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Themes Accountability for Sin I SPY SPIES It was almost a perfect crime. No one could see them because they were thousands of miles away in dark rooms behind computers. They had perfected the fool proof scheme - almost. Cliff Stoll was a 36 year old astronomer. Because there weren't many want-ads for astronomers, he took a computer job in a lab in Berkley California. On his second day of work, someone asked him to check out a .75 cent error in the computer accounting system. Each time someone used the computer, they would have to pay for the time they spent on it. The computer showed that someone owed .75 cents but couldn't identify who it was. It seemed almost like a joke, but Cliff Stoll took it as a challenge. Many companies used the big Lawrence Berkley Lab computers to solve difficult problems. Each had an account that was charged whenever they called up the computer and used it. Because there was also very secret information from the government on the computer, each company had their own code words. These code words would allow them to get certain information, but not all the information available on the computer. For over five months Cliff Stoll spent every extra minute trying to find out where the .75 cents was. He finally discovered that someone was stealing information from the computer. They were computer genius' who had broken the code and found ways to access all the information, even the top secret files, that were in the computer. Do you forget that when you are doing something wrong that God can still see and take notice? Do you know that every sin is known to God? He slept in the computer room trying to be there when the thieves called. He couldn't see them. He had no idea were they lived. But if he could be there when they called, he could track them. Finally, after months of waiting, he was able to trace a phone call. Imagine his surprise when he found out that it came from Germany. He knew then that it wasn't a bunch of kids. They were international spies! But, how could he catch them? Finally he made a file for the computer marked "top secret" in the code the spies used. Then, he waited for them to take the bait. One night it happened. The spies called in and began searching the files. When they came to the new top secret one, they opened it and began searching. Stoll had purposely made it a huge involved file. He used the time they were searching to notify police in West Berlin. With the help of FBI, German police and a little time, he was able to trace the very building and then the very room in which the spies worked. The spies were captured. Even though Stoll had never seen them and they were thousands of miles away they were caught. In an even more accurate way, God will bring every sin into judgment. Distance and darkness does not hide from His eyes. The spies were wrong. The people of Israel were wrong in Exodus 32. Every sin is known to God. The Bible says, "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
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Shelly McKenna
