I believe that Jesus and the First Century Apostles and Disciples were the Firstfruits of the Resurrection. Furthermore, based upon my understanding of the Scriptures, I believe that God has been working throughout the ages since that time to bring in the latter fruits and the latter harvest.
“Firstfruits of the Resurrection” KJV Bible Verse List:
Note: This commentary was originally written in March of 2018. Given how quickly the situation changes with the different social networks, some of the information below — such as the URLs — may no longer be valid at the time you read it.
Some time ago, I received a shock when I discovered that in the data they had collected on me, Facebook had some personal information for my mother, my father, my brother, my daughter, my landlord, and a few other parties.
All of this data had been acquired via my “Contacts” app. Furthermore, it was done with MY PERMISSION, because I had failed to disable one of the options in Facebook’s Messenger app.
It all began when I became curious regarding what Facebook knew about me. Then I found this article on the web:
WARNING: Before you take any of the steps which are described below, please read the full contents of each page, so that you know and fully understand what you are about to do. I don’t want anyone coming back and blaming me if you messed things up, or lost data that you didn’t want to lose.
At any rate, I followed the previous instructions on the aforementioned page, received the necessary email link, and then downloaded the zipped archive of my Facebook data.
The archive itself is in the form of a mini-website, meaning that there is an index.html document in the main folder.
So, either use the “Open With” command on your platform, or tap or double-click the index.html document, or else drop the index.html document on an open web browser window, in order to open it. The document should open in your default web browser.
You will find a lot of interesting stuff in there, such as advertisers you are linked to, etc. But one of the more sensitive ones — at least in my view — is found in the “Contact Info” section, which is the second link in the menu on the left side of the page, right below your profile image.
If you click or tap that link, you will see the names and phone numbers of people which Facebook has stored on its servers. That is where I received my shock. I am sure that said persons would not be too happy if they knew that Facebook had that info concerning them, particularly because some of them don’t even have Facebook accounts.
NOTE: Be advised that I was reading on one Facebook page that while you can only see contacts’ names and phone numbers, Facebook seems to imply that it may possess other data regarding each person, which it simply does not show you.
So, if you are concerned about this as much as I am, then what you need to do is to go to this page and carefully follow the instructions:
More specifically, on the very first item that is listed on the above page, you need to click on the blue link that says “Manage Invites and Imported Contacts“. That will take you here:
That is where you will see the options to delete invitations and contacts from Facebook’s servers.
But here’s the thing. Unless you do TWO MORE THINGS, that very same contacts data will reappear when the Messenger app, or the Facebook app, resyncs with Facebook. So, what you need to do is to prevent the Messenger app and the Facebook app from continuously uploading your contacts data to the Facebook servers. To find out how to do that in Facebook Messenger, please go here:
To save you time, here are the instructions for iPhones and iPads. The above page also has instructions for Android phones as well:
1. Go into the Facebook app’s “Settings“.
2. Tap on “Account Settings” when you are presented with various options on the bottom of your screen.
3. Once that new “Settings” window appears, tap on the “General” option.
4. In the new window which appears, tap on the fourth option called “Upload Contacts“.
5. Make sure that it is disabled by sliding it to the left.
NOTE: After you have done all of the above, you should go back to the aforementioned pages and verify that your contacts info has not reappeared in the list of contacts.
By the way, I also have the desktop version of Facebook Messenger installed on my iMac, so I checked its preferences as well. From what I saw, there is no option to enable or disable uploading contacts, so I don’t know if that means that the desktop version of the Messenger app doesn’t have the capability to upload contacts, or what.
NOTE: Please note that according to everything I have read regarding this issue, unless you take the above steps, the only other way to delete the “Contact Info” data is by actually deleting your Facebook account. However, there is another caveat, and that is this: Even if you delete your account, if anyone else has shared/imported any of your personal data, it will NOT be deleted from Facebook’s servers, because that data is NOT actually a part of your Facebook account. It is a part of THEIR Facebook account.
One thing which I find a bit sneaky about all of this, is the fact that in the various tables where they list the kinds of data they collect, they do NOT mention “Contact Info” at all. Like I did, you have to dig a bit deeper into their help files to even find out this piece of information. As I said, I view it as being a bit underhanded.
