Some of you receive this via our e-mail database, others read it on the Facebook post, and people around the world read it on the website. This has been a year of warding off hackers. In January, visits to the site suddenly increased by 3000 viewers per-day. The site host notified me they were shutting down the webpage because of embedded malicious software. It required several days of work at a considerable cost to remove it and get back to normal with additional protection. Efforts to hack in continued but my new firewall stopped the attempts until two weeks ago. Thankfully, this time it was easier to repair. Now with another protection software installed, a new sign-in procedure, and a complex password word, I pray the site will run without interruption. The new program also allows me to see who is trying, and the location from where they are trying to hack in. Several were from countries I’d never heard of and I’m quite knowledgeable of geography. Some people do this for ‘fun’—they need to get a life—however the majority of the attempts seek to steal personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account, etc. Terrorist utilize people’s websites to send encrypted messages around the world.
All this gave me another perspective of Satan’s elusive tactics against Christians. Anyone who uses computers has experienced times when you realize your computer is operating progressively slower. Often the change has been so subtle that you didn’t notice at first. Either through antivirus software or through a computer technician you discover you have a virus, which is a small program that piggybacks on another program into your computer to disrupt your system or steal information. We normally recognize the devil’s straightforward attacks, but he also tries hacking into our life unnoticed and infect us with a spiritual virus or embed secret ‘malicious software’ that slows down or even stops our spiritual growth. In the parable of the sower, one seed sprouted and grew but unnoticed thorns grew and choked the fruit. I checked my grape vines this morning and noticed a small honeysuckle vine had wrapped up and around a branch. Left there it would have grown until it ruined my grapes.
Hackers search for weak and vulnerable areas on websites. One hacker searches everyday through every page I have posted since 2011. I block their IP address and they change to a new address. I received a notice this week from my protection service that they had discovered one small item on the site had an unprotected security risk but they had fixed it. Satan and his demons study us and look for an unprotected area. They are like spyware that tracks your every move looking for a vulnerable opening in your life. I have a policy that has saved me many problems—I do not open an unknown web link. Acquaintances will send me some amazing link I must click on and check out. Sorry, it goes straight into the trash. We have all received an email from someone we know well, but the reality a hacker has broken into their email, stolen their contacts, and is now sending dangerous information deceiving you it is from a friend. Christians should never launch into unknown areas. My grandmother long before computers often said, “Don’t believe anything you hear or read, and half of what you see.” Her basic principle was to be cautious. How much more does this apply in our internet age and when society has removed God and degenerated into an immoral pit. The devil tries in every possible means to deceive us so we allow something in that will destroy our relationship with God.
The good news is God did not leave us defenseless. He has given us the presence of the Holy Spirit, the armor of the Spirit, and the gift of discernment. Peter tells us to gird up the loins of your mind (1 Pet 1:13 NKJV). Paul adds, take THE HELMET OF SALVATION (Eph 6:17) with which our mind is protected. Satan works through our minds, which is like the computer of our life. A phrase used in computer technology is GIGO, garbage in, garbage out. If you constantly view ‘garbage’ on our computer, you will end with a lot of garbage coming out. If we look, listen, read, and hangout with sinful and immoral people, Satan will put a lot of garbage into your life.
Don’t stumble over the theological disputes about the gifts of the Spirit. As never before, we need the gift of distinguishing or discerning of spirits (1 Corin 12:20). I have always had a keen awareness of false spirits, sometimes with teaching or with people. I’ve watched fellow pastors think a new person or couple coming to the church was God’s gift to them. At the same time, my discernment was doing spiritual somersaults. Every time within a few months the other pastors discovered they were more like a plant from Satan. As with computers, guarding against Satan’s effort to hack in, place a spiritual virus, or embed something malicious into your mind requires constant vigilance.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8). Maintain your spiritual firewall and beware of what you hear, read, and see.