But fake news isn’t new. It has been going on
since the beginning of humanity. The serpent tempted Eve by taking
what God really said and twisting it just enough to make her doubt
the truth. One of the names of the enemy is “the deceiver.”
Fake news happened a few hours after the resurrection of Jesus, too.
According to Matthew, the Roman soldiers who had been guarding
Jesus’ tomb were bribed to spread a fake news story:
When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a
plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them,
“You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him
away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we
will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took
the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been
widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. -Matthew
28:11-15
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Fake news is a standard political tactic. If you can’t refute
someone’s claims, muddy the waters. Jesus’ opponents knew that if
there were a way to refute the resurrection, the fledgling movement
of Christianity would have been squelched.
Paul agrees with this in 1 Corinthians 15:14 where he
states that …if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is
useless and so is your faith. - 1 Corinthians 15:14
The good news, however, is that fake news will never win out. The
fake news dispersed by the Chief Priests turned out to be discounted
by the truth of the resurrection. As Paul says, But in fact,
Christ has been raised from the dead. - 1 Corinthians 15:20
And that’s no fake news. |