WARNING: Please be aware that sometimes, when Facebook makes changes on their end, certain options are enabled again without you knowing it, so you may want to periodically check, and makes sure that the “Sync Contacts” option in the Messenger app, and the “Upload Contacts” option in the Facebook app, remain disabled.
I hope this helps some of you. Please feel free to read some of my other Facebook Notes as well, as they likewise contain valuable information which may be useful to you.
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God . . . For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” 1 Corinthians 1:18, 21, KJV
“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.” 1 Corinthians 4:10, KJV
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14, KJV
“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” 1 Corinthians 3:18-19, KJV
The following commentary came about quite some time ago as a result of a short exchange I had with another Facebook user who was having difficulty posting messages on their timeline, and sending private text messages as well. Despite my attempt to help this person understand what might really be going on, they remained convinced that they were being attacked and punished by Facebook because they were boldly sharing their Christian faith on their timeline.
Furthermore, this person apparently took offense at my comments, and indirectly suggested that if I had not been in “Facebook Prison” at least a few times — as they had — then I must not be a very bold witness of my faith on Facebook. Their comment came across as being a bit self-righteous, but I was not about to engage in a debate with this person. It is simply not my modus operandi.
What is odd about their response is that in my lengthy comment to them — the contents of which is contained below — I made clear to them that I had received a slap on the wrist from Facebook a few times. I obviously don’t need to defend my position here. Those of you who have known me for a while, already realize that I don’t preach a watered-down Gospel. I am rather direct and in-your-face about it. In fact, over the almost nine years that I have participated on Facebook, hundreds of people have become offended by what I preach, and have unfriended me. It’s a part of life on Facebook, but you can’t let it rattle you.
But that is beside the point. As I explained to this particular person, I suspected that what was really happening with them was either a technical glitch on Facebook’s end — they happen all the time — or else perhaps they did something — knowingly or unknowingly — which was a violation of Facebook’s TOS — Terms of Service — or which one of their algorithms or filters interpreted as being so-called “suspicious activity”. This could include such things as the following:
1. Sending out too many friend requests too quickly.
2. Copying and pasting the same exact message word-for-word, and privately texting it to too many people.
3. Visiting a lot of people’s timelines, and copying and pasting the same exact message on each of those timelines.
We need to remember that Facebook is heavily automated, and uses a lot of bots, scripts, filters and algorithms to monitor different things. Annoying activities such as the above three will definitely raise a red flag and set off an alarm, resulting in a person getting a slap on the wrist, or as some users like to call it, being sent to “Facebook Jail” for a while.
Regarding raising red flags, let me mention a related point. Like many other companies, Facebook uses spam filters to weed out undesirable posts from its network which meet certain criteria, such as those which clearly contain hate speech, or racism, or which Facebook has deemed to be fake news, for example. As you may already know, due to pressure from the U.S. government and other entities, Facebook is making more of an effort to reduce the amount of fake news on its network. This may have an affect on some of the posts which you are allowed to make.
The way that most spam filters work is by recognizing certain email addresses which are known to be sources of high-volume spam, certain IP addresses which are known to be sources of spam, or certain word patterns which strongly suggest that a post is spam. While some spam filters work very well — I use one with my email client that has a very high accuracy rate — they are nevertheless software, and thus are not perfect. As a result, such filters may occasionally raise what are referred to as “false flags” or “false positives”. A false flag/false positive is when the spam filter identifies something as spam, which really isn’t spam.
Now, because spam filters are not always on target with their detection methods, what this means is that occasionally you may make a perfectly harmless post on Facebook, which Facebook’s spam filters will flag as spam. Maybe the filter saw something suspicious in an external URL that you used; or maybe it detected a certain word pattern in a text message which you posted. Whatever the case may be, because it detected something that it didn’t like, it raised a red flag on your post, even though your post was perfectly innocent in nature.
As I said, this is referred to as a false flag or a false positive. The filter incorrectly classified or identified your status update, and prevented you from posting it. While this may be rather frustrating for you, there really isn’t much that you can do about it, except move on. Just remember that when this happens, it isn’t necessarily because Facebook is singling you out and targeting you because of your Christian beliefs. It simply means that Facebook needs to refine the spam filter that raised the false flag in the first place.
