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The past couple of weeks has seen two prominent ‘Christian’ celebrities deny ‘the faith which was once delivered unto the saints‘ as well as ‘denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Neither of these had I ever heard of before the open and publicized refutation of their faith in Christ. Nevertheless, their words of apostasy struck a chord of sadness when read.
Joshua Harris was the first to come out having left the faith and divorcing his wife. He had been the pastor of a mega-church for several years before moving to Canada to attend seminary. What Harris wrote seems to have been for public consumption but I will only give portions of what he wrote here. Harris wrote ‘…that I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is “deconstruction,” the biblical phrase is “falling away.” By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.’
Harris continued further that he had changed his ‘…views of women in the church, and 
my approach to parenting to name a few. But I specifically want to add to this list now: to the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me.’https://www.instagram.com/p/B0ZBrNLH2sl/?utm_source=ig_embed
Marty Sampson is the next to proclaim he’s ‘not in any more.’ According to Wikipedia Sampson was ‘…an Australian contemporary worship music singer-songwriter, musician and worship leader at the Hillsong Church in Sydney. From the late 1990s he has featured on the Youth Alive albums and was one of the original Hillsong United band’s worship leaders.’ 
Sampson openly wrote on Instagram that it was ‘Time for some real talk. I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy.’
Again, not all he wrote will be quoted but only that which he wrote near the end of his declaration of apostasy. He said ‘All I know is what’s true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point. I could go on, but I won’t. Love and forgive absolutely. Be kind absolutely. Be generous and do good to others absolutely. Some things are good no matter what you believe. Let the rain fall, the sun will come up tomorrow.’https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/hillsong-songwriter-marty-sampson-says-hes-losing-his-christian-faith/
When I first read the statements by these two men Hebrews 6:4-6 came to mind where the Apostle said For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. These are not words to be taken lightly!
The Apostle Paul in his second letter to the Corinthian church had some words that we who claim the name of Christ should take heed. He wrote ‘Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 2Corintians 13:5.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Abortion seems to be a BIG issue with the left. The leftist will protest against killing whales but protest FOR the killing of unborn human babies! Is there a mental condition that warrants a research grant here? This dichotomy in thinking doesn’t make sense apart from an understanding of Genesis Chapter three.
Here is a video of the Australian Christian Lobby’s Martyn Iles speaking on the Australian New South Wales’ new Abortion Law, Reproductive Healthcare Reform bill.
America is in a crisis! The following article should be entirely read but take note especially of those paragraphs I have made bolder.
‘This past weekend, Americans learned of another mass shooting, this time by an employee who decided to murder as many of the people he had worked with for years as possible. As of this writing, the murder toll is 12 people.
Every American asks why. What was the killer’s motive? When we read there is “no known motive,” we are frustrated. Human beings want to make sense of life, especially of evil.
Liberals (in this regard, liberals’ views are essentially the same as leftists’) are virtually united in ascribing these shootings to guns. Just this past weekend, in a speech in Brazil, former President Barack Obama told an audience: “Our gun laws in the United States don’t make much sense. Anybody can buy any weapon any time — without much, if any, regulation. They can buy (guns) over the internet. They can buy machine guns.”
That the former president fabricated a series of falsehoods about the United States — and maligned, on foreign soil, the country that twice elected him president — speaks to his character and to the character of the American news media that have been completely silent about these falsehoods. But the main point here is that, like other liberals and leftists, when Obama addresses the subject of mass shootings — in Brazil, he had been talking about the children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 — he talks about guns.
Yet, America had plenty of guns when its mass murder rate was much lower. Grant Duwe, a Ph.D. in criminology and director of research and evaluation at the Minnesota Department of Corrections, gathered data going back 100 years in his 2007 book, “Mass Murder in the United States: A History.” Duwe’s data reveal: In the 20th century, every decade before the 1970s had fewer than 10 mass public shootings. In the 1950s, for example, there was one mass shooting. And then a steep rise began. In the 1960s, there were six mass shootings. In the 1970s, the number rose to 13. In the 1980s, the number increased 2 1/2 times, to 32. And it rose again in the 1990s, to 42. As for this century, The New York Times reported in 2014 that, according to the FBI, “Mass shootings have risen drastically in the past half-dozen years.”
Given the same ubiquity of guns, wouldn’t the most productive question be what, if anything, has changed since the 1960s and ’70s? Of course it would. And a great deal has changed. America is much more ethnically diverse, much less religious. Boys have far fewer male role models in their lives. Fewer men marry, and normal boy behavior is largely held in contempt by their feminist teachers, principals and therapists. Do any or all of those factors matter more than the availability of guns?
