“Let your faith be like a shield, and you will be able to stop all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16 CEV)
Internet trolls use offensive comments to elicit a response from others. They often use fake identities to spread lies, hate, and fear. The best way to combat a troll is not to feed it--to ignore their comments and to block them from your site. However, trolls are persistent and devious. They often just create new fake accounts and continue their abuse.
Fear has been described as--False Evidence Appearing Real.
Fear leads to doubt--which can cause self-sabotaging behavior. Evil has always used flaming arrows of anxiety, lies, and hopelessness to infiltrate our minds. Our best defense is to hold up the shield of faith against the attacks of the Enemy. But even those who trust in the Lord can get weary in battle. This is when the Holy Spirit comes alongside us and helps us. The Spirit also leads others to hold up their shields of faith, protecting us when our own hope is flagging. Like Roman soldiers in a tortoise formation, they flank us on every side. This is how a community of believers and friends can support each other through spiritual attacks: They can be empathetic and encouraging. They can point out lies and speak truth--effectively identifying new versions of evil trolls and blocking them. Best of all, they can call on God, interceding on our behalf when we are too weak to pray for ourselves.
These words speak so much to me because of the comments left on my Facebook Timeline demeaning my opinion of #45 and how he treated Queen Elizabeth and then went on to pat himself on the back. So many times I walked away to not get caught up in the anger left.
ReplyDeleteMy last comment was to someone who got off so topic and turn it into personal disappointment in our own country’s leader. I went to find a quiet place to ask Jesus to guide me how to handle this. I did reply and ask this person to take their anger off my Timeline to their own. Again I received a reply that I finally refused to give power to and ignored it,
I did thank God for his guidance and again ignored a comment on a video I posted about #44 the next morning after the above happened.
Not giving them the power by not replying has solidified that I have the right to post my beliefs and not just leave Facebook to give them power over spreading more separation. Silence can have more power than ego’s retaliation.