I would like to start by welcoming you to my first official Facebook post. I ask that you please take the time to read the entire post, in context. If you don’t feel you will have time to finish this, please take the time and come back to read it in whole. I believe the information below will bless your life, and help strengthen you in your walk.

I chose to create this post today, not for the tragedy that occurred in our country, but for an entirely different reason. September 11, 1993, 16 years ago, my family and I left our home in California to come pioneer the Praise Chapel here in Kansas City. In those 16 years, it has become a great passion for me to reach and affect the entire body of Christ. Which brings me to my first post.

The Internet has become a very powerful source as a tool to find information. No longer is it necessary for us to travel to the libraries or universities to find the information we need. We are able to have all the information we need at the end of our fingertips, without ever leaving our home. It also has become a phenomenal way to be able to communicate and outreach to people around the world. With that being said, the Lord has put something on my heart, dealing with this very technology. Let me first begin with wonderful things that the Internet allows us to do.

As I said earlier, the Internet (including Facebook and other online communities) allows us to keep in touch easier than before. At the click of a button, we are able to see updates, pictures, and other information about friends, family, and others. Gone are the days of the yearly newsletter or Christmas cards, as the way to keep up with what is happening with distant loved ones. Even the occasional call is becoming obsolete, as IM and voice chatting are becoming more common in households of all ages.

Not only does Facebook, and the Internet, allow us to communicate with loved ones, it also allows us to get information out about events. Creating Facebook fan or event pages allow us to economically promote upcoming events and activities. This technology allows us to promote these things 24 hours a day, rain or shine. Not only will this work for events, but also for outreaching to those around the world. We can now spread the gospel, without leaving our home. Mark 16:15 commands us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation and the internet gives us the avenue to do just that. This also allows for some Christians, who may struggle with face-to-face communication, to be able to preach and reach out to those whom they may not have normally.

Beyond outreaching, Facebook allows us to have an outlet to encourage each other on a daily basis. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 explains that we should comfort and edify one another. Whether it is in a private message, or a public bulletin, friends are able to encourage each other with scriptures and devotionals throughout the day. By reading and writing these things throughout the day, it helps us keep plugged into God and his Word.

In my 16 years of pastoring, I have begun to notice a change in the way technology is affecting the church. There is now not only a natural world to pastor people in, but now there is a cyber world full of people who need to be pastored. It is this very reason that the Lord has put this on my heart. I feel that this is somewhat of an emergency that we as Christians are facing. I’m not talking about the obvious temptations of the Internet (pornography or even identity theft), but rather the concern with how people are handling themselves in these communities.

Please keep in mind; my purpose for this post is not to come across judgmental, religious, or even outdated. I have seen both the blessings of this technology, but also the damage that it has caused families. I encourage you to please continue reading this, in context, to grasp the full understanding of this post. For those of you who may be a friend of mine, who may not be a Christian, I want you to know first and foremost that Jesus loves you. Though I do believe this will be spiritually healthy for you to read, keep in mind that the target audience for this is Christians.

In the natural world, we must strive to be Christ-like in the daily running of our life. We need to keep that same outlook in how we show ourselves to be in the cyber-world. In Matthew 5:13-16, it says we as believer are to be the light of the world, and the salt of the earth. The only Jesus that some in the world have the chance to see, is that image of Jesus that is inside of us. We are at a point in history where we have two identities that people may know us by: The “you” in the natural world, and the “you” in the cyber-world. We must keep this in mind in how we handle ourselves, both online and in the natural world.

One thing that I have noticed as a Pastor, dealing with congregation members and with different articles written: some people act more spiritual online than they do in the world, and vice versa. Some Christians may have this persona within the church of being spiritual, only to go online and show the world a persona that they would never think to show within the walls of the church. At the same time, there may be a person who is acting more holy and spiritual online, than they would ever dream of showing at the church. We need to strive to keep the same testimony, preferably spiritual (at least to the degree that one lives and walks by the Spirit), in both the natural world and cyber world.

