Fake News. A Biblical Perspective

“Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness” (Exodus 23:1).

“Thou shalt not raise a false report”. That should be lesson number one in Journalism school. If there is any question as to what, “Thou shalt not raise a false report” means, then refer back to the ninth commandment when God said, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).

Journalism. At its most basic level should be involved in nothing but the facts and the truth of a matter. A journalist conveys, he doesn’t create, otherwise his work would be fiction.

Interestingly, the American Press Institute defines journalism as, “the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information”.

Notice that truth as any qualifier or standard is not in their definition of journalism.

How important is telling the truth? All we have to do is to turn to the last page of the Bible for that answer

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (Revelation 22:14-15).

“Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” shall not enter into the Kingdom of God. It’s plain and simple.

Keep this in mind. Words impact people. What we say creates a message that generates a way of thought and understanding for other people. This thinking then becomes a source of energy and power, direction and purpose. Our words influence other people. It causes them to think, to will and eventually to do. Journalist and media outlets hold tremendous sway over the general public. Any misrepresentation of fact can cause the public’s understanding of a situation to deviate away from reality. Knowledge of this power and its intentional use in order to serve a specific purpose other than the truth is intentionally communicating a false report.

This brings up another subject which many of our great Bible expositors address. There are two parts to any report. There is the teller and then there is the hearer.  

“Were there no publishers of slander and calumny, there would be no receivers; and were there none to receive them, there would be none to raise them; and were there no raisers, receivers, nor propagators of calumny, lies, etc., society would be in peace” (Adam Clarke).

“Sometimes we cannot avoid hearing a false report, but we must not receive it, that is, we must not hear it with pleasure and delight as those that rejoice in iniquity, nor give credit to it as long as there remains any cause to question the truth of it. This is charity to our neighbour's good name, and doing as we would be done by” (Matthew Henry).

“…for a lie would soon come to nothing from its own emptiness, and fall to the ground, if it were not taken up and supported by the unrighteous consent of others” (John Calvin).

“A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue” (Proverbs 17:4).

How we respond to a false report is equally as important as the report itself. Maybe even more so. John Calvin brings up an excellent point when he said that a false report would “soon come to nothing” if we did not act upon it.

In my opinion this is what we are seeing today. President Trump routinely decries journalists and news outlets as “fake news”. He has named specific organizations like CNN as “very fake news”. We have broadcasters, printers and webcasters working under the guise of news that the public has assumed to be true. It hasn’t been. But this is nothing new.

Over 200 years ago, President Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle”.

It is our responsibility to hold accountable those we have entrusted in the media, just like it is our responsibility to hold those accountable who we have entrusted to public office. In addition, we must hold ourselves accountable to the news and policies these entities promulgate. Are we pursuing the truth? Can we discern the truth? What is truth? Contrary to some beliefs, truth is not subjective.

What is truth? Government tends to have a problem getting a handle on that question. Pontius Pilate (The government) looked Jesus Christ (The truth) in the face and asked him that very question. (See John 18:38).

Jesus Christ and His word is the truth. What is His word? It can be found in every page of the Bible. 

Subverting of the Hearers

“Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers” (2 Timothy 2:14).

1) “…strive not about words”. Why so anxious to contend and vigorous to engage in petty arguments about doctrine and religion?

“Those that are disposed to strive commonly strive about matters of very small moment. Strifes of words are very destructive to the things of God. That they strive not about words  to no profit.  If people did but consider of what little use most of the controversies in religion are, they would not be so zealous in their strifes of words,  to the subverting of the hearers” (Matthew Henry)

So what is the profit we should be engaging in? The greatest profit of them all is the Christian love, the love ascribed and taught by Jesus Christ. Love is probably best described in 1 Corinthians 13. Within the narrative of what love is, the main point that is driven home in the chapter is that we as human beings are literally nothing without the love which is God.

2) “…but to the subverting of the hearers”. The Greek word for “subverting” is “Katastrophe”. It’s where we get the word catastrophe. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary catastrophe means a, “momentous tragic event ranging from extreme misfortune to utter overthrow or ruin”.

3) Words are the most powerful things we have. They are filled with a spirit, but which spirit is determined by us. Are our words filled with the spirit of “Katastrophe”, loaded with the potential to ruin a brother or sister in Christ? It’s a terrible thing to win the religious debate but lose a soul in the process.

Are our words filled with the Holy Spirit as God intended them to be? The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, peace and joy.

Our words are to be full of grace which minister to the hearer. Our job is to love, uplift and edify other people and not be the cause of a “Katastrophe”.

