“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” Matthew 6:9-13, KJV
“And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” Matthew 14:23, KJV
“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.” Matthew 26:39-44, KJV
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35, KJV
“And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.” Mark 6:46, KJV
“And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him. And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” Mark 14:35-41, KJV
“And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” Luke 5:16, KJV
“And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12, KJV
“And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.” Luke 9:28-29, KJV
“And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” Luke 11:2-4, KJV
“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Luke 22:31-32, KJV
“And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,” Luke 22:41-45, KJV
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:1-26, KJV
A lot of people seem to be confused regarding why they are sometimes — and in some cases, often — thrown into Facebook’s infamous jail. I would like to share with you some of my personal observations, for your consideration. You can either accept it or reject it, as you please.
Being thrown into Facebook jail does not necessarily just have to do with what you post. In other words, it is not solely — or even always — based on the nature of the content of your post. Yes, if you post something nasty such as porn, or something that Facebook views as strong hate speech, or try to sell guns or drugs, for example, I am sure that Facebook will throw you in jail. They may even just ban you from Facebook entirely and permanently. Can you really blame them?
But extreme cases aside, my observation is that whether or not you are slapped on the wrist by Facebook has more to do with the frequency of your posts, and to how many other people you post, share, message or tag your content to within a specified period of time. That is why sometimes when you are chastised, a Facebook bot will send you a message telling you to slow down.
Please notice that I said TO OTHER PEOPLE in the previous paragraph. You can post things on your own timeline to your heart’s content, as much as you want, as fast as you want, and in whatever quantity you want. Facebook doesn’t really care about that as much — unless you are breaking their content rules obviously — because you are on your own turf. It is when you start reaching out to others that Facebook keeps a sharper eye on your activity, and watches out for what appears to be spamming behavior.
As I have mentioned before, when it comes to us Facebook Christians, I don’t really think that being blocked, restricted, thrown in jail, or whatever, is solely because of our Christian beliefs. Yes, it is sometimes due to sharing our faith, but not always. In fact, I am convinced that quite often, our being chastised by Facebook is due to other reasons.
Personally, I think it has more to do with the fact that, on the whole, we Christians on Facebook tend to be a rather zealous, enthusiastic lot of people. We have the truth of God’s Word, and so we really want to share it with as many people as possible. Therein lies the problem, and the reason why some of us find ourselves facing jail time a lot more often than others.
So because of our zeal for the Lord, what do we do? Quite simply, we go overboard sometimes. We post, tag, message and share to other Facebook users, more frequently, and to more people, than Facebook’s quota algorithms allow. That is why so many of us get castigated, in my belief. In short, we do it to ourselves, and then we turn around and accuse Facebook of persecuting us because of our faith, when, in my view, that may not really be what is happening in some cases.
For example, when I first joined Facebook in early 2011, and before I learned the ropes, I was blocked, restricted or thrown in jail a few times, because I didn’t yet fully understand the aforementioned quota system, limitations and anti-spam safeguards that Facebook has in place. And to be honest, there were probably times when I honestly didn’t care, and was willing to take the risks, because I wanted to get out the Word. How about you? Come on now. Be honest with yourself.
Once I figured it all out, I wasn’t chastised by Facebook for years, because I made sure that I played within their rules of conduct. That is, until the time when I began tagging my friends again, after receiving their specific permission to do so.
This is a very important point, so please listen up. You really don’t want to start tagging people left and right, whether they are your friends or not, unless you know for certain that they want to be tagged. Why take unnecessary risks?
Let me put it to you this way. If you keep tagging a pile of people from whom you did not receive permission first, sooner or later, some of them are going to become annoyed, and you are going to find yourself in a big heap of trouble.
Now here’s the thing. If they do become annoyed by your constant tags, they may not play nice. In other words, instead of asking you nicely to stop tagging them, they may just go behind your back and start marking all of your tags as spam. Do you know what will happen if Facebook receives enough complaints regarding your uninvited tags? That’s right! To jail you go, buddy! You see. You did it to yourself.
Of course, the problem here is that we users don’t know what Facebook’s daily quotas are for different activities, because they absolutely refuse to tell us. Not only that, but Facebook is always changing the value of these daily quotas, in order to keep us off guard. I understand the logic of their approach. It is a way to force us to be conscious of what we are doing, and to be careful regarding our posting, sharing, messaging and tagging levels.
Now, one thing you don’t want to do is to keep making the same mistake over and over again. If Facebook suddenly restricts your activities, or throws you in jail, don’t just get angry at them. Stop and try to figure out why you find yourself in that situation. What were you doing beforehand?
