"When Ponzi Met His Match"

 

“When Ponzi Met His Match”

 

According to Wikipedia a Ponzi scheme is “a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors”. The largest and best known of these fraudulent systems was masterminded by Bernie Madoff in which he bilked clients out of millions of dollars over many years, much of which has never been found or recovered. He was imprisoned in 2009 and died in 2021 while incarcerated.

I was a member of our church fellowship’s board in the 1990’s when we invested in the Foundation for New Era Philanthropy which we soon learned was a Ponzi scheme. Many Christian ministries were caught up in it and faced bankruptcy. But God was at work. The judge handling the case in the Philadelphia area was a committed Christian and leaders of most of the affected organizations formed a coalition called The United Response to New Era. So rather than a myriad of individual court cases costing millions in legal fees the case was settled in 1996 with about 90% of the funds returned to investors.

The outcome of this scandal shows the value of cooperation. Had the impacted organizations adopted an “every man for himself” approach the results would likely have been much different. But God’s people applied a principle He set forth some 3500 years ago when He said to the Israelites, “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.” (Leviticus 26:8). He’s teaching us that much more can be accomplished by working together than separately. Ministries and charities would do well to put this truth into practice—it would save much time, effort and money.

Jesus’ friend and apostle commands His followers to “…live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, love as (brothers and sisters), be compassionate and humble.” (1 Peter 3:8). Ponzi met his match as God’s people saw themselves as colleagues rather than competitors, worked together and God received the glory. His ways still work and always will—but only as we put them into practice. Are we ready to do so?

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan