|
 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 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 |
[to top of second column] |
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. |
