Johnny Long needs no introduction to those in the information security community. The ‘ihackcharities‘ guy, the ‘ihackstuff’ guy, professional hacker, author of many books (Google hacking, No Tech hacking …), Ninja, Pirate, excellent speaker, yada yada yada , and trust me I can go on. I first heard of Johnny Long, a few years ago, at Blackhat security conference in Las Vegas and for years wanted to meet him. So when I found out that he will be at the IPIC security conference where both of us were speaking, I was thrilled and searched for his information before the conference. To my pleasant surprise, I found out that he was a Christian (and yes, there can be Christian Hackers; not an oxymoron :-)) and that he was not going to be offended if someone called him a Christian.
Finally, I had the privilege of meeting him today, before his talk on No Tech hacking (which was wonderful and highly recommended), I approached him, and our introductory conversation went something like this
Mano Paul: So Johnny, you are a Jesus Freak?
Johnny Long : Absolutely
Mano Paul; So am I (maybe not as openly a Jesus freak as Johnny is because I often shy away from being bold to proclaim my allegiance).
This led to a faith connection far beyond anything I have experienced with another fellow security hacker professional and we talked about various things of eternal value, hidden treasures in the Bible, God’s provisions, lessons from the birds of the air etc.
And then when he started his No Tech Hacking talk. Johnny introduced himself, first as a Christian, which he said, some may think is ‘Leet’ (hacker jargon for elite) or ‘Lame’. Through the course of his talk, his again eluded to the fact that he was a Christian. Wow, what a testimony to the 100+ people in the room. One thing was sure, Johnny was not ashamed of being called a “Christian”.
I learned that soon he will be leaving his work to go to Africa on a mission trip (not his first). Check out his organization at www.ihackcharities.org on what their mission is and if the LORD leads you, support him and his family in whatever way you can. This is a truly noble cause.
A ‘Long’ story short, if we combine Matthew 10:32 and Mark 8:38, we arrive at something like this – if you are not ashamed of Jesus or his words and confess Him before men, Jesus will not be ashamed of you and will confess you before his Father (God) in heaven. Irrespective of what the world may think of Johnny, 1337 (leet) or 14m3 (lame), one thing is for sure, Jesus Christ (to whom Johnny and his family have trusted their lives), will NEVER be ashamed of them.
Johnny was an inspiration for me to start to let the world know that I am a Christian as well. So far, I wanted people to know me as a security professional, that is not longer the case, as I want people to first know that I belong to Christ (Christian really means “Christ Ones” as they were called for the first time in Antioch). This of course means, that I have to change who I am, cannot continue to do some of the stupid things I have done in the past, when I am with my good friends and pals (real cool cats) in my security circles. The old has to pass away (die), and I should live as a new creation. This is not going to be easy, I know, but I have to start sometime. My prayer is that God helps me to be HIS witness, to be a Christian – Not ashamed.
Mark 8:38 (King James Version)
38. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Matthew 10:32
32Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
