When Facts (don’t) Matter

As we head to the end of 2022, there has been a lot to ponder.

A lot to be thankful for.

But I have a lot to ponder which we can all be angry about.

Let’s start with a positive, for me, being here to share this with you following an accident in July which came close to me becoming a statistic is something I am genuinely thankful for.

Something else I am thankful for is the support we have from you to continue with this channel.

Praying for us has been a massive thing and many have supported us financially, which we are both humbled by and thankful for.

Your donations have always arrived at the right time to assist us with an expense related to our ministry.

For these things we are grateful for in a world which continues its sharp decline and like all Christians we now accept the end times are now.

For those who have stayed awake, and, on the watch, it has come as no surprise, for some of us it has been simmering, and now we can see the end.

How bad is it going to get, I hear you asking, think of your worst nightmare, think back to what it was like to be a jew in the era of the fascists in Nazi Germany, where families were dragged from their beds and sent to death camps, where neighbors were encouraged to nark on each other, where the government of the day, had total control over the people, where God was substituted by the Fuhrer.

How bad is going to get, I am not sugar coating it, if you are a true believer in God, in his word, Nazi Germany was an indicator, but really it was just a walk in the park compared to what is to come.

Matthew 24 the Olivet discourse is very familiar to most Christians, we are currently witnessing a convergence of everything Jesus spoke of, but he also gave his people a sign of hope in verse twenty-two he said “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”

There is hope even right now for those who reject Christ as their saviour, all you must do is stop believing the lies of this world.

I mentioned Nazi Germany a moment ago, what was it apart from guns, tank’s, warships, and Messerschmidt’s which changed the nations thinking.

Do you honestly believe the general population of Germany wanted world domination when Hitler was elected to power.

Do you honestly think, the average German citizen wanted to see their Jewish friends and Neighbours exterminated.

The answer lies in the shame the German people felt following the War when the truth backed by images were circulated.

Even today young German students are taken to a death camp and taught about the shame a previous generation were responsible for.

In the case of the Nazis, it was words which gained them the most acceptance.

It was telling the population what they wanted to hear.

Hitler told them he could make Germany, a country which was economically destitute following its defeat in the Great War, Hitler said he could make Germany Great Again. Sound vaguely familiar?

It was using Propaganda, Hitler maintained his power, his Gestapo Police controlled the population and anyone who spoke against the regime, were taken care off.

The Nazi propaganda machine headed by Josef Goebbels said, “Hitler’s use of propaganda could make heaven look like hell and hell look like heaven.”

They dressed up every brutal thing they did, changing its meanings, oddly like we are experiencing today.

“a lie does not become truth just because a majority believes it.”

Booker T. Washington

I just want to take you back to early 2022 when thousands of New Zealanders invaded and camped on the lawn of Parliament.

With hindsight we can see how the Ardern Government managed this protest from Day one. (They didn’t)

We can chart its deterioration each day until it ended in acts of rage and aggression by an element which high jacked it. And I will speak about that in a moment.

Remember the war of words Ardern spoke about during that time.

She and her government, and her opposition parties were ever going to listen to what the protesters were about.

They were unaware of the reasons why they were there, and there were many reasons from Anti Mandate, anti vaxx, anti-three waters, anti-Ardern, anti-government, but they were not heard.

Instead, Ardern and the clown who was the speaker of the house waged war on the protest, calling them the river of filth.

Back in March I spoke out many times during that occupation, about the lack of leadership shown by the queen of kindness.

It was easy for her to be photographed at the scene of the Mosque shootings and bask in the media frenzy than it was for her to step out of her office, or even to set up a working party to listen to the grievances of New Zealanders.

I mentioned at the time of the protests the similarities of not only Ardern’s governments response but also the media response as to how close it was to Canada’s.

In Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was trying to handle the fallout of the trucker’s convoy which shut down Ottawa for a few weeks.

Trudeau, and Ardern used the same playbook of the World Economic Forum and refused to engage with the protest.

Like New Zealand, there is always some individual or a group who want to take advantage of a situation, and then it becomes confusing to everyone.

In New Zealand’s protest we had the Pro-Trump people fly their flags, which Ardern was quick to jump on.

Similar thing happened in Canada, some idiot unfurled a Nazi flag, you know the one the swastika.

They gave the leftist media the ammunition it wanted, so now they could describe the truckers as Nazis and racist.

As crazy as it sounds a member of parliament gave a speech saying that the honk, honk, of the truckers was the euphemism of Hiel Hitler because all words begin with the letter H.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

But never mind that during the three-week demonstration thousands of Canadian and American flags were flown, no monuments were pulled down, no buildings were set on fire.

