Urban legends are alive and well in the information age. Spreading rumors has always been easy, but now, with e-mail and the click of a mouse, it's possible to forward unsubstantiated information to hundreds of people at a time.
Urban legends are alive and well in the information age.
Sadly, some Christians have embraced urban legends, developing a whole catalog of fables that are often used as affirmation of our faith in the Bible or to warn of a threat against religious liberties. The problem is that by uncritically forwarding some of these e-mails, we often violate the command against bearing false witness, and we hurt the church's credibility when we then try to preach a gospel of truth. Obviously the Antichrist would soon be using the computer and the mark of the Beast to control the world's economy. Musser was shocked that his fiction was being recirculated as fact. But as is often the case, the correction received little attention, and the rumor spread like wildfire.