As always, I cannot tell you what path to take; I can only explain mine.
I lack the time and expertise to read purposefully all the released documents on NSA spying. That means I rely on people I trust who know more than I to write about it. What I have read indicates the spying is confined to an identifiable technology profile that isn’t all that hard to avoid. The summary I offer will offer tomorrow is not meant to suggest you are wrong for using something they target. Rather, it simply indicates you are exposing yourself and you need to be aware so that you can make wise choices.
The NSA spying is a threat to you and I. They are zealous to invade our computers and seize control from us. Not so much individually, but their insistence on controlling every factor in their work turns into a demand that is tantamount to chaining you to the ground in the ready position for rape at their convenience. That such chaining leaves you wide open to abuse by other parties is of no concern to them, except that they deny it in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In case you are a little slow: They don’t give a damn about you and will lie about their motives. Declarations that we aren’t the target of their spying means nothing, because they willingly ruin lives as the price for their absolute power to do anything they damned well please.
So the threat is not that they can gather information and see what we are saying to each other. The threat is the methods they use for that spying. Their methods disable every means of protection we have against criminals. They become criminals in the process. I’ll be discussing things I do that reduce my exposure to criminals, and more pointedly the NSA’s criminal activity. Block the NSA and you will also block the other criminals.
First, let’s deal with some broad generalities. Consider how you use your computers and phones. The single greatest factor in surrendering is the collection of habits that expose you to their intrusions. The single greatest human weakness is seeking entertainment. I can’t fix that for you. If your mission commitment is that weak, it’s something only you and God can work out together. This is hardly the silly puritanical nonsense you might think it is; it’s not a matter of discipline. The issue is what you love most. If the mission isn’t your highest joy, you have a ways to go. If the Internet and phone networks are valuable to you in themselves versus simply a tool for the mission, then the Devil owns you anyway.
My particular mission is communications. Not just the gospel, but all communications as the primary means of ensuring the gospel gets through. This is not about my particular version of the gospel or controlling the media so that only the gospel gets through. It doesn’t work that way. If you don’t understand how my assertion reflects God’s divine justice, I cannot help you at all. Maybe you need to read my book linked on the lower right column of this blog so you’ll understand, but I have a mission from God to ensure complete and total freedom of all humans to communicate anything they wish. My God is big enough to work His divine will in that environment, and any restriction will simply become another tool of Satan.
The whole point is that you keep your restrictions inside the domain God has delivered to you. You have no mandate from God to work toward controlling anything but your own life. Yes, that means you can place whatever restrictions you sense are needed for your dependents. The primary injustice in this world is asserting dominance contrary to God’s definitions of what constitutes dependency. That’s what this whole post is about: We are using God’s divine justice as a weapon to fend of sinful attempts to restrict our mission.
Now that we have established the underlying concepts, tomorrow I’ll post the specifics.
