Falsebook and Instahurt - Blowing the Whistle on Manipulators of our Children

 

10-12-2021

About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.” - Matthew 18:1-6

And they were bringing children to him so that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. - Mark 10:13-16

If there is one subject that gets people riled up - or at least it should - it is how society & culture manipulate and groom our children. Recently, we heard the truth many have been shouting about for years. Online activities and social media can be harmful - even deadly - to our kids.

Multiple news outlets released information last week from a Facebook whistleblower who told Congress that the social media company and its products harm children and fuel hate and misinformation in the U.S. If that were not enough she also stated Facebook leaders refuse to make changes because of a desire to put "astronomical profits before people."

Frances Haugen, a former Facebook data scientist, testified to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. She shared: "I believe Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy...The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people."

This information was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in a series of stories, called "The Facebook Files," which (not shockingly) revealed a giant tech company focused on growth and its own interests rather than the public good. Haugen offered tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in Facebook’s civic integrity unit. Civic integrity unit? Not so much it seems...

And before you judge Ms. Haugen as someone just trying to get attention, note that she has a degree in computer engineering and a master’s degree in business from Harvard. Prior to working for Facebook in 2019 she worked for 15 years at companies including Google and Pinterest. She has, as they say, “Skin in the game.”

The research leaked by Haugen showed that for some teens devoted (insert the term addicted here) to Instagram the peer pressure generated by the visually focused app led to mental health and body-image problems, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse.

And Facebook did nothing. Their brief statement in response to Haugen’s testimony, was to simply say the company doesn’t agree with "her characterization of many issues." Wow.

And, then, surprisingly - not surprisingly? - Facebook and Instagram went black this past week for almost a whole day. Coincidence? We think not.

Why should we focus on this? Because our children “are a heritage from the LORD,” Psalm 1217:3. The church is losing children/teens/young adults by the boatload and it’s like we do not care. Studies show 85% of people between the ages of 18-35 leave the church and never return. Rather than protecting, building them up and preparing them for the world, the church has allowed the world to step in, step on, and drag young people down it’s selfish and sin-filled path to eternal separation from God. The worst part of it? We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Yes, the blame lies squarely on us. Not Facebook. Not Instagram. Not Tik-Tok. Not Snapchat. We are the guilty ones for the next generation’s fall. Just as money, alcohol, tobacco, TV, rock and roll and the internet are not to be blamed for society’s downfall - rather it is the abusers of these “things” that are at fault. Time to look in the mirror.

So, what is the answer? Let’s summarize the words of Jesus from above: “Make sure you focus on children and youth and young adults. Let them come to me. Don’t force them...they will come. And, whatever you do, DO NOT mislead or hurt them. If you do...well, it won’t be good for you. These kids are most precious to me. Be like them. Don’t make fun of them. Join them in coming to me - taste and see that the LORD is good.”

As a final word, social media outlets and the internet have (ironically) kept the family of God moving forward when we were not allowed to be with one another. And don’t get us started on the amount of Bible study material available at the click of a button! Amazing! God has given us these options so that the “gates of hell will not prevail against” his people.

That said, let us not allow these “options” to take the place of you and I in the lives and futures of generations to come. Be involved and use the tools God has provided to make certain the church of Jesus Christ is reaching out to the “least of these” and to “Give thanks to the LORD, calling on his name; making known among the nations what he has done,” Psalm 105:1

Next week? Maybe a word or two about artificial intelligence…

Steve and Missy

"You Can't Handle the Truth!"

09-14-2021

“For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: I was determined to punish you when your ancestors angered me, and I did not change my mind, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. But now I am determined to bless Jerusalem and the people of Judah. So don’t be afraid. But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace. Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the LORD,” Zechariah 8:14-17

“Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” - Jesus, in John 8:32

99% of the time - I (Steve) will not engage in social media arguments/quarrells/debates. But, I may have done that last night…

There are “preachers” who have great notoriety, huge followings, multiple campuses, and books galore. Yet, an issue Missy and I have with some is that they twist scripture, pull it out of context, or state a half-truth to rile up their fanbase. (See, I am still in a tizzy. Can you tell?)

A self-proclaimed (and who am I to argue?) “evangelist” wrote the following words on Facebook: “God has a mighty plan for your life, but the enemy wants to snatch it away…”

Now, I am going to be cool about my response but also maybe just a tad sarcastic...as I was on the Facebook thread for his post. Let me be clear - nowhere in the Bible does it say, “God has a mighty plan for your life.” Nor, does it say, “The enemy wants to snatch it away.” Both statements ring a bit of truth (which is always a treacherous and dangerous thing) but are profoundly false when held up against the judgment of God’s word.

My response - here expanded and in technicolor - was simply this: “God does not have a mighty plan for your life. If we continue to say that, what will it mean to the child who has been abused and neglected only to find themselves in a children’s home? What about the child who is aborted? What about the mother who has buried her child due to an overdose? What about the father who learns that his child has committed suicide due to bullying? Do you get the picture?

One person reacted to my response by reminding me of Jeremiah 29:11. (If you need to take a sec, look it up.) Not being sarcastic - at least right now - I actually wondered aloud to myself how long it would be till someone quoted/misquoted that verse to support the evangelist’s statement. Less than five minutes for those of you who are counting...

And, of course, the individual pulled that verse out of context, trying to apply it in order that her belief system and theology would not be upbraided. She never mentioned one time about Israel being in captivity when God made that promise. On a side-note - she did scope out my Facebook page and said,“And, he’s a preacher! I pray he repents and gets saved!” Someone else stated I was going to hell. Oh well, you can’t have everybody love you I guess.

Back to our main point today - Missy and I nearly always do an eye-roll and grunt “Ugh” when someone misuses scripture to fit a situation or to make their self-appointed theology acceptable to others. Why? It is one of the greatest tools the enemy has in disrupting, dividing and disappointing potential followers of Jesus.

Seriously, if you were reading that evangelist’s statement or heard a preacher say it and it was immediately after you had been beaten up by your alcoholic partner the night before what would you really think? It might be along the lines of, “Well, if that is God’s mighty plan for me, I don’t think I want to be any part of that.” And who would blame you?

Which is why we chose Zechariah for the opening scripture. Here, God speaks through his prophet Zechariah about truth. The passage is solely for the children of Judah and the house of Israel. How do we know this? It says so couple of verses before! The verses which come later speak to us (non-Jews/Gentiles). There God says, “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the LORD to bless us. Let’s worship the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’ Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing,” Zechariah 8:20-22.

See how important knowing and understanding truth is? After all, it is the primary focus of Jesus’ words in John 8, where, of course, he is speaking of himself. We read later on in 14:6 of John’s gospel Jesus’ statement: “I the way, the truth and the life.” In other words, to know Jesus is to know the truth and it is precisely that Truth which sets us free.

And that, our friends, is God's plan for the world - not just you, not just us. The world. Remember Jesus’ late night visit with Nicodemus? During that recorded conversation the ultimate truth was revealed: “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God,” John 3:16-18. That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help us, God.

Fans of the show “The X-Files” will remember the opening scenes of the show where the taglines, “I want to believe” and “The truth is out there,” scrolled across our screens each week. Yes, the truth is out there. You can believe it. And Truth’s Name is Jesus.

Steve and Missy