Almost every person can remember an occasion as a child when no
amount of persuasion from our mom or dad could convince us to change our
opinion.
Our peers had told us what was true, but nothing was
going to change our belief—only to discover later on what we had
believed was misinformation or worse, we had believed a lie.
Accurate
reporting and a free press are critical to the well-being and the
sustaining of liberty for an individual and for a nation.
There is no
greater bondage than someone living in deception, thinking themselves to
be free when they are in fact slaves. Darkness has become their light.
What they believe to be true is, in reality, misinformation or
disinformation.
What they assume to be accurate is distortion.
Distortion
is changing the shape, the characteristic or the design of an object or
a fact. Misinformation is the unintentional reporting of inaccurate
facts. Disinformation is the purposeful dissemination of inaccurate
information with the intent to distort the truth.
The consistent reporting, teaching and publishing of a lie will ensure it becomes the new "truth"—disinformation.
The
mission of the church is to bring the message of truth to the world:
"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John
8:32).
The church has been given the amazing responsibility of
ensuring that every generation has access to the truth so they can live
in true liberty. The apostle Paul wrote a solemn warning to his
spiritual son Timothy on two different occasions.
"Now the Spirit
clearly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith and
pay attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies
in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron,
forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods, which God has
created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know
the truth" (1 Tim. 4:1-3).
"For the time will come when people
will not endure sound doctrine, but they will gather to themselves
teachers in accordance with their own desires, having itching ears, and
they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn to myths. But be
self-controlled in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, and prove your ministry" (2 Tim. 4:3-5).
Why would anyone actually choose to accept deception over truth? It makes no sense. Or does it?
A person's morality will always determine their theology.
When
people make the choice to follow Christ casually and to loosen their
moral standards, they must adjust their theology accordingly.
We are living in such a time.
Many
professors, pastors and church leaders are teaching and publishing that
the infallible Holy Bible "contains God's words." According to them,
many of the facts are inaccurate and many of the principles are cultural
ethics of ancient times. Such compromise on the infallibility of the
Living Word of God will make the church vulnerable to misinformation,
disinformation and distortion.
Historical rewrite and moral
compromise will become the accepted norm, and the church will have a
form of godliness but she will be stripped of her power to make a
difference in a lost and dying world.
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