On False Gospel and Spiritual Memes

As I listen to the preaching about 1 Corinthians 3:10-20 last Sunday service, I was moved by a certain verse that was emphasized by the preacher:

1 Corinthians 3:11

[11] For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Jesus is the true foundation of the church and as mentioned in John 14:6, no one comes to the Father except through Him. And as followers of Christ, we are called to study the Word faithfully so that we may be able to proclaim it. But, nowadays, some of us might be doing it, the wrong way.

Lately, there has been a lot of chain messages that are spreading throughout Facebook and Twitter. Most of these messages are containing stories of miracle and hope. Some of these messages even contain bible verses. At the end of these messages, the sender encourages the receiver to pass it to 10-20 persons. It looks fascinating at first but what’s bothering is the intention of the writer of these chain messages. Some messages even threaten the receiver with words like: “If you ignore this message then 10 years of bad luck will come after” or "you will not be blessed if you don't type amen". In some cases, people share posts of what is usually called, 1 Like 1 Prayer memes. These memes seek for reactions on social media sites, telling everyone that the Lord will bless them if they do so.

Moreover, there are people who use verses from the bible to prove their selfish claims. It even comes to a point when the real essence of these verses are being replaced by worldly/biased interpretations. This is very alarming especially now that a lot of people easily follow trends.

Therefore, this should be a wake up call for everyone to stop passing spiritual memes and chain messages to our virtual friends. Instead of supporting these nonsense, it would be better if we start reading the Bible now and encourage people to be faithful to the Word. It would also help if we would have a Study Bible or read commentaries that are all over the internet. If you prefer watching videos, then you may subscribe to channels that features thorough discussions of the gospel. See? There are a lot of ways to bring people closer to God than ask them to like your post or share chain messages. To wrap this up, I would like to share this verse from John 16:13 which says,

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come."