Bill Hitchcock

Work Out Your Own Salvation

“…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13-14)

1) “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Stop and think hard on that statement that the Apostle Paul made. It is very scary. Our salvation is very fragile. It is in our hands. It is our own responsibility and it’s a struggle. A big struggle, for we are fighting for righteousness and salvation in a carnal body.

2) We think of our salvation as an event. Something done when we finally commit our lives to Christ and are baptized into His Kingdom. There, done deal. I’m saved! I don’t have to do anything else because my ticket has been punched for the great ride into heaven. Unfortunately too many people think that way. “Once saved, always saved” is the cry. Hhhmmm….. Maybe not. Our religion is not static or passive.

As the great gospel song Onward Christian Soldier highlights so clearly:

“Onward, Christian soldiers,

marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus

going on before!

Christ, the royal Master,

leads against the foe;

Forward into battle,

see his banner go!

Marching as to war, forward into battle, against the foe are all terms, metaphors really for us working out our own salvation. It is a daily battle, a daily struggle. It is why Paul told the Ephesians to, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

It is war. A daily battle, a fight for own salvation. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier (2 Timothy 2:3-4).

In lies the key. Working out our salvation is a war. We win the war by not getting caught up or “entangleth” with worldly things.

3) Our salvation isn’t an event, it is a process. It is an ongoing process. It is a battle with temptation, sin and Satan that we must suffer each and every day.

“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me” (Philippians 1:29-30).

We are affected and afflicted by the same struggle and conflict that Jesus faced. But, “as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation” (2 Corinthians 1:7).

4) Working out our own salvation is a personal battle that Paul describes in great detail.

“For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).

5) If our salvation was dependent upon ourselves fighting against the devil, the devil would win every time. The only person to stand toe to toe with the devil and win was Jesus Christ. But look at what Paul says next. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Paul makes it clear that A) It is God that is giving us the will and the desire for Him, righteousness and salvation. B) It is God that is also enabling and empowering you to do His good pleasure. That “good pleasure” of God is the ability to work out your salvation. God gives us the desire to be saved and the means in which to do it each and every day.

“I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies” (Psalm 18:1-3).

We work out our own salvation. But it is God that gives the desire, drive and wherewithal to accomplish it. And if you back it up a step you’ll see that it is all based on our faith and trust in Him.

Bill Hitchcock

Declaring the end from the beginning

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10)

I have always been fascinated by folks who are fixated on end time prophecies. Or better put, fixated on the end times itself, looking for signs that suggest that now is the time of the end of the world.

God, from the beginning has declared the end. When the end of the world will happen and the return of Christ we know not.

But beware of starring into the abyss of time, looking, searching, waiting for something yet to come. This will lull you to sleep and cause you to miss the most important time of all. It isn’t tomorrow, it is right now!

“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Romans 13:11-12).

“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Now is the time to get right with God. Now is the time for repentance. Now is the time to be saved! Now is the time to act! And flush the past. Don’t let your past be a boat anchor to your future.

“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.” (Isaiah 43:18)

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

Forget the past. Stop trying to interpret signs that foretell of future events. Right now, today is the only time of concern.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:33-34).

It is fear that drives the fascination of doom and forthcoming end times. Salvation and the high calling of God in Jesus Christ should squelch that fear and cause us all to rejoice in the knowledge that eternity with God has already begun. Now is the time.

Bill Hitchcock 

God is a Spirit

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

The message is simple and clear. They that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. But are we? Are we worshipping God? Are we worshipping Him in the spirit? And as Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ, “What is truth?” Are we worshipping God in truth?

“…they that worship him”. Is it God whom you worship? Or is it the Mother Mary, or a saint or some statue or figurine or even self? Jesus Christ said, “The Father seeketh such to worship him”. “Him” is God and none other!

“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (Colossians 2:18)

“He disputeth against the first kind of corruptions, and setteth down the worshipping of Angels for an example: which kind of false religion he confuteth, first this way: because that they which being in such a worship, attribute that unto themselves which is proper only to God, to wit, authority to bind men’s consciences with religion, although they seem to bring in these things by humbleness of mind” (Commentary from the 1599 Geneva Bible).

I’d like to drive this point home. We are to worship God and only God and in the spirit, for God is a spirit. But are you walking into a church bowing and praying to an image? Are you worshipping an angel or saint or even a pastor? Let’s take a look at the first and second commandment as given by God.

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Exodus 20:3-5)

We are to pray to God only. No person, no other deity, no other righteous or religious entity or figure, no image or anything. Only to God.

Let’s get this straight as to just who God is. Before God gives the Ten Commandments He identifies himself as, “I am the Lord thy God”.

