When people tell you who they are, believe them!

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” So said the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY). We all remember when we were small our parents telling the story of young George Washington chopping down the cherry tree. When asked by his father, he allegedly said, “I cannot tell a lie” and confessed. It didn’t happen, but the principle is a valid one.

I remember a time when people agreed to something and shook hands on it. That was as good as a contract because a person’s word was his bond. Today, lawyers draw up long, complicated, wordy contracts that are worthless because character and integrity are in short supply today. Nowhere is that more evident than in the media. But we didn’t get here overnight.

First, it began by softening up the opposition. Then, one person on a crusade had prayer removed from our public schools. The Bible followed so as not to offend anyone, and soft or even nonexistent discipline followed that. After some time passed, moral-free education took over. We Christians failed to protect our values.

When media subtlety moved from facts to opinions, we failed to notice. Then the lies became bolder. There is a principle behind it that we can trace back to this quote often attributed to Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda:

If you tell a big lie enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such a time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

“Russian collusion,” anyone?

The Nazis’ propaganda campaign deceived a nation, and the consequences were tens of millions dead during World War II.

There is a spiritual gift in the Word of God that we’ve overlooked. It’s called “discernment.” What is discernment? The Oxford dictionary says, “The ability to judge well.” The Christian context is clearer: “Perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual guidance and understanding.”

How does this work? Read Acts 5. When two believers came to church on Mission Sunday (just kidding) and lied about the “donation” they gave, Peter, a prophet, discerned they were lying and called them out, and they both dropped dead. Peter plainly told them, “You have not lied to man but to God.”

We’ve become used to lying. The media are doing their best to follow the principle of the big lie, and they get angry because so few believe them, no matter how many times they repeat the lie. Maybe discernment isn’t completely gone — yet!

Many people ask me, “How can I know what’s the truth and what’s a lie?” Let’s try using the Philippians 4:8 pattern:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Simpler yet, “What would Jesus do?”

We make it harder than it is. Listen to people and decide if they are reflecting these characteristics. If not, ask yourself, “Why am I listening to them?” Just like a computer: garbage in, garbage out.

Don’t let the world steal your joy. If you discern that what you’re hearing in the news is not the Philippians or Jesus example, find sources that inform, not indoctrinate. And let the Word of God be the ultimate authority on how you live your life.

Something to pray about!
Semper Fidelis