One of the main issues I would like to address in this post is gossip. Please don’t get me wrong; reading and posting status updates with the right heart is completely acceptable and enjoyable. However, if someone is reading or posting status updates with the wrong heart, it can be very easy to get caught up in the traps of gossiping and being a busy body. The bible says in Proverbs 11:13, Gossips betray a confidence, but the trustworthy keep a secret (TNIV). In Psalms 50:20, the Bible says that speaking out continually against your brother, is actually a slander of the name of your mother. In James 3:1-8, it speaks about the tongue being a restless evil that can spark a fire that is very hard to put out. Please keep in mind, in the natural world the tongue is the muscle within our mouth. In the cyber world however, the tongue is our fingertips and keyboards.

Sometimes we may fail to realize that when we post things on our walls, that the entire world is able to look and read at what we post. We must be conscious that the thing we post about ourselves, and others, will be read by many different people who are both saved and unsaved. In the time that I have been on Facebook, I have seen people post things about people they are having issues with. Other people from the congregation jump in on with them through comments, complaining about one and other. Meanwhile, new converts and people from the world sit back and look at these people, who SHOULD be acting Christ like, go back and forth all day with each other. We don’t have to live in denial about the struggles that we go through each day, but we must discern the things that we really want to air out. It makes me wonder how many of those people who are voicing their complaints have even spoken to God, asking for strength to make it through the day, rather than waving a virtual white flag through their status updates. Beyond that, God has put spiritual leaders in our lives to help us in these times of weakness. By airing out these issues with others who may be having the same struggles, we may actually be bringing each other down rather than helping each other. As a pastor I see people coming to church offended about others who are gossiping about them. It shocks me to find out that the same person posted comments or pictures about the entire situation on their wall for the world to see.

The next thing I want to discuss is narcissism, and I would like to begin with a definition that is applicable to this situation. The term narcissus was derived from Greek mythology about a man so in love with himself, that he fell in love with his own image in a pool of water. When we think about narcissism, we must also think about idolatry, which is derived from narcissism. Thinking about these two things, it is easy for us to think of an image of bowing down to a foreign god or statue. Philippians 2:3 says Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit (TNIV). In our American culture, idolatry is really anything that we put before God. Our culture parades around idolatry with shows like American Idol. By no means am I saying that it is wrong to watch that show. The Bible makes it clear in Matthew 22:37 that we are to love the Lord God with all of heart, mind, and soul.

Let’s look at an example within the Internet world. I took my son James to the dentist, and read a magazine dealing with this very subject of narcissism and idolatry. The article was not even written from a Christian perspective, but still dealt with the unhealthy culture that we are seeing. The article described how a certain celebrity has 1.5 million followers on Twitter. I began to think about Facebook, Twitter, and other online communities, and how we are watching (and are being watched) others on a continual basis. We must be careful that we aren’t becoming more concerned about following these people, than following Christ. Following Christ isn’t just a philosophy; it’s a real thing that must be strived for daily. It doesn’t just affect the cyber world, we as Christians must also check our hearts to ensure we aren’t following a church leader more than we are following Him.

All of this ties back to narcissism and idolatry, in that we must be careful about the satisfaction we are getting knowing our readers are following our every move, and every mood. Putting things up that is just to be seen by people is just receiving glory to our self. We must remember that God is constantly looking at our heart and that people will follow us as we should follow Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). But, where are we leading them through our posting and pictures? At this point, I just want to remind you, that this message is aimed at born again believers. We are to glorify God in spirit and body. I am not one that will draw a line on what is sensual and even what is borderline flirtatious. It is my firm belief that God will question us about the motives behind posting certain images.

So what is our motive? Lets discuss an example of this that I have seen on an online community. A person, who has devoted some time to getting into great shape, decides to post some pictures of his shirtless upper body. It is great that he has taken the time to build a healthy temple, but would he walk into church with his shirt off, flexing like he is in his profile picture? We should reassess our motives as to why we post such data. Proverbs 21:2 tells us that God weighs our hearts. Narcissism deals with the reason we feel the need to put these images up, while idolatry deals with the reason we want to look at these images. All I am asking is that you search your heart. If you don’t find anything wrong with what you are doing, God Bless You.

