“But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” Hebrews 13:16, KJV
Sometimes, I receive comments from my online friends, in which they seem to think that I have left the social networks, or at least that I am posting a lot less. In actuality, this is not what is happening.
The fact of the matter is this: If you don’t frequently like, comment on and share my posts, the Facebook algorithm interprets this as meaning that you don’t have much interest in my posts. As a result, my posts will slowly disappear from your news feed, giving you the false impression that I am no longer posting, or perhaps that I have even left Facebook altogether.
My friends, this is simply NOT true. You can prove this for yourselves, simply by visiting my timeline. This applies to other social networks where I participate as well. What you will discover is that I actually post daily, meaning that I make literally hundreds of posts every single month.
So, the solution is simple: Visit and engage on my timeline more often, and you will then hopefully see more of my posts in your news feed as well. Thanks so much!
To visit my website and blog directly, please use the following links:
Are you aware of the fact that you may unknowingly be allowing scammers, porn stars and other questionable riffraff to join your circle of Facebook friends? I didn’t think so. Well, believe it or not, but that is EXACTLY what you may be doing when you don’t take the time to vet and carefully examine each of your new friend requests under your “Friend Requests” menu.
In other words, if you just automatically click on the “Confirm” button next to each name under your “Friend Requests” menu because you are eager to have new friends, or perhaps because you want to have a longer friends list in order to impress your buddies, you could be letting shady characters into your social circle without realizing it. How do you know, unless you slow down, and take the time to go to each person’s timeline, in order to determine who they are, what they are about, what they believe, what their interests are, etc.?
Personally, I would NEVER accept a friend request without doing this first; because failure to vet potential friends is asking for trouble. As you will see in a moment, your failure to check out potential new friends could even negatively affect your already-established friends.
If you take this extra step with each friend request, you may be shocked and surprised to discover that some timelines are nothing more than traps to entice unwary victims to visit a porn-related website or page.
Look; if you get a friend request and their profile pic under your “Friend Requests” menu is a very sexy-looking girl, watch out! It is quite possible that it is a bogus Facebook account. So, don’t be surprised if when you visit their timeline, you discover a string of very suggestive, sexy images, with an invitation that says something like “See my nude photos here”. The word “here” will actually be a link to some other page not on Facebook, where said person will bare the goods, if you know what I mean.
Trust me; over the ten+ years that I have been a part of Facebook, I have come across many bogus Facebook accounts like this, and I still do. The best thing that you can do in such a case is to simply click on the “Ignore” button — or “Delete Request” button — on their page. Please note that I said ON THEIR PAGE. As I said before, you need to go to their page in order to determine what kind of person you are dealing with.
Of course, you could block such mischief makers too. However, personally, I view doing this as an exercise in futility, because the account is bogus, and will probably be reported by a lot of other Facebook users as well. If that happens, Facebook will take down the page sooner or later anyway. So in the end, you will just end up with a long list of blocked users who don’t even exist anymore.
As I said, more than likely, if you have received a friend request from one of these porn scammers, many other Facebook users have as well, and some of them have probably already reported the page. So, you might not even want to bother with reporting the page. In fact, if you report too many pages too often, Facebook may possibly begin to view you as an annoyance. So reporting a bogus account may not always work in your favor. Again, I counsel you to just hit the “Ignore” button, or the “Delete Request” button, and forget about it. That scammer probably already has dozens of other bogus Facebook accounts anyway.
Sadly, it doesn’t quite end there. If in your haste you allow these scammers onto your friends list because you failed to check them out first, you may be doing even more harm. Let me explain to you why this is so.
Stop and think about this. If you accept their friend request, you are legitimizing them as a real person. Now, imagine if twenty people on your friends list do the same thing. That means that the scammer will now have twenty people on their friends list who know each other. Not only that, but those twenty people have confirmed that the scammer is a real person, and someone who can be trusted. In other words, they have given the scammer credibility. That scammer can then send out even more friend requests to other of your friends.
Now, here is where the damage occurs. If those people make the same mistake as you initially did, they may look under their “Friend Requests” menu, see that they have twenty mutual friends with this person, and then decide “Oh, okay. My twenty friends accepted them as a friend, so this person must be alright.”
In short, your friends will do the exact same thing that you did. They will not take the time to investigate that person before clicking on the “Confirm” button. They will ASSUME that the person is okay, because that is what those other twenty mutual friends did.
So do you see now how that works? Do you see how porn scammers and other tricksters can widen their circle of friends due to your own haste, foolishness and gullibility? They can gain hundreds or even thousands of friends, and spread their filthy porn invitations everywhere.
On a final note, whenever I do come across one of these bogus Facebook accounts with the “See my nude photos” link on the page, if I look over at their current friends’ photos on the left side of the page, almost without fail, I will see one of my current friends listed there. In other words, the way in which the scammer found me in the first place, was by tricking someone else into accepting their friend request, and then finding my name in that person’s friends list, exactly as I explained to you earlier.
One way in which you can mitigate this problem is by doing the following:
1. Go to your settings on your Facebook timeline.
2. Click on the “Privacy” link on the left side of the page.
3. Under the “Privacy Settings and Tools” section of the page, go down to the “How People Find and Contact You” section.
4. One of the questions there will be “Who can see your friends list?”.
5. Click on the “Edit” button and change it to “Only Me”, if it is not already set to that.
By taking the above steps, only you will be able to see your full friends list. All of your other friends will only see your mutual friends. In other words, only friends that you both have in common. This is one way to prevent scammers from harvesting your friends list.
For additional information, please check out the following link as well:
I was motivated to write the following short commentary due to a comment which someone posted on Facebook under one of my graphics. This person and I have been Facebook “friends” for not quite seven years according to the “See Friendship” section of their timeline. Their comment was posted under the following graphic:
For the record, the reason why I placed the word “friends” in quotes in the previous paragraph is because I had to go to this particular person’s timeline in order to determine if we were even friends, because I obviously don’t even remember or recognize their name. Sound familiar?
“Why don’t you remember them?”, you may ask. Well, because the truth is that this person has rarely — if ever — engaged with me and the BBB ministry in any meaningful way — meaning likes, comments, shares or personal chats — in the almost seven years that we have been Facebook friends. In fact, just to make sure that my facts were right, before writing this commentary, I checked this person’s timeline as far back as November of 2018 — or eleven months ago — and since that time — and probably a lot earlier — they had not shared a single one of my graphics. Neither had they commented anywhere on my Facebook timeline, Facebook page, or in the BBB public group. And we most certainly have never had any private chats during this time, if ever.
As I have mentioned before, the only people who I remember on Facebook — or on any other social networks for that matter — are those whose names I see frequently on my timeline, on my Facebook page or in the BBB group. I suspect that the same situation occurs with most Facebook users; particularly if one happens to have thousands of friends, as I do.
In other words, whether it is on Facebook or on some other social network, we all carry a lot of dead weight around on our friends list. That is, people who we know very little to nothing about, and who we can’t even remember, precisely because they never make an appearance and engage with us. They are in fact complete strangers to us, and just a faceless name on our friends list.
So I am motivated to ask: What is the point of two people calling themselves “friends” on Facebook or anywhere else, if there is little or no engagement of any kind? In my view, it is similar to two people getting married, and then they each have their own bedroom, and engage in very little interaction, sexual or otherwise. Worse yet would be if they each live in their own house. Such a relationship is surely doomed to eventual failure. Sadly, this is a relationship in name only; just like many lukewarm Christians have with Jesus.
But what irked me the most about this person’s comment, is the fact that when they finally did pop their head out of the ditch, so-to-speak, it was to make a low jab with a criticizing, condescending comment. What they said was the following:
“So a person who wants to be a new friend has to measure up to your stature. Hmmm, sounds like a person has to climb a pedestal to be a friend.”
Apparently, this person made this comment all because I ask people to get to know me first before sending me a friend request. I simply ask them to not make a hasty decision, and to make sure that that they want to be friends with me. It seems like a very reasonable and fair request to me, don’t you think?
The fact that this person would even make the pedestal comment, suggests that they did not even take the time to read the whole text comment which I included above the graphic in question. Or if they did read it, they certainly didn’t understand it. So in response to this person’s critical jab, allow me to state the following:
No, there is no pedestal to climb. I simply look for quality friendships on Facebook. Unlike some people, I don’t just blindly approve every single friend request that appears under my “Friend Requests” menu. My goal is not to bloat my friends list in an effort to impress people with how many friends I have. As I explained in the text message that was included with the graphic, I actually take the time to visit each and every person’s timeline or page in order to vet them first, as we all should be doing. As Jesus taught, we are to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
It is precisely when people fail to vet each friend request, and instead just let every person through the door, that riff-raff, troublemakers and scammers sneak onto their friends list, which could later lead to problems. So, because I do take the time to do this with each and every person who sends me a friend request, yes, it does indeed irk me when only minutes after I approve their friend request, for reasons which remain unknown to me, they turn around and unfriend me, thus wasting my time.
That is the point of the particular graphic which this person commented on; which they would have known, had they taken the time to read and understand the whole text comment which is included with the graphic.
To reiterate, friends, don’t just approve every friend request that you see under your “Friend Requests” menu. Take the time to vet them first. If you don’t, you are asking for trouble. Allow me to give you one quick example. I can’t tell you how many times I have gone to a timeline to check out a person, only to be confronted with “My nude photos here”, followed by a link, at the very top of their timeline. My friends, that is the kind of people you may be adding to your friends list, if you just blindly approve every name you see under the “Friend Requests” menu.
Now, imagine if one of your own friends goes and visits that same page, because they see that you are friends with that person. It might leave you a bit embarrassed, and they may even question their friendship with you as well. So do yourself a favor. Take the time to check out all potential new friends first, or you may end up paying later.
In case some of you are wondering why I am making this request, and not just accepting every Tom, Dick and Harry who comes along, it is because there have been a number of occasions in the past where someone has sent me a friend request — which I have then accepted — only to have them turn around literally a few minutes later, and unfriend me. I don’t know if it was because they saw something on my timeline or page which offended them or which they didn’t agree with, or what.
But the point is, this kind of indecisive behavior irks me. Why? Well, because after someone sends me a friend request, I will take the time to visit their timeline in order to determine if they are a Christian, and to see exactly what they believe, what kinds of things they post, what kind of language they use, who their friends are, etc. In other words, I vet each person individually.
If I determine that we might be good friends, and then approve their friend request, only to have them turn around minutes later and unfriend me, yes, that rubs me the wrong way. In short, make sure that you really do wish to be my friend before sending me your friend request.
Thanks so much for your consideration. I appreciate it!
My friends, do you find yourself often feeling like you are in a desert on Facebook? If so, believe me when I say that I understand you completely; particularly the discouragement that some of you feel in regards to friend participation on Facebook. I feel it too.
Myself, I have just under 5,000 Facebook friends. However, close observation over the years has shown me that only 300-400 take some degree of interest in my posts. Even worse, only a few dozen people engage in regular to semi-regular participation with my work.
It might interest you to know that many others have reported this same thing, and it is always the same small group of friends who participate. Sometimes I even wonder how many of them are real people, and not just Facebook bots who are pretending to be people.
For example, participation on my Facebook page is about zero. But get this: Prior to November of 2017 when Facebook began making adjustments to their algorithms, I used to get dozens, hundreds, and in some cases, even several thousand reactions — likes, shares and comments — PER POST on my page. Yes, for each and every post.
Beginning in November of 2017, interaction and participation began to drop like a rock in a matter of a few days. My timeline has also pretty much become a dead man’s land with very little participation. Most activity occurs in the Bill’s Bible Basics group, but even that is far from stellar.
But my friends, as I explained before, the problem is NOT necessarily with your friends not liking you, not caring about you, and not being interested in the things which you post.
The REAL problem, as far as I can tell, is with Facebook itself and their algorithms, their attitudes towards Christians and conservative viewpoints, and their d-i-s-c-r-i-m-i-n-a-t-o-r-y practices against us. This begins with their army of liberal-minded editors.
In short, one of the BIG reasons why — like me — you seem to be out in the desert alone most of the time, is because Facebook has sandboxed us for the most part, and is NOT allowing others to see our posts.
I know this for a fact, because my friends have repeatedly told me so. They simply think that I am participating less on Facebook because they see less of my work in their news feed. However, this is NOT true. I normally make hundreds of posts each and every month.
Now think about this: Your friends cannot possibly react to your posts, if they aren’t even seeing your posts. It makes sense, right? Yes, YOU will see your posts, but most others will not, because Facebook has you sandboxed. It is an i-l-l-u-s-i-o-n.
