April 1, 2018
INTRODUCTION
It
is the Easter season and you may expect to read about the Good News,
of the risen Christ and what His resurrection means to the Christian
faith, but what if I were to tell you this piece is about “Fake News?”
I know, I know, fake news is a topic that has been discussed ad
nauseam. But fake news or falsehoods have been around since the
beginning of time.....literally....since the beginning of time. You
may recall the
story of the fall (Genesis 3):
He
(Satan, disguised as a serpent) said to the woman, “Did God
actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?” And
the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the
trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of
the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch
it, lest you die.” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will
not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a
delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one
wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave to her husband
who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened and
they knew that they were naked. And the sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves loincloths.
This
is an example of Fake News. A fact is taken (You will surely die)
and distorted with partial truth with intent to deceive or mislead.
You will not die, is a lie or at best a partial truth for when Adam
and Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit, they did not die
immediately, but immediately they began dying, for they certainly did
die later. It was also true that their eyes were opened, and they
became like God in the sense that they came to know good and evil
(they were naked), but they did not become like God in that He is
immortal, eternal, omnipresent (everywhere), omniscient (all knowing)
and omnipotent (all important).
The
fact is, God hates falsehoods. Proverbs 6 tells us God hates seven
things:
There
are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to
him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent
blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run
to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows
discord among brothers.
Take
notice, three or almost half of the things God hates deal with
falsehoods.
Wikipedia
defines fake news this way:
Fake
news is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of
deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and
broadcast news media or online social media. Fake news is written
and published with the intent to mislead in order to damage an
agency, entity, or person, and/or fabricated headlines to increase
readership, online sharing, and internet click revenue.
It
seems as if every report must now be “Fact-Checked.” The trouble
for the average consumer, is so much of the so called 'Fake News' has
enough partial truths presented masked with a political or personal
bias to where it is hard to distinguish fact from fiction. The
mainstream media sources have been so politicized that professional
journalism has succumbed to political propaganda. News reporters
have become political pundits that feel the need to offer their
opinion rather than just present the facts from a neutral
perspective. Promoting a certain ideology is more expedient than
presenting facts. But why you may ask? What is the motive for this?
Throughout history, mankind acting in the flesh has been interested
in the three P's: Power, Position and Prestige. We will come back to
that but let me say first.....
Let
us look at the Scriptures of Jesus's last days here on earth; when
God's News, the Good News over came Fake News.
BACKGROUND
There
were primarily three regions Jesus ministered to; Galilee (where
Jesus was raised), Judea (were Jesus was born and where the Jerusalem
Temple was located, and Samaria (a region where Jews despised its
inhabitants and avoided). During His three years of ministry, Jesus
traveled throughout these three regions preaching the Good
News....that God loved them and wanted to have a relationship with
them. This was the consistent and constant message of Christ's
servant, the late Billy Graham who recently passed from this world to
the Kingdom of Heaven. As a sign of His incarnation, that He was the
Son of God, that while He was fully man, He was fully God, He healed
the sick, made the blind to see, the lamb to walk and cast out demons
and because of these very actions, we are told in the Gospel of John,
great division arose among the people in Judea. You see it is in
Judea where the most powerful, most prestigious and highest officials
of the Jewish faith resided. (Power, Position, Prestige). The
religious leaders received many reports, and in some cases were
witness to, the great signs and wonders Jesus performed, but refuted
them in order to maintain their positions. So they spread false
reports about Him and tried their best to ensnare Him with His own
words, that they might bring charges against Him that they might
arrest Him and kill Him. They even accused Him of possessing a demon
as a way to explain away the signs. Look with me in John 10:19-21
(ESV)
There
was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of
them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”
Others said, “These are not words of on who is oppressed by a
demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Look
further as we read in John 11:47-53 (ESV)
So
the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said,
“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let
him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans
will come and take away both our places and our nations.” But one
of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You
know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you
that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation
should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being
high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the
nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the
children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on the
made plans to put him to death.
