15 Things I Have Learned or Benefited from Social Media

April 24, 2009 is the day I joined X which was known as Twitter back in the day. I think my first post was saying going to give this thing a try. I did and still there 15 years later. I do not recall when I joined Facebook, but I am on X more than I am on Facebook and other social media site. 

Hard to believe that I stuck to social media which can be a dumpster fire at times, but I have learned a few things being on there.  What I want to do in this post it to share 15 things I have learned on social media. I will cover the serious to the not-so serious.

1. Social media is not a replacement for your local church.

The church is the body of Christ that gathers for worship, fellowship, and receiving the word preached. Yes, I have had meaningful conversations on social media, but it is not to replace the church you are part of. The pastors and Bible teachers you follow are not replace your pastor even if he is not reformed as the case I have dealt with majority of my time on Twitter/X. 

2. God is working.

One thing about social media is seeing the Lord at work in various churches all over the world and we can rejoice in that.

3. There is more false teaching than I realized.

The prosperity gospel is not the only false gospel. Legalism comes in many forms. Over the years, more and more false teaching has crept into the church and most pastors are not even aware of it. 

4. There are better Christian books available.

Christian bookstores sell whatever sells even from false teachers. Most of them barely have a theology section anymore. Thankfully, through social media, I have learned there are better books available for Christians such as myself to read and be equipped. I will mention that I have won a few contests for free books over the years to which I am thankful.

5. Everyone is a critic.

Like it or not, someone is always going to criticize you for something. It could be how you dress or even your food preferences (more on that later). You can post a quote and people will jump your throat for quoting someone they don't agree with. They may not even like your opinion on the matter. 

6. There are alternatives in worship music.

Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation worship are the big three when it comes to worship music and used a lot in our churches. Thankfully, many on social media recommended artists that are more Biblically sound such as Sovereign Grace Music, CityALight, and Matt Boswell. 

7. Trends indeed do come and go.

I did not need social media to learn that, but it seems there are even trends on the world wide web. I remember Music Monday on X, which people would share albums and songs to get the work week going. The trend was so popular that I had posts on Monday to highlight different worship songs and albums. Trends on social media can also mean what everyone is posting about and those change from day to day.

8. Some Presbyterians are not gracious.

I love my Presbyterian brother and sisters but some of them are the worst people I have encountered on social media just for being a Baptist. Some will go to great links to make you feel inferior because they truly believe they have...ahem...superior theology (Keith Foskey eat your heart out), and do not even get me started on R. Scott Clark.

9. People will follow you till they disagree with you.

My Twitter/X followers come and go. They start off agreeing with you till you say something they do not like. Sheesh. Whatever happened to agree to disagree? 

10. People will block you for the heck of it.

I have been blocked by Joel Osteen for calling out his false gospel and calling him to repent. I have been blocked by others for calling out their false teaching such as Louie Giglio or not caving into their theology such as R. Scott Clark, which goes back to lesson 8. However, there are times I would find out someone blocked me that I had no interaction with. What did I do to deserve that and what did I say? Oh well. 

11. Our world is indeed depraved.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, if you have read the Bible, you would not be surprised by the state of the world. If you have been on social media as long as I have, you know that statement to be true. You do not even have to turn on the TV, you can check your phone to see how messed up our world is and rejoice knowing Christ is coming again.

12. There is a gold mine of podcasts.

Over the years, I have become a podcast junkie. It got worse when Spotify added them to their app. Thanks to social media, I have learned there is a great deal of God honoring content out there to listen from sermons to conversations on theology, culture, politics, etc.

13. Politics is nastier than I thought.

I knew politics was a subject that caused a lot of arguments, but social media has shown it to be a lot worse. No one can agree on anything and almost everyone has an opinion that results in insults. 

14. Reformed does not always mean solid.

This one is hard to swallow at times. I used to think everyone who teaches the doctrines of grace was a solid believe, but as time progressed during my time on social media, that wasn't the case especially over the last few years with wokeism and Thomism creeping into the church. 

