We live in an era of too much information; an era wherein anyone/everyone can post whatever they want to post on the Internet—unchecked, unverified, unaccountable, unhindered, and unstoppable. Rumors, gossip, baseless accusations, outright lies, fear-mongering, hate rhetoric, hoaxes, slander/libel, and false information now litter the Internet.
So today's word of advise from me to all of you is: BE CAREFUL!!!
Most tragic is how so-called "Christians" are contributing to this proliferation of misinformation and disinformation throughout cyberspace. It's almost beyond belief that individuals supposedly indwelt by the Holy Spirit could be partakers of such activity. But the facts show that a significant number of "Christian" blogs & websites have indeed become dedicated to attacking others; more specifically, dedicated to attacking other Christians!
And such attacks are not just limited to simple assaults on other points of view, but penetrate into the realm of questioning another person's Christianity, misrepresenting the faith of others, and deliberately seeking to destroy the reputation of various public figures (i.e., fellow believers). These persons have actually formed a new "cult" of sorts.
This "cult," which I have termed the "Cult of Online Discernment Ministries (ODMs)," has demonstrated that its real mission/ministry is the destruction of fellow Christians with whom they disagree. Ironically, they do it under the guise of defending the faith against cults and false doctrine via apologetics/discernment. This has caused great division within the church—unnecessary division because their attacks are based on things that have NOTHING to do with doctrinal teachings or whether or not a person is in the church. They base their attacks on:
- political views,
- methods of preaching,
- preferred styles of music/dress,
- different perspectives on various non-essentials of the faith,
- positions on eschatology,
- public friendships/associations they enjoy with certain believers/unbelievers
- certain verbiage used to communicate biblical truths
The targets of these Online Discernment Ministries (ODMs) are summarily labeled heretics, false teachers, deceivers, conspiratorial players in some Antichrist scenario, apostates, fake brethren who lead fake churches, compromisers, New Age sympathizers—the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, the way these people/ministries make their charges stick is by use of:
- half-truths,
- false information,
- outright lies,
- faulty reasoning,
- unsubstantiated assumptions,
- quotes taken out of context, and
- manipulation of facts
As a public figure, I myself have been enduring this kind of persecution for years—as have several of my friends and associates in ministry. It's been discouraging, frustrating, and painful to witness.
So, for the sake of all that is good, right, true, just and
biblical—don't believe everything you read on the Internet:
- Test all things, and hold fast to that which is good (1 Thess. 5:21).
- Verify information before you simply believe it.
- Go to the actual sources of isolated quotes that sound damning (they're often taken out of context).
- Contact, if you can, the person being attacked and ask them for confirmation of what you've heard.
And for those of you who, like me, have had unkind/untrue things said about them on the Internet, hang in there. JUDGMENT WILL ONE DAY COME.
I close this word of warning/caution with a quote taken from someone who, in my personal opinion (as a professional apologist for over 15 years), is one of the worst of the worst ODMs. She has posted her attacks repeatedly against God's people and encourages others to do likewise (very much like Jezebel encouraged false charges to be brought against God's people, see 1 Kings 21:10). She stated the following in one of her recent posts:
