Whoever said that you can't buy "friends" was dead wrong. An article in Hemispheres magazine explored a number of sites that are dedicated to helping you find online "friends." These companies will create fake users or pay real account holders to follow and like you on various social media sites.

 

For instance, on the site Socialyup.com you can buy 500 likes for $30 or 20,000 likes for $699. For a mere $10, FanMeNow will find you 1,000 Twitter followers and for $1,750 you can buy a million followers. If you need to beef up views for your YouTube video, for $150 you can buy 30,000 views from a site called 500views.com. For $3,100 they'll make your video go "viral" by getting you a million views.

 

The article concludes with the following advice: "No matter what social network you're on, you can buy your way to popularity."*

 

There are a great number of things that are for sale as we travel through life, and sometimes this fact alone can cause us to start thinking that perhaps we could possibly pay for some things in the spiritual realm.  God's forgiveness isn't one of them!

 

God's forgiveness cannot be purchased or sold; it just doesn't work that way.  Forgiveness is a FREE gift, or it's not a gift at all.

 

There are some people out there that actually believe that if they have all their "theological ducks" in a row that God is somehow impressed, and that He will forgive them as a method of payment for their hard work.  That's simply NOT biblical in any way, shape, or form.

 

Heaven isn't a reward for people who behaved themselves.  Heaven is a gift because God loves us so much; it's a natural extension of Who He is, to want to give good gifts to His children.  
 

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life."  Romans 3:23

 

We can't pay for something that has already been paid for with the most precious gift this world has ever witnessed. Jesus is all!

 

 

Have a great day and God bless!

 

 

 

Pastor Mike / The Open Word