NOTE: One exception to the above might be if you happen to be in the habit of posting content from fake news websites, even though you may not know they are fake news sites. While you personally may feel that the content is true and legitimate, Facebook has the final say in the matter. So, if one of their filters catches it, and stops you, there isn’t much that you can do about it. Let me also add that some of my Christian brethren are not the brightest crayons in the box. I have visited a number of timelines which regularly post fake news from certain websites which I personally would never waste my time on, much less share their content on my timeline.
Now, if you are prevented from making a post, you need to remember that what happens after your post has been flagged as spam, is all an automated process. Usually, you are not dealing with real Facebook employees in most cases, although it may sometimes seem that way. If you are asked certain questions for feedback, or sent a thank you message, or whatever, it is all being conducted by bots, so please don’t get too frustrated. Don’t forget that Facebook has billions of users worldwide, so it cannot possibly have a real human being address every single issue which arises. We are in the technology age, so get used to it.
You also need to remember that if you send something to someone who you really do not know, and with whom you have not established a good rapport, they may consider your post or message annoying, and thus mark it as spam. If Facebook receives enough complaints against you due to your annoying a lot of people, they will take action against you, and it will be your own fault.
Also, you need to realize that the longer you are a part of Facebook, the more likely it is that you will eventually face some kind of punitive measure from Facebook, because you simply cannot control how people will react to your posts, private text messages, comments, etc.
The key is to learn your lesson the first time you make a mistake and are castigated by Facebook, so that it doesn’t happen again. As some of you will already know from your own experiences, each time you make the same mistake, Facebook will slap you harder, and will restrain you from using that particular Facebook feature for a longer period of time.
When I first joined Facebook in early 2011, like many newcomers to social networking, I was a bit ambitious. So I made some of the same common mistakes that everyone makes. I wanted to have lots of friends, and I wanted to preach the Christian Gospel message. It should come as no surprise then that I received a few slaps on the wrist from Facebook until I learned to slow down a bit. Let’s face it. Some of us Christians can be quite enthusiastic when it comes to sharing the Gospel online. So it is not unusual for us to exceed Facebook’s Terms of Service on occasion, and annoy the wrong people.
To continue, over the twelve years that I have had a presence on Facebook, now and then I have seen some of my Christian brethren making claims that Facebook is censoring their posts, persecuting them, and making it impossible for them to carry on their online life, and be a witness of their Christian faith. Some of them have in fact made the claim that Facebook is attacking and punishing a lot of its Christian users — just like the person I mentioned earlier in this note — just because they are Christians.
Initially, I was a bit skeptical of this claim; the reason being that during the twelve years that I have participated on Facebook, I have made thousands of posts, which have included over 4,300 graphics. As I mentioned earlier, anyone who has known me a long time, will know that I preach a rather radical, in-your-face Gospel. I don’t compromise. I tell it like it is. I expose things such as abortion, the gay and lesbian agenda, the ungodly public school system, the corrupt American government, etc. In short, I say a lot of things that liberals and nonbelievers don’t like. Things which upset them. I expose the sins of the ungodly world around us.
Yet, despite the more radical stuff that I posted at times, Facebook never came down on me because of my views. They never persecuted me because of my beliefs. They never prevented me from posting stuff on my timeline, on my page, or in the Bill’s Bible Basics group. So my reasoning at the time was that if Facebook is really after Christians as some of my brethren claim, I would think that they would have stopped me long ago. However, during my first six years on Facebook, they hadn’t done so.
Well, as some of you will know by now, that suddenly changed in November of 2017 when Facebook apparently began to shadow ban, and the number of reactions and comments to my posts began to drop dramatically. By early August of 2019, I began to repeatedly be confronted with “suspicious activity” alerts on my computer screen, forced to log out, forced to enter a new password, and forced to upload my personal ID multiple times to prove that I am who I say I am. It was crazy. After so many years of peace on Facebook, it just came out of nowhere and caught me by surprise.
Finally, on the evening of October 6, 2019, I was locked out of my Facebook account for reasons which still remain unknown to me, and I remained locked out of my account for a full month. Repeated attempts to get back in again failed. Facebook remained totally silent regarding the issue, and never got in touch with me via email, as the “suspicious activity” screen claimed they would do. So I must wonder if this is how they now keep undesirables off of their network. That is, by locking them out, and then remaining silent.