Let’s briefly investigate each factor.
Regarding ethnic diversity, the countries that not only have the fewest mass murders but the lowest homicide rates as well are the least ethnically diverse — such as Japan and nearly all European countries. So, too, the American states that have homicide rates as low as Western European countries are the least ethnically and racially diverse (the four lowest are New Hampshire, North Dakota, Maine and Idaho). Now, America, being the most ethnically and racially diverse country in the world, could still have low homicide rates if a) Americans were Americanized, but the left has hyphenated — Balkanized, if you will — Americans, and b) most black males grew up with fathers.
Regarding religiosity, the left welcomes — indeed, seeks — the end of Christianity in America (though not of Islam, whose robustness it fosters). Why don’t we ask a simple question: What percentage of American murderers attend church each week?
Regarding boys’ need for fathers, in 2008, then-Sen. Obama told an audience: “Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools; and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.”
Yet, the Times has published columns and “studies” showing how relatively unimportant fathers are, and more and more educated women believe this dangerous nonsense.
Then there is marriage: Nearly all men who murder are single. And their number is increasing.
Finally, since the 1960s, we have been living in a culture of grievance. Whereas in the past people generally understood that life is hard and/or they have to work on themselves to improve their lives, for half a century, the left has drummed into Americans’ minds the belief that their difficulties are caused by American society — in particular, its sexism, racism and patriarchy. And the more aggrieved people are the more dulled their consciences.
When you don’t ask intelligent questions, you cannot come up with intelligent answers. So, then, with regard to murder in America, until Americans stop allowing the left to ask the questions, we will have no intelligent answers.’ https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/why-so-many-mass-shootings-ask-the-right-questions-and-you-might-find-out/
My article yesterday, Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony and Doctrines of Devils, mentioned the Prime Minister of Australia and his (1) professing to be a Christian and (2) his acceptance of the Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony saying publicly that it would ward away the evil spirits. I quoted Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
After I wrote the article I got on the page where one may send a message to the PM. This is what I sent.
‘Dear Prime Minister,
I congratulate you for the recent victory in the Federal election. However, in reading your address I noticed you were approving of the Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony. I am sure you know that the smoking ceremony is pagan and for a Christian believer to participate (according to Ephesians 5:11) it is a compromise of their faith to God and His Word. I know your job is a hard one and I do pray for you. If you did not profess to be a born-again Christian that would be a different matter but you do profess to be one. Thank you for your leadership and love for the nation and may you seek the Lord’s leading in each decision you make for this great nation.’
I will let you know what answer I receive back, if I receive one.
Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God…34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God
God is jealous for His own Name and for the worship of His people.
Leviticus 18:21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech…
God had a prohibition for his people and their children in how and to whom they were to worship. He alone was to be worshiped and this worship did not include passing one’s child through ‘the fire’ in worship to ‘Molech’. In other words, God was very interested in how His people worshipped and to whom His people Israel worshipped.
In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus said in John 14:1-6 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The Lord Jesus Christ according to His own words said He was the ONLY way to God the Father and heaven. Without Him, a person cannot enter heaven but will spend eternity in the lake of fire, Revelation 20: 14,15.
John the immerser said in John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. That’s pretty clear speaking.
Peter proclaimed in Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Now, true born-again Bible-believing Christians believe all those verses just quoted and in fact they believe all the verses between Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21! Too mix idolatry with Biblical Christianity is anathema and yet that is exactly what occurs at least for one week each year in Australia, known as NAIDOC week. NAIDOC stands for the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.[1]
It is during this week that the false beliefs of the Australian Aboriginals are promoted by all forms of Governments from the Federal to local councils. In their recognition of the Aboriginal people, the government holds events where the Aboriginal flag is raised and a smoking ceremony is observed.
The man in the top job, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, is a professing Pentecostal Christian and he has said the smoking ceremony should be ‘…a prime ministerial tradition of warding away evil spirits with indigenous leaders on Australia Day eve.’[2] This is a man that professes to be a Christian and believes a pagan ceremony should be performed each year to ward away evil spirits?! Unbelievable!!!!
The PM in his 2019 address to the Country said ‘Here, 65,000 thousand years (The PM shows he is definitely not a young earth creationist) of Aboriginal culture meets mere centuries of Westminster tradition, which the Leader of the Opposition and I represent, being here together and I acknowledge Anthony as I do all of my Parliamentary colleagues, the Deputy Prime Minister who joins us here today.
We gather in respect – acknowledging the Ngunnawal elders, the ancient ceremony of fire and smoke that will commence shortly has become part of the tradition of this building, and thankfully so.