So
they set out to arrest Jesus, but He would not be taken until it was
His time. In John 12:23 Jesus tells His disciples “The hour has
not come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” We read in the Bible
where He miraculously slipped away from the religious leader's grasp
many times. God's sacrificial Lamb that would cover the sins of the
entire world would not be given up until the designated moment in
time that aligned with the faith of the very religious leaders who
sought to kill him, for it was soon to be the celebration of the
Passover. This was the moment in time where God's people were
rescued from Egyptian slavery by the blood of a sacrificial lamb
spread over their door post. This was a sign for this very moment in
time when Jesus, the Lamb of God, would shed His blood to cover our
sins and save us from the bondage of sin and death.
THE
PASSION OF CHRIST
Jesus
was aware of the division among the people and shortly before making
His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we read this in Matthew 16: 13-17
(ESV)
Now
when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they
said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do
you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are
you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to
you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Jesus's
response to the confusion can be found in John 8:31-32 (ESV)
So
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my
word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and
the truth will set your free. (Biblical worldview)
He
gathered with his disciples in an upper room to celebrate the Passover
feast and foretold of His betrayal and death. They proceeded to the
Garden of Gethsemane to pray where we read Judas led a cohort of
Roman soldiers and Temple officials to arrest Jesus. Yet we are told
that if the time had not been right, they would not be permitted to
lay a hand on Him, for a Legion of angels would come to Christ's
rescue if He so inquired, but Jesus was obedient until death in that
the time had come for Him to be delivered up as the sacrificial lamb.
Jesus
is led to the Sanhedrin, an illegally convened court where Jesus
would be tried in secret of the night. Many false witnesses are
brought forward, but evidently none of the false accusations stuck
until later when two more came forward to testify that they had heard
Jesus say He was going to destroy the temple of God. Lets look at
that incident as it is recorded in John 2:19 (ESV)
So
the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these
things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken
forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in
three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Apparently,
even the religious leaders knew this was “fake news” as Mark 14
tells us their testimonies were inconsistent, so they wanted to cut
to the chase and demanded that Jesus speak clearly, under oath they
had reminded, whether He was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God to
which Jesus replied:
Matthew
26: 64-66 (ESV)
Jesus
said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you
will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming
on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes and
said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witness do we need?
You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They
answered, “He deserves death.”
Knowing
they could not carrying out the sentence of death while under Roman
rule, they would have to take Him to the Roman governor of Judea,
Pontius Pilate. Luke 23 tells us that when they brought Jesus before
Pilate they accused Him of misleading the nation and forbidding them
to pay taxes to Caesar and saying that He Himself is Christ , a King.
FAKE NEWS! Who really were the ones misleading the nation? Was it
not the religious leaders? Jesus never forbade Jews to pay taxes, in
fact He told them to render onto Caesar the things that are Caesars.
Did He claim to be the King of the Jews? He said He was the Son of
Man, a reference to prophecy in the book of Daniel to the Messiah.
Face to face with Jesus, Pilate ask if the fake news was true...are
you a King, to which Jesus replies, “Are you saying this on your
own initiative, or did others tell you about me?” In other words,
“Tell me Pilate, do you too believe in Fake News?” Pilate
emphatically responds by clarifying that he is not a Jew but pointing
out the fact that the religious leaders of His own nation, the Jews,
had turned Him over to him and therefore ask Jesus what had He done.
Jesus answered:
John
18:36-37 (ESV)
Jesus
answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of
this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be
delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered,
“You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for
this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the
truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
to
which Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
And
there it is....the crux of division. How do we know what is true?
Jesus knew it would take miracles for most to believe He truly was
the Son of God, but yet not even the raising of the dead, as He did
just days before in the raising of Lazarus, did the most religious
believe in Him. It would not only take a miracle but would have to
align with prophesy of the coming Messiah. Jesus foretold of His
death and resurrection but yet no one understood it, not even His
disciples as we are told in John 2:22 until after they witnessed His
resurrection. I will have to admit, that has always troubled me. It
seems so clear now with hindsight what Jesus was foretelling, that I
wonder why the disciples weren't camping out over night in front of
the tomb in their lawn chairs with their popcorn waiting for the
sunrise. Never-the-less, the resurrection took place to demonstrate
to all the world, Jesus was who He said He was, The Son of God, The
Son of Man, The Messiah, Emmanuel, that is God with us...that He came
to atone for our sins, that the whole world would know that their
sins could be forgiven and have eternal life with God, the Father.
