By Cedric Fisher
Truth Keepers Ministries
Not long ago, social media (e.g. Facebook, Google, etc.) presenting end-times information was bustling with activity. Eschatological and discernment posts were peppered with thousands of favorable commentaries. Now, most of the ones I’ve checked have incurred a significant drop-off in views, likes, comments, and shares. The most popular ones are receiving only a few hundred views and some less than a hundred. It is as if a switch was flipped and people are staying away from information deemed “negative.” The blogs and pages maintaining viewership are the ones presenting heresy or benign information.
Why are people shunning the news of a perilous time arriving? Are they rejecting portents of a harsh period because they no longer believe them to be true? No, I don’t think so. I believe it is what I call the Great Shut-Down. I’ve been expecting it to manifest—it has finally arrived. The Great Shut-Down is the point when negative information overload reaches a saturation point. People can only take so much bad news, especially those who are spiritually weak or have not been conditioned to receive harsh truth.
Futurologist Alvin Toffler labels the phenomenon in secular society as “future shock” syndrome. Toffler postulates that future shock is the result of people witnessing and feeling the effects of sudden negative changes in society. The lack of response from any authoritative source can cause them to feel helpless and hopeless. They reach the point where they no longer have the will to resist or even complain. Obviously, the secular faction is not looking to Christianity for hope. However, many professing Christians seem to be experiencing a lack of hope as well.
Sociologist and philosopher Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) observed that the collapse of European society by modernity dramatically affected Christianity. He observed that once “the collective force so vital for the life of a society was no longer generated,”1 faith in God declined. Harsh burdens and stresses prevented the people from sensing God’s presence. This resulted in replacing faith with belief in social justice and science. In other words, “the social milieu that supported Christianity disappeared, leaving Christian faith, values, and thinking without any social foundations to give them life.”2
Consider the situation today. Evidence suggests that Christianity is disintegrating from the inside out. Christian leaders are allowing (either through their silence or their promotion) millions of Christians to be introduced to heretical doctrines and practices. The effects of this landslide of heresy are pushing biblical Christianity into obscurity. One of the heresies that has made major inroads is contemplative spirituality (a mystical spirituality often introduced through Spiritual Formation programs). It is going unchecked and virtually fully ignored by almost every Christian leader, spreading throughout Christian colleges, seminaries, ministries, and denominations rapidly. People don’t realize that by embracing such a belief system, they are, in effect, rejecting the biblical concept of God’s nature because the two oppose each other. And the results of this are rejection of love for truth and unbridled acceptance of heretical and cultural trends.
Shutting Down or Staying Alert?
Whatever the cause, shutting down is the worst thing a Christian can do at this point of time. Instead of shutting down, believers need to be selective about what they are putting into their minds and spirits. Being informed is essential to being prepared. Shutting down will not prepare one to endure the harshness of the tough days ahead. It’s one thing if believers are focusing on their relationship with the Lord and want to spend less time on the Internet and watching TV. However, the temptation for many (and I have seen it already) will be to shut down by engaging in entertainment media and outlets of benign and mundane information. Rather than adjusting with balance, they are going into denial, choosing to believe we have lots of time before our society, as we know it, collapses. That’s the “Ostrich Complex,” and professing Christians with the Ostrich Complex will pay a severe price for what they are enjoying now.
As painful and frightening as it is to accept, I believe we are on the verge of a global government and religion that will be very brutal to true Christians. It will take more than a sabbatical from bad news and ominous warnings to prepare for enduring life in such an environment.
Satan, the enemy of our souls, is working overtime right now to “wear out the saints” (Daniel 7:25), but I cannot exhort you enough, this is not a time when born-again believers in Christ can afford to be worn down, bury their heads, and become apathetic toward what is happening around us. For those who cave in to that temptation of apathy, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to stand when things get truly harsh. The time to prepare is long past, but it’s still not too late. The first step is to wake up and accept truth. It is time to gather and store “oil,” the substance that keeps our light shining. In order to keep that flame lit and not allow it to become a flickering flame on a wick in a near-empty reservoir, we must put into action our confession of faith in Christ. He promises to sustain us as we abide in Him.
It is essential for preparation and subsequent endurance that we acknowledge the spiritual war in which we find ourselves, that we do not shut down our senses because of negative information overload, and that we do not live in a bubble of false security.
