{"id":2613,"date":"2022-06-30T20:06:25","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T20:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/pastorgabe\/?p=2613"},"modified":"2022-06-30T22:27:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T22:27:25","slug":"banned-from-twitter-finally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/pastorgabe\/banned-from-twitter-finally\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned From Twitter Finally"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, it has finally happened\u2014I\u2019ve been banned from Twitter permanently.<\/em> All previous bans<\/a> were temporary bans. This time, I was told, is abiding. As of yesterday morning, June 29, my long-time account has been nuked, my phone number and e-mail address have been blocked, and any new accounts I create will be deleted.<\/p>\n

The tweet that did me in was one I posted earlier this week on June 27, when I said the following:<\/p>\n

Q: What do abortion, adultery, bestiality, child sacrifice, homicide, homosexuality, idolatry, incest, and witchcraft have in common?<\/em><\/p>\n

A: They all deserve the death penalty.<\/em><\/p>\n

Turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, and live.<\/em><\/p>\n

Below this tweet was another in which I pointed to the corresponding Bible verses that say each of those sins are worthy of the death penalty. Below that, I had a reference to Romans 6:23, which says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”<\/p>\n

The story of my being banned made it into Not the Bee<\/a> (but it was quickly overshadowed by the fact that Twitter banned Jordan Peterson<\/a> on the same day, for calling Ellen Paige by her birth name and not her “I’m now a boy” name).\u00a0 I appreciate Not the Bee for the way they framed the story. My tweet was clear. And so is the reason people didn’t like it.<\/p>\n

Here’s What I Said<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea for this tweet was inspired by comments from people who mock the Bible by listing things the Bible says you deserve to die for. The mockery has been ramped up since the Dobbs decision that came out last week, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade<\/em> undoing an unjust ruling that has resulted in the gruesome murders of over 60 million unborn babies in the United States since 1973.<\/p>\n

The Bible says that an unborn child is worthy of the same justice as a full-grown adult. Exodus 21:22-23 says, “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband will set for him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall pay life for life…”<\/p>\n

In his commentary on this passage, John Calvin wrote,<\/a> “The unborn, though enclosed in the womb of his mother, is already a human being, and it is an almost monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his most secure place of refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy the unborn in the womb before it has come to light.”<\/p>\n

Debate has erupted as to whether a mother who gets an abortion should be convicted of murder. This has been a source of contention among many people, even at the last two annual meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Bible says that even if an unborn child is killed accidentally, justice must be done. How much more so for the intentional murder of the unborn?<\/p>\n

When such arguments have been made with the Bible as the standard, opponents go into full-throated, open-grave scorn over what the Bible says. I responded (to no one in particular) by listing nine sins that God has said are worthy of the death penalty, and I listed them in alphabetical order: abortion, adultery, bestiality, child sacrifice, homicide, homosexuality, idolatry, incest, and witchcraft (in the tweet below that one, I also included rape).<\/p>\n

These are not merely Old Testament prohibitions. In Romans 1:32, the Apostle Paul said, “Although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”<\/p>\n

But I didn’t just leave it at that. In the same tweet\u2014and this was really the whole point\u2014I pointed to the way of mercy. You can be forgiven of the atrocious evils for which you and I deserve death: “Turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, and live.”<\/p>\n

Here’s What Happened<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, but Twitter threw a hissy fit. I was accused of calling for genocide or the mass murder of huge swaths of people. It was said of me and is still being said that I was advocating for the United States to change its laws and enact the death penalty for each of these vices (apparently I did all of that in 280 characters). So I was reported, and Twitter agreed with the complaint, and I got the boot.<\/p>\n

The enemies of God are dancing on my Twitter grave. I am not bothered by it in the least. If anything, I feel sorry for them. I say, is there really so little to your life that my being silenced on Twitter is a prize? Then you have received your reward in full.<\/p>\n

O that you would instead turn from your sin to Jesus Christ\u2014which was the message of my tweet! Instead, you would rather publicly ridicule and slander and celebrate the silencing of a preacher of God’s word. God help you.<\/p>\n

But to me, my Lord has said, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). Praise God that I have been “considered worthy to suffer shame for the Name” (Acts 5:41). May God grant me the fortitude to stand strong against greater opposition than a Twitter ban.<\/p>\n

Now, you might say, “Oh, don’t be such a martyr.”<\/p>\n

I’m not a martyr. If you think that’s what I’m saying, perhaps you don’t know what that word means. The Bible says we will be maligned when we don’t join them in their dissipation (1 Peter 4:4). We are not to revile in return but to consider ourselves blessed (1 Peter 2:23, 4:14). They will have to give an account to Him who judges justly.<\/p>\n

But going on, you insist, “Twitter has a clear policy, their Terms of Service. If you violate the TOS, you deserve to get banned.”<\/p>\n

Well the message that I received Twitter said that I was being banned for “violating our rules against hateful conduct. You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”<\/p>\n

Okay, I did not do any of that. I did not promote violence against, threaten, or harass anyone. When you look into the more specific details of the TOS, there’s really only one part that appears to address something like what I said. According to Twitter, a person can be banned for:<\/p>\n

“Wishing, hoping, or calling for serious harm on a person or group of people<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“We do not tolerate content that wishes, hopes, promotes, incites, or expresses a desire for death, serious bodily harm, or serious disease against an individual or group of people. This includes, but is not limited to:<\/em><\/p>\n