{"id":35387,"date":"2023-11-06T11:33:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T11:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/phishing-and-temptation\/"},"modified":"2023-11-06T11:33:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T11:33:00","slug":"phishing-and-temptation","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/phishing-and-temptation\/","title":{"rendered":"Phishing and Temptation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Phishing is a word for a type of online scamming and this type of activity is growing. The FBI reports over 300,000 complaints and over 50 million dollars in phishing losses in 2022.<\/p>\n\n<p>Phishing occurs when someone sends you a bogus communication, usually by email or text message, disguised as a missive from a legitimate source, such as a bank or government agency. Usually the sender is angling for information, a credit card number or a transfer of funds. Sometimes there is an attachment containing malware, or a link where you can go to log in&mdash;which is to say, to have your password stolen.<\/p>\n\n<p>Phishing grows and grows, demanding continual vigilance; billions of phishing emails are sent every day, some narrowly targeted and others broadcast widely. You have no doubt seen the con artists&rsquo; bait dangling in your inbox.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>Phishing has some similarities to the kind of temptations Christians encounter. Every Christian is aware of the temptations of the world and what could happen if we are baited, hooked, and reeled in. <\/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":[3463,3655,3743,3744,3745,3800,3957,4199,4200,4272,4488,4814,4904,5064,5134,5256],"tax_ctp_topics":[400],"class_list":["post-35387","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-avoiding-temptation","tax_ctp_tags-computers","tax_ctp_tags-deceit","tax_ctp_tags-deceiver","tax_ctp_tags-deception","tax_ctp_tags-dishonesty","tax_ctp_tags-falsehood","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrisy","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrites","tax_ctp_tags-internet","tax_ctp_tags-money","tax_ctp_tags-resisting-temptation","tax_ctp_tags-seduction","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-warfare","tax_ctp_tags-temptation","tax_ctp_tags-vulnerability"],"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},{"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>Phishing and Temptation - 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\/phishing-and-temptation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phishing and Temptation - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Phishing is a word for a type of online scamming and this type of activity is growing. The FBI reports over 300,000 complaints and over 50 million dollars in phishing losses in 2022. 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