You sit on a throne of lies!

Will Ferrell said it in Elf, but every day we’re bombarded by social media and mainstream media telling us what is true and what to believe. Only, nobody agrees and the truth is different depending on who tells it. It used to be good enough to turn on the TV and listen to Walter Cronkite or Tom Brokaw and you knew it was the truth. However, we’ve lost Mr. Cronkite and Mr. Brokaw has loosed the bonds of truth following retirement, leveraging his popular standing to opine on liberal causes. Mainstream media, having lost the interest of the population to hold it accountable, is now striving for ratings through opinion pieces and charged political pieces both disguised as truth. It doesn’t matter whether a news outlet claims to be fair and balanced or the world leader in news, an honest viewer recognizes nearly all “news” stories lean one way or the other. And for the most part it isn’t “fake news” as much as doctored truth.

As my mom used to say, the best lies are grounded in the truth.

So how are we supposed to differentiate between what we should believe and what is doctored? When major news outlets fail to honestly qualify news stories as biased, how does the average reader know the story isn’t purely factual?

“Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” (1 Cor. 14:29, Berean)

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1, Berean)

“Do not treat prophesies with contempt, but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” (1 Thes. 5:20-22, NIV)

If God reminds us to research what we hear from our preachers and to test what we hear against what makes sense when our preachers are supposed to be some of the most trustworthy leaders in society, why wouldn’t we apply that same reasoning to our secular leaders and news outlets? Why would we accept a talking head at his/her word when we’re challenged by God himself to test preachers, prophets, spirits and teachers? We are further instructed that believing without testing is a sign of immaturity. We should learn how to distinguish from doctored truth by testing everything we hear.

“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” (1 Cor 14:20, ESV)

“So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love. we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” (Eph 4:14-15, ESV)

So we should all strive to be mature in our thinking. Don’t just take everything Robin Meade or Steve Doocy or Tom Brokaw tells you as gospel. Give it the common sense test and see if it aligns with your faith, with your experience, and with your logic. Contrary to current teaching, truth isn’t relative. Truth shouldn’t be doctored nor should we fall for anyone’s opinion just because he/she wears fine clothes, speaks into a camera, and tells us to “trust me.”

Test all spirits – even those you agree with. You might find a mature version of yourself would disagree.

(Photo courtesy of ourspiritualquest.com)