Some of you are familiar with Michael Cernovich. Somebody is familiar with him. During just one month last year Michael had 83 million twitter views. It was Michael who reported that Hillary Clinton had Parkinson’s Disease during the recent presidential race. When confronted on 60 Minutes, Michael said he still believed this and other things he wrote even though sources he listed denied they had ever spoken to him.
The 60 Minutes reporter emphasized that the problem of fake news primarily on social media was just as rampant from liberal sources as from conservative. Of course, the worst thing about the prominence of such fake news is that many people will believe the reports simply because they support a certain point of view. The prevalence of such public deception will divide America even more.
What can Believers do about this? First, we must take Paul's warning seriously for ourselves.
"Test everything. Hold firmly to the good. Flee from all appearance of evil."
We can pray for super-political, supernatural discernment for ourselves.
There may well be times when we need to point out lies and such dubious sources of information even when they seem to agree with our politics.
Most of all we need to pray for our nation and our world in days of such evil and deception.
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Comments
David, thank you for this. Just yesterday I was so frustrated with all the 'wrong' news and 'nothing'-news and twisted news - I wondered where are we going to get genuine news so that we'll know what to really pray about. Yesterday in my Bible study I discovered these verses that are very meaningful to me:
Isa 8:11-22 NLT A Call to Trust the LORD
11The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, 12“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. 13Make the LORD of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. ... 14He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah He will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall ... 15Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again...” 16Preserve the teaching of God ... 17I will wait for the LORD .... I will put my hope in Him. 19Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead? 20Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict His word are completely in the dark.21They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair.
When we look at social media this is what we see - raging and cursing, people looking for hope and help and not finding it. People are so angry about all kinds of senseless things, and that is the news we get, instead of facts.
I am grateful for the news on the Presidential Prayer Team's website - the only place I trust these days. May God give us media that will report truth and unbiased facts - I agree with Andrew in prayer.
David,
As usual, I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with you. I pray regularly for the media and for truthfulness in reporting.
You're right about fake news being used to support whatever ideas we may already have. I suspect that Satan has neither a conservative nor a liberal agenda - but more of an agenda to bring disunity and even anarchy, which we're seeing in so many places in our country today. To the extent that he can accomplish this, he doesn't care whether fake news is slanted toward the liberal or the conservative viewpoint.
We (the church) are not immune to these polarizing attacks. The more that Satan can get us arguing with each other, dividing us over politics and other matters, the more he can keep the church from its true mission of advancing the kingdom.
David Platt once mentioned that when Jesus says in Matthew 24:14 that the end will come after the gospel has gone to the whole world, that end is the end of Satan as well - and he knows it. As a result, he will do anything to prevent that end from coming, or at least delay it. He uses fake news, identity politics, and any number of other tactics to divide the church and weaken its attempts to carry out Christ's mission.
As a result, we must also pray for vigilance - vigilance against the devil's schemes. Vigilance to keep our minds and hearts on things above (Colossians 3:1-2). As Colossians 4:2 says, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."