media

We are all products of our environment and education. We all see the world through the prism of our personal beliefs and experiences. If you’re a conservative Republican, Ari Fleischer’s new book, Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias: Why the Press Gets So Much Wrong—And Just Doesn’t Care, will be alarming to you; if you’re a liberal Democrat, you will be encouraged. It’s the same book read through two very different sets of eyes. Christians are not exempt from this reality. Apart from the sanctifying work of God’s Spirit, we are as likely as anyone to fight the “culture wars” by condemning and castigating the “other side.”

In America, users of Facebook spend 58 minutes per day (325 hours per year) on the platform, while users of Instagram spend 53 minutes per day (297 hours per year) viewing its content. And the people and organizations we follow on these platforms influence us more than we might realize. It is my hope that most mature Christians spend less time on these platforms than the average cultural consumer of media. But the truth is, we all spend time with media of some sort every day. In fact, except for personal conversations, prayer, and meditation, there is little that we learn and interact with every day that doesn’t come through media of some sort. (Even the Bible is a form of traditional media — a book.)

In Psalm 20, David noted that “some trust in chariots and some in horses” (v. 7a). Commentator H. D. M. Spence explains that the nation’s enemies to the north, principally the Syrians, were “especially formidable on account of their cavalry and their chariots.” They were known to have, on occasion, seven thousand horsemen in their army (1 Chronicles 18:4; 1 Chronicles 19:18), while David’s army appears to have consisted entirely of foot soldiers. Our society is losing trust in today’s “chariots” and “horses.” Now it is incumbent on us to offer them something they can trust with their days and their souls: “but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7b).

Our only choice in this election year is to get proactive. When candidates hold town hall meetings in your community, ask them tough questions about specific policies that affect people in your town. As candidates post their campaign ads on social media, respond to them and tell them what you would like to hear from them if they are going to gain your vote. When enough people do this, we will see something different from our leaders.

American evangelicals are getting their information and entertainment from both Christian and mainstream secular media, a study from Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research found.

If ever there was a time when our homes and families were under attack by the powers of Satan, it is in the day and time in which we live.

According to researcher George Barna, movies, television, music and other types of media have a larger impact on a child's worldview than school does.

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, only 35 percent of Republicans say they trust the national news media.

Question: What breaking news story happened over the weekend that Fox News reported on, but ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC have ignored? Answer: Obama’s 60^th birthday bash at his swanky home in Martha’s Vineyard with 300-400 partygoers. The event was attended by an all-star cast of rich and famous celebrities who partied, mostly maskless, under a crowded tent ... despite the dire warnings from the CDC that the Delta Variant “is more contagious” and “might cause more severe illness than previous strains” of the COVID-19 virus.