The hijacking or cloning of personal accounts has been a regular occurrence since the explosion of social media. This most common form of identity theft either uses photos and available personal information to make an account purporting to be the new account of the victim, or obtains access to the person’s actual account via a breached password thereby taking over the legitimate page. Receiving these rogue account friend request and/or direct messages from fake pages are a daily happening. After being made aware of the hack, the victim then enters damage control mode by informing friends that his or her account was hacked and advises to disregard any strange or inappropriate messages.
The reasons for cloning a person’s identity on social media could range anywhere from the use for fraudulent purposes to the mere need of a supposedly legitimate account for other sinister intentions. The potential for embarrassment, humiliation, and personal harm is present for the victim if the messages or photos are sent to the wrong individuals and result in a chain of conversation. Thus, it depends upon the aim of the hacker and his or her character as to how far the identity theft is taken.
What if the devil hacked your Facebook account? Our presence online is seen as an extension of ourselves. What we post or distribute is attributed to us personally and we are judged accordingly by its recipient. Here are 7 consequences that are sure to happen if Satan got ahold of our social media:
1. Satan would ruin your testimony.
Just as Satan cannot take away the believer’s salvation because of the eternal sealing of the Holy Spirit, he cannot steal a person’s actual identity. He can, however, deceive and stain the witness of the believer. If demons have the power to influence a person’s behavior, Satan can certainly mimic his or her social media portrayal. We attempt to secure our online identity by fail-safe passwords, usernames, and encrypted firewalls. Spiritually we must use similar armaments to protect ourselves from deception.
Paul instructed the church in Ephesians 6:10 to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” This “whole armor” is the “belt of truth”, “breastplate of righteousness”, “shoes for [our] feet”, “shield of faith”, “helmet of salvation”, “sword of the spirit”, and fervent prayer. These protections protect the believer from day-to-day unhealthy exposures in the world. Similarly, our online accounts are affected by exposures from detrimental or sinful websites and the free distribution of our private information on them via cookies. Odds are we will not get pornography ads if we have never searched for such material in the past. We must, therefore, protect our reputation by not placing the initial footprints on potentially harmful websites.
2. He would recreate your cyber-life as a book of lies.
Satan draws no lines on his means and severity of evil. In John 8:44, Jesus spoke of the devil as “a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” The devil or the prince of this world is a master manipulator. Sometimes one may wonder if Satan has indeed compromised our smartphones when we mention a good or service in conversation and an ad for said good or service “pops up” on our social media page or browser.
Satan tempts us with the sins in the areas in which we are most susceptible. One of his oldest tricks of deception is to take the goodness of God and create a similar but deceptively evil equivalent for his purposes. Thus, by hijacking our account, he could manipulate the history and searches in such a fashion to bombard us with unwanted and unneeded enticements.
3. Satan would place a wedge of tension in your family.
Social media is a haven for the wiles of the devil. He uses it as a means for the cultivation of sexual exploitation, vanity, and greed in the minds of the irresponsible user. 1 Peter 5:8 tells the believer to always “be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” A “sober-minded” Christian is spiritually aware of what he or she posts online and to whom he or she corresponds personally. In John 10:10, Jesus told that “the thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and destroy.” Let’s assume we regularly correspond with a friend of the opposite sex or a reacquainted ex. Imagine the harm if Satan sent said person messages purporting to be from you. It’s a 50/50 proposition that the recipient will be flattered and that your current spouse or significant other will not be. Satan plays this game of spiritual warfare dirty.
Jesus told Simon in Luke 22:31 to “behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” Satan would love to masquerade as a believer sending provocative messages to those you have been corresponding with via messenger. Hacking gave Satan the means to send the message, but having the individual on your instant contacts gave him the names. Thus, we have adequate protection by the Holy Spirit who guides our correspondence and connections. Depending on how long it takes to get in front of the hacking incident, your relationships, employment, and standing in the community could be seriously jeopardized.