It was just over a decade ago that the first ever smoking ceremony accompanied the opening of Parliament, and I thank the Speaker and the President of the Senate for their continuing support of this as it shall always be in this place (emphasis added).’
What is a smoking ceremony and should a professing Christian participate in the ceremony?
‘A smoking ceremony is an ancient custom among some Aboriginal Australians that involves smouldering various native plants to produce smoke which they believe has cleansing properties and the ability to ward off bad spirits.’[3]
Another source adds that a smoking ceremony ‘…has been believed to have cleansing properties and the ability to ward off unwanted and bad spirits, which was believed to bring bad omens.’[4]
The smoking ceremony is plainly a pagan practice that professing Christians should not participate in. Nevertheless, one probably shouldn’t be amazed to read that ‘The Aboriginal Catholic Ministry incorporates the Smoking Ceremony in its liturgical expression.’[5]
Then there is the Aboriginal lady who said she ‘…combines Aboriginal spirituality and Christianity when the need arises.’[6] Sadly, this lady will go to hell as her spiritual foundation is certainly not the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone!
Then there are the religious schools such as the Roman Catholic’s St. Augustine’s in Narromine, NSW which will celebrate NAIDOC with a mixture of Romish ‘…liturgy and smoking ceremony’.[7] I guess this is trying to have the best of both worlds.
At the local level we find many city councils throughout Australia promoting Aboriginal spirituality even though in the end it will send people straight to hell as they bypass personal saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, ‘The City of Greater Bendigo will kick off 2019 NAIDOC Week celebrations with a civic reception and flag-raising ceremony…and Smoking Ceremony…’[8]
Last year (2018) ‘The Sydney Anglican Diocese has backed down on a controversial policy banning smoking ceremonies on any property owned by the church following outrage from Indigenous leaders, school principals and priests who work closely with First Nations communities.’[9] Controversial perhaps but it would have been Biblical for as Paul said in Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.!
Christian believers should understand that a pagan Smoking Ceremony will not fend off the Devil and his demons but is rather a celebration and invitation to more demonic activity! That is why white and Aboriginal Australians should be celebrating the arrival of the First Fleet! There the Lord God had His man Reverend Richard Johnson preach his first sermon on this great island known as Australia on Sunday 3rd February 1788, from Psalm 116 and verse 12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
From that beginning the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was preached around Australia to both Europeans and Aboriginals. When however, there is always the need for more Gospel preachers and some years later Charles Spurgeon asked ‘Who will go? The men who ought to go are young brethren of good abilities who have not yet taken upon themselves family cares.
Each student entering the college should consider this matter, and surrender himself to the work unless there are conclusive reasons for his not doing so. It is a fact that even for the colonies it is ‘very difficult to find men, for I have had openings in Australia which I have been obliged to decline. It ought not to be so.’[10]
Australia as with all nations needs not just Christians but Gospel believing separated living sin-hating Scripture loving Christians. Definitely, Australia and the world doesn’t need more compromising weak-kneed Christians!
Now, to answer the question asked earlier, ‘should a professing Christian participate in the ceremony’ the answer is a resounding NO! Again, quoting Paul when he said in the inspired Word of God to the Ephesian church ‘have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness’! Pretty plain language if words mean anything at all.
Today, the compromise of the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with the pagan aboriginal Smoking Ceremony by compromising professing Christian politicians and ecumenical conceding denominations has led many aboriginals and non-aboriginals straight to hell. It MUST be understood there can be ABSOLUTELY no compromise between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the ‘doctrines of devils.’
[1] https://www.naidoc.org.au/about/history
[2] https://www.couriermail.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=CMWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.couriermail.com.au%2Fnews%2Fqueensland%2Fcleansing-ceremony-should-be-tradition-says-pm%2Fnews-story%2Fc37716216431201fceb7ff5a76305d10&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium
[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_ceremony
[4] https://www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/aboriginal-ceremonial-dancing/
[5] http://www.winnunga.org.au/uploads/docs/Spirituality%20Review%202009.pdf Page15
[6] http://www.winnunga.org.au/uploads/docs/Spirituality%20Review%202009.pdf Page 40
[7] https://www.wnswphn.org.au/uploads/documents/Event%20Flyers/NAIDOC%20Week%20Events%20UPDATED%20040719.pdf
[8] https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/About/Media-Releases/flag-raising-celebrate-start-naidoc-week-celebrations
[9] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-22/sydney-anglican-church-property-smoking-backdown/10403548
[10] LECTURES TO MY STUDENTS Volume 3 Page 28
It should come as no surprise that “In the early 1900s, various ‘morality tales’ sought to advance the idea of eugenics. Squarely based on evolutionary belief in ‘survival of the fittest’, the eugenics movement was founded by Francis Galton, cousin to Charles Darwin.
