Test All You See & Hear; Trust But Verify

Word-of-the-Day: ‘(19) Do not quench the Spirit. (20) Do not treat prophecies with contempt (21) but test them all; hold on to what is good, (22) reject every kind of evil.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22)

Journalism, or news reporting we receive today is believed to be different than how news was reported in the past.  Edward R. Morrow, Walter Cronkite, and John Chancellor are but a few of the news anchors of years past that many American held in high esteem and trust to provide unbiased news about the events of their time.  If these men reported it, it was deemed to be true by the American public.

They were for the most part truthful, though in some retrospect they had their moments when they aired their opinion; when Walter Cronkite did this during the Vietnam Conflict, after the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong guerillas launched their surprise Tet Offensive which attacked US and South Vietnamese military forces inside South Vietnam, he spoke of the Tet Offensive as a US military defeat, when in fact it was a decisive US military victory that decimated much of North Vietnamese Army and had reduced the Viet Cong’s ability to readily mount strikes against most major bases until the American forces pulled out.

Cronkite referred to the Vietnam Conflict as a stalemate, and due to his influence, it indeed became a stalemate when the US pulled most of its forces out of Vietnam by 1973, with North Vietnam then taking South Vietnam and uniting the countries under its communist government in 1975.  Cronkite’s statements swayed the American public against the war effort and despite every major battle being a US victory, the political and public opinion viewpoint, aided by Cronkite’s personal opinion that was not based on facts but perception, painted the Conflict as a loss for the United States.

In fact, it was Cronkite who later advocated, during the Persian Gulf War (or Desert Storm) in 1990-1991, that journalists take his lead and not only report on events, but provide their commentaries, or opinions, on these events as well.  This could be considered the turning point in American journalism.  We find in our mainstream news services it is no longer the reporting of the facts of the events but the biased opinions of the journalists covering those events.

Many cases of news are now reported not in the use of facts but perceptions.  These perceptions are driven by feelings which often ignore the facts of the given event.  Those many now realize this and are mistrusting the journalism industry as a whole, many others have a misguiding of their trust and take as ‘gospel truth’ what is being reported, without using critical thinking or discernment to determine for themselves the truth of the said event.

This is not new; this occurred in the Revolutionary times of a fledging American nation, and it happened in Israel throughout the Bible.  In the Apostle Paul’s final comments to the church in Thessalonia, he gave a list of short instructions to the Thessalonian Christians to follow, and in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 he implores them to lean upon the guidance of the Holy Spirit to discern what news, and prophecies, they hear.

The ‘journalists’, or in this case messengers providing the news or priests and prophets providing teachings, should be treated with guarded respect.  Paul’s position is for the Thessalonians (and now us) to use, what President Ronald Reagan defined as, ‘trust but verify’.  When anyone provides a Bible lesson, a sermon from the pulpit, or a message written in a blog (like the Word-of-the-Day), one can listen or read it.  But the contents of the message should be weighed against verifiable sources, the knowledge gained through the study of the Word, prayer, and fellowship with other Christians, and of course, tuning into and following the direction of the Holy Spirit. 

In doing such verification, you can discern the Truth of the facts from the falsehoods of feelings and opinion.  This is true for Biblical applications as well as the reporting of news.  In many churches, we see non-Biblical doctrines introduced by those ‘priests and prophets’ who do not know the will of God or the direction of the Holy Spirit.

When they provide false doctrines to people who are not critically analyzing their statements and are not allowing the Spirit to provide discernment, it becomes a case of ‘the blind leading the blind’; the people led not greener pastures but to a desert devoid of life.

Seek the Holy Spirit, and through Him seek the Truth in all things.  Don’t be led astray and be discerning what you are told – remember to ‘trust, but verify’.  It’s not just for nuclear arms treaties, but for the teachings of the Bible we receive, and for the news that we are provided.