How to Analyse the Media, and Which Sources to Trust

How to Analyse the Media, and Which Sources to Trust, PDF format

  In this internet age, we are bombarded with information.  But for the true Christian, sorting out the true from the false in the media is extremely difficult.  How are we to do it?  We all know the saying, “Don’t believe everything you read”, and it is very true; but how to know what is believable and what is not?  It was difficult enough when all information was from books, articles, and newspapers, but the internet made it even more so.  The internet is full of information, and most of it is junk.  But how to tell the true from the false?  How does one filter out the true from the false?  How is one to lay hands on reliable sources of information, while rejecting the rest?  These are extremely important matters.

1. Be Well-Grounded in the Word of God

  As a Christian, to properly analyse the world around you; to properly analyse the sources of information claiming to tell us what is going on in the world; to discern right from wrong, truth from error, in the media, you have to be well-grounded in the Bible.  Without being well-grounded in it, you will never be able to tell the true from the false.  It’s as simple as that.

  The Bible is God’s written Word (2 Tim. 3:16).  Every word of it is true (Jn. 17:17; Psa. 12:6).  There is no falsehood in it.  Therefore, the Christian who is thoroughly immersed in the Bible will be able to tell what is right and wrong, true and false.  “For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).  When one is so well-acquainted with the Bible that one is able to wield it as “the sword of the Spirit” which it is (Eph. 6:17), then one will be able to know true from false.  “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation” (Psa. 119:99).  “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way” (Psa. 119:104).

  This world lies in the hands of the wicked one, the master deceiver, the liar from the beginning: Satan.  As a result, all around us are lies, errors, distortions of the truth, designed to deceive, to lead astray, to confuse.  How then to separate truth from error?  By knowing the Word of God, and the God of the Word.  By bringing everything one hears, or sees, or reads, to the touchstone of God’s Word.  Having the light of the Word of God, a man can see all things; but without that light a man stumbles in darkness and uncertainty.  And yet how tragic it is that so many who profess to be Christians are so ignorant of God’s Word!  Unless the child of God reads and carefully studies the Bible every day, he remains vulnerable to every lie that poses as truth.  The Bible is not a book to be casually dipped into every now and then.  It is to be the Christian’s light, lamp, guide, treasure and joy, at all times!  It is to be carefully read, hidden in the heart, meditated upon!  If the swordsman does not know his sword, it is a useless weapon in his hands.  The Bible must be known, known well, known thoroughly, and only then can it be wielded properly high above the head of the believer, who will bring it arcing down to cut through every lie and falsehood, every deception pretending to be the truth!

2. Know the Bias of the Source of Information

  If you want to correctly analyse the information you receive from the media, you must know the specific bias of the author, or of the publishing group, or of the website disseminating the information.

  Let it be understood: everyone has a bias.  This includes true Christians, no less than other men!  They, too, are biased.  They are biased towards the truth of the Word of God.  When anyone reads material written by a true believer, there will be a decided bias in that material –and so there should be!  For the Christian loves the Word of the Lord, and the Lord Himself, and sets out to defend His truth, uphold it, and disseminate it to others. 

  And just as true Christians have a bias, so do unbelievers.  Many authors and journalists love to say that they are unbiased and that they write from an unbiased standpoint, but this is just not so.  One will never find a source of information that is completely and utterly unbiased.  It is just not possible.  For all men have their beliefs, inclinations, preferences, etc., and these influence their thought processes, their worldview, their words and their writings, no matter how indignantly they may try to deny it.

  So then: accepting that everyone on earth has a bias, we need to ascertain the specific bias of an author, or publisher.

  It should be evident (but sadly, it is not always so) that if a particular author or publisher is biased against biblical Christianity, that source of information can never be reliable for anything pertaining to biblical Christianity, true doctrine, etc.  However, where the specific bias of an author or publisher is non-Christian, or even anti-Christian, this does not automatically mean that everything they write is useless or untrustworthy.  Certainly, anything they write about true Christianity will be so; but when it comes to what they may write about, say, history, politics, current events, economics, etc., there are those who will be reliable as sources of information about these topics.

