The Information Age may have turned into the information plague. If hot chips at the beach were political subject matter then starving seagulls are the squarks of opinions surrounding it.
When you have the ability to slap a link down to support your opinion with as much care and effort as an overpaid abstract artist uses to fling paint onto a canvas, and more than a trillion dollars is made from media publications per year, its easy to see why we are swimming in oceans of highly motivated information.
But I’m not blaming the individual…the macro political changes fuelled by a globalised propaganda regime has pushed it. There’s been an organised malicious proliferation of information.
All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to” Adolf Hitler
Whether it be demonising pubic profile people with a moral compass, over-celebrating homosexuality and calling it “equality” then pushing it onto primary school children or ramming “science” down peoples throats hoping they ‘swallow’ before it can be questioned in order to sell a mass of useless untested unnecessary dangerous drugs or trying to recreate race divides that have been largely removed for generations; whatever it is -
…. the governmental changes inflicted on citizens lives today in sync with the prevailing consistent narratives injected into the airwaves by the puppet media is so pervasive that it creates a tiring exhaust of strong opinions and conversely an information plague. This calls for our discernment to step up in our lives with the same intensity or be lobotomised by propaganda.
The word discernment
The word “Discernment” has been marred as it’s often it’s been used as a spiritual sounding cloak word in Christendom to cover for being judgemental or critical about something that makes us uncomfortable. Maybe this is why it doesn’t quite make the cut on the spiritual gifts elective at ministry school. Throwing the baby with the bath water is as problematic as the analogy suggests.
The simple believes every word, But the prudent considers well his steps.Proverbs 14:15
To discern means to recognise or find out, to perceive or understand what would otherwise be hidden. Motives in published information from organisations and individuals are all immaterial and therefore spiritual and can be perceived spiritually.
Paul the apostle in Corinthiansspecifies a gift of the spirit called of discerning of spirits. It allows you to see in a clear distinction what is the underlying spirit or intent of an organisation, a sickness, an article, a particular circumstance or a response in an individual, even a prophetic word.
Gift of discernment
Far more beneficial to a believer than knowing the “facts”…is knowing the spirit of something. The gift of discerning of spirits is like popping on spiritual X-ray goggles to reveal intent and motivation of something that is hidden. Not only valuable but essential we operate in this.How can we get these goggles?
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…. and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
…. those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:14
Exposure: Sensitivity to the discern spiritually is a gift of the spirit granted to them that have trained their senses by the constant exposure of their own hearts to the word of God. The Word acts as a sword to divide our motives so we can see whats hidden in ourselves, both the ugly and the beautiful.
It’s a mirror that enables us to see who we are in Christ but also shines on the bits that don’t look him. Love for this truth and desire for it in ourselves will make us sensitive to discerning other spirits outside of us.
Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding…you will find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:3
Hunger:
Solomon, the wisest man outside of Jesus was the one that said to “cry out” for discernment… and you will arrive at the right information. Not Just the knowledge about God but the knowledge that God knows in a given situation. Our hunger to find and know the truth is like a magnet for understandingspiritual senses to be sharper.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 1 John 2:20
Confidence: As believers we need to back our ‘knower’ and need to realise that we have the spirit abiding in us to reveal truth about all things. We have an anointing to know and often we have exchanged this confidence in the spirit to discern something for human reasoning and logic. Maybe from social pressure and persuasion or just doubt. Confidence grows through practice, first in our own hearts then expands to what’s going on outside of us.
Its not hard to believe the large majority of Germans were disgusted by the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. However it’s more of a challenge to understand that during the regime they were largely convinced and in total support not realising the underlying spirit of what was happening until after the fact.
They were deceived by the charismatic repetition and curation of propaganda. I’d like to point out that “evidence based science” was the number one justification that Hitler used to justify and implement his eugenics program.
If there was ever a time in history to pop your spiritual x ray goggles on and position yourself to sharpen your discernment, its now.
Leigh lives on the Gold Coast. He loves to catch a wave, build business, dream big and preach the gospel
Leigh Clough’s previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/leigh-clough.html