Overcoming Fake News
Living the Supernatural Lifestyle • Sermon • Submitted
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· 71 viewsWe live in a day and age where it is easy to believe there is more fake news than real news. Technology has developed to the point where we can't even trust our own eyes. How does a Christian today ensure they are not believing or perpetuating a lie that opposes the will of God.
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Overcoming Fake News
Overcoming Fake News
Before we get started I want to share with you an interesting discovery
Flying Penguins World Penguin Day BBC 1:30
Now before any of you start sharing this on social media I think I should tell you that BBC published this on Mar 31 2008. the day before April 1.........
We live in a day and age where it is easy to believe there is more fake news than real news.
Thanks to photoshop and CGI, technologies have developed to the point where we can't even trust our own eyes.
Seeing is not believing anymore
How does a Christian today ensure they are not believing or perpetuating a lie that opposes the will of God.
Whether its the main stream news or social media, the one sharing only shares what strengthens their point of view.
Ask yourself this question:
“When was the last time I shared something I didn’t agree with?”
probably not very often or even ever!
probably not very often or even ever!
The problem with social media is that it creates these bubbles in which you eventually only see what you agree with. The algorithms keep track of the things you like and shows you more like that. Things make you angry…you get less.
You’re being studied by an algorithm so it can feed you what it thinks you want!
People start seeing all these posts that agree with want they want to believe, so it justifies their belief, and they start thinking everyone agrees with them except a small minority of people.
Problem is when they meet someone else in the real world, who is in their own little bubble of influence, that does not believe what they believe . You get this tremendous conflict.
The truth about social media is this. If you like cat videos the posts they show you will reflect that. If you don’t like cat videos, the posts you see won’t reflect that
Now obviously each social media platform has their own biases, and will restrict the
flow of information on the issues that matter most to them.
They have an agenda and are willing to use their tools to advance it. let’s not be ignorant here
I think everyone would agree that social media is full of fake news
you probably even shared some of it yourself.
I think there are some simple rules we can.
Is it true? Will it benefit someone? Would you share it if it cost you money to do so?
Well enough with social media, and I’m not going to start in on main stream media.
But did you know fake news is not a new thing?
In fact Fake news actually shows up in the Bible.
I’m not saying the Bible has fake news
I’m saying the Bible records times of fake news occuring and the ramifications for it
Let’s me show you an example
background
After leaving Egypt the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, were given Manna to eat and water to drink, were reminded of the Laws of God at Mt. Sinai and saw many other manifestations proving that it was God who was leading them, but when they finally arrived at the promised land. they were not ready
Cors
Moses sent out 12 spies to check out the land of Cannan
this is where we pick up the story
Numbers 13:2
When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,
they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
“Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
“Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”
So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.
“There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,
they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
“Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
“Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”
Over the years I’ve heard several sermons on this passage. I’ve even preached from it myself a number of times
I normally took the stand Joshua and Caleb saw everything but focused on the good and the other 10 focused on the bad.
but that’s not all there is to it
If we continue to read
So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.
“There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Not only did the 10 spies see the bad, They actively pursued sharing fake news with the people to get them on their side!
Did they tell the people about the abundance of the land?
No
Of the huge clusters of grapes?
Milk and honey?
Did they tell them of the beauty? No
Instead they made of stories “that the land devours its inhabitants”
Everyone their is a Giant, Even the descendants of the Nephilim are there.
ooohh scary place! let’s go back into the dessert!
The Nephilim were the offspring of the "sons of Gods" and the "daughters of men" before the flood
Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,
that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
G
I don’t have time to discuss whether it was demons having sex with women or simply the sons of Seth.
The point here is how the spies used this word every Israeli could related to
You see what they did here. The Nephilim, “mighty men who were of old, men of renown” the ones you’ve heard stories about
Their decendants
Their descendants are in the Land
Every Israeli boy and girl new the stories of the Torah, They had heard of the Nephilim and their amazing feats.
The 10 spies were telling them. “their descendants are there, and if we go into the land were going to have to fight them for it!”
Were the sons of Anak descendants of the Nephilim? Or was this just s a story to scare more people.
Here’s something to think about.
Right after we are told of the Nephilim in 4
we get the story of the flood. in
Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
:
The End of all flesh.
Man and animal, with the exception of what Noah put on the ark, was destroyed.
There was no descendants of Nephilim left.
The Bible does not say the “Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim)” were in the promised land.
It clearly says the Spies gave a bad report…and this is what they said!
It clearly says the Spies gave a bad report…and this is what they said!
This was fake news made up by the 10 spies to scare the people
And it worked!
So what were the consequences of believing fake news for them?
Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
“Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”
So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”
Numb 14:
the fake news caused them to reject their leader Moses, and long to become slaves again
God’s anger burns against them
Moses intervenes before God and God forgives them
shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.
Number 14:
Because the people believed the fake news and didn’t trust God. They were not allowed to enter the promised land
instead they were to wonder in the desert until the entire generation excluding Joshua and Caleb, dies off
pretty severe consequence
After hearing the people got together and said, lets go fight
but they lost, because God was not with them.
and they died in the desert.
God wanted that generation to inherit the promised land, but
As you can see an entire generation lost out on God promises because they trusted fake News instead of God.
So let me tell you fake news is a BIG PROBLEM
So How do we overcome fake news?
Simply believe God instead of the News
Well How do we do that?
by knowing the heart of God in every situation
there is definitely multiple ways to find this, today I want to focus on the Gift of Discernment
The Gift of discernment is very useful, and I would say one of the most important gifts in our current culture
Prophesy
One way it is used is to discern prophesy
Pastor Trevor Spoke on prophesy last week
the gift of Discernment is mentioned right after the gift of prophecy, which provides an immediate clue as to one of its functions. It is the ability to determine between genuine revelation from God and that which is false.
When someone utters a prophecy, it is necessary to determine whether or not that person was speaking from God.
The Lord supernaturally gifts some individuals to determine whether the message was from Him, from that persons own imagination, or a false message from satan.
Story of CVH
False Doctrine
The gift of discernment could also be exercised when confronted with those bringing false doctrine.
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
Yes scripture is our first go to when dealing with doctrine, but discernment is the aid that tells you....You need to go search the scriptures
Liar
No-one like being lied to. Do you?
The gift of discernment enables you to know when you are being lied to
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?
Story of homeless man coming to the front door
Disingenuous people
Have you been talking with someone, and what they are saying sounds good, but you don’t feel good about them
Like they have ulterior motives.
Its easy if you hear someone criticizing someone in front of you, you know they probably criticize you around others.
That’s not discernment just common sense
What I’m talking about here is knowing the heart and the intention of a person when everything on the surface seems great!
My wife is strong in this, I’ve learned to trust her over the years.
I believe the best in every person I meet, I see their potential and that has cost me
STORY OF HC
I still choose to see the best in ever person I meet, but not when that contradict what the Holy Spirit is telling me
Evil People
‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Story of lady who came into a Church a number of months back
Discernment of Spirits
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
EPH
Have you ever walked into a room and could sense evil?
Have you ever had the hairs on you neck or arms stand up and not know why?
Well as you develop the gift of discernment you can get a better understanding of what this means.
Its not always bad and not always good, the gift of discernment helps you to know which.
As you develop it the g.o.d. can show you the allegiance, function, or plan of the Spirit you are dealing with
Time of Impartation
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
Prayer
Explain how to develop gift
watch News
Be aware of what’s going on around you