  I have many books in my library written by men who had no love for the Bible, Christianity, or Christ Himself.  For this reason they are completely and utterly unreliable on matters of doctrine or morality or anything relating to true Christianity, and should be shunned when writing on these matters.  But when presenting factual historical, political, or other information, many of them are indeed reliable!  This is certainly not true of all of them, and indeed many of them should be shunned even when they write on such matters, because they are simply unreliable conveyers of factual information.  But many others are reliable sources for factual information on a variety of topics. 

  One must still be very cautious in studying this information from them, of course, being aware of their bias; but if one is aware of it, and keeps it in mind at all times, it is possible to draw useful factual information from such sources.

  Of course, an author’s bias against Christianity is not the only bias one must look out for.  There will be others, and it is important to be aware of these as well. 

  Ascertain the bias of an author or publisher, be aware of this bias at all times, and approach his material on this basis, and one may still profit from his factual information, if he is a reliable source for this.

3. Always Distrust Information Emanating from the Western Establishment Media

  What is the “establishment media”?  Let us first define the term, “establishment”.  It is defined in various ways, depending on who is doing the defining.  But broadly, the following dictionary definition is a good one: it means “the important and powerful people who control a country or an organization, especially those who support the existing situation.”  Another good dictionary definition is: “A group of people holding most of the power and influence in a government or society.”  In the past, it was often applied to conservatives in power; but today in the West, we apply it to the very opposite of conservatives: to liberals, Socialists and Marxists, for they are the ones in power throughout western countries today.  They are now the establishment. 

  And behind them all, although unseen and unknown by the vast majority, even the majority of those within the establishment itself, is the Vatican, the city on seven hills, working primarily through its Jesuits but also through innumerable other organisations.

  By “the establishment” is meant, then, firstly and more broadly, the entire upper structure of the power elite in a country or nation: the leading politicians, judges, academics, financiers, industrialists, media moguls, and (in some countries) top religious leaders.  But secondly and more narrowly, by “the establishment” is meant the elite, secretive ones who control a country or nation, unseen behind the scenes, aiming ultimately for global control and power: the insiders, the puppet masters, the real “government behind the government”.

  The “establishment media”, then, refers to the media corporations and outlets which are controlled by, and serve the interests of, the establishment.  We could just as correctly call it the “insider media”; the “internationalist media”; the “controlled media”; the “globalist media”.

  And in the western nations today, the establishment media is also the mainstream media.  What do we mean by the term, “mainstream media”?  This refers to the media that influences the mainstream of society, the majority, by playing a huge role in actually shaping how the majority think, speak and behave, and always moving them in the direction desired by the insiders; the globalists.  Once upon a time in the West, the elite, the globalists, the insiders, call them what you will – the ones desiring absolute control over every aspect of the life of the people – did not control all the mainstream media, but operated underground alternative media outlets; but that time has long gone.  The people in charge of the western world now, including of the land which should now be called the USSA – the United States of Soviet Amerika – are the globalists, the Socialists, the Marxists, the secular humanists, the liberals.  And the mainstream media, being owned by these people, naturally shares their ideologies and objectives.  Today, then, the mainstream media is the controlled media, the establishment media, the insider media; and the alternative media is operated by those who oppose the mainstream media and its sinister agenda. 

  Unfortunately, most people in the world rely either solely, or almost so, on the mainstream media, the establishment media, for their information.  This is because they know no better.  They have been indoctrinated thoroughly over many decades, and besides, it is just so convenient.  In their busy lives, it is far easier to simply scan the headlines of the daily newspaper (either via the old-fashioned way or via their online options), or catch snippets of news from the evening TV broadcast, than to actually spend time searching for and then paying attention to alternative sources of information.  And they go away thinking they have “got the gist of it” and understand what is going on in the world.  But they have not.  They have been misled.

