Fake news is the latest in sensational journalism, deliberately designed to mislead. The media may say they fact-check their news stories, but often put so much “spin” on them they are capable of turning black to white, or white to black. To gain instant advertising dollars, tech savvy manipulators have the ability through the internet to create sound bites of scandal-stirring news that may go viral. In doing so, they become authors of confusion and pedlars of lies.
The devil has been peddling his lies since the garden of Eden, and our first parents were poisoned by his spin, which led them to sin. And so, because the world has become cursed with lies, the battle for truth has had to be fought valiantly through each successive generation. In this internet age, however, the battle for truth has become so fierce that it is imperative to seek out reliable sources of information, lest we follow a lie.
On the other hand, we never need be ashamed of the “good news” of the gospel of Christ, for the Lord Himself is absolute truth. In the opening verse of his gospel, the apostle John declared the Lord Jesus to be “the Word.” That means He is God’s revelation to men. Just as truth is one of God’s divine perfections, so the Lord Jesus Christ is truth personified and incapable of propagating fake news. John also noted that the Lord frequently prefaced His most profound statements with, “Verily, verily.” It is obvious from this manner of repeatedly guarding His statements that the Lord was aware He was ministering in a world of falsehood. The Lord made it known that His message was God’s good news to enlighten men, not fake news to deceive men.
We do not source our gospel doctrines from newspapers, nor from wiki websites, but we go to the written Word of God that reveals the living Word – the Lord Jesus.
John repeated the fact that the Lord Jesus came to bring the light of God’s truth to the spiritually blind when he wrote, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:4 – 5). From his opening statements, John established that Jesus is the Light of the world, and in the course of writing his gospel, he reinforced this as definitive doctrine. He noted the Lord’s pronouncement, “I am the Light of the world.” In doing so, John unashamedly contended that Christ was the embodiment of truth.
In our generation, we need to build on this doctrine of Christ that we might be a light in this darkened world. We do not source our gospel doctrines from newspapers, nor from wiki websites, but we go to the written Word of God that reveals the living Word – the Lord Jesus.
The truth of the gospel is more needed today than ever. While fake news propagates its lies, we are committed to proclaiming the good news that Jesus is, “The way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The Lord said it, we believe it, and the world needs to hear it.
Remember the Lord’s command, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). While the devil operates as the king of darkness to lodge his lies within darkened minds, our Lord Jesus operates as the “King of glory” to shine the light of truth to enlighten minds. We are His disciples, and this is the work He has given us to do.
I am thankful for each one who wrote informative articles for Current on this 500th anniversary year of Martin Luther’s posting his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg. His work was for the truth, and God blessed it to the people of Germany and to the masses across Europe in his day. We praise God that these same truths are continuing to reach the hearts of multitudes around the world. Let us not lose sight of what the truth of Christ, “the Light of the world,” can accomplish in this darkened world. Let us each do our part to hold forth the truths of the gospel. Then shall we see that Jesus truly is God’s “Good News” to turn souls from darkness to light.