Two and a half thousand years ago Aeschylus, the ancient Greek playwright and soldier declared in one of his Greek tragedy’s “Truth is always the first casualty of war”. Never in the history of the world has this quote been truer than it is today. Large media companies are owned and run by vested interests and so it is very hard to get a fair assessment of the truth from the TV or radio.
“Paper never refused ink” can explain how many newspapers, especially tabloids operate. Today social media really distorts the truth to such an extent that it’s very hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake. There are now thousands of fact-checkers employed around the world to try to separate the fake news from truth.
We constantly need to discern between truth and lie. The first step is to ask who is making the statement. Would you believe what the Russian, Chinese, or North Korean president says in a press conference? No, neither would I. Would you believe what the public affairs department of a terrorist organisation like the Provisional IRA, the UVF, the Taliban, Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, or the Houthis tell us, no.
Black and white are easy to distinguish but grey areas are more difficult to navigate. You might think that some pillars of society are above reproach, but they are not, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. The names of these organisations might shock you.
The United Nations, UNRWA, UNESCO, Médecins Sans Frontières, WHO, The International Red Cross, Amnesty International and many famous charities are guilty of not being impartial and sometimes supporting, hiding, and helping terrorists especially when they are portrayed as the underdog in a conflict.
When an organisation gives one-sided statements in support of the supposed underdog, then you must question if they are telling the truth. There is a battle raging in the world for the control of our minds.
Because we live in democracies, we assume that if the majority say something then it must be right, wrong. In the 1930’s most Germans and Austrians decided to support Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Their propaganda machine fooled the vast majority. Public opinion is a poor indicator of truth, in fact, overwhelming public opinion is likely an indicator that the opposite is the truth.
The events of Easter week 2,000 years ago are a cruel example of the fickleness of public opinion. On Palm Sunday Jesus Christ was hailed as a King, a few days later public opinion was screaming crucify him, crucify him and they did.
The Jews have probably been the most persecuted race on the earth throughout history. Some say that they control the world, they crucified Christ, and they practice apartheid in the only Jewish state in the world. All these accusations are false. There are super-rich people in every nation, the Romans (and public opinion) crucified Christ, and all citizens of Israel have equal rights, Jews, Arabs, Druze, and Christians.
So why are the Jews persecuted so much? If you are Christian, the answer is found in the Old Testament of the bible. It is a history of God’s chosen people, the house of Israel, and the battle between good and evil. There are still dark forces in the world that are hell-bent on perpetrating evil acts and distorting the truth.
We are aware of hackers who want to get control of our bank accounts to rob our money. We’ve seen how the WHO and governments took control of our bodies during the Covid crisis. Be certain that there is a much more polished campaign in the world to get control of our minds. They are constantly trying to persuade us to think in particular ways. Watch out, politicians lie, news programs lie, witnesses lie. When someone gives us information there is a way that we can distinguish if something is the truth or a lie.
We need to take time and think about that information. Ponder it in our hearts and arrive at a conclusion because deep down inside, we recognise truth when we hear it even if it contradicts our traditions or public opinion.
You may not want to believe it, it may be against your self-interest, your heritage or even your religion but if you ponder the situation, you can tell the difference, then all you need is the courage to reject public opinion and choose what is right rather than what is popular.
