Yeah, what he said.
You cannot avoid resisting one way or another. The question is what your convictions demand of you in terms of general direction and specific measures and means.
Both Catacomb Resident and I have warned that, if you keep using the standard major services on the Internet, it’s not just the snooping, tracking and advertising you have to consider. There is the increasing probability that your participation will be censored. So, if you resist sin verbally on Facebook by calling sin what it is, you are likely to see your account locked sooner or later.
For the time being, most services don’t censor you until someone complains. And for the most part, only if a whiner reads your stuff do you worry about that. At least a few services will be slow to act for simple bureaucratic reasons, but if enough complaints of a certain kind roll in, they will eventually sanction your account. Thus, the issue is whether you are noticed by enough of the wrong people.
What does your sense of calling and mission say? Do you infiltrate and carefully approach the issue by working away at the unspoken assumptions, or do you wade right in and start attacking the obvious? Maybe some of both? Have you established a record? Do you simply remain resolute on things you’ve already addressed, as the wokie social regime tightens its grip?
I’ll be honest: I’m not opposed to censorship in principle. There are things I believe should be silenced because they come from the Devil. They are provocations to test your resolve to stay holy. What I’ll fight is censorship of the gospel message. Since this rests on a different principle than imaginary rights of free speech, it calls for a different strategy, and different tactics.
You won’t read me blathering about rights. Nothing in that subject area comes from Scripture. The Bible declares principles of feudal authority. While I take the time to become aware of my enemy’s strategy and tactics, that enemy works for Satan, and I won’t use the Devil’s stuff. Though all the world embraces his lies, I am duty bound to fight those lies using divine guidance and weapons. In the world, but not of it.
I still say that this is an information war for us. As long as the Internet can be used to declare the gospel, it should be so used. The Lord is preparing us for the day when that path will be closed, but for now, we spread the message as best we can.
Gospel or not, Google’s communication tools are still some of the best, and by far the cheapest we have. That they are also the most invasive and egregious advertisers on the planet isn’t much of a concern when your buying habits are rooted in the Kingdom of Heaven. That they track and snoop on my emails isn’t much of an issue (except if I’m doing something that requires anonymity). The issue isn’t how much I value Google’s provisions, but that Google is easily the most direct route to most of my message sharing on the Net. I’ll keep using it until that door is closed.
If things remain on the current path, that day will come. Because of the nature of my calling, I’ll call out the sins of Google and the sins Google intends to protect. I’ll keep using Google to declare the sins of Google and all her allies, including most notably the US government. My mission is to boldly confront their evil, mostly by calling it “evil”. The same goes for any other “free” service on the Internet that serves my mission.
I’m not a physical threat, but dissent itself is becoming forbidden. This is an information war, and God’s truth has its own power. But if you bite the hand that feeds you, don’t be surprised when that hand slaps you. I’m willing to face that. I cannot carry out my mission without being vulnerable to the wrath of sinners. But this is a decision you must make for yourself, and you should make it fully informed of the consequences.
