Office, mentioned that the office had requested more information and that charges might be filed later.<\/p>\n\n<p>Sciacchitano observed that the situation escalated quickly, noting, &ldquo;It just got bigger and crazier.&rdquo; One person even brought a U-Haul to take items from the warehouse. When police arrived around 3 p.m., they estimated 50 to 70 people were present, with some believing the items were part of a business liquidation.<\/p>\n\n<p>Police are still determining the number of items taken and by whom. Sciacchitano found the incident baffling, saying, &ldquo;Even now I&rsquo;m trying to figure out how it makes any sense &#8230; Orchestrating this crowdsourced looting seems like such a strange and elaborate thing for that guy to have done without it benefitting him.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><strong><em>Deception; Deceiver; Devil; Satan &ndash; <\/em><\/strong><em>Pranks like this illustrate how easily some people can be misled. The ultimate deception is that of Satan who has deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9). <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3743,3744,3745,3775,3800,3957,4199,4368,4546,4883,5076,5150],"tax_ctp_topics":[395],"class_list":["post-34759","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-deceit","tax_ctp_tags-deceiver","tax_ctp_tags-deception","tax_ctp_tags-devil","tax_ctp_tags-dishonesty","tax_ctp_tags-falsehood","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrisy","tax_ctp_tags-lies","tax_ctp_tags-news-that-illustrates","tax_ctp_tags-satan","tax_ctp_tags-stealing","tax_ctp_tags-theft"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ransacking Results from Falsified Sign - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/ransacking-results-from-falsified-sign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ransacking Results from Falsified Sign - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dozens of people crowded a warehouse in Northwest Portland, lured by a sign promising free items, including furniture. 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