Internationally known Christian speaker and best-selling author Lisa Bevere recently warned Christians of the dangers of “going viral,” urging believers to seriously consider the messages they promote on social media. She stressed the importance of every word that comes from our mouths, and now our social media.
“There’s a huge danger when it comes to social media, because there’s often no accountability,” Bevere said, according to Christian Post. “The Bible is very clear that many of us should not be ‘masters’ or ‘teachers,’ but we can translate that to ‘bloggers’ and ‘posters.’ The Bible says we’re going to give an account for every idle word, and I think that can be applied to what we post on social media. We need to use social media to declare truth.”
There are many Christians today that do not take Bevere’s advice and focus more of their energy on trying to be cool, snarky or appealing to all, rather than seeking the approval of God.
Bevere said there is a pervasive mentality in modern Christianity where “people can say whatever they want to say, and when it goes viral they think they have the approval of God.”
She explained that that is “not the case,” and that just because something is seen and loved by thousands of people, does not make it holy.
“Sometimes, when things go viral, you’re not impacting people, you’re infecting them,” she said. “You’re pointing out problems and not solutions. If you don’t give people an answer and point them to Jesus, you’re just creating more of a problem.”
Bevere and her husband, John, run an organization called Messenger International, which works to train and develop followers of Christ to transform the world. They encourage believers to look away from the world, turning to God as the ultimate source of unchanging truth.
Bevere said she believes that a reason people often misuse scripture, or have a wrong idea about God or Christianity, is that they have “high opinions” and “low awareness” of what the Bible actually instructs.
She continued:
“I believe that when you’re under authority, you have authority. The number of followers you have doesn’t give you authority. The number of people that read your blog doesn’t give you authority. Being under the authority of the Word of God and being under the authority of the relationship of a community of believers, these are the things that give us true authority.”
She then urged believers to evaluate their heart’s intentions prior to posting on a social media channel like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
“Am I actually advancing the Kingdom of God, or am I causing people to recoil?” we should ask. “What can I say to challenge people to have a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ?”
“I should be aware of who I am representing when I post,” Bevere said. “I don’t have this freedom to post whatever I want on social media. If I am a Christian, I’m an ambassador of Christ, and I don’t have the right to take people emotional hostage and process my own pain for everyone to hear.”
“But if we are truly people of God, we are for absolute truth,” she continued. “Truth is adamant, but it’s also tender. Truth without love is harsh, but love without truth is a lie. God is truth and God is love, and so we have to make sure we walk in both of those when we are posting on social media or any platform. The more access you have, the less privilege you have to say whatever you want to say.”
“I think Jesus did a great job with it, but the Church gets so wrapped up in small questions when we already have the big answer, we already have the solution,” she said of being politically correct. “Do I believe marriage is between a man and a woman? Absolutely. Do I believe abortion is sinful? Of course. But the Church is rampant with divorce and jealousy, and it’s very confusing to people in the world.”
“We need to live the truth in love so people can actually see our lives rather than just hear our words,” she added.
Bevere encouraged Christians to stand firm in their beliefs and not waver just because the culture tells them to. She urges them to read the Bible more, to learn and memorize the scripture, because the only way to believe this absolute truth, is to know it.
“If we can actually begin to live the transformation that the truth provides, it’ll be woven into the fabric of our beings, even if we don’t understand,” she said. “God knows what I need. We the Church must humble ourselves and stop making excuses and say, ‘God, we want to live the truth before you and speak it in love.’ The Church has a moment to be radically transformed.”