In this verse the Apostle Paul was speaking concerning His ministry. On one hand in person he was a meek lamb but when he is absent he is bold. This is the same situation with many on the Internet. If they were confronted in person, they would be found to be a meek person, probably one who never speaks up in church. When we can sufficiently hide ourselves and count on the fact that people are not going to drive 1,000 miles to confront us, we tend to puff ourselves up behind a false safety net. You know what problem can arise? The guy down the street may be pretending to be 1,000 miles away and may know or find out who you are. We live in an age when human life is severely devalued and maybe the guy you are tweaking, is a person who may not care what bodily damage he does to you. Another thing we must take into consideration is that when you send a crushing or critical E-mail to a group or to someone, there is a human being behind that computer. Your reviling may cause the person receiving it to do bodily harm to themselves or maybe to you. If we are to be bold, we are to be bold in the Lord and bold above ground. (Phil 1:14 KJV) And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. If you are fearful to reveal your name, then may I suggest that you do not take corrupt communication and send it to others. Unholy boldness is a sin which God must expunge from your life.

To Be Something You Are Not

(Gal 6:3 KJV) For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

The Internet with its system of anonymity will allow anyone to claim to be anything they want. If a person wants to set themselves up as a ministry and then use it for the purpose of raising money for personal use, you can set up a web site and make it look as spiritual as you want. People can pretend to be a Minister, Elder, Bible Teacher, Theologian or whatever just to give worldly meaning to their life. They would be doing the secret life of Walter Mitty except it would be in the Christian realm. This would be a dangerous thing especially if the person putting on the charade is giving out advice under the guise of being a trained person. Unfortunately, the Internet affords people who want to add fantasy to their lives, a great opportunity to do so. This not only applies to the unbeliever but to the Christian also. Whenever you receive an e-mail from a person who entitles themselves as “Apostle” or “Bishop,” you better make friends with your delete button. If the person re-creating themselves starts believing their own creations, they will enter a world of deception which can have catastrophic consequences. We must remember that every e-mail or post that we create is highly traceable.

Sinning Becomes Easier

(Psa 78:17 KJV) And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

Whenever we continue to send false posts and e-mails, we find that with each successive one it gets easier to deceive others. Sin starts to become a part of our life and we begin to start living our old life all over again. I wonder how many Christians are involved in cyber-sex? If you have a false name, the person on the other end does not know you are a Christian and you may get away with anything with them. I wonder how many set up false accounts on Yahoo or some other free e-mail service and then sign on to porno sites? Many older Christians are also caught making dates with young girls or boys, and have even crossed state lines to have sex with them so they will not get caught by people in their own town. The problem is that when sin begins small and we think we are getting away with it, we tend to get bolder until we are actually committing crimes. Those who go across lines to have sex with minors are violating Federal Law and the FBI has to step in. The time to stop the sin is at the moment you are contemplating going off the narrow road. Isn’t it comforting to know that the pastor of your church has been arrested as a pedophile?

Create Contention

(Prov 18:6 KJV) A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.

If a Christian does not like a certain doctrine which is being taught on line, instead of confronting it honestly under their real name, they will do it under their pseudonym and cause strife. For some reason, they think that this will be to the glory of God. No matter what type of doctrine is being challenged by a person, whether it be true or false, it should be done in truth and not under false pretenses. The verse above speaks of a fool’s mouth delivering foolish chatter but we can expand that to say that a fool’s keyboard can be just as destructive and cause much contention. When intentional contention is introduced in a group on line, that may confuse other Christians who are sincerely seeking the truth about a certain issue, it may muddy the waters and cause a true doctrine to be seen as a false doctrine, simply because someone chooses to be contentious for no other reason than for self-gratification, which is sin in the life of a believer.

Takes The Place Of Church

(Heb 10:25 KJV) 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.

There are many Christians who feel that since they can get their spiritual material on line it is no longer necessary to attend church. For a while, I was listening to the Internet every Sunday Morning to a sermon by a decent preacher. However, while I was being somewhat edified, I was also sinning by not attending church. God expects His children to gather on Sunday. All the false religions in the world gather together on certain days of the week. It sure makes no sense for Christians to stay away and be separated and set up for spiritual disaster. There are some who have chosen to have on line church services which advocate people avoid church and listen to them. These are dangerous Christians who draw other Christians away from church and will be held accountable for doing so. The Internet should be supplemental to the local church and should not be used to usurp the place of the local church. If a person is sick and cannot attend church, then it is a blessing to be able to find an online service, but it should never be considered a home church.

Temptation To Linger Long

(Prov 23:30 KJV) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

I am not equating drinking alcohol to the Internet but what I am equating is the principle in this verse. The Internet can be as addicting as alcohol or drugs. There are people who stay at their computer for countless hours each day while the rest of their life is neglected. This is now being made easier since DSL, cable, or WiFi allows your computer to be on twenty four hours without interrupting the telephone service in your home. There are Christians out there who moderate many groups, which means many hours per day. Staring at the screen for many hours can be dangerous since there are fluctuations in the screen that you do not notice but is playing havoc with your eyes. Internet addiction can take away your Bible study and Prayer time. Satan will keep hounding you to turn on the computer because “you might miss something.” Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is running high because instead of personal contact or telephone contact, instead, we are sending e-mails which takes much more time to type than to speak.

Final Thoughts

Where did we ever get the idea that if we get on to the Internet, that we are free from the penalties of sin? Or where did we get the idea that Christians are free to sin on line but not off line? These are satanic ideas because the Internet makes it easy to deceive others and be deceived ourselves. As Christians we are as accountable to God on line as we are off line. Maybe the reason that your off-line Christian walk stinks, is because you have chosen to live an on-line life of deception. You can easily recognize this if you hide behind a false name. Why do you need the false name or identification? You need it to fulfill your sinful anticipation. After you do it, do you feel remorse for deceiving someone? Or for cutting someone down? Or for causing contention which may cause other Christians to stumble in their walk? I have only listed six points but there are definitely others. These are the most obvious ones.

Moderators of Christian groups need to be discerning. They should not be removing the true gospel and allowing idiotic theology to remain unless it is a group for idiots. The moderator and group owners must see themselves as shepherds of those groups and take the responsibility which goes along with it. Eternal Souls are at stake and to take this lightly is to elude responsibility. No Christian should start a group unless it is to the Glory of God. Believe me, I have not seen too much to the Glory of God on many so-called Christian Groups. Let us make Keyboard Christianity a light to the world and not a tool of the evil one.

 (Psa 33:4 KJV) For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth. All the works of the Lord are done in truth, and we better make sure ours is too.

(1 Sam 12:24 KJV) Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you.

Back