In terms of
news, it's a whole new world. I've related elsewhere how starved of
international news I would wake up in the middle of the night to record the BBC
broadcasts played by my local NPR station from 1-5am. I had a blank tape ready
to go and when I would get up, I would hit record just to grab 45 minutes. Some
nights I might succeed in grabbing another side. I would wake up extra early on
Sunday mornings to listen to a Radio Netherlands programme. Foreign news just
wasn't available. The Internet changed that but for a long time even that was
somewhat limited.
The
resources available for Christians are both overwhelming and amazing. There's
so much available you can't take it all in. What a blessing.
Or is it?
Christians
more than anyone should have a sense of the sinfulness of sin and man's
capacity to distort, his tendency to self-deception. The politicized Christians
of the United States have seemingly handed over their consciences and faculties
of discernment.
For all the
Internet has to offer it would seem the Political Church is little interested
in purveying solid truthful information. I wouldn't want to be some of the
Christian News broadcasters on the Day of Judgment. They will have much to
answer for. Not only have they (in many cases) deliberately disseminated
distortions and disinformation (a little nod to Spiro Agnew) but they have
wasted the resources they've been provided with. Rather than help the people of
God they've worked to stir them up to political ends, to manipulate them
utilizing fear, anger and hate.
Recently I
encountered an ostensibly Christian news source criticizing the Obama
administration over wood stoves. What's next I thought? Recently I had a strange
experience with American Family Radio (AFR). I kept getting in and out of the
car at different points throughout the day, and every time I turned on the radio
station within a few seconds I would hear "Barack Obama". You know
how you turn on the radio and it takes you a second to clue in to what they're
talking about? As I'm listening, each time, one of the first things I heard was
the name of the president. And obviously what they were saying wasn't very
nice. Are they about witnessing Christ or attacking Barack Obama? That day it
was pretty clear. It was weird.
Granted he's
a failed and terrible president. Who cares? Whether we have Nebuchadnezzar,
Nebopolassar, Nabonidus or Belshazzar, they're all rulers of Babylon. Some
might be better than others but even the terms 'better' and 'worse' have to be
understood in context.
But these
people don't feel that way. They never talked this way about Bush. In fact they
cheerled for him as he waged war, spied on Americans, tortured, threatened,
killed and stirred up much of the trouble that presently plagues numerous parts
of the world.
So now
what's the great information these fine Christian leaders are going to make
sure we get... news we can use, right?
Woodstoves.
Obama wants to come into our houses and take away our woodstoves.
Whenever I
hear these things I am immediately sceptical and thus far I have not once been
misled by this instinct. Usually about 5-10 minutes of online research debunks
these claims and this one regarding woodstoves was no different.
There are
proposed regulations which affect woodstoves. This doesn't affect outdoor wood
boilers which not a few people would like to see restricted. Your freedom to
burn wood can mean torment for your neighbours. It's one thing to have them out
in the country but many people run these things in town and it can be awful.
Regardless
of the merits or demerits of the law, the Christian news reporting was simply
false. They led people to believe that existing wood burners are going to be
tagged and confiscated. The responses especially in the comment sections were
not only sinful (threatening violence) but hysterical and incoherent.
I guess the
Internet is a blessing in the sense it can be utilized to question and debunk
the lies of the Christian media!
But
seriously, what a shameful thing. The Internet has the capacity to be a useful
tool that Christians can utilize to positive ends. Instead it has become a tool
of manipulation and apparently many Christian leaders have somehow rationalized
in their own minds that the end justifies the means. They somehow feel that
they've been handed an ethical blank check and if they distort facts and/or
their context, it's okay as long as the greater purpose is served.
They are
gossips and tale-mongers on a societal scale. They are slanderous whisperers
and backbiters. The fact that they are leaders is in itself judgment on the
apostate American Church. Refusing to trust in Christ and follow His ways they
take it unto themselves to fight a worldly battle for control of the City of
Man. And like the lost they rage, boast and employ the tools of violence and
deceit. They have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.
