Finding Faith in the Right Place:

For my personal reading, I have just finished the book, “The House of My Mother,” by Shari Franke.  This woman grew up in a family vlogging channel which started out fairly normal, (as far as family vlogging channels go).  However, this was a woman who grew up with the camera in her face.  Her parents, specifically her mom, made money on the internet videoing both the public and the private parts of this child and her sibling’s life.  Shari talks about how her life became centered around social media.  

While this starts  negative enough, if you know the story about Ruby Franke, then you know she eventually falls into a group fronted by a woman named Jodi Hildebrant.  This group was called Connexions which centered around family relationships and self improvement.  However, now they (Ruby and Jodi) are both serving up to 30 years in prison for child abuse and neglect.  Somehow Ruby started believing through Jodi that her children had demons in them, and they needed to beat the demons out of them.  This is a horrific story, and it is hard to hear.  

After I read the book, I decided to watch the documentary which includes Kevin Franke (husband of Ruby) Chad Franke (oldest son of Ruby) and Shari.  At the very end of this documentary, Kevin Franke made a profound statement summing up in part this awful story,  He said, “If you put your faith in the wrong hands-you could lose everything. “ I loved this.  It stopped me dead in my tracks.  This is true.  The Franke family, specifically Ruby, started to find faith in the wrong things.  First, she fell into the faith of social media and family vlogging, and then later in the teachings of Jodi Hildebrant who believed herself to be a prophet of the Lord. 

The Lord wants to make sure we don’t fall into the trap of believing people who we shouldn’t, which is why this was written throughout the Bible.  One of those verses is Matthew 7:15 which says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”  There were false prophets back in the time of Jesus.  This was the Pharisees and the Sadducees who did respect and honor the law which was a good thing, however, they really truly believed they needed to earn their salvation.  They then would also be incredibly harsh and judgemental to those who stepped one toe out of line in the law.  This was too harsh and unloving for church leaders, even back in this time.  Jesus would often call them out on their hypocrisy.  

Paul later in the Bible would fall into this issue with the Galatians.  He would get really frustrated with them because they were starting to follow false laws and prophets.  They started to believe circumcision was a requirement to be saved.  While this was in the law previously, this is not a way a person makes it into heaven.  The only way to make it to eternity in heaven is through the belief and the faith of Jesus and his death and resurrection on the cross.  Again, it is important to honor the Lord and it is important to care about the law, but no matter what we do, we will fall out of line of the law.  This is why we have Christ and we have the salvation he provided through the cross and through the life he lived.  

It can be very easy for a lot of people to start believing or having faith in a complete lie.  I think we like to think this only happens in cult-like situations.  However, I think having faith in the wrong thing is incredibly common.  We often see many people have addictions to certain substances or items, whether this be social media or their cell phones, alcohol, other drugs and substances, etc.  Then there are many who fall into the trap of believing in money.  They will believe their money can get them through any issue or problem.  There may be others who will have complete faith in their works or their job.  All of these are not something to believe in.  

Is there anything you are finding yourself believing in that could maybe be a lie? Is there anything you have maybe started following related to pop culture or accepted in normal society that is actually harmful, especially to our Christian way of life? If there is something you are finding you are a bit too invested in, what are some ways you can get out of this particular position?  What are some of the people who are spreading these lies to you who you could stop following or listening to?   Whatever it is, I encourage you to find faith in the right thing which is faith in Jesus Christ and his death for you on the cross.