Illogical Connections: Babies are Atheists?

Today I am working on a presentation on atheism and came across this image, which of course I HAD to respond to!

The Text Messages of Modern False Prophets

This afternoon I got another one of those text message forwards nicely wrapped in cutesy religious words, with a picture of Mary Magdalene at the feet of Jesus no less! The problem: it was another message coming from what the Bible refers to a “the false prophets.”


Recall that the false prophets are those who pretend to be religious, but when the content of their message or beliefs are examined, they are not. I’ve gotten several of these texts in the past and responded to them with refutations of their false messages. Whether or not the people forwarding them to me have the intellect to UNDERSTAND my refutations and the integrity to STOP forwarding them is entirely another matter.

For those who may be confused as to what kind of false prophet messages I am speaking of, the following was the last message I received this afternoon.

“God has seen you struggling with something. God says it is over. A blessing is coming your way. If you believe in God, send this message on, please don’t ignore it, you are being tested. God is going to fix two things (BIG) tonight in your favor. And if you believe in God, drop everything and pass it on. Tomorrow will be the best day of your life. Don’t break this chain. If you break you will suffer. Send this to 14 friends in 10 minutes! Family first.”

The following is my refutation to this seemingly religious text for those who “believe in God.”

“Saint Paul said we are “heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” This just goes to show how AWFUL such forwards are that try to scare people with suffering when TRUE Christians are called to unite their sufferings with Christ. Those who create such messages are what the Bible refers to as ‘false prophets’ because they are making predictions that will ‘come true’ while actually leading people away from Christ through a fear of suffering! The Bible says their judgment will be harsh! Send this to those who send you the messages of false prophets so that maybe they will stop being their PUPPETS. Though they are packages as cutesy, these messages are not good! Do not fear your sufferings but unite them to Christ!”

Now, I could have emphasized the aspect of false prophecy whereby their predictions that God is going to fix, do something amazing, or bring love (you’ve gotten them and know what I’m talking about) never come true, thus exposing them as truly false prophets. It is a great evil to prophesy in the name of God when it won’t come true, thus discouraging the weak of mind. However, I wanted to emphasize the other evil of leading people away from their perception of God and Christ through fostering or strengthening their fears of suffering.

In fact, I would have loved to go on further, but such a long preaching text is sadly often ignored in preference for a message with an empty promise. My quote of Saint Paul on suffering is probably the best one-liner, but the First Letter of Peter is more thorough. He said,

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. …if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Peter 4:12-19).

As you can see, the REAL “testing” is not to see if you will keep a chain text going, but for those who suffer! In other words, are you willing to suffer with Christ, as Paul also said we must, or will you flee it, such as fleeing the suffering of being ridiculed for standing up against the text messages of false prophets? I would prefer to suffer ridicule than to allow such nonsense texts influence more people.

I also reprimanded the family member of mine who forwarded the message from her friend on to me, as she should have known better since I’ve talked to her before about the wrong of perpetuating them. So I ask that you all help me stop such truly evil text messages by standing up against them.



777 words! Hmmm!