  How so?  Have they been lied to, by the establishment media?  Very often, yes; but just as often, no.  The establishment media lies, often and readily, in order to keep up its steady stream of misinformation and disinformation, ensuring that the masses believe what the establishment wants them to believe.  But many times, it is not necessary for the establishment media to tell an outright lie – all that is necessary is to cover up, ignore, or gloss over the facts.  Present the truth, in other words, but only a small part of the truth.  And this is deliberate.

  Oh, sure, every so often there will be some criticism of the government, or of the globalists and one-worlders, etc., but this is just for show.  They have to create the appearance of being “fair” and “unbiased”, even though they are not, or after a while even the most indoctrinated automaton would begin to smell a rat.  But the criticism is always weak and muted.

  But how to recognise the liberal-Socialist-Marxist media?  How to tell which media outlets are serving the interests of men and women dedicated to changing the world by overturning all that is good and decent and installing their own radical agenda?  Answer: when you see them speaking well of such wicked people and attacking or mocking conservatives and evangelical Christians; when you see radical liberal-Socialist-Marxist issues being pushed by a particular media outlet, and then the same radical issues popping up in one media outlet after another, as if they have been co-ordinated, briefed, and sent forth with this mission – for indeed they have; when it is obvious that the “full story” is being deliberately suppressed, that you are only being told what the establishment wants you to know, and that there is much more going on than meets the eye; and when you know who owns and/or finances the media outlets – for wealthy and powerful establishment figures own and/or control all the major newspapers, TV news channels, and internet news sites.  These are the ways in which you will recognise the establishment media.

  I have said one must always distrust information emanating from the establishment media.  But this is not to say that one should never buy a newspaper, or listen to the evening news!  It is not to say that one cannot glean useful information from the mainstream media sources, at times, even though they are anti-conservative and anti-Christian; for one certainly can!  But only if one “reads between the lines”, and judges these sources in the light of the real facts, the true story, obtained from truly reliable sources.  The mainstream media may, at times, report the facts correctly (usually not all the facts, but at least some of them); but never, ever trust it to interpret the facts correctly.  This is the distinction that must always be made.  Develop and maintain a healthy scepticism when it comes to the mainstream media, be rightly suspicious of what you read and hear, take everything with a whole handful of salt (not just a pinch), and only accept what comes from the mainstream sources: a) if it is nothing but the bare reporting of facts (not the interpretation of them); b) if it can be verified by reliable alternative sources;  or c) if it fits well with what you already know to be the truth.

4. Always Distrust Information Emanating from Within the Historic Communist Countries’ Media

    I say the “historic” Communist countries – Russia pre-eminently, but others as well – firstly because many of them, deliberately, no longer call themselves Communist or Socialist, and secondly so as to differentiate them from those western countries which have succumbed to the newer version of Socialism/Communism, going by another name (often with the word “democratic” in it), which has conquered these countries without their citizens even being aware of it.  The fact is that the majority of the historic Communist countries are still Communist.  If you believe that Communism fell in the early 1990s when the Soviet Union supposedly “collapsed”, you have fallen for the lie that the globalist elites, the one-worlders, the international Socialist/Marxist insiders – call them what you will – wanted you to believe.  Communism did not die, neither in Russia nor in most of the other countries of the old Eastern bloc.  It was all a gigantic smokescreen to fool the people of the West, to make them lower their guard and begin to embrace creeping Socialism in their own countries.  And it worked.  It has happened.  It was all part of the conspiracy; of the plan.

