On 13th of January 2025, the headline in the New Straits Times reads: “Looter disguised as firefighter targets LA fire victims”.

Hi, my name is Terence, I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I reflect on the news of the day.

It must have seemed like the perfect plan. The state has evacuated everyone from their homes. Nobody would wonder why is there is firefighter around cause there is a raging inferno nearby. And nobody would question a firefighter forcing his way into homes. If you think about it, that’s part of their job description, to force their way into homes. Of course, they do that to put out a fire or rescue people.

The news article didn’t give details on how the wannabe firefighter got arrested, so let us picture it.

First of all, was the house on fire or not? If the house was on fire, the firefighter would be busy fighting the fire or doing something useful. All the other firefighters would immediately know something is wrong when the guy is looking around stuffing his pockets.

“Just wait a minute ma’am, I’ll get you out of this burning house soon, before I do that, where do you keep your jewelry?”

The house was definitely not on fire. Too dangerous for a pretender. So he picks empty houses that are not on fire. Nobody would be suspicious to see a firefighter in the area. There is an inferno nearby.

What is he doing? He is lifting TVs into a pickup truck. What happened to the fire engine?

It seemed like a perfect plan. But it’s anything but. Cause by wearing a firefighter’s outfit and not doing any firefighting things, the fellow stands out in bright colours. Arguably, he should be wearing everyday clothes, then he could possibly claim he was moving his own stuff out of his own stuff. Or less nosy neighbours or police who have their hands full, might, just might, have other more important things to do.

But a firefighter looting is too curious a thing to ignore in a time when everyone wants to know whether firefighters are doing their job or not.

So bad idea. And now the pretender doesn’t just get charged for looting, he also gets charged for impersonating a firefighter.

We also have people impersonating as pastors, church leaders, … Christians. We read the news and read about Christians who embezzle, molest, abuse, cover-up, we become furious and overcome with grief. This should not be.

One way to think about it is simply to say they are impersonating. They have the outer appearance. They know how to behave in the church. But they sin and justify their sin. There is not mourning over their sins, no action to mortify their sin.

As the Puritan, John Owen said, paraphrased:

Kill sin before sin kills you.

It’s easier to condemn the Christian leaders exposed for their grievous crimes. They are so bad. How can they call themselves Christians? We should be horrified.

But we should be wary of thinking we are naturally better, ‘gooder’, than them. History has taught us that ‘good’ people in positions of power or under positions of power can do evil things.

For those who want to go into a deep dive, you can read up on the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment and, the professor involved, Zimbardo.

What have we concluded so far about people who claim to be Christians and commit great evil?

We should be horrified by their crimes.
We are capable of those same acts.

Therefore, we should be horrified with ourselves.

And like the looting firefighter with the perfect plan, we also delude ourselves. The firefighter outfit, or the profession of Christian faith, just makes us stand out.

“Wait a minute, you don’t belong here, you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing. Instead of stealing stuff here, you should be saving souls there.”

Well, by God’s grace, we will know where we are supposed to be and do what we are here to do.

I have been talking about Christians, what about non-Christians? Well, when you are caught looting it doesn’t matter whether you are wearing a firefighter’s jacket or not. It just means you are less obvious and you get a lighter sentence than the pretender.

But you are still looting. And everyone is looting, cause everyone is sinning and sinning gets you in front of the Judge of all the Earth, and without a pardon, you know the rest.

This is the Daily Monsoon. Thanks for listening.