Going Viral: Intro

Most of us use the Internet for our own personal enjoyment, whether it is Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or just email. But there are some people that have made a fortune because of the Internet. Sometimes they found the right formula for marketing themselves or their product and they hit it big: like Justin Bieber or Kickstarters. Other times it was just a coincidence because they shared a cute family moment and the world went crazy over it: like “Charlie Bit My Finger.”

Because of the unknown nature of the Internet, many people have started posting their entire lives online in hopes that they may have that one post that goes viral. There is no industry standard as to what constitutes a post going viral. The social media app used also has a lot to do with it.

A Facebook post that reaches 10,000 people is considered a viral post. Last year we posted a photo on our Facebook page and it reached over 1.5 million people. That was a viral post and because of it we had about 500 people like our page.

A YouTube video is generally considered viral when it has over 100,000 views within a very short time. The most viewed YouTube videos of all time include “Gangnam Style” with over 2.8 billion views, Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” with over 2.3 billion views, and the cartoon short “Masha and the Bear” with over 2 billion views.

What about media outside of the Internet, such as books? We don’t usually use the word viral in reference to books, but there are some books that have just gone viral. The first Harry Potter series sold over 500 million copies in 68 languages. It is widely accepted as the number one selling book series of all time and each of the seven books are listed as part of the top 15 Best Selling books of all time. The number one book on that list? The Bible.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Bible has sold over 5 billion copies and has been translated into 349 languages. Each year more than 100 million copies of the bible are printed. It is by far the best-selling book of all time and remains so year after year.

What about other things that are not in print or on the Internet, such as viral movements? Most modern movements have been spread using the Internet and have at their height reached millions of people. Prior to the Internet the printed word was how people shared their ideas and visions with people around the world. Some of these, such as the Age of Reasoning by Thomas Paine, led to new movements. This little book published in 1794 is often seen as the beginning of the Enlightenment Movement. Many intellectuals sought to explain why they felt that reason, science, and rational were more reliable truths than God.

The strange thing about the enlightenment movement is that it was nothing new. In fact, during the life of Jesus the Greeks valued science and reasoning above all else. They had gods. Many of them, in fact. But science and reasoning were elevated and respected. It was during this time that a man named Theophilus lived. We know very little about him. We only see his name twice in the Bible: Luke 1 and Acts 1. The fact that Luke refers to Theophilus in Luke 1 as the "most honorable" indicates that he was a very prominent person in Greece.

I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day He was taken up, after He had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:1-3, HCSB)

Theophilus must have been seeking to learn the truth about this new movement taking place in the world at that time. The movement was known by most as The Way. The followers of this movement were known as people of The Way, until the movement had spread into the area of Antioch in what is modern day Turkey. That is when these people were first called “Christians,” which means “little Christs” or "like Christ." At first it was meant as a slur against them, but the followers of The Way, the followers of Jesus, wore the name with honor.

Luke took the time to write two books for Theophilus filled with detailed information about Christianity. The first book, simply called “Luke,” detailed the life of Jesus. The second book, titled “Acts,” detailed the viral movement of Christianity as seen in the early church.

It is widely believed that Luke, a physician by trade and a fellow missionary with Paul, completed the book of Acts by A.D. 60. The reason that we can pinpoint this date is because the book does not mention Paul’s release from prison in A.D. 61, the fire in Rome in A.D. 64, or the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Luke was very good about using important names and dates in his detailed account, that it is certain he would have included these important happenings in his book if it had not already finished it.

When a posting on social media goes viral, it is easy to determine when it all started. We can just go back to the original post and see when it was posted and who posted it. When a movement goes viral it is not always as easy to determine the details about it. That is where historians come into the picture. In that respect, Dr. Luke was acting as a historian in recording what had happened among the apostles of Jesus.

Who were the apostles? They were those that had been sent out by Jesus to share the Good News of Jesus. Some theologians believe only the original 12 disciples of Jesus and perhaps Paul should be considered apostles because they were the only ones specifically called by Jesus and told to go tell the world about Him. Others say that since the word itself means “sent out,” it should apply to anyone that is sent out to tell others about Jesus. We don’t really use that word anymore. Instead we refer to those sent out as missionaries or pastors.

During the next few months we are going to learn all about this viral movement known as Christianity. We will discover the joys of it as well as the hardships and difficulties of it. We will learn from the detailed research and firsthand knowledge by Luke how this movement and these apostles “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6) as the leaders of Greece at that time claimed.

We will see the impact that this movement had throughout the Middle East, Asia, the Mediterranean, and eventually the entire Roman Empire. We will be able to understand why this movement has continued even though leaders and nations have attempted to wipe it out. We will see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ not only has the power to transform individuals, but entire nations and the world.

I hope that this study through the book of Acts will help encourage you to be just as bold as the apostles were in sharing about Jesus, just as hungry for the Gospel as Theophilus was, and just as concerned about eternity as Paul was.