What do you do with Religious Chain Letter?

I always check on the internet to see if the chain letter is a hoax, esp. concerning prayer or the ones that if you send it to 7 people, the person in need of money will receive 7 dollars or things like that. Go under www.yahoo.com and type a few words from the e-mail, and chances are that the email is bogus. I then e-mail the person who sent me and show them the site. Usually they learn to check them on their own. I get a lot fewer chain letters like that now!

Originally posted by JOhnPreparer
Well, since all of us have internet, nowadays some people are using it as a tool of getting more money... How? Using chain letters to get email addresses to sell to the product company..... So, my question is that what do you do when the forward letter or spam letter is concerning Jesus, a prayer for your friends, or about somebody in needs - heart operations, cancer and etc???

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The same thing I do with any other spam. Theft with the word "Jesus" slapped on it is still theft, and spam is theft. (It's not obvious at first, but the internet essentially passes all the costs of mail to the recipient.)

DELETE, DELETE, DELETE!!!!

I would toss in the trash bin! I hate those things! UGH!

Warning to all:

ALL chain letters (whether religious, threatening, promising "good luck" or "granting wishes" or informing about tragic consequences) are just a MEANS of harvesting valid email addresses.

Most people do not bother to cut and paste a new message. They just click "forward" and then send it to folks in their address books.

All of those lovely email addresses just keep piling up...........and then you get an email box full of SPAM.

Moral of the story: if you like something that someone sent, copy and paste it into a fresh email. And then put the people you wish to receive it as BLIND CARBON COPY, and send the email back to YOURSELF.

This also prevents an email playground war when folks keep hitting "reply to all." (MAN, I HATE THOSE THINGS!)


Peace and clean email boxes!
~VOW

Originally posted by JOhnPreparer
Well, since all of us have internet, nowadays some people are using it as a tool of getting more money... How? Using chain letters to get email addresses to sell to the product company..... So, my question is that what do you do when the forward letter or spam letter is concerning Jesus, a prayer for your friends, or about somebody in needs - heart operations, cancer and etc???

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Delete.

Beware also of "fantastical" emails that sometimes get
sent out and forwarded around in the Christian community. A few years ago there was one hoax about
Janet Reno saying something nasty about Christians (they
are a threat and must be stopped .. or the like) on
60 minutes. It was bogus. Stuff like that not only hurts
our witness but is a lie and slander against the people
being accused (in this case Reno).

Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (ie...don't make a fool out of yourself forwarding silly stuff around and slander somebody in the mean time!).

peace,
owen_rocks

I always delete them... I stopped reading all junk mail.

i usually trash most forwards and chain letters.....depending on the content. But I NEVER participate in the chain ting...they are so dumb.
However....DON"T you HATE it when people send you forwards and instead of copying the original message it has been forwared so many times it takes you 10 minutes to get thru all the address to even read the contents!
AHAHAHHHHHHHH
GEL

A lot of my friends forward various prayer requests to me, or articles they think I might like. I do the same for them. We like having the opportunity to pray for each other, and for people we will likely never meet in this lifetime.

I read them, and if they are hoaxes, I let the sender know, but I would never delete it without reading it, because you are throwing away an opportunity God has presented you with. It only takes a minute to read the request and talk to the Father about it.

i started getting a great Christian email publication that way. It was called Persecution News, about the persecution of Christians around the world. I could have just deleted the first message I got from them, but I would have missed out on two years of great reading and praying for my siblings in Christ. Also, I got one of the greatest witnessing tools I ever found as spam. I was able to use the short video to plant seeds in hearts that would have been closed to any other gospel message.

It doesn't take long to read them over. If they are junk, toss 'em.

delete it.

Thanks VOW for the info, and thanks Lambslove. My mother gets a ton of these from a relative, and has gotten her share of rumors and hoaxes as well as a few valid things.
I haven't started recieving them yet. When I do my response will be to read it, keep it if it's good and checks out. Otherwise I will delete it, or if it is egregious financial fraud (419 letter, quackery, or something of that order), report it to my online service abuse address.

Has anyone tried writing a testimony and sending it on to friends? I ask because I wonder how safe it is to do so and whether it would be happily recieved. There would be no way to know if you recieved a forewarded testimony whether it was true or not unless the person who had written it had their own website that contained the original. Also there could be the danger of someone changing the details, you would have no control over that after you had sent it. Having said all that, do people think it is a good way of spreading the Good News or a pain in the neck?

What about a site especially for Christians to post testimonies? Does anyone know of one?

I have been contemplating doing this for some time, but I have not done anything yet because I am not sure of the dangers involved. I would appreciate some advice.]

thanks

In my opinion, a testimony forwarded and received by someone you don't know means nothing. If you have an online relationship and want to share your testimonies, that's fine; but you cannot know whether forwarded testimonies reach people when they are open to the Lord or whether it turns them off.

I have received testimonies forwarded by people I know. I love reading other people's testimonies.

As for turning people off by sending a testimony, I don't think most people would find a genuine testimony offensive. Unsaved people don't mind hearing about a relationship with God that is humble and transforming, but I'd avoid sending one that seems "holier than thou" or snobbish.

God can use our words to open people's hearts. The Bible says that our testimonies are powerful to overcome satan and open people's hearts and minds. Do a search for "testimony" and see what pops up. 2 Timothy 1:8, for example. The entire book of Hebrews is about the power of a good testimony.

Don't let anyone talk you into being ashamed of telling people what God means to you. It is a powerful weapon against the enemy.