21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, how do you know the difference between good and evil? We have the Bible, God's Word, as a plumb line, according to the book of Amos - if we are knowledgeable about His truth, then we have the capability to know what is in line with His principles and His heart. We can separate good from evil, light from darkness, godly from ungodly, and even fact from fiction, in some cases. And, we have the presence of the Holy Spirit, Who walks in us and through us, who will direct us as we pursue truth.
In 1st John 4, there is a wonderful passage that can challenge us to be people of discernment. John Stonestreet referred to the writing of John in a recent Breakpoint commentary:
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
It's no secret, there are news organizations and movements that have the ambition of telling you what to think. And, as we know, there are those who would want to ignore or distort the truth in order to do that. It has a name - "fake news."
Now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to shape opinion. Consider that Faith Radio airs speakers throughout the day that would encourage you to develop a Christian worldview perspective. But, in the marketplace of ideas, it's up to individual believers to determine what is true and what lines up with Biblical truth.
When you have a reputable Christian organization such as the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, which brings you Breakpoint and The Point, labeled as "fake news," then you are actually seeing a transparent attempt to discredit a reliable source for Christ-centered information. Recently, as a recent commentary by John Stonestreet points out, Harvard University Library linked to a list of sources developed by a professor at another university as guide to “Fake News, Misinformation, and Propaganda.”
He states:
This is a model for a source of information that provides clarity in its purpose and its message. Contrast that, if you will, to a group of disrupters operating under the banner of the Indivisible Guide - they are part of what they self-describe as the "resistance." It's chilling to think that you have a group of revolutionaries that are devoted to stirring things up - in many cases, I think, just for the sake of creating civil unrest.
The Stream did a feature on this group, and there was a recent story on the LA Times website. The Stream says:
What we have here is a group that is willing to be the opposition for opposition's sake - sure there are the ideologues driving the movement, but you have a number of people, I would imagine, that are just captivated by the idea of something bigger than themselves, a "resistance," to make sure that President Trump doesn't succeed. As it has been seen in other protests, there are those who receive a paycheck for their participation.
This goes back to that pivotal conversation on The Meeting House with Stuart Shepard, as he pointed out to us that we need to be people of discernment and we have to be careful to realize that a narrative is being created. I would even say these Indivisible people are following a guide to create news events, maybe even manufacturing "fake news." As Stonestreet says, "Some worldviews better reflect reality than others, and no matter our worldview, we do live in the same world of facts."
I would encourage Christians to not necessarily march in lockstep with everything President Trump says or does. His healthcare proposal, for instance, yielded a variety of opinions, even among the Christian, pro-family policy community. But, he has nominated a Supreme Court justice who appears to have a judicial philosophy that squares with what Christians would want on the high court. So, even though Trump has promoted positions that have resonated with many evangelical Christians, we have to continue to be watchful about the Administration and to speak up in a clear, informed, and diplomatic manner. Unfortunately, groups that are ideological aligned with worldviews that are not compatible with Christianity are uniting to resist Trump - they are, as this one group's name suggests, "indivisible" in their opposition, and they are dedicated to promoting policies that would cause concern.
So, all in all, we can seek to believe the truth that is in the Word and not believe everything we see and hear. We have to be able, as John Stonestreet suggests from the book of 1st John, "test everything." In an age where there is a noted lack of clarity, we can speak and live with conviction.
+++++
In 1st John 4, there is a wonderful passage that can challenge us to be people of discernment. John Stonestreet referred to the writing of John in a recent Breakpoint commentary:
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
It's no secret, there are news organizations and movements that have the ambition of telling you what to think. And, as we know, there are those who would want to ignore or distort the truth in order to do that. It has a name - "fake news."
Now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to shape opinion. Consider that Faith Radio airs speakers throughout the day that would encourage you to develop a Christian worldview perspective. But, in the marketplace of ideas, it's up to individual believers to determine what is true and what lines up with Biblical truth.
When you have a reputable Christian organization such as the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, which brings you Breakpoint and The Point, labeled as "fake news," then you are actually seeing a transparent attempt to discredit a reliable source for Christ-centered information. Recently, as a recent commentary by John Stonestreet points out, Harvard University Library linked to a list of sources developed by a professor at another university as guide to “Fake News, Misinformation, and Propaganda.”
