The Devils Social Media
***I MEANT TO MENTION IN MY TEACHING THAT YOUNG CHILDREN ARE TO NEVER HAVE INTERNET ACCESS. FURTHER, THROUGH THEIR TEENS, THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE UNSUPERVISED INTERNET ACCESS. THERE ARE PROGRAMS THAT LET YOU ALLOW ONLY WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO ACCESS.
I was spending much too long per day on social media years ago while 160,000 people die daily…. I pray if you are spending too much time on social media that you will also realize it too and stop. 20,000 precious children under the age of 5 years old die DAILY of man-made poverty… what are YOU doing to help the impoverished? Men, where are your disciples? Where are the orphans and widows you take care of as commanded?
STATS
Astonishingly, the average person will spend nearly two hours (approximately 116 minutes) on social media everyday, which translates to a total of 5 years and 4 months spent over a lifetime. Even more, time spent on social is only expected to increase as platforms develop, and is expected to eat further into traditional media – most notably TV. Right now, the average person will spend 7 years and 8 months watching TV in a lifetime. However, as digital media consumption continues to grow at unprecedented rates, this number is expected to shrink in counter to that expansion.
So, lifetime internet use at 5 years and 4 months and lifetime TV viewing at 7 years and 8 months = 13 YEARS TOTAL!!! GOD IS GOING TO RIGHTEOUSLY CAST YOUR SORRY SOUL DIRECTLY IN HELL IF THIS DESCRIBES YOU (OR EVEN A GOOD FRACTION OF THESE NUMBERS)!
Women…yes women on social media (stop talking to other men…stop usurping authority over them, etc).
1st Timothy 2:9-10 “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.”
Everybody is teaching and “rebuking” & etc. The Bible clearly says there are to be FEW MASTERS (TEACHERS) of God’s Holy Word (AND THEY ARE MEN)!
James 3:1 “My brethren(masculine noun), be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” (brethren) from g80 in the Greek….
What is sinful about social media?
1. The 10 second post! Most all on social media have absolutely no discipline on studying the Bible resulting in unholy living (whether sins of commission or omission). We live in a world of Facebook “posts”, Twitter “tweets” & Instagram “pics”… More and more I see professing “Christians” getting engulfed in social media in an incredibly ungodly way. They even think they truly know the person on the other side of the computer by never meeting them! Just a few decades ago you would be diagnosed lunatic if you told someone your “best friend” would be someone you never met (in person)!
2nd Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Ephesians 5:15-16 “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 REDEEMING THE TIME, because the days are evil.”
Colossians 4:5-6 “WALK IN WISDOM toward them that are without (CHRIST), redeeming the time. 6 Let your SPEECH be ALWAY with GRACE, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to ANSWER MAN.”
2. Low view of Biblical authority / an unbiblical focus on equality. The internet is the great equalizer for the “Facebook Christian”. They now have an audience and a voice to speak their mind. Many times it leads to an “egalitarian” view of authority; that no one person’s opinion should be valued or weighted anymore than another. This presents problems for a biblical ecclesiology that understands the church and the pastors to have real GOD ORDAINED authority in the lives of its people.
Hebrews 13:7 “Remember them WHICH HAVE RULE OVER YOU, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.”
Hebrews 13:17 “OBEY THEM THAT HAVE RULE OVER YOU (ON EARTH), AND SUBMIT YOURSELVES: for THEY WATCH FOR YOUR SOULS, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
Hebrews 13:24 “Salute all them that have the RULE OVER YOU (ELDERS, OVERSEERS, PASTORS/BISHOPS), and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.”
3. Hit-n-Run Interactions / Artificial Relationships. On social-networking sites such as Facebook one presents themselves an who they WANT to be, not how they truly are! God knows their heart, you don’t being hundreds or thousands miles away truly not knowing how they are in real-life. People might FEEL more connected, but they can really be much more distant, at least from who they really are. Biblical Christian fellowship requires that we engage with people as we really are, so that we can honestly know each other and and labour together in Christ.
YOU MUST NOT FORSAKE FELLOWSHIP
Hebrews 10:23-27 “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to PROVOKE UNTO LOVE AND TO GOOD WORKS: 25 NOT FORSAKING THE ASSEMBLING OF OURSELVES TOGETHER, as the manner of some is; but EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”
4. Lack of Physical Presence / Togetherness. New technology many times creates an almost non-physical, pseudo-Gnostic existence. One of Christianity’s earliest enemies was Gnosticism, which held the belief that the physical world was inherently evil and that salvation was largely a release from the physical body. Just the opposite is true as Christianity has always had a favorable view of the physical. Being face to face indeed matters, God set it up that way. In fact, when the new heavens and new earth are formed, we will have new, resurrected bodies and we will see Christ (and each other) physically. Forever!
5. Low Commitment/ Low Accountability. One of the attractive features of a Facebook-style of communication is that it requires very little of us (surely not the commitment of the “narrow road”). It is a low-commitment and low-accountability type of interaction. We control entirely the duration, intensity, and level of contact. At any moment, we can simply stop and move on. But the Christian life and real Christian relationships don’t work like this. We do have obligations to one another, covenant obligations. In the real world, Christianity is corporate (ecclesial) and stands directly against the modern trend of individualistic and self-determined relational patterns of our modern technological age.
The Fellowship of the Believers
Acts 2:42-47 “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And ALL THAT BELIEVED WERE TOGETHER, and HAD ALL THINGS IN COMMON; 45 And SOLD THEIR POSSESSIONS AND GOODS (NON-NECESSITIES), and PARTED THEM TO ALL MEN, AS EVERY MAN HAD NEED. 46 And they, CONTINUING DAILY IN ONE ACCORD in the temple, and BREAKING BREAD FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
Got Biblical Communication? Is your “conversation” Godly?
“Who have said, ‘With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us’” (Psalms 12:4).
“He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his
neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend” (Psalms
15:3).
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer” (Psalms 19:14)
“Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit” (Psalms 34:13).
“You love all devouring words, You deceitful tongue” (Psalms 52:4). “All day they twist my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil” (Psalms 56:5). “For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, Let them even be taken in their pride, and for the cursing and lying which they speak” (Psalms 59:12). “Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And bend their bows to shoot their arrows-bitter words” (Psalms 64:3). “Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases” (Proverbs 26:20)
“You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth” (Proverbs 6:2).
“Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool” (Proverbs 10:18). “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). “A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21). “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23).
“Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; Cause me to understand wherein I have erred” (Job 6:24). “My lips will not speak wickedness, Nor my tongue utter deceit” (Job 27:4).
“Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2).“For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool’s voice is known by his many words” (Ecclesiastes 5:3).“For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God” (Ecclesiastes 5:7).“Their tongue is an arrow shot out; It speaks deceit; One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait” (Jeremiah 9:8).“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36, 37).
“Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips” (Romans 3:13).“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).“Speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29).“And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not” (1 Timothy 5:13). “Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers” (2 Timothy 2:14). “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. ” (James 1:26). “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:2).“Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:5, 6, 8). “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:9, 10). “For He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit” (1 Peter 3:10).
“FACEBOOK CHRISTIANS” “REASON AMONG THEMSELVES” AND LET LEAVEN IN WHICH LEADS TO TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF FAITH
Matthew 16:5-12 “And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 7 And they REASONED AMONG THEMSELVES, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. 8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? 9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”
1. Vanity
2. Envy
3. Gluttony
4. Lust
5. Anger (unrighteous)
6. Greed
7. Sloth (laziness)
8. Thievery
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