They Would have us Turn Away from the Truth

  "If you turn off the news and talk to your neighbors, you'll find that our country is far more harmonious than you're being told." -- Rob Schneider
   Thus comes the meme across my Facebook. And, I become concerned.
    It is a message surging across Facebook the last week, my friends and family urging me to put down the news, to not listen to it. That it is all gloom and doom. That it is false. That I should be reading the scriptures instead of letting the news bother me.
   A couple hours ago, a FB friend suggested a Sunday video. I opened and listened to it. Before it and after it, there was an advertisement suggesting that the place to get the truth is not the "establishment" news, but The Epoch Times. I thought back on when I first heard of The Epoch Times, and how it has blossomed into an influential source of alternative news. People tune out the main media, and turn instead to The Epoch Times.
  That on one note I am being told to put down the news, especially the "establishment" news, and on the other note being told to pick up The Epoch Times, is of interest to me -- especially since both of these calls are coming from those on the right wing of politics.
   If Satan can get us to listen to only his voices -- if he can control the information coming into our lives -- he can control us. You will pardon me for saying, Satan. Each of us has our opinion. None of us, I would guess, are always correct. Each of us must make our own judgment. But, yes, I do believe this is the voice of Satan. To capture a person's mind, you need only to capture his (or her) audience. If Satan can get us to tune out all other messages, and listen only to him, he can control our opinions -- our thoughts.
   I watch all that is going on. I listen to the news as much as I can. I know much of it is negative toward our president. And, therein lies the lies the rub. Would you to have me turn the TV off?
   I heard what was said in the Mueller Report. I heard how Russia and others are influencing us in the social media. I am not wrong to wonder which memes and messages are ones from such sources. Now, if we know they are behind Trump, should it surprise us that they should tell us to turn off the news if the news is suggesting Trump is doing anything wrong? One plus one equals two. This makes sense.
  My friends tell me to turn off the news and to turn to the scriptures, instead. A nice touch, there, asking me to read the scriptures, instead. Of course the scriptures are more worthy. But, the insinuation that I have to choose between them is false. The ways of Satan are cunning, and I believe I am recognizing what he is doing here.
   All our lives, we have been told to be eternally vigilant. It is for moments such as this that we must.
   Read the scriptures, instead? I wonder if when I don't follow their directions, they might suggest I am blowing off the gospel.
  But, I think of the messages I have heard from church headquarters: They do not say, Turn off the news. They say, Vote. Get involved. Know the candidates. Become informed. Nowhere in those messages do I hear them telling me not to listen to the media.
  Satan can be counterfeit. He can appear to be good. So it is in our times. If we are to discern what is going on, more than ever, we must listen to the news, and reason on it. These are tender times, and the answer is not in becoming less informed, but more informed. It is not in listening only to Fox, and Rush Limbaugh, but in listening to the main media not less, but more.
   I think of a scripture that is surely speaking about false churches, and false teachers of the gospel in the last days. Still, it has a likeness to what is going on, politically. To paraphrase it (and, for all I know I am combining two separate passages), or to quote it to the best of my memory: In the last days, they will not endure sound doctrine. But, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers. And will be turned unto fables.
   There is a sure likeness to what is going on. We, as a people (or many of us), are not enduring sound doctrine. There are things that are sound that we turn away from, and we turn to fables, instead. We take accusations that have no more evidence than a tabloid magazine could give them, and we turn to them. We itch to hear things that speak evil of Nancy Pelosi and others. But, if those messages are not in the main media, where will we find them? We heap to ourselves teachers. Fox News and The Epoch Times have not always been around. We have heaped to ourselves teachers in these last days.
   Turning from the truth and from the main media, we have turned to our own teachers.

(Edited and altered March 3, 2020)