Francis Galton
This taught that, just as a farmer controls the breeding of his livestock to enhance the quality of his herd, promoting the childbearing of ‘ideal’ people and preventing ‘undesirable’ people from having children could improve the human race. One of the most popular pro-eugenics accounts was the story of ‘Deborah Kallikak’ (a pseudonym).
The story of the ‘Kallikak’ family supposedly went back to an ancestor code-named ‘Martin Kallikak’, who as a young man had a relationship with a “feebleminded barmaid” that resulted in the birth of Martin Jr. Later, Martin married a “worthy Puritan woman”, and their union produced many productive people. But alas, the damage had been done, because Martin Jr, a drunkard and worthless individual, had many children, and those children were all morally and intellectually bankrupt. Supposedly Deborah was a direct descendant of Martin Jr, and she was tested to be ‘feebleminded’, and was locked away in an asylum, supposedly to keep her from immorality.
‘Deborah Kallikak’ was a pseudonym for the real woman Emma Wolverton. The problem is, the story was wrong from beginning to end. The genealogy was wrong for a start.
Emma Wolverton at 15
‘Martin’ and ‘Martin, Jr.’ were second cousins, not father and son, and were both the offspring of respectable married couples.3 And the testing used on Emma was invalid, as they didn’t take into account her complete lack of previous schooling when she first came to the asylum. Later evaluations also tended to downplay the significant gains that she made in learning practical skills. In fact, visitors to the asylum frequently expressed astonishment that such a ‘feebleminded’ woman could present herself so well. But unfortunately, no one ever doubted the story that Emma was feebleminded.
Emma entered Vineland Training School in Vineland, New Jersey at eight years old, and as a young woman was transferred to the women’s institution across the street. She was never offered the chance to have a life of her own—she was not offered freedom until she was far too old and ill to accept it. She died in 1978 at 89 years of age, having been a victim of a cruel branch of pseudoscience.4
Why does this matter?
Some might wonder why Emma Wolverton is important today. It is a sad story, but she died almost 40 years ago. Today, eugenics has a bad name because the Nazis used the ideology to support exterminating Jews and other ‘lesser’ races—after using it to justify murdering large numbers of mentally and physically handicapped people in the name of preventing them passing on their supposedly ‘inferior genes’.
But when Emma first entered the Vineland Training School, it was the scientific
Emma sewing
consensus in the western world, accepted by all preeminent researchers in the field, and approved by the US Supreme Court (Buck v. Bell, 1927). It seemed self-evident, enough to justify the lifetime incarceration of some ‘feeble-minded’ people, and the permanent sterilization of tens of thousands more.5 We look back in horror on the atrocities committed against people whose only ‘crime’ was being poor, uneducated, or otherwise disadvantaged, who were abused to advance a theory that built the careers of some of the most famous scientists of the day.
But it’s easy to forget that scientists still make pronouncements that affect the life and death of people today. Some ‘ethicists’ say that it is more merciful to kill a child in the womb when he or she may be born disabled, and that it is better to help a troubled or ill person to commit suicide rather than to ‘force’ him or her to live a life that they arbitrarily decide is ‘not worth living’. Someone as famous as Richard Dawkins proclaimed that the ‘moral’ thing was to abort a Down Syndrome baby and ‘try again’, and Peter Singer (Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University) infamously remarked that some animals have more moral value than some newborn babies.
The only worldview that upholds the value of all human life, regardless of intelligence and ability, is the Christian worldview, because Scripture teaches that all human beings are created in the image of God and are thus inherently valuable, despite that image being marred by sin.” https://creation.com/wolverton-kallikak?utm_campaign=infobytes_au&utm_content=Life+imprisonment+for+%27feeble-mindedness%27%3F&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mailing.creation.com&utm_term=Fortnightly+Digest+-+2019.06.28
Israel Folau and his quoting the Bible concerning repentance, hell and who will go there has certainly stirred up many including those on current affairs programs. These personalities in spewing their venom have shown their lack of Bible knowledge and certainly have shown their lack of respect for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Kent Brandenburg is an independent fundamental Bible-believing Baptist whose writings are (in my opinion) well worth reading. He recently wrote ‘Wikipedia lists what social media is, and I looked, because getting that accurate might be important to someone with a strong support for social media, so I don’t mind representing it with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. I know it’s more, but those suit the discussion.
Anymore, I don’t look at Facebook at all. In the top five of anything I’ve ever written is my post on February 13, 2009, Why to Delete a Facebook Account. I had an account a long time ago to test drive it before I could decide about what my children might do, and it didn’t turn out well for me, but I gave it a definite go. I’ve never done Twitter, but I look at one Twitter feed about every day, because I like to check the articles it links to.
