”Have you read this, have you heard that, did you notice that youtubeclip…?”
There is no end to all the different opinions, statements, warnings and not always too wellfounded information that a retired preacherman seems to be supposed to look up and evaluate.
Nowadays most of the questions I get touches on covid19, covidvaccines, and how we as Christians are supposed to act, if this be the end of time and the number of the Beast..
Since I am an old man, having in the past been fooled into believing things without having the good sense to check dem up first a little too many times, I nowadays have taken the opposite approach, being more inclined to not believe in anything, before I´m sure it is worth believing in.
And, let me be clear, I do not approve of the kind of fear-mongering that is going on in some quarters!
We should preach Christ and his salvation, and his coming, remind each other of his words, that we are to rejoice and lift our heads when it gets darker in this world, instead of whining about how our personal liberties are restricted if we cannot do everything everywhere in any way at any time like we have been used to!
Unfortunately there is a lot of unreliable information out there, and a lot of people that are ready to pass it on without a second thought – but, since I get my fair share of questions according to it, there also seem to be a good many people who really want to know what can be trusted and what not!
One can only hope that their number will increase….
But, the problem with passing on unreliable information is both bigger and older than this new field of rubbish that has grown fed by covidfears.
Some twentyfive years ago or so years I bought a CD with Creedence Clearwater Revival`s greatest hits.
Back in the bronze age, when I was young, this group were among my absolute favourites, and I guess I wanted that CD in pure nostalgia. Well, there among the other greatest hits it was, naturally. ”I heard it through the grapevine”.
There have always been a lot of things to be heard through the grapevine, particulary about those not present at the moment! And they are not all so pleasant…
I´ve been waiting for the day, when people would learn that a person should be considered innocent until proven guilty, for quite some time now, and I´m glad I didn´t start out holding my breath!
At least we confessing Christians ought to realize that spreading rumours and gossip is too bad a game to be played by us! Even worse, it´s a sin!
It happens often, too often, that people are both judged and condemned on basis of suspicion and speculation.
They don´t even get a fair chance to defend themselves, they don´t even know what kind of evil fairytales that are told behind their backs!
I have even heard people defend their loose talking by saying ”But it must be true, because this is what I´ve been told!”
Such stupidity comes pretty close to be both unholy and ungodly, it is no ”sancta simplicitas”, that´s for sure!
I know brothers in Christ who have received harsh letters and phonecalls, and even have had their ministries seriously damaged, not because of something they have done, but because people have been all too willing and ready to spread rumours and lies about them, and those who have listened have been all too ready and willing to believe it all!
And if there is anything that dies even harder than old habits, it´s false rumours! Once the word is out it can´t be contained anymore. Therefore it shouldn´t be let out in the first place!
Anyone, who joins in in this game, should be aware of the fact that he joins in on the Devil´s team.
He is the father of all lies!
Let me put it like this: Don´t believe in everything you hear about other people! Believe only in what is proven beyond every reasonable doubt to be true!
If all Christians would start playing by that rule, the Devil probably would have a nervous breakdown!
Like I said, I´m waiting for this to happen, but I`ll still not hold my breathe while I´m waiting. There seem to be too many folks around that find some kind of perverse pleasure in slandering…