The majority of the people I deal with are Christians. In reality, there are those that don’t find it fun to go that extra mile in our walk with God. Some of these views that I have, even though they are scripturally based, will be viewed as being legalistic, controlling, and irrelevant. This way of thinking is something this last generation has taken on as a world philosophy. Just a generation ago (leading up to all the generations before) holiness was considered a strength, and was something that people looked up to. In 1 Timothy 3, the bible tells us that we are to live above reproach so that the world can’t make accusations. I must remind you again, the only Jesus that some in this world will see, is the one that we carry inside of us. We must not be afraid to make Jesus our idol, and to make our walk the priority in our lives (not posting updates, pictures, and comments).

To expand even further on this, it seems that today’s Christianity has become a “what can I get away with and still be a Christian” philosophy. As I travel around the country, I am constantly bombarded by people asking me “can I do this” or “can I do that.” When I hear this, I think back to the fact that we are to be the bride of Christ. I have been married to my wife Esther for over 20 years now. I can’t imagine having the following scenario:

ME: Is it ok if I French kiss a girl. It will mean nothing, and I won’t sleep with her
HER: No.
ME: Well is it ok if I just hug her?
HER: No honey, that’s not ok.
ME: Can we just hold hands?
HER: No, you can’t.

It’s pretty obvious in marriage that we do not break the vows, and would never even think to try and get away with this sort of thing. If we are the bride of Christ, how could we even imagine that same scenario?

US: Can I just kiss the world…Can I just hug that thing in the world…Can I just hold hands with that tiny sin?

We need to reassess the way we deal with things of this world. James 4:4 tells us that whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. We need to step up and go that extra mile in our walk. We need to go all the way for Christ. He went all the way for us to Calvary.

With that being said, I believe that some of the darkest places in the entire world are located online. Does this mean that we should just unplug? Maybe for some of us it does (Matthew 5:30). But, in the darkest places, we as Christians should be the brightest light in the midst of all this darkness. The darker the place, the brighter our light can shine. We have a chance to leave our mark on the cyber world. My brothers and sisters, I challenge you to let your light shine in the cyber world 24/7. You may never realize how many people could get saved by seeing Jesus through your online persona. God forbid that we should become a stumbling block for others because of what we do online. Read Matthew 18:6 for more on that subject.

When I talk about the dark side of the Internet, I want to discuss those things that we may innocently be doing on Facebook and other online communities. We may have the right heart when signing in and browsing through things, but it can be very easy to get caught up in, what I like to call, the “Rabbit Trail of Darkness.” We may very well be online trying to do God’s will, when right away we are bombarded with images that, we as Christians, must fight. These advertisements pop up on the side of the screen, with images of barely clothed people. Then all of a sudden we become busy bodies again, and start looking through other people’s friend list. Something may draw us to click on another friend in that list (which we must remember that God searches our heart even in that situation). Then we may click another, and another. Soon enough we are seeing, reading, and listening to things we shouldn’t. I remember a time when I was clicking through things online, and ended up clicking on a link that took me a video of male’ genitalia. We must remember that there are traps out there, maybe not as blatant as this one, but traps nonetheless.

Let’s talk about the trap of our human nature on these trails where we find ourselves looking and digging deeper into other peoples’ stuff. We are dealing with the World Wide WEB, which brings me to a passage in Isaiah 59, starting with verse 1:

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear to dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak likes; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s WEB. Whoever eats the eggs of the vipers and spin a spider’s web will die, and when one is broken, and adder is hatched.

You may find yourself on a path, and not even realize that this path is going to lead you to a viper’s egg. The web you get stuck in deals with the people who become caught in the bondage of the things they are doing online. People are becoming addicted to the strongholds online, and begin spending more and more time in it. There comes a time that we as Christians must come back to the basic principle of following Christ.