15. Pineapple on pizza means war.

Twitter/X has a lot of food wars and the biggest one that seems to keep coming up is pineapple on pizza. This war questions people taste in food (going back to lesson 5) and even some are wondering if they can truly be friends. Here is my take, pineapple is good on pizza if prepared properly. I said what I said.

More on the Driscoll Incident

Just when you thought you heard it all about the incident with Mark Driscoll and the Stronger Men's Conference but wait there is more. 

In this first video, Justin Peters interviews Phil Johnson regarding his insight into what had happened with Driscoll, which also includes an update on recent health issues Phil has been experiencing. Peters then goes on to show an announcement from John Lindell, the pastor of James River Church, the church that hosted the event:

This next video is from the YouTube channel, Long for Truth, which shows us there is a much deeper issue:

Does God Forgive Future Sins?

There is a recent documentary that addressed the issue of future sins. As Christians, we know that are all our sins are forgiven but there are some that believe that future sins will not. One of the arguments was 1 John 1:9, which says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

What some are saying is if God forgave future sins, then this verse is useless. That is not true. When we confess ours, we are doing is acknowledging that we have sinned and gone against the Spirit of God in us. We acknowledge that Christ's work is sufficient. 1 John 2:1-2 says, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."

Christians know their past sins are forgiven and we can rest knowing that our future sins are forgiven because Jesus declared on the cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Christ's finished work on the cross covers not only our sins we have committed in the past, but the ones will commit in the future. This also includes sins we are not even aware of.

What would happen if God did not forgive future sins? Imagine a husband and wife getting into a heated argument. Both say some harsh comments to one another, and the husband walks out to cool off. The wife feels convicted by what she says and confessed her sins to God, now she needs to ask her husband for forgiveness. Time goes by and someone is knocking on her door, which the wife opens to the sight of a police officer informing her that her husband was found dead. 

As horrible as this scenario could be, the belief that God not forgiving future sins could be worse. Did the husband confess his sins to God? If he did not, what does that mean for his soul? Does that mean if he did not ask God to forgive him, does that mean he has forfeited his eternity? Does that mean this man would have to go somewhere until that sin was atoned for by someone else that is more powerful than Christ? 

If God cannot forgive our future sins, then Jesus’ death on the cross was useless. We have no hope for our sins to be forgiven. Also, what if we sin just before we die and haven’t had a chance to repent that does that mean sin has not been atoned for?

You see what despair and even heresy could lead someone if they truly believe that God does not forgive future sins. Does this mean we live however we want because God forgives future sins? Absolutely not. 1 John 3:6 says, "No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or has come to know Him." This does not mean we gain sinless perfection (wouldn't that be nice), this means what Romans 6:14 says that "sin shall not be master over you." We have been a desire to love and follow God "through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).

Romans 4:25 says that Christ "was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification." Christ died for sinners (Romans 5:8) and if Christ was not raised, "your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17). 

We have confidence knowing that our sins are forgiven, past, present and future, all because of the finished work of Christ on the cross.

The Mark Driscoll Incident

I am sure by now you have heard about Mark Driscoll, former pastor of Mars Hill Church, being kicked off the stage at a men's conference for calling out the "Jezabel" spirit that was in the midst of the men attending. The conference began with the male stripper performing a pole dance.

Mark came out at the time he spoke and was about to rebuke the leaders of the conference for what had happen but then the pastor of James River Church, which has ties to the Bethel Church, kicked him off the stage.

When I first saw video clips and pics regarding what had happened, I was in utter amazement that Driscoll did that. Then more evidence came to light that things may not have turned out as they should. 

In this video from the Smart Christians Channel, you will see that Driscoll backtracks his rebuke:

In this next video, Justin Peters interview Gabriel Hughes regarding what had happened in this conference followed by a discussion with Travis Allen that will give into insight that Driscoll is an unrepentant liar that goes back to the Strange Fire conference in 2013:

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Faithful Unto Death: Understanding the Martyrs from Owen Strachan