Yesterday I wrote about an SMS text message I received that claimed 22 Christian missionaries were going to be executed in Afghanistan.
I immediately thought it was a hoax but wasn’t entirely sure.
However, after some searching and thinking I am now pretty certain that the message, that some people have received via email and IM message too, is bogus.
DEBUNKED
Some of the tell-tale signs are as follows -
- the text message is not dated, meaning that it can circulate ad-infinitum and trick yet more people
- no source is quoted, making it difficult to confirm or debunk the hoax
- the message is vague, again making it hard to search for the truth
A search around Twitter, which is a great source for breaking news, shows that this story has been circulating for a few days now.
It seemed to originate in the US back on the 25th of February before spreading into Europe and then onto the UK by yesterday.
Strange, then, that it has not been picked up by the mainstream media isn’t it?
Not if it isn’t true!
JAVASCRIPT
Additionally, if you Google search this story then there is, at the time of writing, a Croatian website on the first page which attempts to run all sorts of Javascript.
That may be harmless enough (I didn’t delve into what it was trying to do) but certainly set some alarm bells ringing in my head.
All of the above have just reinforced my view that the original text message was a hoax and has no basis in truth.
The only question that remains unanswered is what is the purpose of this hoax?
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the information that the information is a hoax. A Christian Sister sent me a text last night that 22 christian missionary families are awaiting execution,so I decided to check it up,
May our living God protect 22 families soul. Home of joy hostel children praying for them kallata,a.p,india
by deception how can your preach gospel?
Jesus Christ peace be upon him, was a righteous prophet of God, He never lied.
whether true or false the text msg should be taken seriously as there are Christians and catholic missionaries in muslim countries thaT THEY MAY BE PROTECTED FROM ANY FORM OF VIOLENCE AND HARRASHMENTS
I now jst got the txt and wishing to know this if its true or not…….
COuld any one tell me wats going on?
so confusing and shocking.
I’m 99.9% certain that this is a hoax text which references events that were true but back in 2007 – I don’t think any missionaries are in imminent danger today.
There are most certainly christians who are persecuted in the world today. Have you ever heard of the Chinese underground church?
I agree that they are persecuted, yes, but I was saying that I am not aware of any that are in imminent danger of being executed as far as I know.
Wow i just received this text today and decided to research it which led me to this post.
Nevertheless,we ought to keep interceeding for all missionaries over the world.Especially those in islamic nations.That the gospel gains ascendancy.
Amen.
Yes Indeed!!!
I found this online which seems to explain it all
http://www.csw.org.uk/urgentactionafghanistantextmessage.htm
That link sums it up as a hoax quite nicely Amy.
Persecuted Church blog agrees it’s a hoax. Link to this is…
http://rcypersecutedchurch.blogspot.com/2009/02/22-christian-missionaries-to-be.html
They have some video documentry called “International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Video” which is very interesting if you wish to have a listen to it.
We should continue to pray for all Missionaries who are spreading God’s true word and good news from the Bible everyday all over the world.
This may be a corrupted remnant of original event/story back in July 2007 when 23 South Korean missionaries were captured and threatend with execution. Don’t know final outcome of that event. See original story at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-470846/Taliban-set-execution-deadline-23-missionary-volunteers-killed.html
I think you may be right as someone else brought that up on the other post.
It has now spread to Australia. Thanks for the debunking!
You’re welcome.
Thank God these people are not in real danger.
I quite agree!
Thanks for proving it as a hoax, I was genuinely concerned for 22 souls when I got that text.
Now you know that no-one mentioned in a text is actually at risk of being executed