Fake News & Good News

“Fake news articles ― especially throughout this election year ― have increasingly become a fixture on social media. These posts, designed to deceive, run rampant across the internet.”

“The publication of blatantly inaccurate stories is certainly not new to the digital age, or even the analog era ― just check your local supermarket aisle for tabloids ― but what is new is how easy it is for a reader to scan a headline on Facebook, hit share and watch his 500 followers do the same.”

“In the final three months before the election, 20 top-performing fake news stories on Facebook outperformed 20 top-performing factual stories from 19 major media outlets. After downplaying the problem, Facebook announced it would begin seeking out ways to weed out some kinds of fake news from feeds. Google, too, said it plans to stop fake news sites from using its ad-selling service.”

“But part of stopping the spread of hoaxes and misinformation also falls on readers who email these articles to friends or post them on social media, lending these stories their own credibility.”

What the Huffington Post and many other progressives are really saying is that there was so much negative mis-information on Hillary Clinton in 2016 as well as positive misinformation on Donald Trump that the election was swayed and lost.

Balderdash.

The truth is an unusual outsider named Donald Trump beat a badly flawed insider named Hillary Clinton because average Americans wanted jobs and a change in D.C.

The people voted for a “deliverer” in Donald Trump–like the Israelites looked to strongmen during the times of the judges (including questionable characters like Abimelech, Jephthah and Samson). They did so for the same reasons Americans voted for Trump:

•  There was moral chaos when “everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6).
• The deliverer was sought after invasions from outside forces–taking away or limiting their economic and political security.

I believe the election of Donald Trump is more akin to the time of the judges than being a “Cyrus.” Both images are apt. but the judges context better fits the national decadence and insecurity of our time.

Now let’s analyze what Rush Limbaugh calls the Huffington Puffington Post.  Notice the key accusations:

• “Fake news out-performed factual stories.” According to whom? Is HP the guardian of truth?
• “Made up of false facts.” Yes, but that’s always been true. (More on that later.)
• The need to “weed out some kinds of false news.” This is what HP wants Google and Facebook to do. According to whose definition of true and false?
• “Stopping the spread of misinformation and hoaxes falls on readers.” Agree on that point.
• The supposed puff of Trump (on social media) was “designed to deceive.” Does that only go one way? Was the 90% negative portrayal of Trump by the mainstream media and 90% positive view of Hillary Clinton also not “designed to deceive” (from the opposite point of view?).
• “Blatant inaccurate stories.” What about the Ben Ghazi cover-up and the Clinton e-mails and Foundation scandals? If it weren’t for Wikileaks, we wouldn’t have known dozens of lies that were being perpetrated from the losing side.
• Comparing the fake news to “tabloid” stories. It seems like everything is tabloid these days.

What the Huffington Post is really asking is for the liberal-leaning Google and Facebook to sensor everything that doesn’t fit their political agendas (especially targeting religious and conservative groups) so that their version of truth is the only one heard.

That’s called tyranny.

But let’s broaden this discussion to put the censoring of fake news in a larger context.

The very first fake news on planet earth took place thousands of years in the Garden of Eden. A particular “journalist” named Satan revealed himself in the form of a serpent and gave this first ever fake news flash:

“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Genesis 2:1-5).

So there it is–the first fake news story. The truth was that if Adam and Eve did not obey God and give Him His rightful place in their lives, then their sin would separate them from Him. Satan told them a lie–that they’d be even greater and wiser if they disobeyed.

The rest is history and the prevalence of lies in all aspects of human life remains to this day. The opening chapter of my new book due out next year is called “Lies”–and begins with the fake news story that greatly impacted my childhood family.

Fake news stories–whose source is the demonic world–are more prevalent today on the secular progressive side than most other religious or sociological groups. Why?  Because their worldview denies God,  absolute truth, and even condones lying for the sake of the cause.

Let’s list a few of the “whopper” fake news stories currently being peddled on the secular/atheist side of the ledger:

1.  Global warming – it may be taking place, but there’s no proof it’s man-made or just cyclical. The real push behind limiting carbon emissions is political–to control nations under a world “EPA” government.

2. Abortion – We’ve lied for forty years about human life while killing 55 million babies in America and over 1 billion worldwide. It’s fake news that unborn children are not human beings made in the image of God.

3. Same Sex Marriage – It’s fake news that a man can marry a man and a woman, a woman. No, only men and woman can marry–join together for godly love and procreation. SSM is a lie that overturned 5000 years of moral and familial sanity.

4. Gender Nonsense – I filled out a doctor’s questionnaire the other day that gave me twenty choices of gender. I mumbled under my breath about it so loud that even the receptionist agreed. Should have been two boxes: Male and Female. That’s the truth.

5. The Iran Deal – It was the most made-up story of 2016–that we cut a “good” deal with Iran that will keep them from getting nuclear weapons. We did just the opposite.

6. Obamacare – “You can keep your doctor if you want to.”You can keep your insurance if you want to.” Ad nauseum verbal fakery.

7. Hillary is Inevitable–Trump will Lose. I think you know how that head fake turned out.

I could go on and on.

Instead of whining about fake news, it might be helpful if the mainstream journalists and political leaders would take a good look in the mirror and realize they’re just possibly the worst culprits of a widspread human depravity problem.

So here’s my solution to not being tricked by fake news:

1. Start your day by reading the Bible. You can trust every word that God says and gain perspective on all the issues of life. I’ve been doing that for forty-four years. 100% inspiring truth! God never lies.

2.  Be careful of your news sources. Look for a biblical worldview and people you can rely on.

3.  Social media is fine as long as you know and trust the people that are sharing. Be cautious of all else.

4. The more voices the better–just use critical thinking and be prayerful.

And live your life to share the good and truthful news of Jesus Christ coming to the earth to save us from our sins. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that all righteous government rests on his shoulders.

That’s the best news of all.