The word “Lord” in Hebrew is “Yehovah” or Jehovah. It means by definition, “The existing one”. It is the proper name for the one true God.

God comes from the Hebrew word, “Elohiym”. This is a plural which represents and embodies the Holy Trinity.

Jehovah is the name of the one true God. God, a spirit manifested in the Holy Trinity. This is who we worship and none other.

We, “must worship him in spirit and in truth”. The key word here is must. Jesus is instructing us that we “must” worship God in spirit and in truth. It is not an option or a consideration. It is a requirement. It always comes back to us. Are we listening and doing as we have been commanded to do? There is no other way to worship the one true God than in spirit and in truth. This is a must.

We must examine how we worship God. Is it by simply attending church? Is it getting involved in a religious ceremony or ritual? Are we being holy by reciting prayers and liturgical passages? Or are we worshipping God by being “spiritual” and being a good person? The devil can and does all of these things. Think about that for a moment.

Now, about worshipping in the spirit. What is required to do this? Do we need to go to church? Face east? Do we need to have some necklace, crucifix, bobble, clothing, cloth, or ornament? Is it mandatory that we fast? Offer sacrifices or some other food and drink offering? Do we have to memorize and recite specific prayers? Is there a specific time? Do we have to worship a certain number of times during the course of the day?

Jesus once again makes it clear.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)

When Jesus says “my yoke is easy”, he is speaking in contrast to the troublesome laws imposed by the Mosaic law.

When he says, “my burden is light” he is speaking in contrast to “the precepts of the Pharisees, the observance of which was most oppressive” (Thayer’s)

To worship in spirit and truth one must rid themselves of all things, religious, ceremonial and ritualistic.

So, what is our spirit? The Greek New Testament word for spirit is “pnuema”. It literally translates as wind or breathe. It is our essence without our physical, worldly matter. It is the “immaterial, invisible part of man” and the “sentient element in man, that by which he perceives, reflects, feels, desires” (Vine’s).

To worship God we must become in touch and in tune with our inner man. Now this is where the hard reality of truth comes into play. It can be most unsettling and disturbing when the facade of our outer man faces the reality of the inner man. It can be painful. So much so that many can not and will not face the truth of this encounter. Who we really are, what we have done and continue to do, what we really think and believe are most often at odds with what we portray and confess.

But here is what we need to really grab a hold of. Jesus said that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. Jesus did not say we are to worship God in spirit and perfection.

The Greek word for truth is “Alethes”. It is a compound word meaning “not hidden” or “not concealed”. This is what God wants from us when we go to worship him. He wants us. Not a façade or hypocrite or some version of us we think He would prefer. God wants us, warts and all. This is who, “the Father seeketh such to worship him”.

In worshipping God you are going to have to uncover and expose yourself to God and be honest about it. This will reveal your good, your griefs, sorrows and needs. It will also expose your sins.

Repentance comes when you are honest with yourself and God about these sins. You recognize sin as such and hand them over to Him. Ask for forgiveness in all earnest. We have a merciful God and He will forgive.

But the key to it all is that we “must worship him in spirit and in truth”.  The living, breathing element that is our spirit and animates our body must lay bare at the altar of the one true God. Nothing else matters. This is how we grow closer to God and become more like Jesus. This is our life long effort to make the inner man and the outer man one in the same.

Bill Hitchcock

“To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?” (Job 26:4)

I am seeing a lot of people posting on Facebook that they have un-friended or un-followed friends and family members due to their political views and/or rants. This past presidential election cycle has brought to surface the inner man, his true spirit and nature.  And as many have discovered, we are all not of the same spirit.

“To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?” (Job 26:4)

What have we said? Who have we said it to? What was the goal or purpose of saying it? Most importantly is the source of it all. What spirit within you was speaking?

John Trapp, the 17^th century Bible commentator gets to the heart of the matter when he asked, “What soul hast thou gained to God by thy doctrine?”

Think about that before you speak politics. It’s tough. But our purpose is not to convert a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or a liberal. Our purpose is Christ! Have we furthered that Divine cause with our worldly political rants? The answer is no!

“Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom” (Proverbs 13:10).

Remember, as Christians, “we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).

We have to ask our self when talking or posting on Facebook, what spirit is this coming from? Is it of God or of this world? Think about the source of our comments before we say and/or post them.

Here is a wonderful bit of advice from Matthew Henry, another 17^th century Bible commentator and expositor.  Henry said, “Every thing that is true and good is not suitable and seasonable”. Or in other words, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Finally and ultimately, in addressing, ““To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?”, I leave you with the following.

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ…That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:14,15-22-24).

Bill Hitchcock