In
1 Corinthians chapter 15, the chapter explaining the fact of Christ's
resurrection, we are told that He appeared onto more than 500
brethren at one time. Yet despite so many eye witness accounts, many
still question today our faith in Jesus Christ by denying His
resurrection. How can that be so? Again it comes back to fake news. Look with me Matthew 28:11-15 (ESV)
While
they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and
told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they
assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient
sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, 'His disciples
came by night and stole him away while were asleep.' And if this
comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of
trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed.
And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
Headlines
the day of the resurrection may have looked like this: “TAKEN:
ZEALOTS STEAL BODY TO CORROBORATE HOAX” But we know the headline
should read: “HE IS RISEN” to which some say today is fake news.
But for the believer, the headline remains: “HE IS RISEN INDEED”
APPLICATION
If
you are a believer, a Christ follower, then you need not fear that
your faith may be undermined by fake news. Remember, Jesus
said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word,
you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.”
Remember
at the beginning when I cited the 3 P's as motives for spreading fake
news: Power, Position and Prestige? We saw that with the religious
leaders who chose the 3 P's over recognizing the Messiah. When you
come to believe that Christ died for your sins and you put your trust
in what He did for you by dying on the cross, you immediately are
filled with power
from on high called the Holy Spirit. Your position
has changed from condemned to justified and you now have prestige
in that you become a child of God.
Maybe
you have been challenged with authenticity of the Bible. Stories
like Jonah and the great fish, or Noah and the Ark may seem too
spectacular to have actually taken place. But Jesus actually
referred to Jonah when He foretold of His resurrection.
Matthew
12:40 (ESV)
For
just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the
great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth.
Jesus
foretold of His return by comparing it to the days of Noah.
Matthew
24:37-39 (ESV)
For
as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the
ark, and the were unaware until the flood came and swept them all
away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
It
all comes back to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1
Corinthians 15:12-14 (ESV)
Now
if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you
say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no
resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And
if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your
faith is in vain.
Tell
me, who would endure the trial and sufferings, even onto death as did
Jesus's followers to propagate a hoax? The resurrection of Christ
changed their lives as it continues to change lives today.
We
can trust in the accuracy of the Bible, the Word of God. John
chapter one begins with identifying Christ as the Word....one with
God and who is God through which all things are created from the
beginning of time.
Christ's
body was not taken! Christ COULD not be taken! His life was not
taken! CHRIST GAVE HIS LIFE FREELY.
John
10:18 (ESV)
No
one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have
authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.
This charge I have received from my Father.
If
you are a believer, you can take courage in this statement from
Jesus:
John
10:25-30 (ESV)
Jesus
answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that
I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not
believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and
they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one
is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father
are one.”
BECAUSE
JESUS WAS NOT TAKEN....YOU CAN NOT BE TAKEN!!!! (at least not by
Satan)
But
if you are a believer, a Christ follower and alive the day Christ
returns, YOU WILL BE TAKEN. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (ESV)
But
we do not want you to be uninformed brothers, about those who are
asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For
since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through
Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For
this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are
alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede
those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from
heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and
with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so
we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage on another with
these words.
Let
me tell you what else has been taken! Your SINS, your MISDEEDS, your
GOOD INTENTIONS GONE BAD, your GUILT, your FEARS, your ADDICTIONS!!!!
Jesus said:
Matthew
11:28-30 (ESV)
Come
to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.
Psalm
103:11-13 (ESV)
For
as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast
love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows
compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who
fear him.
John
3:16 (ESV)
For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
AND THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS THE GOOD NEWS! THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST THAT OVERCAME THE FAKE NEWS!!!! AMEN AND AMEN