4. Satan would hinder and separate God’s people.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:18 wrote the church about his desire to visit them “but Satan hindered us.” One study concluded that an infant today will have spent over eight years of his or her life on social media before age 80.
We have made Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok a daily priority. If our accounts were compromised and had to get the issue resolved before we can return, how much time would we waste attempting to reconcile a useless social media account, fretting over the possibilities, reporting the incident, and creating a new account? Or how much time would be consumed attempting to explain the hack to the offended spouse, friend, pastor, or employer. Further, consider the amount of mental stress resulting from these needless conversations4.
5. Satan would have unfettered access to your “open book” life.
The knowledge of your search history, correspondence, and “likes” would be invaluable to Satan. He would know all your worldly desires and “pet sins.” The writer of Hebrews at 12:1 labeled these indiscretions “the sin which doth so easily beset us.”
Sins that we conquered and left at the cross at the time of our salvation are the aspects of our spiritual life that we need to be especially conscientious of. If we had an issue with alcohol or drug addiction, odds are our social media account gives an account of that period in our life. Thus, the world would love to scan your account and see your possible return to this lifestyle. If the devil were to gain access and post similar content, it wouldn’t take long before numerous text messages were sent regarding “Johnny’s off the wagon again.”
6. He would create a seed of unnecessary doubt and insecurity.
Satan’s hacking of our personal accounts would bring forth fear, doubt, and a certain feeling of vulnerability. The necessity of a username and password gives us a feeling of security until we realize the frailty of worldly security.
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul wrote another letter to the early church there following one of the earliest incidents of hacking of a communication means. Commentators suggest that the fear and doubt among the church about missing the “day of the Lord” was caused by a forged letter purported to be written by Paul. He wrote in 2:2, “that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.”
7. He would put the “test” in your “testimony.”
The devil has an intense desire to take away the sown word. In Mark 4:15, Jesus wrote, “and these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.”
When we were saved, the word had to be initially sown in our hearts. We are sowing seeds by what we post on our social media accounts whether it be seeds of the world or seeds of the Word by our testimony and faith in Christ. By taking control of our Facebook account, Satan would have the ability to “take away” our words by either deleting or posting content to harm our spiritual reputation. Would our friends immediately think, “she must have been hacked because there is no way she would post that” or consider the posing post as probably legitimate because of the different lives we portray on social media?
Know When Satan Breaches Your Life
It is important to identify or realize the breach. Imagine the harm if the devil has days, months, or years of unfettered access to your social media account life. Just as a virus on our computer infiltrates deeper and deeper with time, sin is a cancer within our spiritual lives. Unless detected and treated, more areas of our spiritual lives will be infected. In 2 Peter 3:14, we are told to “be diligent that ye maty be found of him in peach, without spot, and blameless.” Our old pastor used to tell us not to fret or worry about what people say about you unless it’s true. If we don’t log in regularly, we allow such access to grow and infect deeper portions of our life. We must do the same with our spiritual life. Satan can’t take our real identity in Christ, but he can certainly control how others see our life.
Satan always has the intention of harming or hindering God’s people in any way possible. Our heavenly Father, however, can use all Satan’s devices for good and the growth of our spirituality. Our realization and correction of the infiltration allows us to secure our “accounts”. We then become stronger as we can identify possible areas of the account susceptible to an identity breach. We are talking about a social media account, but it also applies to our spiritual lives. Are we allowing Satan to hijack portions of our identity?
Are You Doing Satan’s Job for Him?
Honestly, why would Satan even want to gain control of our social media account? We are already doing his job for him. We voluntarily put our whole lives on the internet for the world to see. We divide our own families and friendships for the sake of petty arguments. In times of weakness, we turn to our past relationships and vices for comfort. In times of vanity, we post pictures of our “lives after dark.” We spend hours a day on it instead of valuable time spent in the Word of God. We can become our worst enemies in destroying our own witnesses.
By:Crosswalk.com
