The Age of Disinformation?

Galatians 1:6-9

Message No. 0532 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca

It is one thing to listen to comedians and laugh, knowing that they deliberately manipulate information to make people laugh. In fact, one comedy station begins their show by saying “This is not the news.” It is another thing, however, to tune to a news station, hoping to listen to the news, only to be fed with apparent lies and disinformation, and it is worse knowing that this is deliberate. It is perhaps fair to say that in our entire lifetime, at no time have we seen such avalanche of lies and wanton disregard for the truth as we see in our nations today. Does the Bible not say that we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free? Does this not mean that if we do not know the truth we shall be in continuous bondage?

In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul did not hold back in letting the church in Galatia know his disgust at the rate with which they were beginning to fall away from the truth of the gospel. In his sharp disapproval, Paul wrote:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

Why did Paul write in this manner? It was because after he preached righteousness through Christ and left, some other people came to the church and preached righteousness through works, in other words, the ‘gospel’ of self-righteousness. This, of course, ought to anger Paul, because if salvation was portrayed as coming through works, no one would make it to heaven. So, in chapter 3 verses 1 – 3, he poured it all out:

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?

Disinformation is not only disturbing, it is devilish and dangerous. When information is distorted, people easily lose their lives, and when the truth is distorted in the church, people lose their lives twice. As it is often said, a church cannot be better than the people who worship in it, because the church, after all, is not the building, but the people who worship in the building. It follows therefore that if a society continues to celebrate the distortion of truth from their leaders, soon, the church will not know the difference between truth and lies and our archenemy will be smiling home with unrestrained success.

One of the distortions we’ve seen in the church towards the close of the last decade is around the need to bring tithes to the church. We are told that it is no longer necessary to pay tithes because it is not specifically commanded in the New Testament. Really? Why then did Jesus say in Luke 11:42:

"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

Was it the intention of the Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of the Bible to repeat all of the commandments in the Old Testament verbatim in the New? I believe we will all answer, No. Are we not hypocrites when we pray daily for God to rebuke the devourer for us and claim all of the benefits of bringing tithes to the church while, at the same time, arguing the validity of tithes in the first place? Is it possible that, for 2000 years, the church got wrong the need to pay tithes and only now just discovered, oops, we needn’t have been doing this? One of the most respected men of God that I know recently wrote in his devotional, I am paraphrasing: ‘we are being told to discard Christian practices that have worked for us for centuries.’

Needless to say, those who propagate this new doctrine are people who did not want to obey the commandment in the first place. They also find all manner of distortions to demonize tithing. Some say that it is wickedness for pastors to demand tithes in the midst of a pandemic when people have no money. They conveniently leave out the definition of tithes itself – 10 percent of income. It follows that if you have no income, pastors don’t expect you to pay tithes, so their argument, ostensibly made in support of the people, is baseless and deceptive.

Do people even care that those who work in the church deserve livelihood? Do they know that pastors have families to cater for, school fees to pay, rents and mortgages to pay, and other needs? I am yet to understand why the world criticizes church leaders so much in the area of income. Do we really expect them to work full-time doing God’s work, answering calls for prayers from church members even at odd hours of the night and yet receive no income from the church? Look at what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in verses 7 – 11 of the 9th chapter of his first epistle:

Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?

Do we who work in companies and other institutions not look forward to our income every month and if we are not paid, do we not seek redress? How do we expect to sponsor the work of God if we are fighting against the main source of income of the church? Do people who belong to clubs and societies outside of the church not pay monthly or annual subscriptions to keep the societies going and to pay its workers?

I am sorry if I’m stepping on toes by writing on this subject, again, but I believe that I owe it to every reader to write the truth and not doing so will not only be a disservice to you but an abandonment of the mandate of this platform. Besides, if a particular message is being preached more than once, it must be that God wants us to learn something from it. We live in the age of disinformation and some groups will stop at nothing until they lead us all astray, if we let them. These groups camouflage as angels of light. Just as the people who preached a different message to the Galatians claimed to be disciples of Christ, those who distort God’s Words and preach against tithes today also claim to be Christians. How can bringing genuine money to the church be disapproved by any child of God! My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will keep us in the Faith and continue to guide our understanding of the true Words of the Bible. May we not be carried away by the current waves in our societies, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Have a wonderful week!

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 Lord I know that I am a sinner and I am unable to save myself. I am sorry for my sins and I pray that you please forgive me. I am aware that Your Son Jesus died for my sins and I accept Him as my Lord and savior. I surrender my life unto you from this moment. Please take control of my entire being and help me to be obedient to your Word, going forward. Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. I have prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
 If you prayed the foregoing prayer, you have just been born again. Please find a Bible believing church in your area and ask to see the pastor. Let him or her know that you have just given your life to Christ and s/he will guide you on next steps in your journey as a child of God. The Lord bless you!