It’s Not from Me — It’s Spam

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thess 5.21)

Yesterday morning I woke up to a furiously buzzing phone, messages and emails pouring in from friends and contacts I’ve accumulated through the years. Somehow my gmail account was broken into, my address book accessed, and an email composed using my standard signature to give it a ring of authenticity. The email included a link to a bogus OneDrive file which if recipients clicked on led to a dead end – I suspect it was harvesting their email addresses.

In my reply to the many who reached out, I included this line: “On a plus note I am hearing from friends I haven’t heard from in a long time, including some friends I never knew I had.” Despite the seriousness of this kind of attack, I try to glean some joy out of it.

I also noticed a post from a political blog I follow, Powerlineblog.com. I agree with their political take the majority of the time … but not always. Today’s headline read: Quote of the day | Power Line – the article was about quotes attributed to a well-known political reporter/commentator, Brit Hume. I like Brit, follow him on Twitter, and the quotes sure sounded like something Britt would say. The Powerline post had this line, however:

I can’t find a video clip where Brit makes these statements. I would like to confirm them as his. Short of that, I adopt them as my own.

The poster (Scott Johnson, no relation) is himself trying to see some humour in the situation, but it points to something we should all remind ourselves in these days of AI and “deepfakes,” etc.

YOU CAN’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET.

This morning I got another email that reminded me of this in a different way. I am a subscriber to the (very expensive, but I get a discount) Adobe Creative Suite. Part of the suite is an App called Firefly, an app which uses AI to help you create images for material you produce. The email had this line:

Adobe Firefly is part of your Creative Cloud membership. Ideate, generate, and create images then quickly explore different styles and variations — perfect for flyers, social posts, and more.

Do I need to say again, “don’t believe everything you read on the internet?” And don’t believe everything you see either.

Which brings me to the verse I started this post with:

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thess 5.21)

We live in a fallen world. Human depravity is all around us and in us. We desperately need redemption. While I am not against Christians being involved in politics, I know that the solution to our many social problems can never be solved by political activism. That is, not until King Jesus is on the throne and imposes his rule on this world. Until then, political solutions are, at best temporary stopgaps holding back the evil.

When we are confronted with claims, political sensations, public scandals, and whatnot in some post or other, be sure to start with the question: Is this true? — Remember, “Prove all things.” Look for confirmation, and often look for confirmation in sources ideologically opposed to the politics or values of the one posting the information.

For example, one of my friends posted something about the recent shooting incident at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My friend is usually reliable (but just as biased as I am), so I went to the New York Times, just to be sure.

I’ve made this point before, but I want to make it again. Christians need to be doubly careful about the things they say and do online. The world is watching and very ready to criticize. One of the contacts on my list is someone who I don’t know at all, but must have had some contact with years ago. This person sent me a blasphemous response, attacking our Saviour, because the person thought I’d somehow done something malicious.

Getting the news out first isn’t worth destroying our credibility as Christian witnesses.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thess 5.21)

May the Lord guide us and keep us from the harm that can come through our own credulity and desire to make a point in our world. May the points we make be true and may God help us to know they are true.

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Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.

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Image created with AI (!!!) via Adobe Express and UltraReal