Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
We all know that the MSM reports news with the intent to steer attention. The procedure is mixed to keep you guessing. Once in awhile it’s genuine news and rather objective. Most of the time the story is slanted by leaving out pertinent details, while emphasizing things impertinent. Sometimes it’s a flat out lie. At other times it’s accurate but entirely unimportant filler to avoid reporting what really matters. They have other tricks, but you get the idea.
Alternative news sites often do some of the same crap. All too often it’s sheer nonsense to see who takes the bait. However, you can typically count on a different bias with them, still leaving out important details and offering a slanted emphasis on other details. They vary all over the map on which bias package they bear. It tends to reflect more the individual reporters and their tastes than some broad corporate editorial policy. That is, except for the ones we know for certain that are run by controlled opposition. You are also more likely to see mindless devotion to certain personalities in the alternative press.
The biggest problem is that few of us are in a position to really know about some things. As long as there is money to be made in the news business, there’s always a risk of compromise and corruption. Yet the honest folks are seldom in a position to even get an accurate assessment because it requires money to get close enough to see what’s actually happening. And then there’s always the very problem that what you see might be what someone wants you to see and it means nothing. Honestly confused reporting is not that helpful. I still laugh when some ordinary fan of conspiracy theories will post a video of old scrap armored personnel carriers on rail cars being shipped to a recycling plant and blather fearfully about “tanks!”
At the point where you have to ask God what you should do with all this noise, it helps to remember that He does not hold you accountable for being deceived on some levels. This is why we teach that you should learn to obey your convictions and your heart-mind, because on that level of moral consideration, you can pick up on things your mind cannot comprehend. God promised that He would never fail to guide us that way. It’s not even a question of whether you end up where you hope. The moral sphere of life, the invisible plane of truth that flows outside the reach of your intellect, is more about eternal outcomes. It’s not likely to make much sense intellectually even up to the moment you die. Don’t expect that following your convictions will ever make sense on that level.
Instead, aim for the sense of peace that can come over you only from your heart-mind.
Today the news will tell you that China’s stock market is crashing despite all efforts by the Chinese government to control this mess. You’ll probably hear multiple conflicting statements about the situation in Greece. Maybe you’ll realize that they are still making it up as they go along, because even some of the plutocrats are surprised by the turn this took. One commentator suggests Tsipras was expecting to lose that referendum, and then he could resign and let someone else take the burden. Now he’s stuck. And you won’t hear much about Puerto Rico right now, but you probably have heard that the New York Stock Exchange has shut down over a technical issue. Meanwhile, the Dow is flailing like a goose that can’t float but won’t get out of the water. And then the precious metals market is under very heavy manipulation through the paper contract market that is based on metals (there is far more “paper gold” than real gold). And do you get the feeling that massive refugee migrations into Western countries from diseased backwater hell-holes is actually a part of the plutocrat scheme for fomenting chaos?
So try this: Pray and consider from your heart what justifies your attention in pursuit of God’s glory. What is your mission and calling? What do you currently sense as important for that calling? It’s a broad general principle of the divine justice that you give priority to the material things that you know you’ll use in that calling. Stop thinking in terms of what you have invested and what you stand to lose in that sense. Think in terms of your ultimate commitment to His glory. Make your best plans to be faithful until your exit, which exit is typically not at all what your mind would expect.
How will you walk with Christ and exploit this situation for His glory?