Moving on, I would like to finally bring up the topic of integrity. According to Webster’s dictionary, integrity deals with “adherence to moral and ethical principles.” My definition of integrity is doing what is right when no is watching you. Being alone in front of a computer screen is the best place we can put our integrity into play. I would first like to discuss the relationships that we have online. Again, this technology is great in that it allows us to communicate with so many people around the world. But, there is a fine line in the forms of communication that we have online. There is nothing wrong with friendships, but if you are a young person or single, I must ask you something: if you are communicating with someone of the opposite sex, why should there be anything that we would hide from others about it?

If you are a young person, I’m not saying it’s wrong to have friends or conversations, but why do you feel the need to hide them from your parents, or clear your history. I’m not condoning parents to snoop, but I do believe that young people should be held accountable. As a pastor I have seen the horrible tragedies that hidden relationships have caused that were ignored or not known about, due to a lack of technical skills from the parents. As a young person I encourage you to be open, to trust the Lord, and honor your mother and father as stated in Ephesians 6:2. Feel free to open up with your parents or youth pastors. Don’t feel the need to keep secrets, especially about relationships, as these are just breeding grounds for an unhealthy situation.

As adult Christian singles, I believe there is nothing wrong with having friendships with other people. We must remember though, that in the real world there are conversations that we would not talk about with certain men or women of the opposite sex without being transparent to our spouses. Emotional and flirtatious conversations and gestures can end up hurting and causing challenges to occur in our marriage. We have to keep in tune to the fact that we need to not have conversations online that we would never dream to have face to face. I have had numerous people come to counseling where a person began on conversation within the privacy of their phone or computer. They would end up carrying on emotional and even intimate conversations that ended up causing infatuation and other emotional ties with someone who we shouldn’t. These people ended up crossing the line of the cyber world, into the natural world.

I watched a special on the news and was shocked to find out about pedophiles, and how they use Facebook/MySpace and other online communities to stalk children. These people would create fake accounts, and post things that weren’t really true to who they are. They are on there, looking for people like they were sharks. In reality, sometimes we can act the same way, not as a pedophile, but having an online persona that isn’t true to who we are.

In my time in dealing with the cyber world, it appears that the Internet will bring out exactly what is inside your heart. You are able to do anything, be anyone, and get anything that you want. I feel that we need to actually be more Christ-like and intimate with the Holy Spirit when dealing with the cyber world, since things in the real world are nearly as accessible. If we are reading this, and saying our heart is fine, we must be reminded that in Jeremiah 17:9 it states our heart is naturally wicked and deceitful.

I would like to bring this to a close with the following scriptures from 1 Corinthians 10:

TNIV
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry." 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!

Now that I’ve shared my thoughts, let us be reminded about these temptations. People have always been tempted to lust after evil things, desiring evil. Let us not commit sexual immorality by lusting after pictures or having inappropriate conversations. Let us not complain through comments, posts, and other online avenues. We live in this world, where the temptations are common to all of us. One way we can escape them is to turn off the computer. We must keep in mind; we are one click away from doing the will of God, and one click away from losing our integrity with God.

Again, my target audience for this is born again believers, however if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, I would like to take this time to invite you to accept Jesus into your heart. I encourage you to get plugged into a local church, so that you may be fed the Word of God.

Also, I have a proposition (which is the purpose of this post) for us to become accountable for what we do. I don’t see many pastors addressing the things outline in the post, though I do know there are some great pastors who have.

If you agree with what I have set forth in this post, I challenge you to become a fan of this page. By doing so, you are openly declaring your commitment to follow the principles set forth within this post. Also, please consider sharing this with your friends and families, letting them know your new commitment.

As a final thought, the bible says “my people perish for a lack of knowledge,” so I encourage you to pass this around through email, link through twitter, or pass around through MySpace to your friends and family. Please feel free to openly discuss this post at www.praisechapel.ning.com. or within this fan page.

Thank you and may God Bless You.

Pastor Kelly Lohrke