At any rate, I was finally allowed back into my account on November 7, 2019. However, since November 7th, they have continued to repeatedly lock me out of my account, forced me to change my password, forced me to upload my personal ID, and forced me to jump through all of their security hoops. On top of that, often when this happens, they also remove a dozen or more of my posts from my timeline, FB page and the Bill’s Bible Basics group. Half a day’s work on Facebook is just wiped out, just like that. It is really a waste of my time. To say the least, it has been very annoying, and very disruptive to my Facebook ministry, because when they remove my posts without warning, any comments which were made, or any posts which were shared by my friends are lost. Consider the following:
Facebook Lock-Out Dates
32 days = October 6, 2019 to November 7, 2019
06 days = November 9 to November 15, 2019
02 days = November 19, 2019 to November 21, 2019
03 days = November 23, 2019 to November 26, 2019
02 days = November 26, 2019 to November 28, 2019
01 days = December 14, 2019 to December 15, 2019
There have been a few one-day lockouts since December 15, 2019 as well. In fact, I just checked my records, and from July 30, 2019 until today — December 29, 2019 — Facebook has forced me to change my password at least 20 times. Furthermore, I have been forced logged out and/or fully locked out of my account at least 27 times. That kind of harassment would frustrate anyone.
Now, I could do as others have done and immediately attribute these lockouts to Facebook’s bias against conservative and Christian viewpoints, and it could possibly be true. However, in my particular case, I don’t know that for a fact. While I have a few personal theories regarding what may have caused the lockout, I don’t know with any degree of certainty. That is why I refuse to promote the claim that I was ousted because of my Christian beliefs.
The same thing applies to my other Christian brethren who have had problems on Facebook as well. Maybe their problems are due to their position as Christians, and Facebook is harassing them and trying to shut them down. Or maybe, just maybe, such people simply don’t understand what may be going on behind-the-scenes. If we consider that Facebook has billions of users, with servers all around the world, and that those servers are constantly being taxed to the limit by those users, it is surprising that more technical glitches don’t occur. I mean, we are talking about a major, global computer operation here. So many things could go wrong, not to mention the people who try to attack Facebook’s networks from the outside.
Now, if it is not a technical glitch which is causing you problems on your timeline or page — such as a false positive by a bot or algorithm — then maybe you need to honestly consider if perhaps you did something which Facebook didn’t like, and which set off a red flag. You can’t blame Facebook for trying to protect its resources, and its users, when you do something you are not supposed to do. Neither can you blame them if as a result of your actions, you receive a slap on the wrist, or go to jail, as they say.
So, my point is this; Please don’t be too quick to play the Christian persecution card, before you really understand what is going on. If you made a mistake, learn from it, and then move on. On the other hand, if it truly is persecution because of your faith, then consider this:
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12, KJV
“And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” Acts 5:41, KJV
“For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:” 1 Peter 2:19-23, KJV
“Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” Luke 6:28, KJV
“Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.” Romans 12:17, KJV
“See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15, KJV
“Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing . . . But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;” 1 Peter 3:9, 14, KJV
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;” Hebrews 12:14-15, KJV
“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” Romans 12:18, KJV
In my case, the harassment from Facebook staff members became so bad, that in June of 2022 I deleted my Facebook account. That is because in May of that same year, Facebook forced me to upload my personal ID a total of SIX TIMES! It was crazy, and I had enough of their nonsense, so I left … only to return three and a half months later in September. 🙂
Anyway, that’s my take regarding this issue. To summarize, it could be intentional harassment, censorship and discrimination on Facebook’s part; or it could be that you simply did something wrong which alerted Facebook’s bots. Others may feel differently.
It’s not in me, and it’s not in you,
It’s only God who can see us through.
For if you think you can do it well,
Make no mistake, you’re bound to fail.
You can surely boast in your pride,
But only fools in God do not abide.
Our strength alone is just not enough,
We’ll fall down when the going’s tough.
It’s no secret where our strength lies,
On Jesus alone we must keep our eyes.
Yes, we are weak, but He is strong,
So trust in Him to sing victory’s song.
“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7, KJV
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” Psalms 19:14, KJV
“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” Proverbs 25:28, KJV
“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.” Ecclesiastes 5:2, KJV
“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” Matthew 5:33-37, KJV
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Matthew 12:36, KJV
“And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” Matthew 15:10-20, KJV
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Ephesians 4:29, KJV
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8, KJV
“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” Colossians 3:8, KJV
“For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” James 3:2-12, KJV
