It’s all the rage to talk about right now– “fake news.”  What’s so crazy is that people tend to think that it’s a new thing.  Oh, no.  It’s been happening for a very long time, only it’s been historically called by different names:  “yellow journalism,” “communist propaganda,” “disinformation,” “media hack,” and more recently “digital deception.”

As soon as Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439, “fake news” became a staple commodity in selling papers.  Some would print almost anything to increase circulation and readership.  In 1835, The Sun (a small, struggling news outlet in New York City) began printing fake stories about an alien civilization on the moon, even presenting scientific facts and multiple endorsements from well-respected scientific communities as proof.  It was all a lie, but it established The Sun as a leading, profitable New York morning newspaper.  Later it all became known as “The Great Moon Hoax,” but The Sun remained a major news outlet until 1950!  For 115 years The Sun laughed all the way to the bank!

In American history alone there are multiple instances of how “fake news” made the ultimate difference in life and death, war and peace– using fake interviews, false experts and bogus stories to spark sympathy or rage as desired.  Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World published highly exaggerated crime stories just to sell papers.  (Ever heard of the Pulitzer Prize— for excellence in journalism????)

In the late 1890s, wealthy newspaper publishers like William Randolph Hearst and his New York Morning Journal used exaggeration to help spark the Spanish-American War.  When Hearst’s news correspondent in Havana, Cuba,  wired that there would be “no war with Spain,” Hearst famously responded: “You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war.” Hearst’s paper published fake drawings of Cuban officials strip-searching American women—and he got his war.  Almost 3500 Americans died in the 100-day Spanish-American War.

Actually, the idea of “fake news” goes all the way back to the beginning– to the Garden of Eden.  Satan, through the serpent, twisted God’s words to Eve and Adam and convinced them to commit the original sin.

Satan is the master of “fake news.”  He uses every trick possible to bait human emotions, confuse human thinking, and suppress God’s truth.  He tried it when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, twisting God’s words to achieve Satan’s desired outcome, but it didn’t work.  Jesus resisted Satan by stating the whole truth of God– as revealed in the scriptures.

“Fake news” is no new thing.

• It’s fake news that tells you that your life is irreparably damaged.   God says you can be redeemed and restored. 
• It’s fake news that tells you that you are helpless.   God says you are able.
• It’s fake news that tells you that you are doomed.   God says that you can live forever!
• It’s fake news that tells you that you are unlovable. God says that NOTHING can separate you from His Love.
• It’s fake news that tells you that you are worthless.  God gave his Son, Jesus, to die on a cross, because he valued you that much.

I encourage you to wake up– call “fake news,” fake— and believe the Truth.

“Jesus answered, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”   John 14:6