Mark was a ‘genius-child’, which means he was brilliant at learning things quickly.  At 6 years of age, Mark was disassembling and reassembling watches and car engines.  His father had served in WW2 and taught Mark survival tactics, self-defence, and the secrets of remaining hidden.

After his father died in 1979, Mark got himself into trouble and was arrested and given a 4-year prison sentence, but he escaped.  They caught Mark and put him back in prison, but he made 13 more escapes, 7 of which were successful.  Mark was able to memorize the pattern of notches on a key, and could somehow fabricate keys in prison.  All this added to Mark’s sentence, and eventually got Mark a total of 40 years in prison.  As of today, it seems Mark is still behind bars.

But was Mark DeFriest really the most brilliant criminal?  In the eyes of Almighty God, I wonder who might God consider to be the all-time smartest criminal.  Perhaps it’s Satan himself.  After all, Jesus said that Satan was the father of lies.  Satan is a genius and the Bible refers to him as a deceiver and a murderer.

God tells us in the Bible that Satan will one day be put into a bottomless pit for 1,000 years, but he will be let out, and after that, he will try one last time to overthrow God and His people, but he will not succeed; and he will be cast into a Lake of Fire for ever and ever.

Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

When it comes to human beings, we must not allow Satan to deceive us into sin.  And God has also given us the Bible to help us not to be deceived.  Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee.

So, let’s make the Bible our daily read, and let’s not be deceived by the most brilliant criminal.