Proverbs 14:12

There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.

The first picture without the red circle and line came from a religious page on facebook called “Christian Home”. This kind of post appeals to people who are new to Christianity, immature spiritually, Christian slacktivist or who have a religious spirit. While I do believe we shouldn’t change our testimony about our love for God, Jesus or his Word, I don’t believe stating that we don’t care if our love “ticks” off the unsaved is Christlike at all. It’s prideful and aggressive…and don’t confuse aggression with being unshakable in your faith….the two are not the same. We are called to seek out situations where we can share the Gospel… and bring people to Jesus…. not offend them and cause them to shut down. Not only does this shut people down to the person posting it, but to all Christians. It isn’t necessary to declare that you don’t care how people feel about your statement, anyone who truly loves God doesn’t go around revelling in the way serving him offends others. Our faith will offend the ungodly, but that isn’t a flex we need to go around showing pridefully. It’s sad that others are offended because that offense sends them to hell because they resist God. We can do better… just make the statement about how much you believe that God’s word is the most important book ever written…build a bridge of conversation to the lost… not a gate to keep the lost out. Also, nearly all the groups putting out memes like this are doing it for profit. They don’t actually know the Lord or his word.

There are also those memes that say things like , “If you love Jesus, like and share, if you love Satan, ignore and keep scrolling.” I see a lot of people liking and sharing those… and here is the thing about that… it’s manipulation and manipulation is as the sin of witchcraft. When a baby Christian or someone new to Christianity encounters a post like this, they feel like they must like and share it because in their innocence they want to make sure they don’t offend God…so they like and share it from fear and shame. The person who created this meme created that fear and shame in a baby Christian. God wants worship volunteers, not prisoners. The Bible says in John 4:24 “²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” There is no truth to posting a meme from fear or shame…it doesn’t bring people closer to God… it drives them away. Just say something like “I love Jesus!!!! He saved my soul and reconciled me to God!” Those people it resinates with are going to join with you in your praise. These memes are also nearly exclusively posted by facebook moneychangers… I use that term for a reason.

Matthew 21;12-13 ¹² And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,¹³ And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

We are now the temple of the Holy Spirit once we become a Christian…and any time we want to offer God praise and worship Jesus we can… the only one requirement is that we do so in spirit and truth. When we have greedy facebook users tapping into our love for God to like and share post so they can get money or followers, they do it by inducing guilt and shame with statements like the one above where your love for Jesus depends on it… they become the modern day moneychangers who are coming to corrupt your pure worship and praise. So I’m going to tell you dear brother and sister in the Lord… just ignore them completely… don’t help them profit on the spiritual abuse of your fellow Christians. If you want to praise the Lord… you can stop and think about the goodness of God… the beauty of our Savior Jesus and his tremendous love for us… and then tell your friends how much he’s done for you and what he can do for them… from your heart of faith and love.

If a Christian meme causes you to feel shame or fear if you don’t post it… it’s not from God. Jesus isn’t trolling facebook for likes and shares, people are.