But still the truckers were called terrorist and, of course, Nazis.

The Washington Post painted the freedom convoy as explicitly racist arguing that the belief that one is entitled to freedom is a key component key component of white supremacy.

Remember the facts don’t matter but images and emotions too

In propaganda, ideology controls the facts rather than the facts controlling the ideology.

Those who use propaganda know that history, politics and even science must always be shaped to conform to the prevailing ideology.

Therefore, facts are carefully selected to fit the narrative.

No counter evidence is allowed.

All information is sifted through an ideological grid and evaluated based on whether it can be used to advance the political, moral, or racial agenda.

In Canada and New Zealand even true statements can end up being banned.

Sadly, all media outlets follow the same broadcast philosophy, ignore everything good about the political party you oppose and say nothing about the political party you support.

This is done by cherry picking information to fit the desired narrative for those who pay for the mouthpieces.

Shame those who disagree with the accepted narrative is the headline.

The radical left believes it is morally superior to those who disagree with them.

Thus, they shut down contrary ideas by accusing their opponents of a psychological and moral deficiency.

They describe those who disagree as being emotionally undeveloped.

That the debate is no longer about ideas, but about bigotry and hate.

Outrage sells. Are you opposed to abortion?

Then you must be then you must hate women.

If you’re opposed to same sex marriage, you are a bigot.

If you believe New Zealand should control its borders from Asians, you are a racist.

If you oppose radical Islam, you are an Islamophobic.

Likewise, if your opposed to homosexuality you’re homophobic

 And if you’re opposed to China’s dictatorial government or inquire whether COVID-19 escaped from a lab in Wuhan, you are xenophobic.

And if you believe that people shouldn’t carry a vaccination Pass, well you were more than likely an unvaxxed menace spreading the pandemic around with you.

Shame on you, no wonder all those people who were vaccinated still had to stay home.

The narrative is that conservatives are motivated by hate, the left is motivated by noble ideas of justice and fairness.

Thus, the left wants to pass hate speech legislation to shut down the expression of conservative ideas on the pretense they are hateful and cause harm.

And a strange twist of irony the left will sometimes even justify violence as free speech.

OK how do we counter propaganda ever since the widespread use of the Internet the proliferation of news programs, and the advent of social media, we have reached a crisis of credibility.

 With so much information available people, particularly young people, are asking who can be trusted.

Answering that question is seldom easy, fraudulently difficult.

 How do we distinguish the truth from half-truths and lies?

 We must begin by praying with the apostle Paul, it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve that which is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Philippians 1:9-10

Discernment is needed more today than ever.

We must determine that we will not be conduits for propaganda again we affirm with Paul we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth. 2 Corinthians 4:2

we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

information comes to us from everywhere.

Young people today do not have to go looking for ideas, the ideas are looking for them.

And information is never neutral, it comes with assumptions and intentionality. We must realize that truth seldom lies on the surface but must be looked for.

Diligence, discernment, and a biblical worldview give us guidance.

You can get facts from the Internet so that is increasingly difficult, but you cannot get wisdom or what the Bible call also calls understanding quote from proverbs 2:1 – 5

My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
² turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding—
³ indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God

Treasures are not normally found lying on the ground, we must be willing to dig beneath the surface to find them.

Superficial answers to complex questions are seldom right.

We need God’s wisdom to discern truth from error.

Seeking truth at times means withholding judgment, but the discerning person has not given to snap decisions and quick responses to the latest outrage.

Seeking wisdom and not just information is one of the greatest needs of the hour.

 And as a warning let me summarize the words of Booker T Washington, “a lie does not become truth just because a majority believes it.”

Today when you don’t know who to trust in this cacophony of voices, shouting for this point of view or another.

Listen to the voice that you know with certainty will always speak the truth, before you turn on your smartphone with the morning, read God’s word.

Listen to his voice in Psalm 12:6 the words of the Lord are pure words like silver refined in a furnace on the ground purified seven times

We are in a race with people shouting all kinds of messages to us from the stands, and every runner seems to be headed in a different direction arguing about the finish line.

We’re distracted by varied opinions, about who is in the race, who should win, and who will lose.

Confusion runs rampant and usually, it’s a person who happens to have the loudest megaphone who is heard.

Though they may be shouting the wrong message we need to remind ourselves that God knows the truth, and the closer we walk with him the more likely we will be kept from error, he assures us that in the end everything is going to be OK.