Cooking the Books

Years ago, I had a boss who found out a way to increase his income and promote himself to his advantage. He was the branch manager of a financial firm, and his treasurer was in cahoots with him, and she facilitated a way for him to cook the books and kite company checks so he could fly to Las Vegas and gamble. This man was adept at gambling, and he could make a lot of money at the card tables in Vegas, but he needed a bundle to work with, so he would kite company checks and use that money for himself, and then pay it back with his winnings.

Well, he got away with this for a couple of years, and went undetected when he was cooking the books. But I recall a day when we all came to work, and a different man was sitting in my boss's chair, for he had been caught cooking the books, and he was fired on the spot. And because of that fraudulent activity, he lost his license and his ability to work in that industry ever again.

The last time I saw him, he was trying to borrow some money off of me because he'd run out of his. But his case isn't singular. Men in this world become adept at cooking the books.

Men do all they can in life to grab all they can, to advance and promote themselves in the eyes of the world. Man is always boasting, look at me, look at me, by constantly drawing attention to himself. This starts early in life with children in a school classroom.

There's always the kid there who cheats off of other kids to pass the grade, or he kisses up to the teacher and becomes a teacher's pet, so to gain popularity. Then these kids learn early how to cook the books, and as they grow up into adults, they are quite expert at cooking the books in life, and that's what they do as they go through life. You may be able to cook the books now, friend, but a day is coming when the books will be opened, and every man will be judged for what sort of work he's done, whether it be good or evil.

You may have figured out a way to manipulate a system, like these people today in the stock market, how they manipulated a stock for their own personal gain. You may be like them, and you think you figured out a way to beat the system, or manipulate a thing to your own promotion and advantage. You may have found a way to cook the books at your workplace with deceitful accounting measures to make the appearance of one thing when it is quite another thing.

You may have found out a way to shave off a little extra thing here for a better commission for yourself, even when it's not in the client's best interest. You found a way to hide some of your income and avoid paying taxes, but it's not legal so long as they don't find you out. You've become quite good at cooking the books for your own promotion and self-advancement.

You discovered a weakness in a computer system, and you use it to promote yourself over other men and steal their time slots to make you look more popular than you really are. You are just cooking the books and having a grand old time. But like my former boss, he was cooking the books and getting away with it until he was found out and fired.

For the book of Proverbs warns, a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight to his delight. Yes sir, you've gotten away with cooking the books for some time now, but a day is coming at a future judgment. And we read about this time in the book of Revelation, over in chapter 20, where God's word declares, And I saw a great white throne in him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.

And they were judged, every man, according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Here we see a great white throne and a broken law. We see the judge of all the earth and guilty man.

Here stands the wicked and the hypocrite to be found out on that day. Here stands the pastor who shaved the sharp corners off the gospel to make it more palatable to sinful man, and he watered it down so he could grow his congregation and look good in the eyes of his peers. Here stands the minister that used trickery and deceit to deceive his denomination by cooking the books at church to make his congregation appear larger than it really was.

He cooked the books for he claimed he had a larger membership than reality stated. Here is the man who promoted himself at the expense of others to look good in man's eyes. Here is the Christian businessman who enriched himself at his customer's expense by shaving off a little here and padding up a little there when his customers should have been dealt with more honestly.

Cooking the books paid you well my life friend in the things of this world. But now it's judgment day when God settles his accounts by opening up his books. Yes sir.

Here stands the Christian who although his crime of cooking the books in his life will not damn him it surely will cost him. It'll cost him nonetheless for we read in first Corinthians for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work should be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man's work abide which he hath built there upon he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire.

Won't it be shameful friend to cook the books in life and one day find yourself standing knee deep in the ashes of a deceitful life.