  Today there are those who have fallen for another lie, one which proceeds from the previous one: that Russia has become conservative, and that it is even starting to promote “Christianity” and Christian morality.  This is absolutely, utterly false.  It is bad enough that so many in the world now believe this, but when professing Christians do as well, then this is real evidence for the shocking and widespread lack of any real discernment.  It reveals that the globalists, the insiders, the one-world conspirators have succeeded in indoctrinating almost everyone, even the multitudes sitting in church buildings every week.  Russia is still what it always was.  The renamed KGB still calls the shots.  Communists are masters of disinformation.

5. Obtain Information from Reliable, Knowledgeable, Alternative Media Sources

  This is very necessary.  But what is a reliable source?  And how may we know?

  A reliable source will reject the “official” version emanating from the mainstream media, and look “behind the scenes”, researching the story that has not been told.  This is not the sole indicator of a reliable source, by any means, for there are a great many charlatans out there; but any source which does not reject the “official”, establishment version of events and dig deeper “behind the scenes” to uncover the truth, is certainly not to be considered reliable!

  Obviously, the very best and most reliable sources will be specifically and truly Christian.  But these are few and far between these days.  Often, other good reliable sources, although not truly Christian, will at least come from within what we may call the historic Protestant worldview.  In this case, they will at least have been influenced by the moral and ethical culture which Protestantism once promoted, and which was based on the Bible.  And therefore they will seek to tell the truth, will have an externally moral outlook and approach, and will oppose the Socialist/Marxist and secular humanist worldview and agenda in its various branches.  It is usually too much to expect that in this ecumenical day and age, they will also see through and oppose Romanism/Jesuitism, but one lives in hope.

  Generally, these sources will be conservative in politics, economics, etc., although there are even a few liberal sources which oppose various aspects of what the elite, the insiders, the conspirators behind the scenes, are up to, even though they subscribe to much of it.  For example, a particular author may be a card-carrying liberal, and yet be firmly opposed to the radical environmentalist agenda even though it, too, is very much a part of the liberal agenda globally.  And certain liberal sources are vehemently in favour of the free market and opposed to Socialism, even though in matters of morality, say, and so-called “human rights”, they are decidedly liberal.  Now such sources may be useful for certain information on certain topics, provided one has a very clear understanding of “where they are coming from”, ideologically, and never loses sight of their ideological bias. 

 

  Also, be aware that just because a source is conservative, and just because most reliable alternative sources of information will be conservative, it does not automatically mean that a particular conservative source is to be trusted!  It doesn’t matter how “conservative” a Roman Catholic author or journalist may appear to be, for example – he may have accurate, reliable information on various topics, but one must never lose sight of the fact that he is a Roman Catholic first and foremost and this will always taint everything he says or writes.  Far too many professing Christians fall for this devilish trick, paying careful heed to what “conservative” Papists say.  This is the height of foolishness.  The Papacy is a master manipulator of the truth, especially via its Jesuit Order, and the Jesuits have men on both sides of the divide, conservative and liberal, who appear to oppose one another.  But this is only for appearances.  Like the Communists, only with far more experience, the Jesuits are masters at disinformation.

6. Be Aware of the Internet’s Weaknesses

  When it comes to the internet, not all alternative sources of information are created equal.

  Even with regards to alternative sources of information, never forget the old saying: don’t believe everything you read in the paper.  It is absolutely true, except that it must be expanded: don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper, or on the internet. 

  It is astounding how gullible people are when it comes to researching things on the internet.  Most seem to believe that if someone has a website or a blog and opposes the mainstream media, he must be a reliable source.  This is naive in the extreme.  The fact is that anyone, today, can create a website and disseminate “information”.  But the vast majority do not have the foggiest idea what they are talking about.  Yes, and this goes for so-called “conservative” sites as well, and so-called “evangelical” ones! 