You see, the way it works is this: Each time that you make the same mistake, Facebook’s automated system sees that, and your punishment time — that is, your jail time — will simply be extended longer and longer each time that you make that same mistake, to the point where you may find yourself spending more time in jail, than out of jail. Kind of dumb on your part isn’t it?
Let me emphasize again that it is not just about the quantity of your posts, shares, messages, tags or whatever. It is also about the frequency or speed with which you do it. In other words, let’s assume that on one particular day, Facebook has set a tagging quota of 200 per user.
Of course, you will have no way of knowing that this is the quota for that day. But let’s say that you have only tagged 60 people that day, when all of a sudden, you are booted to jail. Wow! What happened? Surely you hadn’t tagged too many people already! In other words, maybe you didn’t break the quantity quota that day, but maybe you did break the frequency — or speed — quota. In other words, you were tagging people too fast, and Facebook’s system interpreted that as spam activity. Do you understand?
To reiterate, sometimes we are indeed harassed unfairly by liberal-minded Facebook employees who are annoyed by or who disagree with our Christian faith. After all, there are rotten apples in every barrel. But sometimes we also bring these problems upon ourselves by breaking Facebook’s posting, sharing and tagging rules.
In conclusion, when you are stopped, jailed, blocked or locked out of your account, quite often it is a result of Facebook trying to control spam and other forms of abuse on its global network, and may have little to do with your personal faith. With an estimated two billion users, many millions of whom are simultaneously online every single day, it is not an easy task. As a result, sometimes their bots and algorithms do make mistakes, or what are referred to as “false positives”. Their bots can be overly aggressive, and they incorrectly identify some actions taken by users. Facebook has admitted as much. But at least Skynet hasn’t arrived yet, and we aren’t just being wiped out! 🙂
So that is my take on this issue. What do YOU think?
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, HAVING ITCHING EARS; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4, KJV
“Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, PROPHESY NOT UNTO US RIGHT THINGS, SPEAK UNTO US SMOOTH THINGS, PROPHESY DECEITS:” Isaiah 30:8-10, KJV
“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my PEOPLE LOVE TO HAVE IT SO: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:31, KJV
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1, KJV
To see many more of my KJV Bible verse lists, go to:
“[A Psalm of David.] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1, KJV
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” Matthew 25:31-33, KJV
“Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” Matthew 26:31, KJV
“But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice . . . Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them . . . I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” John 10:2-4, 7-8, 11-16, KJV
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” Hebrews 13:20, KJV
“For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:25, KJV
“[[A Psalm of praise.]] Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.” Psalm 100:1, KJV
A JOYFUL noise, and NOT a hellish noise!
Excerpt from my article entitled “God’s Golden Teeth, or Satan’s Delusion”:
—– Begin Quote —–
In like manner, some of the Christian music which fills the airwaves today is indeed inspiring and uplifting; although personally, I never really listen to any of it; partially because I require a quiet environment in order to do my work for the Lord, and also, because I do not like all of the commercials and doctrinal programs which fill up the time slots in between the good music. At the same time, I must also tell you that after paying closer attention to some of the song lyrics on some of the radio shows which are geared towards young Christians, that is, when you can even hear them through the “music”, I have to conclude that some of it is not only a far cry from the beautiful Psalms of King David, but it is downright unchristian. It is no better than the hard rock, worldly music that I used to listen to as a young teenager before I began to follow the Lord. It is a deceptive mixture of Satanic noise, with the words “Christ”, “Jesus”, “Lord”, “God”, etc., lightly dispersed throughout the song, in order to give it a somewhat “Christian” flavor.
This so-called “Christian rock” music reminds me of one of those vanilla ice cream bars which you eat on a stick, which has a thin chocolate covering on the outside. It appears to be one thing, but you quickly discover that it is something entirely different once you bite into it. It is truly sad, because you see, just as some of their parents are being deceived by the sights, sounds and thrills of all of these so-called “manifestations”, which are being performed by the ringleaders at their spiritual circuses, the children are doing the very same thing when they attend these “Christian rock” concerts. Both parents and children are getting excited and emotional in the flesh by these things, but it is all just Satan’s deceptive counterfeit. Once a person leaves the Christian rock concert, or the fellowship filled with all of these “manifestations”, the temporary thrill wears off; and for the next six days, they live their ho-hum existence, until they can go back for a refill when the next weekend arrives. This is not what true Christianity is about.
Come on, you caffeine freaks! Admit it! You love the buzz! And now with the ubiquity of espresso machines and darker, richer coffee, oh man! Hey, but I love galagos, a.k.a. bush babies! How about you? And a galago on a buzz? Yikes!
