Recently, the Supreme Court found Meta and Youtube negligent for algorithmically recommending harmful content in a landmark case. The harm of influencers has been debated, preached, and forewarned for years. So many years that one might count them as millennia.
Does the Bible actually predict social media or discuss it explicitly? No. But the book of Jude, a short and profound book of the New Testament, has some remarkably poignant things to say about influencers. In this short essay, I will review the most pertinent parts of Jude and reflect on their relevance today. Keep in mind, I read the Scriptures from the perspective of a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My links go to the Church’s website; however, I studied Jude using a combination of the King James Version and the Revised Standard Version, used commonly in the Catholic Church. Let’s begin.
The Trouble with the World
Jude starts off recounting how wickedness started in civilization, specifically in the War in Heaven. This was the first rebellion against the Lord. Jude 6 discusses the 1/3 of human spirits who didn’t keep our first estate and fell, becoming Satan’s “angels” or demons, now prevented from having bodies (ie, “kept in eternal chains” until “the judgment of the last day.” (Jude 7)) He goes on to discuss later errors, and relates the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (sexual sin), and importantly, he characterizes rejection of God’s authority as their major crime. He likens them to several historic villains: “they walk in the way of Cain” (murder), “abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error” (leading others to sin in exchange for profit), “and perish in Korah’s rebellion” (challenge Moses/God’s prophet for authority, corrupting the Church and perishing for it) (Jude 11)
He has an interesting allegory where he says “When the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said “The Lord rebuke you.”” (Jude 9) This seems to reference an apocryphal document called the Assumption of Moses, which with questionable veracity claims that Michael took Moses’ body and argued with the devil, who challenged him because Moses had murdered a man in his life. Much of the document is disputed, and parts may be missing. But regardless of its truth, Jude’s point stands. He might as well have been quoting The X-Files or Shakespeare, or any other fictional thing – it is his point that matters, which is “But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irrational animals do, they are destroyed.” (Jude 10) Even Michael in the story did not revile the devil, but gave judgment to the Lord. Yet these wicked people revile the good in favor of the evil. This could not be truer today.
Jude Speaks of Our Day
We live in an age where people love evil and hate good. This was predicted by Jesus, whom Jude quotes, “In the last time (ie, the Latter Days, our time) there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” (Jude 17-18) Jude explains, “It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the spirit.” (Jude 19) Earlier, Jude promises that these people will see the wrath of God’s judgment. Quoting Enoch, he recounts, “Behold, the Lord came with myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness.” (Jude 15) This includes those who “flatter people to gain advantage.” (Jude 16)
Notably, Joseph Smith corrected the tense in verse 11 in the Joseph Smith Translation, changing the meaning of the phrase. Instead of reading that the wicked “perished in the gainsaying of Core” which is to mean Korah’s rebellion, it was corrected to read “will perish.” This suggests that the downfall of these evil people will be their attempt to elevate themselves to the status of spiritual leaders, that their influence of others for profit will cause them to fall to ruin.
Korah and his followers who were leading the people astray were men of renown, sons of Levi, well-respected in society. (Numbers 16) They were influencers. They probably thought they were doing the right thing. What befell them was horrible – they were swallowed by the earth, and their followers were consumed by fire. This judgment wasn’t rendered by Moses, but Moses stepped back and the Lord stepped forward and executed these people. This is what will happen, Jude writes centuries later, to those who exact evil influence on people.
What Do We Do About Evil?
Jude closes with instructions on what we should do about this behavior in the latter days. Jude instructs us, “Build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” (Jude 20-21) He also says “And convince some, who doubt; save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 22)
So we are not to retreat into a solitude away from evil, but contend for the souls of those being dragged down to sin. While we do this, we are not to judge those who choose to follow evil, for judgment is the Lord’s. How do we save people, pulling them from the fire as Jude says, before they are lost? However we do it, it isn’t by causing more division, or we will just be back where we started.
This is a cause absolutely worth fighting for. I might be speaking of any of the number of ideological battles that rage in the world right now, because they all point to the same eternal struggle, whether they are political, social, or another cause. I only wish people could see the perspective of how the premortal war in Heaven is so thoroughly ingrained in our souls. It continues to this day, on and off social media. Satan’s lies have changed names over the centuries and millennia but his cause remains – to drag people down to misery and restrict or destroy their agency. So many are fooled by his counterfeits, wherein he uses influencers to convince the masses that justice and fairness must be sought at the expense of agency. A carnal sense of security seems to define our modern era, luring us to sleep while we are slowly ensnared in dependency that will rob us of the purpose of our lives. The very reason why we came to Earth is to experience agency. We must not retreat one step from the fight to maintain it.
But even as we stand firm, giving no ground to any influencer who tells us that our principles are wrong, our premise is outdated, and that agency is less important than some other ephemeral desire, we must do so without becoming the evil we war against. The only way to do that is to anchor ourselves in Christ, and to listen to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. If we do this, we will never be led to counterproductive contention. We will be enveloped in His protective arms until in His mercy, He returns to restore justice across the whole of Earth.
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