The world of misinformation
Welcome back, my awesome Compadres!
Misinformation is one of the most dreadful weapons the enemy uses against the body of Christ. A lot of Christians have backed off, thrown in the towel, blasphemed against God, and denounced their faith because of misinformation. Misinformation is defined as “false or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive [1].” It is a higher form of lies and Satan being the father of lies(John 8:44) orchestrates and uses this tool a lot.
Irresponsible, Irrational and Impulsive Decisions
People who are misinformed make irresponsible, irrational and impulsive decisions. The Bible says “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).” In the same way, the enemy is able to inculcate the spirit of fear in believers if he is able to impact them with fabricated lies through misinformation.
In 1 Samuel 17, we see the people of Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. There came Goliath of Gath, the captain of the Philistine army to defile the Israeli army and cursed them. The army of Israel was scared to death because they had been misinformed about all the things Goliath had done, and how that he started fighting valiantly right from his youth. This made all the army bow their heads in shame, and were hiding under the cover of their shields. King Saul among others, being the tallest man in Israel(1 Samuel 9:2 ) was also hiding from the rage of this heavy-height Philistine champion.
David was oblivious of the alleged achievement of Goliath
However, there arose from the bush a 17-year-old boy; David, who hadn’t been exposed to the world of misinformation. Interestingly, he wasn’t around when Saul was giving the army lecture on the achievements of Goliath. To David, he came to meet an uncircumcised Philistine defiling the armies of the Living God. He threw a challenge on him and put him down, thereby taking the reproach from Israel.
Again, Moses sent twelve spies to spy on the city of Canaan, at the command of the LORD(Numbers 13:1). Ten of the spies came back with a discouraging evil report that they could not conquer the land. Numbers 13:32-33 reads
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
The enemies were rather scared
Fast forward to a couple of years later, it turned out that the people of Canaan were rather scared of them, because of the things they had heard the LORD do with and for them. How that the LORD dried up the water in the Red sea and the victories He gave them over the Amorites, Sihon and Og. Joshua had sent two spies to search through the city of Canaan to bring him a report. The spies came to meet Rahab, an inhabitant of Canaan who gave them a rundown of the town and eventually engineered their escape. Joshua 2:9-10 reads
And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
The Manacle of Misinformation
Many Christians are sadly crippled with the manacle of demonic captivity, some are poverty-stricken, sick, sad, etc., all because of misinformation. The devil presents thoughts as arguments in their minds and ends up winning their hearts to believe in those lies. The Bible says let the weak say I am strong and the poor say I am rich, because you may feel weak or poor, but that isn’t your spiritual position.
One of the biggest source of misinformation is today’s media. There is nothing wrong with wanting to seek knowledge by getting information and be abreast with the latest local and international news. However, we shouldn’t be carried away with the negativity and the fear they bring. The media may project the fact that the economy is dwindling, and that there is a fall in the stock market. That may be a fact, but the truth is “a thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.”
Conclusion
I cannot overemphasise the devastating consequences of misinformation. Many Christians believe the report they get on social media and the other forms of media than the word of God. These are not the days to make sensitive decisions based on what you read on social media or watched on the TV. “Whose report shall be believe?” we need to surely believe the report of the Lord.
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References
[1] https://ecfs.libguides.com/FakeNews
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