May we also remember that this home on earth is not our final destination. We have a home where God dwells in righteousness. Nothing in this life is worth forfeiting the opportunity to live in that eternal kingdom with Him. If we are going to defeat the forces of darkness that seek to minimize our efforts and diminish our faith, we will have to fight, “not as one that beateth the air” (1 Corinthians 9:26) but as informed and equipped saints of God. We must not deceive ourselves and think we can be both complacent and effective all at the same time.
Instead of shutting down, let us look up. Genuine blessed hope is the buffer for the stress of perilous times. It can only be had with a sincere relationship with Christ, a strong knowledge of His Word, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (who “shall teach you all things; John 14 :26). That is the only focus that makes sense in this period of encroaching darkness. As the psalmist so well stated, let us hope in His mercy, rejoice in Him, and trust in His holy name.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.—(Psalm 33:18-21)
The above is an extract of Cedric Fisher’s booklet, The Unacknowledged War and the Wearing Down of the Saints. To order the full booklet, click here.
Endnotes:
1. Paul Carls, “Émile Durkheim” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/durkheim), section: c. The Death of the Gods.
2. Ibid.
Please do not confuse “The Great Shutdown” with “The Great Purge.” Something important that you have missed is the active (and aggressive) censorship taking place within social media. In my own case, I had a ten-year-old Facebook page that had hundreds of posts, discernment ministry links and personal research notes carefully documenting false teachings and apostasy happening inside the church. I had included many scripture references to establish the actual Biblical truth of what ought to be in the church – but isn’t. Sadly, I logged into my Facebook account one day to find ALL of my posts, links and notes deleted by Facebook’s administrators on the grounds that I had violated Facebook’s deliberately vague “community standards.” Everything was gone – my Facebook page was completely emptied and my appeals went unanswered. Afterwards, nothing I posted would remain longer than a day, and I was repeatedly hit with 24-hour posting bans. Thus rendered inaccessible, Social Media became a complete waste of my time and I closed my account. This is not just restricted to Facebook. Twitter (now X) purged many Christian voices. Others sites like Daily Motion, Veoh and Vimeo are now nearly empty of Christian content. The Internet was once an amazing tool for preaching the Gospel to the world and God knows that I tried to us it to those ends. However, as governments push for a more censored Internet, our window of opportunity will close forever. “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” – John 9:4 KJV
If there are not as many likes on social media as there used to be, then perhaps it is a waste of time to be there. It is a fake society where only popularity wins, chasing after useless trends (knowledge or data increasing but decrease in underlying understanding or discernment). I see it as a sign of the times that there will be a famine – not of bread – but a famine of the Word of God as prophesied. A person to person (not digital, actually in-person) is how I believe the Lord ministers to people, we need to truly connect and not take the ‘viral’ worldly easy way of reaching people for the Lord. I rarely if ever got a Word from the Lord from a fb post – usually I get a red flag warning that someone is not discerning the truth behind what they are ‘liking’ . To take part in social media sometimes feels like casting pearls before swine (not that I’m trying to judge anyone that way) but I don’t feel called to participate in social media anymore except if someone contacts me person to person.
One of the most frightening things God can do to anyone is to turn them over to themselves…one of the things we are seeing today is just that…these organized systems of religion that call themselves the Church are being run by themselves almost like Laodicea…most people in them do not even realize the Holy Spirit has departed from the place…I pray for those who are mislead and for God to open the eyes of His true ones…in the meantime, we pray, we study and we live out our faith…we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world…Maranatha !!!
Victor, what you said so resonated with me. I think many remnant, prophecy believing Christians feel isolated and worn down. Nobody (even Christians) seem to want to hear the truth about what’s really going on in the world and how all of what Jesus told believers to watch for (that will be beginning to come to pass just before He takes his Church home) is coming to pass. We need to stay close to Jesus and fill up with his Word and cast our cares on him. He will see us through. We can only pray and share the truth as we have opportunity. We can’t make people listen. Only God can help people do that.
Bravo! I pray it is time that the solid, fundamental, devoted believers who are in the Seeker Sensitive Churches will realize such folly and break out of their easy rider “community”. It is hard, but must be done to stand up for Him. Fitting in over allowing Christ to build His Church has to stop. Take a stand and step up rather than perpetuating the modern day downgrade. ~Be a lighthouse on your own trail.
