I told my friends about Jesus on Facebook, and this is what happened

During 2021 I started realising that new age spirituality was deceptive, and came to the realisation that Jesus was the truth. I started writing about it in Facebook posts for my friends and followers.

I’ve written posts about some controversial topics in my time including gynaecological medical injury, tantric sex, and my concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine. So, I was surprised that it was the name of Jesus that caused the most friends to flee.

One woman wrote, ‘I don’t like this Jesus chat,’ and promptly unfriended me.

One woman wrote, ‘I don’t like this Jesus chat,’ and promptly unfriended me. Others disappeared more quietly. Some stayed around to debate. Many of these had different perspectives on Jesus based on what they’d heard in the new age.

For example the idea that Jesus had gone to India during his ‘lost years’ to learn yoga, or Buddhism, or that Jesus was just a man and we all had the inner ‘divine spark’ in us. Some people accused me being like a crusader, and advised I should be more quiet with my faith. Others felt that I had become arrogant because I claimed I had found ‘the truth,’ instead of endlessly seeking.

I always tried to write with love and grace, but Jesus told us that the Gospel is offensive no matter how much we might try to share it gently. I mourned the loss of friendships both online and in real life. I read Matthew 5:11 over and over, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’’

I always tried to write with love and grace, but Jesus told us that the Gospel is offensive no matter how much we might try to share it gently.

I went through a period of wondering if my approach was too blunt? I heard stories of those who are loved into the kingdom through knowing Christians in their lives who simply planted seeds, and shined the light of Christ. How could I do that if my friends were offended by my posts and didn’t want to know me anymore?

However, then I’d remind myself that people have come to faith, partly through reading my posts. A few people have sent messages thanking me for helping them find or rediscover Jesus. A few others started reading the Bible, or entertaining the idea that there is a God, even if they don’t fully believe yet.

I met one of these women when she moved to the city near me. At that time we’d both been into psychics although she had also started going into church. Shortly after that I became fully convinced that psychics were dangerous and posted about it on social media. I didn’t hear from her again for another year, and sensed that perhaps my posts had offended her. A few weeks ago she messaged me out of the blue to thank me for the posts. She said she had found them triggering, but had looked into the information and came to the same conclusions as me about the dangers of the new age and the truth about Jesus.

Loving people into the kingdom can work, but that doesn’t negate the need to speak boldly in some circumstances. Whenever I have doubts, I think of Hatun Tash, an ex-Muslim who has courageously gone into Mosques, to share that God has a Son. Thirteen immams have actually come to faith through her witnessing. She has been physically attacked and received death threats. Being virtually ‘unfriended’ is nothing compared to what some Christians have gone through across the world to share the Gospel.

Over time I’m moving away from Facebook as I sense it’s time to join other virtual communities. I became more active on Substack and Linkedin, and started networking with other freelance writers. On Linkedin I kept seeing posts about the benefits of manifestation for career success, and that’s when I sensed the Holy Spirit prompting me to write a post about the dangers of manifestation.

My flesh didn’t feel very obedient at first, I was here for networking and didn’t want to lose all those new connections! However, there is nothing better than the buzz of doing something that might be considered ‘offensive’ from a worldly perspective, knowing it is being obedient to God.