During the last year we have been experiencing a time of almost unparalleled isolation, polarization and confusion. People have placed a lot of trust and confidence in the news to keep them in contact with the rest of the world and to a lesser extent each other, through a sharing of knowledge and events.
This used to be a fairly effective way of staying connected in the early days of America. It motivated people to create the pony express, the U.S. Mail, the telegraph, the telephone and the newspaper. The only explanation I can come up with to explain why that worked is that then, unlike the present, people were sharing news that was to the best of their knowledge, the truth. Truth seemed to have value in times past that it lacks now.
Truth used to be considered “… the property of being in accord with fact or reality. In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, propositions, and declarative sentences. Truth is usually held to be the opposite of falsehood.” Wikipedia
There was a time when folks depended on the news to learn the truth about what was going on in their world. That time is past. One person recently put it this way; “In the last few years, the very idea of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is dredged up only as a final resort when the alternative options of deception, threat and bribery have all been exhausted.”
I know that sounds terribly cynical, but I cannot say that it is wrong. The media, from the time of printed media onwards has always presented news right alongside entertainment and advertisement. Ads paid for the print and entertainment sold the papers which contained the news.
Looking back, it seems almost natural for the lines to blur and for news, entertainment and advertisements to become one larger thing. Unfortunately the thing that it becomes isn’t really news (ie. Facts) anymore. The media has become a tool used to get people to buy fashions, or toys, or in a darker vein, ideas and ideologies. This goes for television news, the internet social media and most all sources people are currently using to connect with the rest of the world. And to many, the news is so grim that they are willing to sever as many connections to it as they can saying that if it’s only going to be bad news, they would rather not have any news at all!
This being the case, it gives me great joy to offer an alternative to our normal national and world news lineup called, "The Good News!", a publication written by the Holy Spirit by the hands of various men of God containing the Truth, the Whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth. Here is just a sample.
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are broken, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all those that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.’” Luke 4:16-21
There is good news out there and you don’t have to listen to any commercials, or anyone else’s opinion, and you don’t have to pay anything for it! It’s all been paid for already.
There is healing for the crushed
There is pardon for the prisoners
There is sight for those who cannot see
There is release for the broken ones
The time of the Lord is now, and Jesus is the Lord! And He’s here for you.
Where do you get your news? Do you get it from the TV, or radio, or internet? I recently saw an interview with Ashton Kutcher, a person I have never really thought of as a deep thinker, about how much exposure he was prepared to allow his kids to the internet, and he said something I thought was noteworthy. He said,
“I think most people are aware that there is media manipulation happening, and misinformation happening, just not through their sources.” Ashton Kutcher
I was surprised at how much I agree with him.
Allow me to recommend The Good News. I have utmost confidence in the integrity and accuracy of my source, and you can too.
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