Did you hear what happened to Erica Marsh, the rage-baiting leftist political commentator who had 130,000 followers on Twitter (now X)? The answer is nothing, since Erica Marsh probably never existed, and her Twitter account was likely faked.

Prepare yourself. With the proliferation of AI (Artificial Intelligence), you’re going to hear a lot more stories about fake social-media accounts, fake news stories, even fake people. You’re not going to know whether the reports about the fake stories and personas are real or fake, for the warnings themselves could be fake. For that matter, how do you know whether what you’re reading right now was actually written by me? Hmmm.

What can Christians do to prepare for an inevitable tsunami of AI fake-ification, sham-ity, and distort-ery (all words I just made up)?

Short answer: Go to church.

Find a Bible-believing church that roots its beliefs about theology and morality in God’s Word, not in people’s opinions.

Find a Bible-believing church led by pastors and elders who meet the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, including sober-mindedness, self-control, humility, uprightness, loving what is good, and holding firm to the trustworthy Word.

Find a Bible-believing church where its leaders are not trying to tickle itching ears (2 Tim. 4:3), and where its teachers are willing to “reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2).

Find a Bible-believing church led by real people who have a history of speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

Go to church. Join a church. Become an active member of a church. Learn in the context of a church — from real people.

Then crush your cell phone.

Well, this last suggestion may be a bit extreme (though such action toward cell phones may be appropriate in certain cases).

As we prepare for a tidal wave of malformed and misleading misrepresentations, it is urgent that Christians deeply connect with a local church led by trustworthy leaders who will (sometimes falteringly, I grant) challenge from the Bible the opinions we are so accustomed to absorbing from social media.

Otherwise, we may find ourselves “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14). One of the most important things you can do to prepare for the coming wave of AI-generated deception is to meaningfully connect yourself to a local church.

This adapted article was originally posted on July 13, 2023, on The Good Book Blog. Read more at thegoodbookblog.com.