The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

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He was known as The Great Impostor and inspired a 1961 film by the same name. Ferdinand Waldo Demara began his nefarious career during World War II. He borrowed  an Army buddy’s name, went AWOL, and then faked his own suicide. A string of pseudo careers followed in which Demara portrayed a sheriff’s deputy, a doctor of applied psychology, and a child-care expert.

But Demara reached the pinnacle of his quest for fame during the Korean War, when he masqueraded as a surgeon aboard a Canadian Navy destroyer. There, he successfully completed a string of major surgeries before it was discovered that he was no more qualified to gut a fish than to cut open a human. Drummed out of the military but undeterred, Demara moved on to other mock roles. His final gig: a Baptist minister.

Demara’s life is a fascinating tale of one man’s hunt for genuine status in a make-believe world of his own creation. His success as a deceiver also exposes the soft underbelly of a society whose people are easily duped by one who talks smoothly and claims to serve the greater good.

For Christians, Demara’s story is a teachable moment. We are to guard against those who disguise themselves as “servants of righteousness” and infiltrate the church (2 Cor. 11:15). Even more important, we are to be ever vigilant concerning the greatest impostor of all: Satan.

 

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