Andrew Torba, CEO of Gab, reflects on how God has been at work in his life over the past year, preparing him for what he calls as "the most blessed Advent Season."
"Despite the chaos, noise, and wickedness going on around me in this fallen world I have never in my life felt closer to God. The fruits of the Spirit are plenty and God's Grace has overflowed my cup," he wrote for his Nov. 10 blog.
That's because Gab is developing at such a rapid pace that it's becoming more difficult for him to keep up personally, he said. They recently increased their infrastructure with the addition of several large new servers, and each week, tens of thousands of users from all around the world are joining their community.
Additionally, entrepreneurs are prospering on Gab in what Torba coined as the "Parallel Economy." Gab Ads demand is also skyrocketing, providing Torba with more operating capital to grow his staff and scale in ways they have never been able to achieve in their five years of business.
"In order to understand why I am so thankful to God and filled with total humility and gratitude, you have to understand where I was personally and where Gab as a business was just three short years ago," he said.
All of Gab's domain registrars, various hosting providers, email providers, third-party services, and more were methodically deleted off the internet in the period of a week in 2018. Gab was entirely out for six days, but by the grace of God, they were back up on the seventh day.
In spite of this, Torba said God had something else in mind.
"I learned that the only one I can truly depend on and put my faith in is Jesus Christ," he maintained. "In those darkest moments of my life I clung to the cross floating above a sea of fear, doubt, and uncertainty as I worked to restore my business-and my life, from a pit of ash."
"I share this testimony with you to encourage you during these uncertain times. A business that I had given up everything to start and build over two years had been reduced to ash. My face was all over the international news being demonized. My family was being harassed and threatened," he continued."
Torba was left with almost nothing in the world's viewpoint. He, on the other hand, insists he was not left with nothing.
"I had faith in Jesus Christ, and his Grace was and always is sufficient," he remarked.
The lesson he wanted to impart is to never give up, no matter how hopeless the situation seems to be.
He also noted that a person's true dependence on God, resiliency, faithfulness, and determination to follow His Word can only be seen after suffering through hardships and looking back.
He then highlighted how completely surrendering one's life to Christ results in a profound shift in one's mentality.
"A worldly mindset is often dominated by worldly desires. Climbing up the corporate ladder, buying more "stuff," attaining worldly power or fame, submitting to carnal desires, and worse," he explained.
None of them, however, will result in lasting contentment, tranquility, or joy. These things can only be found by total dependence on God.
"My dad always told me that being a Christian takes courage. I never understood what he meant until I went out into the anti-Christ world as a Christian. The Bible tells us over and over and over again to be not afraid," he proclaimed.