He states:
While many of the sites she identifies as “conspiracy,” “biased,” “fake,” “clickbait,” or “unreliable” certainly deserve those titles, there is a vastly greater number of conservative and right-leaning sites listed than liberal and left-leaning sites.
For example, all pro-life websites are listed as “biased,” but pro-abortion sites aren’t listed at all. Also missing are sites like Vox, Slate, and BuzzFeed – though the list flags similar sites on the other end of the political spectrum such as Drudge and National Review.
And BreakPoint.org, our website, made the list as “unreliable.”John then commented on the basis for what the Center and its commentaries do. He says, "...our primary allegiance is to the One who is the Truth– Jesus Christ. So we strive to tell stories truthfully without changing, embellishing, or conveniently omitting facts that matter. " He also says that the Center takes the world and other worldviews seriously and seeks to be "wise as serpents," not dominated by outrage or despair. And, the Center affirms the dignity of each person. He encourages listeners and readers, as the Biblical writer John does, to "test everything" - in order to do that, you have to be grounded in truth.
This is a model for a source of information that provides clarity in its purpose and its message. Contrast that, if you will, to a group of disrupters operating under the banner of the Indivisible Guide - they are part of what they self-describe as the "resistance." It's chilling to think that you have a group of revolutionaries that are devoted to stirring things up - in many cases, I think, just for the sake of creating civil unrest.
The Stream did a feature on this group, and there was a recent story on the LA Times website. The Stream says:
They call their group Indivisible Guide, a name that came from an actual guide posted online telling activists how to pressure members of Congress. Among topics: what to say when going to town halls and calling or visiting a member’s office.
Leaders of the organization have loose ties to George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager who bankrolls liberal causes, according to the Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank that investigates nonprofits.The story also states:
The website of Indivisible Guide, also known simply as Indivisible, provides scripts for what activists should say when calling the office of their House or Senate members on various issues — among them opposing senior Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s role in the White House, Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, his refugee policy, and most other policy positions.According to the Indivisible website:
More than 4,500 local groups have signed up to resist the Trump agenda in nearly every congressional district in the country. What’s more, you all are putting the guide into action — showing up en masse to congressional district offices and events, and flooding the congressional phone lines. You’re resisting — and it’s working. … we want to demystify the heck out of Congress and build a vibrant community of angelic troublemakers.The Stream also reports that the groups "MoveOn, the Working Families Party and the American Civil Liberties Union have joined Indivisible Guide’s effort." Politico reported that those organizations organized a teleconference two days after the inauguration that attracted 60,000 listeners.
What we have here is a group that is willing to be the opposition for opposition's sake - sure there are the ideologues driving the movement, but you have a number of people, I would imagine, that are just captivated by the idea of something bigger than themselves, a "resistance," to make sure that President Trump doesn't succeed. As it has been seen in other protests, there are those who receive a paycheck for their participation.
This goes back to that pivotal conversation on The Meeting House with Stuart Shepard, as he pointed out to us that we need to be people of discernment and we have to be careful to realize that a narrative is being created. I would even say these Indivisible people are following a guide to create news events, maybe even manufacturing "fake news." As Stonestreet says, "Some worldviews better reflect reality than others, and no matter our worldview, we do live in the same world of facts."
I would encourage Christians to not necessarily march in lockstep with everything President Trump says or does. His healthcare proposal, for instance, yielded a variety of opinions, even among the Christian, pro-family policy community. But, he has nominated a Supreme Court justice who appears to have a judicial philosophy that squares with what Christians would want on the high court. So, even though Trump has promoted positions that have resonated with many evangelical Christians, we have to continue to be watchful about the Administration and to speak up in a clear, informed, and diplomatic manner. Unfortunately, groups that are ideological aligned with worldviews that are not compatible with Christianity are uniting to resist Trump - they are, as this one group's name suggests, "indivisible" in their opposition, and they are dedicated to promoting policies that would cause concern.
So, all in all, we can seek to believe the truth that is in the Word and not believe everything we see and hear. We have to be able, as John Stonestreet suggests from the book of 1st John, "test everything." In an age where there is a noted lack of clarity, we can speak and live with conviction.
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