I have a few Instagram accounts. One is an anti-Instagram account with about 9 posts and never changes. That is my main account. I have two other accounts that serve as locations for photos. One I used only for the Europe trip. I answered zero comments and have not added anything since the trip. It is a memorial to the trip, always there to look at. Now I have what I call my day trip account, which is where I put pictures I take when I travel here in the United States, mainly in California. I’ve opened another account that I might put church photos, but I’m not sure, because I need to talk to the church about that. People may not want to show up online. I’d like to have a place where people can go back to events and look at the pictures, but I haven’t decided yet.
I watch on YouTube. We have channels on YouTube, but we don’t use it for social media. I know it’s social media too. This occurred to me in recent days when I posted a comment on a video posting and the owner deleted my comment. Other comments appeared, but mine was deleted. I’ve noticed hundreds of comments on certain channels, and I think the owners encourage it. It means more traffic, more clicks, and probably more money. Even the controversy will bring in more audience. They don’t mind if there is a fight in the comment section, as long as it receives moderation.
From my use of Instagram, I like it for the usage I am giving it. I don’t like Facebook, but it might be able to be used just for our church to make announcements and account for events. Since I look at Twitter, I like it for looking at what other men do, such as they do. I like it for that, but I write a blog, which is a long form Twitter anyway. I can link to posts on my blog, just like these men do with their Twitter accounts.
What I don’t like about having any social media accounts is encouraging social media. Like many people have said and written, I think it is very dangerous. If I were to put that in shorthand, social media seems like a modern Tower of Babel with similar or worse results. God didn’t like the Tower of Babel. With that in mind, I want to return here for a moment to express what might be the worst thing about social media. I know I hate this the most.
Conventional thinking on social media, what is appropriate, perhaps even why people use social media, is what I think is the worst about it. I know people express themselves with negative comments. It happens. I read those. Celebrities get thousands of comments and many of those are mean. They can be crude and harsh. I’m not at Facebook, so I don’t know how much of that is there, but it is on Instagram and Twitter. People use foul language and ridicule other people in their comments, especially celebrities. This is called bullying today.
People have become experts at ridicule, using a new instrument, the meme. A particular successful form of mockery could go viral if it puts somebody down in harsh enough fashion. The meme could become famous almost on par with the celebrity, at least for a moment. I’m not going to give analysis to the psychology of the meme, either the maker or the origin of its popularity. Overall, I think it isn’t good. It is rampant though on a level of a cultural phenomenon.
Related to bullying and including the meme, but not the same, is what I don’t like. Here it is. Actual biblical correction and reproof of false doctrine and sin is not allowed on social media. I remember one in particular saying that he was doing his social media for the purpose of dialogue. When I heard dialogue proceed from his lips, I thought it meant, well, “dialogue.” Actual dialogue. But he didn’t mean dialogue. He meant only praise. No negative criticism at all. Maybe dialogue is all positive on the internet, unless it is mockery and ridicule, which are not helpful. Anyway, I offered one moderate note of admonition under an expression of sinfulness and it was deleted and I was blocked.
My experience hearkened back to my short Facebook days over a decade ago. There I knew I would not be at home, because the requirement of acceptance and toleration. People joined a social media to receive “likes” and “hearts” and “thumbs up.” There is no room for dislike, unless, again, it is in the form of extreme ridicule and personal attack. Actual edification through biblical exposition is unacceptable. Nothing is hated more than exposing something with the Bible even in a sensitive manner. What the Apostle Paul calls “warning the unruly” is absolutely not tolerated on social media.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22:
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
Social media is off limits to the obedience of that command. No one is either allowed to obey Paul’s command in Ephesians 5:11:
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Over and over again in Proverbs, Solomon says that the fool despises reproof. Based on that, almost everyone on Facebook and Instagram would be a fool.
Social media can’t be a “safe space,” because the worst kind of ridicule and mockery occurs there, especially of the truth. Actual biblical exposition of the truth is subject to the worst treatment. I find this on my blog here most often from anonymous sources. On social media, it comes very often from people who use a fake identity. They don’t want anyone to know who is the source of the ridicule. However, I’ve found that people on social media expect to be safe from actual reasonable challenges from scripture. They don’t want it. They are not there to get it. That is what is maybe the worst thing about social media.
When a place becomes designated for protection against the confrontation of doctrinal and practical error, that is a hotbed of apostasy. That is not light. That is not love. It is not of God.’ http://kentbrandenburg.blogspot.com/
whatyareckon 