Monday November 23, 2020
Good afternoon,
Someone stole my identity. I very seldom go on Instagram ( it is owned by Facebook ) because it is for younger people. On Saturday , I received notice from some friends that , ‘ Was I trying to sell gift cards and other things over Instagram. ” I said no, and they told me someone was impersonating me. The web address was different, but they were using a picture of me on the site. It was weird seeing my picture being used by someone I do not know. I assume it was not a computer robot.
The day before ( November 7) I went on vacation, I was hacked on Messenger ( also owned by Facebook ). Messenger is a texting service where you can write to someone individually or as a group. Someone or a robot sent a sexually explicit video to my more than 300 contacts on Messenger. My nephew in Oakville had been hacked with the same video about a week before. Some of my friends asked why I was posting such a video?. Others immediately knew I had been hacked. I left Messenger and Facebook for the next two weeks. I was angry. The same thing happened while we were on vacation in Toronto in January
I felt violated. It is like when you get something stolen. It takes something that was yours, and there usually is no way to get it back. It left me with an empty feeling. You can never find out who it is that has done this thing. I needed to get away from the social media stuff ( or anti-social media ). I believe good things can happen on any social media site, but there are disasters waiting than can happen.
“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:21-23
Peter was still a disciple, and he was the leader of the church as it began after Jesus left for heaven. So, social media has its bad parts ( of Satan or evil ), but I cannot turn my face away. I thought of staying off of Facebook for more than two weeks, but I will try to redeem the parts that I can, and to work within the compassion and love of God, as I meander down the road of social media.
Fred
