Google is very cool!
I actually just Googled to see if it was cool to say cool.
Google is the reference for all things. This is nothing new to most of you. Google this. Google that. I really like Google. OK, I just held back, because I wanted to say, "I Love Google."
Uh oh. Now we have a problem don't we.
Why do I love Google?
Is it the superior feeling I get from being able to instantly know the answer to pretty much any question I could think of? I suppose I should say "an answer." Often, when I Google something I get confirmation of what I thought before, or I get an answer from what I believe to be a reliable source.
Maybe I love Google because I get to feel connected to countless numbers of people on this planet who have pondered the same thing as me and felt compeled to ask Google the same question.
Is it cool to say cool?
How to change a headlight on a 2006 Kia Sedona van?
How do I fix a leaking dishwasher?
What kind of bug bite do I have on my leg?
Go ahead, try it. You type in those things and there are plenty of folks who have wondered the same thing or who have taken the time to put the answer to the things on the internet.
I once heard a radio talk show host (it was either Collin Cowherd - from ESPN or Glenn Beck - before he was famous and on TV) say I would like to have Google installed in my brain. Actually this was about 5 years ago and he was pretty forward thinking on this. Google in my brain. Wouldn't that be awesome? Then I would no longer need to run to my computer to solve the current mystery of the hour. I could simply pull it out of my brain. How amazing would that be to instantly have access to unlimited information resources just by thinking?
So is it? Is Google the Antichrist?
I will be honest with you. I have read Revelations and I did almost all of a Bible study on Revelations, but I really don't know much about the Antichrist. I suppose I could Google it and find out more. The point is, Google is phenomenal and it is often the place I go to first for answers. And that is a real problem.
Google has done the following:
1. Caused me to love something that empowers me and makes me feel superior and feeds my need to know things that others don't know around me.
2. Caused me to rely on the experience and wisdom of humans at times when I should be going to God first and seeking wisdom from Him.
3. Inspired me to waste sleeping time writing this blog post.
So is it the Anti-Christ?
Ok, I am going to try and answer this question without Googling it. (I actually already Googled it, but I didn't read any of the responses).
My initial response is no, but it could become an antichrist for me. I went to my Bible. And now I am thinking the word antichrist is not even in Revelation. Umm. I think I will finish that Bible study.
My old buddy, John, no not John MacArthur, John, the Apostle, the beloved one. He warns about the antichrist. But through his warnings he is reminding us that we must focus on God and rely on His truth. And through clinging only to what is true, we will keep our reward.
1 John 2:15-3:3 (NIV) On Not Loving the World
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Warnings Against Denying the Son
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.
26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
God’s Children and Sin
28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
1 John 3
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
(I went directly to biblegateway.com to look up the passage, no Googling was involved)
Ok, let me see if I have figured out the answer. Know the truth and deny anything that denies the truth. Google by itself can be a great tool for looking up Bible passages, finding a new church to visit, learning about what God is doing in the lives of people all around the world. But just as Google can connect you to links to the Truth, it will just as easily connect you to lies. Lies about the fastest way to stop hiccups, lies about how this world was created and lies about who God really is. My job is to remain in Him.
You have to know that a Third Day song is coming. Well not really a Third Day song, but a Mac Powell song (lead singer of Third Day). 1 John 3:1 and John 3:16 are the inspiration for a song called How Great on Glory Revealed II. Here is a video of the song, and yeah, I got it from Google :)
