Emphasis Preaching Journal

According to the General Accounting Office, identity theft has grown rapidly. Although there is no firm estimate of how many Americans have been victimized, VISA and MasterCard have reported that overall fraud losses rose from about $700 million in 1996 to $1 billion in 2000. All someone needs to do to steal your identity is to obtain your current and former addresses, birth date and Social Security number. They often get that information from stolen wallets or by taking a person's mail or by sifting through their trash. Or they can obtain it from the hundreds of strangers who have access to your employment or financial records through your bank, your investments, or your legitimate creditors. Using such information, a person can open a credit card account in your name. Instances where a single identity theft resulted in new accounts being opened in such scattered places as Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and the District of Columbia indicate that personal information can be sold to others. And it can take months of letter writing, telephone calls, and personal contacts to re-establish your identity and your credit.

There is a television ad about identity theft in which a voice is heard speaking which is totally out of character with the person shown -- in one case a man's voice coming from a woman. As frightening as that image may seem, imagine having your identity so compromised that a devil answers when you are addressed. Such was the awful plight of the demon-possessed man in this text. And, he could not correct the situation or cure himself of his dilemma, no matter how many months he tried. But Jesus, the Lord of all, could remove the demons and their influence and restore the man to his rightful self. He cast out the demons and reinstated the man's identity simply by his mighty command. And he can shield and protect us as well.