In 1994, Rasmus Lerdorf was writing code which helped build the modern internet. His personal home page tools helped him track who was looking at his online resume. The code was so good, it was released to the public and is commonly used globally under the name “PHP.” Over time, the code was improved and modernized and in 2012 a new part of the code was written by a member of The PHP Group which introduced a flaw. A flaw which someone noticed in 2024, but thought was not exploitable, so it was left alone. With the rise of AI, it turns out that software auditor was wrong.
The flaw, which was never truly safe, was deeply hidden in the code, and for 12 years it went unnoticed. A few short days ago, within minutes of looking, AI discovered and exploited the flaw and was able to gain full control of a website’s data. The AI knew where to look, and had the super intelligence needed to exploit the flaw. The auditor’s attitude of “nobody will ever know” only held up until suddenly everyone knew and it could no longer be ignored.
The origination of sin can happen at any point in life. Whether it is at the time of childhood, which is like the times of ignorance for Gentiles which God winked at (Acts 17:30), before our dedication to Christ, which sins can be washed away through baptism, or into our sainthood which requires our confession and genuine repentance, we all sin: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23).
It is common to try and take those sins and bury them. To take the flaws and hope that nobody sees them. The secret sins of our life, the ones we think nobody knows about, the ones we think are safe, the ones we think we can indulge without any consequence, will one day come to the light of day for there is an omnipresent mind who does know. Moses told the two and half tribes of Israel, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23b). Moses furthermore wrote, “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence” (Psalm 90:8).
When that sin is exposed, if it was never covered by the acceptance of God’s grace, will condemn the bearer of that sin. Paul said, “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). He also declared, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Thankfully, the PHP issue was resolved with a patch, a way to fix the flaw. Sin is not so easy to fix, though. It is a stain upon our soul which will separate us from the purity of God’s love. Having never come to Christ, we have the opportunity to discover who He is and receive the free gift which He bestows upon us. All He asks is for our heart. Through that true devotion to Him we are obedient to His commands. We are baptized, and that washing takes those dark marks away, cleansing us and making us white as newly fallen snow. Afterwards, we must walk in the light, together with other Christians, and understand that we are flawed beings who make mistakes. John said, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7-9).
It is through this continual cleansing which we can have hope. Those flaws in who we are, the sins which we harbor in the flesh, can be removed from us through repentance and the focus upon God. We have our Christian brethren to confess to and they can help. We have the Word of God to measure our soul against and find those flaws.
Shame over our sin is right, but to hide it and avoid dealing with it has unintended consequences. One day an examination of our life will happen. We may not have realized the sin because we did not audit the word and know the measure by which to see it when it happened. As soon as it is discovered, though, it is not something to ignore. While it may be true that no human could exploit the error in the PHP code, a greater intelligence one day did. On that day, websites across the globe went dark. On that day, sins hidden away will expose the darkness in our lives and into darkness we shall be cast forever, forsaken by God for the very sins we thought were hidden away, the ones we thought nobody would ever notice or care about. What do you hope nobody ever finds out about?
Lance Byers