Watchman Fellowship

06/16/2026

Memes permeate this environment. Many of them are sarcastic or attempt to be humorous, often at the expense of others with whom we do not agree.

If you are in any way on this platform desirous of defending the Christian faith, consider carefully if you met someone in person from that people group if you would actually hand them a meme and look them right in the eye and tell them this is precisely what you believe about them and their beliefs.

They might get a few people to giggle and hit the like button, but at what cost? What if you woke up to find your feed full of memes mocking you, your beliefs, or your family?

We might think "Oh, we're just joking. We didn't mean anything by it."

But one of our staff, several years ago while promoting his first book in social media, experienced firsthand the psychological shock of anonymous strangers mocking him. Memes, nasty comments, mocking videos, posts, etc. At first he thought he was impervious to it.

But over time, he saw so much of it, he started to believe the negativity about himself. It had a direct impact on his off-line work and ministry, degrading his hope and self-worth. As this all slowly was happening, he didn't even recognize it at first.

By the grace of God, he let go of the accounts and took an extended sabbath from social media altogether.

It can happen to any of us. Be careful what you post. It does impact people, even negatively, even people who are "famous" are not immune to the mockery. We think we'll never meet these people and that this somehow makes it okay to make fun of them.

Most human beings are not rock-solid stoic robots impervious to mockery. We are all suffering and burdened with many things. A mocking meme might just be adding to their silent struggles and we'd never know.

06/16/2026

Read well and think clearly. Be as informed as you are able about different points of view. Study to show yourself approved. Tearing down strongholds requires you to understand what the strongholds are and what the truth is.

06/15/2026

Evolution is a fact? There are a number of reasons this modern assumption should be questioned and is being questioned. Check out our discussion this week with biochemist and author Dr. Fuz Rana.

"Evolution is a settled fact!" we're often told by scientists, science popularizers, and probably have seen this statement not a few times on social media. But there has been another, perhaps less-noticed trend in the evolutionary sciences today. There is an ever-increasing academic di...

06/14/2026

A few new resources for better understanding Mormon doctrine and beliefs. One from an LDS perspective, another from an Evangelical perspective.

When engaging LDS, be thoughtful, willing to listen, ask good questions and establish a trusting relationship as much as depends on you.

Mocking, insulting, "yelling" at them on social media simply does no good. Study to show yourself approved as you interact with Latter-day Saints.

06/11/2026

Rejecting design in the universe and biological life is not a matter of insufficient evidence. Even the common house fly can do more than our best biotechnologies can presently reproduce or mimic.

The rejection is a spiritual matter, one of which we are all guilty.

For theists who accept design, we are not consistent in applying the implications of that knowledge in our own lives. We do not worship or acknowledge God as we ought. This is what it means to "fall short of the glory of God" in one sense.

We might be able to "explain all design argument mysteries" to the non-theist, but we do so sometimes "without love" and instead substitute impatience, wrath, rudeness, and fault-finding, judgmental hypocrisy; a kind of hubris that is unbecoming as an ambassador for the God in whom we believe.

We've all been guilty of uncharitably mocking others unbelief and forget that Abraham's wife Sarah laughed at God's covenantal promise, then told her husband to have relations with her maid.

When we mock others' unbelief, we are generally suffering from a lack of an awareness of the dire consequences of our own unbelief.

For the non-theist, it is a similar spiritual matter. He rejects design, claiming the evidence is insufficient to draw a conclusion. But imbedded in the non-theist's response is also a kind of theological arrogance and ignorance and suppression of the truth. The very statement about the insufficiency of evidence is a declaration against what God has said and done, who has told us the evidence is obvious and apparent.

In both cases, the theist and non-theist continue to suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

The solution? Repentance. Turning to Christ. First for the believer.

The believer is called to a higher standard. We are exhorted to model Christian charity in our discussions, following the characteristics of "love" outlined in 1 Corinthians 13, among other things.

Are these characteristics part of my apologetics or am I just a mocker who berates the non-believer for rejecting design? Are we just trying to win arguments and make ourselves out to be boastful apologetic superheroes with a head stuffed with "facts" or are we concerned about the person's eternal standing and endeavor to love (in the 1 Cor. 13 sense) our enemies?

We will never do any of this perfectly, but we must remember to whom we belong, what He has done for us, and how we represent Him. If we don't, we are but clanging cymbals.

Design is obvious and apparent. But unfortunately so is our sin. We all need Jesus, y'all. We all do.

Be nice to each other out there.

06/09/2026

Make sure to limit time on social media. It can and does unknowingly cause anxiety, fear, and uncertainty even without us noticing. It tends to divide, instigate hostility, cause division, and provoke us to wrath and uncharitable behaviors we normally would not do in public, face to face.

Be sure to cultivate a reading habit, no screens. No phones, no distractions. Pray verbally, out loud, practice writing, contemplate and mediate on Scripture. Read out loud to your spouse or friend. Have lengthy, meaningful, in person conversations with people.

There is no overcoming the world without Jesus and our faith in Him. Jesus came down to us as a human being to interact with us and talk with us and be with us. He didn't create a Jumbotron in the heavens to reveal who He is to us. He came down to us, for us, as one of us.

Social media throws the "world" at us - the world's ways, the world's assumptions, the world's priorities, the world's secularism, etc. etc. Be careful how you absorb it all. Guard your heart, rest in Christ. Listen for His voice. If you post, post as you would want someone to post to you. And do it sparingly, perhaps even consider how you might say something nice or letting other people have the last word.

It is easy, for example, to sign in to FB, check your threads, look through your favorite groups, and then just proceed to engage in a lemmie-tell-y'all-how-it-is posture and dump a truckload of criticism and antagonism on people with whom we disagree. Tearing down strongholds is not tearing down other people.

If you've read this far, we encourage you today to take a break from social media and begin to cultivate the slow and meaningful contemplative way through the wilderness, with Jesus leading the way.

Social media can make us weary without us realizing it. Jesus still calls for the weary and heavy laden to come to Him. He's a lot better than anything we might see on the internet today.

06/09/2026

A lengthy post highly critical of someone or some organization or people group that does not permit that person, organization or people group to respond is all you really need to know about the post.

06/08/2026

What is the Latter-day Saint "burning in the bosom?" Part two of our deep-dive into the doctrine with Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Jr.

Doctrine and Covenants section 9, verse 8 are supposedly the words of the Lord, given through Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdery in 1829. "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall...

06/05/2026

Know someone who is struggling with direction and purpose or maybe questioning their faith? Alan Noble has an excellent book, To Live Well, that walks through the virtues from a Christ-centered and very encouraging and exhortative perspective. Our interview with Alan on Apologetics Profile airs at the end of this month.

06/02/2026

Fun an informative read, a short prose poem called ”The Fight for Mansoul” is a fifth-century AD tale written by Prudentius depicting the Virtues fighting the Vices. In the battles, both the Virtues and Vices are portrayed as soldiers on a battlefield.