  We live in the age of the “instant expert”, but true experts, knowledgeable and discerning, are extremely rare.  Just because a man is able to navigate his way around a keyboard and string sentences together, does not mean he knows what he is doing when it comes to “the news behind the news”, the real story, the hidden agenda, the true facts.  Research is a discipline.  It is time-consuming, and most people have neither the time, nor the wisdom, to do it properly.  Not every Tom, Dick or Harry who sinks into an armchair with a laptop in front of him to add to his blog or website actually has anything worthwhile to say.  One wonders if people even realise that they are so often following nothing more than the private thoughts and personal pet theories of someone who produces no real evidence, presents no verifiable facts, and therefore serves no worthwhile purpose online and should be shunned!

  The internet is literally riddled with junk.  And all too many Christians waste precious hours online, trawling through sites which claim all kinds of government conspiracies but which produce absolutely no real, solid evidence.  Whether it is the more bizarre and crackpot claims, such as that alien corpses are lying in a secret lab somewhere, or demonic reptilian forces are assuming human shapes and controlling governments, or whether it is more believable but just as useless – Christians should not be wasting their time on these things.  There is a global conspiracy, and the Bible tells us where it emanates from: the city on seven hills (Revelation 17).  This we must know, and know well, and anything related to it we need to know as well, for we must not be ignorant of the devil’s devices (2 Cor. 2:11).  But beyond what the Bible warns us about or tells us to know about, there is nothing we need to learn from these “way-out-there” sites.  Shun them!  It is not “redeeming the time” (Eph. 5:15,16) to read them or soak up their theories, it is not profitable in any way, and in fact it is another one of the devil’s tricks to sidetrack believers, getting them all steamed up over irrelevant matters.

7. Educate Yourself and Your Family: Read!

  This is absolutely essential.  Quit relying solely on the idiot box for your information, or on newspapers, or on stupid radio talk shows that are full of sound and fury but signify nothing.  Become a voracious reader of books.  A voracious reader, yes, but not an omnivorous reader!  Omnivorous readers read anything and everything, and think they are well educated.  No, it only means that they have little or no discernment.  Voracious, but discerning, is what you must be.  Choose carefully.  Choose wisely.  Read books providing real, solid information and knowledge.  Build up a personal library; don’t rely on the local town library.  Read and re-read the really good books.  Above all, read sound Christian literature.  And cultivate a love of reading in your children, and the discernment to read what is truly valuable and worthwhile.

  Most people today do not read.  Oh, they may scan a newspaper, or read trashy novels and magazines; but they do not read non-fiction.   Whereas earlier generations spent their leisure time reading, people today foolishly watch TV or play on their computers and phones.  As a result they are open to indoctrination, and the powers that be have turned most of the citizens of western countries into compliant robots for the State.  They are fed a constant diet of liberal/Socialist/secular humanist/Jesuitical propaganda, and they cannot think for themselves.  The average person today cannot focus, mentally, for long periods of time.  Nor can they reason or discern.  A century ago people read more and were therefore far better informed than people today, despite all their technological advantages.

Conclusion

  May these brief directions enable you, Christian reader, to discern between true and false information, and reliable and unreliable sources of information, so that you will not be led astray by the clamour of many voices, all claiming to be presenting “the truth” and yet most of them presenting the very opposite of truth, or only partial truth, with the deliberate intention to deceive you, confuse you, mislead you, and indoctrinate you; so that you will think and act just as the evil powers who operate in the shadows and pull the strings want all the robotic masses of the human race to do: to surrender your ability to think, to discern, to reason.  Be aware of the world you live in, and the people who are the real powers behind the scenes.  You are in a war.  It is a global war, and it is a war for the mind and heart.  It is a war the people of this world are losing.  Indeed, most have lost it already.  They have succumbed.  Arm yourself with the Word of truth, and be very, very discerning.  Do not be deceived.  Take heed!

Shaun Willcock is a minister, author and researcher.  He runs Bible Based Ministries.  This pamphlet was first published in June 2016.  For other pamphlets (which may be downloaded and printed), as well as details about his books, audio messages, articles, etc., please visit the Bible Based Ministries website; or write to the address below.  If you would like to be on Bible Based Ministries’ email list, please send your details.

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