It seems to me that the reason for avoidance is that the majority of the populace deems the topic uncomfortable and they are avoiding such discomfort as something they just don’t want to bother their minds with such a topic.
When I first read the title and the mention of social media, I thought it had something to do with the internet and free speech being ‘shut down’ and that sort of thing. Anything can happen, and that possibility arose earlier also. Victor, It sounds like your church is already in apostasy. You are not obligated to go to an apostate church. ‘Forsaking not the assembling’ only refers to a Biblical assembly. If only apostate options exist, we should not be going there. If we lose our salt there, and especially if we feel like we are being weakened, we need to leave. That is exactly the effect of the apostasy, until one does not see heresy for heresy and sin for sin and has been swallowed up by it all. Keep warning them, if it is too draining, then just leave. I know where you are coming from in that regard. ( :
Many minds have been brainwashed into believing that truth is subjective therefore it is not worth defending. Learning doctrinal truths is hard and judgmental, they think. Thus the move away from creeds (orthodoxy) and towards deeds (orthopraxy) . lets all get along (false ecumenical ism) and (pantheism). Missional social justice not soul winning. Why study the bible (no longer relevant), simply learn by trance inducing mindfulness meditation (contemplative spiritual formation). The narrow road is hard and narrow minded but many paths (the broad road) is easy. Oh pastor please tickle my ears, or I will find a (pseudo) pastor who does.
God is long suffering and patient. Chosen Before the Foundation of the World Christians are Blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places. We will one day be Like Our Lord Jesus Christ. The one Who loved Us and washed away are Sins with HIS OWN BLOOD. Our Father in Heaven knew before the Foundation of the World who would be Saved. How? Because HE IS OUR GREAT ALL KNOWING GOD. Puny Man says I understand God. Really? GOD LOVED THE WORLD. Romans 9:22 says man fitted Himself for Destruction. Some chose to reject Gods Son. Today many in America have chosen Darkness over Gods Light. Bad Doctrine is putting people to sleep and in Great Danger. If we believe The Lord Jesus is coming soon we need to sound the Alarm!! PREACH THE GOSPEL. WAKE UP CHRISTIANS.
11Thess 2 Its called the APOSTASY We are earnestly to CONTEND for the doctrine ONCE delivered to the saints …Jude … you are right oh Victor …the apostasy will win out….the antichrist spirit is unceasingly at work…but those that are written in the Lambs book of life will NOT take the mark (and it isn’t physical) and will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the Word of his testimony…His word Quickens us as the Holy Spirit teaches it to us in TRUTH…peoples need to get their noses in the KJV if they are truly HIs people!!!
Amen! Part of fighting the good fight is remembering to give out the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4). In our ‘shut down’ and avoiding people we are not where we can minister to others. We are servants. Lets make our foreheads strong. Ezekiel 3:17-21, James 5:19-20. One child at a time what a beautiful sight it is! Dave Hunt use to say we need to focus on others. They are out there. Many need prayed for, they need groceries, they need the love of Christ. Jesus will send you to them. Blessings
Yes, the Great Shut Down is following decades of The Downgrade… the church is imploding with it’s focus on ‘inclusivity’ and other New Age streams.. the music is loud and unbiblical. One says, “Holy Spirit you are welcome here,.. come flood this space and fill the atmosphere’… another says, ‘we are desperate for your presence’ – referring to the HS again, The sermons are watered down and miss the point. I will speak truth when faced with error.
For me, the temptation to “shut down” is not from future shock overload but from the anguish I feel seeing those in the church (locally and regionally) who accept (or promote) the heresies (mainly forms of universalism) advancing through the church as it hurls itself towards apostasy! I’ve grown weary of being the “doctrine police” at church and admittedly bite my tongue or just stay away a little bit more frequently than I used to. Sometimes it’s hard enough just to keep my own amour on….and I’m tired of being angry with the enemy, frustrated with the brethren and fighting my own weaknesses. I suspect I am not alone. We all ( I hope) know what is happening and it’s like a finger in the dam. In the end apostasy wins (NOT REVIVAL). I can’t wait to go home just so I don’t have to stomach too much more of it, but I will fight the good fight and finish my course to get my crown and please my Lord. Even so Come Lord Jesus, Come.
That sums it up perfectly!