Combat the fake news
Pastor Troy Brewer, OpenDoor Church, Burleson, TX
Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020
The news media landscape has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Trust and confidence in the news has plummeted. The news media landscape has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Trust and confidence in the news has plummeted.
BEHIND THE LOSS OF TRUE JOURNALISM IS A MINDSET.BEHIND THE MINDSET IS A SPIRIT.
People are very aware there is something bad wrong.The Gallup Poll asked a number of Americans over the past two decades how much trust and confidence they have in mass media reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly. The percentage of people saying they had a great deal or fair amount of trust dropped from 53 percent in 1997 to 32 percent in 2016.
It’s somewhere in the mid-20 percent now in 20/20.
I remember in the early 90s, Pat Robertson and our friends at the 700 Club giving away bumper stickers saying, “I do not believe the liberal media.”
I remember the first time I became aware of the bias. It was when Tom Brokaw refused to refer to us as “pro-life” and insisted on the term “anti-women rights.”
People no longer trust the news media because of something called FAKE NEWS.
Fake news is news, stories or hoaxes created to deliberately misinform or deceive an audience.
Usually, these stories are created to either influence people’s views, push a political agenda or cause confusion. They are often profitable business for online publishers. Fake news stories can deceive people.
Click baitThere’s an actual business model to this. Trump making billions of dollars off of
Fake news ⦁ Fatty Arbuckle – silent film star from the 1920s⦁ Richard Jewel⦁ The hoax of the whistleblower⦁ The hoax of the impeachment ⦁ The hoax of the Jussie Smollett scandal ⦁ The hoax of the Covington Catholic High School boys from Kentucky
After a trial, CNN just paid millions of dollars – maybe up to $275 million – to that boy they portrayed as a racist and a hater.
It’s not just sloppy journalism. It’s a lie and it’s intentionally misleading.
Everyone has a responsibility to combat the scourge of fake news. This ranges from supporting investigative journalism, reducing financial incentives for fake news, and improving digital literacy among the general public.
Be determined to KNOW THE TRUTH. ⦁ False information is dangerous. ⦁ “Such situations can enable discriminatory and inflammatory ideas to enter public discourse and be treated as fact. Once embedded, such ideas can, in turn, be used to create scapegoats, normalize prejudices, harden “us-versus-them” mentalities and even, in extreme cases, to catalyze and justify violence.”⦁ John 8:32 – And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
JESUS WARNED US TO BE AWARE OF FAKE NEWS IN THE LAST DAYS Matthew 24:24 – For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
THE CATEGORIES OF MESSIAH AND PROPHET ARE NOT JUST RELIGIOUS.
A false messiah is a leader that rises up and promises “the answer is here.” He or she is a face of a movement that deceives you away from truth into something demonic and false.
A false prophet is somebody who projects the future or trends that point to, or validate, that false messiah.
Socialism has a different face. Its doesn’t look horrible and ugly like Lenin, Marx or Castro.
It comes in the form of beautiful women like AOC, Ilhan Omar and little girls like Greta Thunberg.
There is a spirit that goes behind Fake NEWS.⦁ With every prophetic medium (news media) there is a spirit behind it. ⦁ 1 John 4:1-6 – Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, (a false messiah or leader who wants us to get behind his revolution for an anti-kingdom agenda) which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
The Latin roots for “deceived” or “deception” are de- (from) + capere (to take or carry away). The Greek word in the New Testament that is translated as “deceived” is πλανάομαι Planaomai.⦁ Planaomai literally means “to be carried off” or “to be led astray.”⦁ Those who are deceived are those who have been carried off or carried away by false teachings, trends, or the ways of this world.
The whole thing about fake news is really about who defines the narrative. Who will shape the way we think as a society? Who will form the values of the culture we live in?
TRUST AND CONFIDENCE vs. LIES AND ANXIETY
I’m going to give you a prophetic voice that denies Jesus is the answer and one God is calling His people to turn away from:
The Roar of a False Lion ANXIETY, THREATS & IMPENDING DOOM 1 Peter 5:8 –Be sober (INTENTIONAL), be vigilant (WATCHFUL) because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
The Roar of the True Lion TRIUMPHANT DECLARATION OF VICTORYAmos 3:7-9 – Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?
Proverbs 28:1 –The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.
Hosea 11:10 – “They shall walk after the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, then His sons shall come trembling from the west…”
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