I often remind myself to pray for God's discernment first and then fact check everything before assuming it as true. In so doing, I have determined approximate reporting error rates for each of the following:
- Politicians: Usually unreliable; better to ignore most of what they say but pay close attention to what they do and to who they listen to most
- Mainstream Media: Even more unreliable; false reporting evidenced on a near daily basis
- WikiLeaks: Has not been proven wrong in over 11 years (though people have been murdered for supposedly leaking this accurate information illegally)
- The Bible: Has never been proven inaccurate even though the first histories were written ~3460 years ago with the collective work written over a period of 1400 to 1800 years by more than 40 different authors, all of whom were inspired by the Holy Spirit
As long as the mainstream media profits from publishing hyped up hit pieces, violence, and vulgarities, by sowing hatred, sexuality, immorality, anger, and deception, and by stealing readers' purity of thought, peace, and joy, they will continue to deceive, divide and destroy us.
It is long past time that we all take a media sabbatical. STOP reading, clicking on, subscribing to, sharing, commenting on, and buying all that is false and profane. If enough readers demand the truth in a way that hurts their bottom line, we could see a return to more accurate reporting.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you
How serious is the influence of the lies dominating our culture? Why does it matter if we believe the truth or the lies? It matters because what these liars spin will entangle and could eventually destroy those who feed exclusively on it. At a minimum, they will waste their lives, consumed with anger. These deceivers will trap their victims into a web of sin and bitterness.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”Deceivers will teach their prey to manipulate others by calling themselves the victim, when the truth is that the only one pursuing them as his victims is the devil, the father of lies.
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
(John 8:31-36)
Liars will steal our love and peace and fill us with hatred and fear.
They will keep us from moving forward and doing good for humanity by paralyzing us with feelings of being perpetually offended.
They will replace our desire to build, nurture, create, and contribute to the greater common good with a desire to protest, shout obscenities, shatter Starbucks' windows, detonate bombs in the streets or in the White House, and even tempt some to murder our nation's heroes dressed in blue.
They will destroy our ability to think rationally and to respectfully discuss different ideas in a thoughtful and mutually beneficial way. Instead, they will train us to silence dissent with false, harsh name-calling, herd bullying, and pronouncements of judgment with relentless witch-hunts on all who dare defend a contrary position.
They will kill our God given courage, valor, and respect for all human life, and bury whatever is left of us in a "safe" space.
Those who are white, male, or heterosexual, identify in gender
as their biological sex, posses U.S. citizenship by birth or legal
immigration, work for a living without receiving entitlements, or heaven
forbid, are labeled by combination or all of the above willreceive a scarlet letter. This label will condemn them to a life of self-hatred,
self-deprecation, broken relationships, abandonment of familial duties,
paranoia, and condemnation by their segment of society.
These haters of the truth will teach their followers to to call what is evil "good" and what is good, "evil".
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Isaiah 5:20)They will lead others away from God's amazing grace and light and down the path of darkness, which leads to judgment. (Revelation 22:15, John 14:6).
Beware of those who consistently and intentionally devise evil and deception, for such are sons of the devil who holds not to the truth, for there is no truth in him (John 8:44). Their father is the enemy of our souls who seeks only to deceive, kill, steal, and destroy. (John 10:10) For those who choose the world's lies over God's truth, deceiving themselves, will find that the destruction they wrought will return fully on themselves. (Revelation 20)
However, those who stand firm in the truth will be saved from judgment and death and enjoy victorious LIFE forever in the presence of the Lord God almighty, who is the embodiment of goodness, truth, love, grace, and righteousness. (Matthew 10:22, Ephesians 6:14, 1 Corinthians 6:13, Luke 21:19)
"25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen....
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1: 24-32)