Aside from the d-i-s-c-r-i-m-i-n-a-t-i-o-n against us, I am convinced that it is also a business ploy that Facebook purposely uses to try to pressure us and e-n-t-i-c-e us into spending money on ads. If you doubt my word regarding this issue, spend $100 on an ad campaign and see what happens. All of a sudden, you will reach more people and get more likes and comments.
But beware, because even their ad campaigns are a s-c-a-m. Again, I know from experience that while running an ad may possibly result in quick reactions and comments, ads will garner you very few real friends in the long term. Once you stop paying for the ad, all of that traffic just dries up and disappears. So was spending the money really worth it?
Whatever you do, as hard as it may be at times, don’t let discouragement overcome you, because that is EXACTLY what the enemy wants you to do. That is, to throw up your hands in defeat and say “What’s the use? Nobody cares. Nobody reacts to what I post. Why am I wasting so much of my time here if it is not bearing any fruit?” Before you give in to that ruse, remember this:
“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11, KJV
“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:6, KJV
“Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” Ecclesiastes 11:1, KJV
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9, KJV
“But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.” 2 Thessalonians 3:13, KJV
So if you reach even one person, isn’t it worth it? If even one person is blessed and encouraged by your work on Facebook, or on any other social network for that matter, isn’t it worth it? If even one person comes to the Lord as a result of what you do here, isn’t it worth it?
Dear friends, I just wanted to remind you that four times daily, I back up the entire internal hard drive of my web server machine to an external hard drive. This is automatically done at 4:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM and 10:00 PM, my local time. To give you a point of reference, we are GMT+10 here, which means that it will be 14 or 15 hours earlier than my local time on the U.S. East Coast. Each backup at those four hours of the day usually completes within an hour’s time.
Please note that when these automated backups occur, the web server machine becomes sluggish, and this will more than likely affect your ability to connect to any portion of the Bill’s Bible Basics website and the BBB Blog,
As a result, if during any of these four time frames you click or tap on any of the BBB article links, poetry links, KJV Bible Verse List links, or blog links which you find on Facebook, or on any other social network where I participate, you may not be able to successfully connect to the BBB website or to the BBB Blog until the backup has completed. Either that, or you may possibly be able to connect, but the web pages may stall and load very slowly in your web browser.
Also, you need to consider how far away you may be from me. For those of you who live on the far U.S. East Coast, you are close to 7,000 miles away from me. That is A LOT of server hops, and I know for a fact that with the data travelling such a great distance, Internet congestion and other issues can weaken your connection to my web server and make it unreliable. The same thing occurs when I reach out to the U.S. East Coast from here. The minute I pass the U.S. West Coast and head east, things begin to become troublesome, and I may have trouble connecting to a site, and loading a web page.
The bottom line is this, if for some reason you cannot connect to my web server, then just wait a while until you are outside of the above four time ranges, and try again. If you are trying at a different time of day, and still have problems connecting to my server, it may possibly be due to Internet congestion, or some other issue beyond both your and my control.
Also, as I have mentioned before, please be aware of the fact that we do have unexpected power outages here. When these occur, BBB links on Facebook and other social networks to the BBB website and BBB Blog will be totally dead in the water, until power is restored here, and I can get the web server back online again.
I hope this information helps some of you. Thanks for your patience.
As with anyone who maintains an online presence, sometimes, due to technical difficulties either on my end, or with the social networks where I post my work, my images and other posts may not always display properly — if at all — on the social networks where you personally frequent.
If you encounter such a problem, and if you want to make sure that you are always seeing everything that I share online — whether it is images, poetry, articles and series, KJV Bible Verse Lists, etc. — then please consider directly visiting the Bill’s Bible Basics website, and the Bill’s Bible Basics Blog, at the following two URLs:
Since 2014, I have composed more than 700 Christian-oriented poems for your personal inspiration, edification, motivation and conviction. There are also a number of funny ones thrown in the mix, just to make you laugh … or to see how crazy I can be.
Currently, these 700+ original poems are divided into about 100 different categories. Each poem is accompanied by in-depth Bible study resources which are based on my hundreds of Bible-based articles and series, as well as my 640+ KJV Bible Verse Lists.
So what are you waiting for? If you like poetry, and if you like studying God’s Word, here is the URL to go to:
