Jeff Walton's Blog, page 3

Fake News from a Christian Perspective

Seriously?  I’m not an ordained pastor, but after spending a number of years trying to find my spiritual bearings, I’ve made a few discoveries.  I’ve looked at a lot of Christian teachers and ministries, and I began to recognize the traits of some of the best and most effective.  At the same time, I began to suffer from the onslaught of fake news that has infiltrated the media and plagued all of us.  Surprisingly, I saw some similarities with ministries that have strayed from sound doctrine but none with ministries that have stayed completely true to the Bible .

 

Say What?  Yes, I began to see that fake news and effective ministries employ principals that are polar opposites. Sound ministries give you honesty and clarity with compassion that motivates you to act - exactly the opposite of what you get in most of the media today.

 

Honesty.  One element most notably absent in much of the discourse around the world today is honesty. Most of the media no longer labors to bring unfiltered, uncensored, and unvarnished facts to the public forum these days.  Instead, we get pseudo news carefully selected and structured to support a particular narrative – to the exclusion of the rest of the story.

 

Whether in print, on television, or in social media, we get information that’s spun, hyped, and laced with speculation and in many cases outright fabrication.  Much of the pseudo news is designed to smear or malign a particular target or just entertain with salacious facts mixed with fiction.  As Peter Finch said so famously many years ago in Paddy Chayefsky’s film, Network, “television is in the boredom killing business.” His salient observations describe the other forms of media as well.

 

I can think of no commodity more important to any ministry than the truth.  Not the partial truth but the whole truth without qualification, spiritualization, or rationalization. Where do we find the truth?  Of course, God’s inspired word – the Bible.  Regardless of what the culture’s trends are, the trending TV shows, or the latest “reinterpretation” of the scriptures, I believe every ministry must do everything in its power to stand on the solemn and literal word of God.

 

Clarity.  A tenant closely related to honesty and truth is clarity.  Those who wish to obscure, deflect or conceal the truth often engage in deliberately vague and misleading discourse. Again, the fake news industry is refining obfuscation and deliberate misinformation into a science.  The hapless consumer must now pick through multiple news sources to get even a semblance of the truth.  I learned long ago that if you want an undercover asset to fool a criminal cartel, you must train the asset to mix truth in with fiction when explaining why he or she wants to participate in a criminal enterprise. When you start with a core of truth and then twist it, you can fool a lot of people.

 

Communicating in clear, concise language makes the task of distorting the truth more difficult.  Direct answers to direct questions reveal much and conceal little.  When Jesus answered questions or addressed listeners during his days of ministry on earth, he was honest, frank and crystal clear in his language.  Only when delivering parables was he sometimes vague to mislead those who rejected him.

 

Compassion:  Biblical truths, when delivered without love can be dry and brittle.  It does not revive and refresh – it smothers.  I cringe when I see street preachers carrying large placards and yelling through bull horns that everyone is going to hell.  While their pronouncements are unfortunately somewhat true, the potency of the message is dead on arrival.  The listener is so jarred by the lack of compassion in the message that it’s shunned or ignored.  If only the street corner preacher used compassion and empathy to try and connect with a fallen world.  It may not always work, but trying to inform people of a dire consequence while staying emotionally engaged through love for fellow man is a model we should all consider as an imperative.

 

When people lie, they usually lack compassion for the recipient of their falsehoods.  An exception would be a parent or elder who feigns admiration for a young child’s artistic skills. Agreement with a youngster’s pride in their artwork is an act of love – love for the artist and not necessarily the messy finger-painted art.  A young child would not understand a parent explaining why their painting masterpiece was not ready for display at the Louvre.

 

Conversely, fake news perpetrators care only about their own twisted motivation and insidious goals.  Many are serving masters who hire them to concoct narratives that are constructed out of cherry-picked half-truths.  Fake news is made all the more potent and insidious because a good portion of it is made successful through the exploitation of many consumers’ digital habits. People accept the pop-up headlines because they don’t have the time to confirm or refute through more research.

 

Unfortunately, the fake news problem will only grow worse.  One solution is for Christians to counterbalance the avalanche of fake news by carefully crafted and wholly truthful articles and comments about the events that take place in the world today.

 

What do you think?

 

Are the claims about Disney���s occult roots true?

The charge:  For years, Christian researchers have warned that the Disney empire is founded on an unhealthy and unholy tie to the occult.  Pundits have pointed to the heavy references to sorcery, witchcraft and the occult in Disney films dating back decades.  Further, they point out that recent Disney films have become increasingly dark and menacing, such as Maleficent and the most recent Beauty and the Beast, which features an “updated” Beast with Baphomet-style horns.

 

Concerns overhyped?  Some would say that Disney is just good family entertainment that mirrors the culture we live in.  After all, most of it contains fantasy-style animated features and films that appeal to youth.  Anyone who has seen a monster movie as a kid is no worse for the wear, right?

 

Seeing Disney up close.  Disney’s films and parks say a lot about the company.  Clearly their overarching goal is to make a profit, and no one can fault them for pursuing the American dream. 

 

But there is another side, too. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit some of the Disney parks in Orlando. While watching the shows and enjoying the rides, I started to pick up on some themes.  One could view the parks from two different perspectives, and I’ll give you both from my vantage point.

 

View 1: relax, it’s just good clean fun.  Disney parks are just good old entertainment modernized into technologically-updated packages that reflect the world we live in.  Sure, the rides and attractions have plenty of fairies, goblins, mythical creatures and references to magic, but its a commercial entertainment venue.  People who bash Disney see the occult or Satan around every corner. Christians need to learn how to lighten up and enjoy themselves once and a while.

 

View 2: the shiny veneer hides a sinister interior.  The glamor and glitz of the Disney parks reflects a moral and spiritual decline that is sweeping the nation and the world.  Many facets of Disney turn people away from God.  The entire theme of one park is magic.  Consider the Disney character shows that are held in front of the Magic Kingdom castle on a daily basis.  The show’s premise is that people should focus on themselves to find happiness. 

 

The new state-of-the-art attraction - Pandora - The World of Avatar – in Animal Kingdom, involves an incredible ride that simulates linking the rider’s brain with an avatar’s and then experiencing the thrill of riding on the back of a banshee by virtue of the avatar’s senses. Wow, it’s an amazing experience.

 

From a Christian perspective; however, the ride is troubling.  First, avatars represent human/alien being hybrids who are created by man - not by God. Secondly the whole concept of linking one’s brain with a genetically-created being is fraught with problems.  While it may seem like high-tech fun and an incredible thrill, it has a message – life comes from various sources – some man-made.  The concept of God as our creator and the creator of all things is passé. Plus, it has the feel of mental conditioning for things to come........

 

Is that the kind of message we want for our kids?

 

 

When a Christian Leader Misspeaks in Public - What Should a Follower of Christ Do?

The offense:  A few weeks before Easter Sunday, Franklin Graham tweeted “Jesus Christ is God in the flesh; and he took your sins and mine to the Cross, dying in our place, so that we might live – if we put our faith in Him. (3/13/18, 3:03 PM).  Obviously, Pastor Graham was making a general statement that captured the essence of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, but as we all know, the skeptics are ready to pounce on the most minute mistake made by a nationally-recognized Christian leader.

 

The responses: Hundreds reacted to Franklin Graham’s tweet. While I did not take an actual count of the pro and con responses, the slight majority seemed to come from the atheists, skeptics and a variety of other non-Christians. 

 

One astute reader tweeted: “I have a question. Where is Jesus right now? Frank says he’s “God in the flesh.” Okay, so he’s made up of matter. Molecules. That means he displaces some space. Where? And don’t say “heaven,” unless you can give me some coordinates. I’m honestly asking. Anybody?”

 

Did the skeptic have a point?  In a word, yes.  In my humble opinion, Pastor Graham, for whom I have tremendous respect, most likely meant to say, “Jesus Christ is Lord; he came to our world as God in the flesh,” or words to that effect.  That minor word change would have disarmed the many critics who pounced on the literal meaning of his words.

 

The choice – take the high road or engage?  In my perusal of the many scores of responses from Christians, none offered any direct rebuttals to the skeptic.  While many quoted scripture or made calls to have faith – answers that would carry weight with believers – most, in my opinion, were answers that were sloughed off like dead skin by the skeptics. 

 

A suitable answer? Maybe a different response would have been more appropriate.  How about one that would have met the skeptic in his own naturalistic world?  Forget for a moment the dangers of engaging in a potentially fruitless tit-for-tat exchange that would most likely go nowhere.  But if one were inclined to engage, perhaps one route to take might be the following:

 

“Actually, Jesus Christ did come to earth as God in the flesh, was crucified, and rose from the dead after three days.  Where is he now?  What would the coordinates be?  I suspect the coordinates would be in the same zip code as all the dark matter and energy that not a single scientist can yet locate.  They all know it exists, since it makes up roughly 85% of the entire universe, yet they can’t find it in this physical time/space continuum. Funny thing about invisible entities, MapQuest just can’t zero in on them yet.  One thing we can find is the written record that documents over 500 witnesses observing Jesus Christ in the flesh after his resurrection and his disciples watching him convert to some other form and disappear in a bright light – a form of brilliant matter/energy we can’t locate yet.  I suspect when scientists figure out how to locate the dark matter, they’ll find the light matter too.”

 

 

Is the Media Promoting Satan?

Well yes – literally and figuratively.  In a literal sense, the media, and more broadly the entertainment industry, do promote Satan.  It’s a fact.  Just look at the television show Lucifer, which projects a benign image of the evil one.  Countless other films and TV shows have depicted Satan in a positive light too.

 

But in a broader sense, the media does Satan’s bidding without consciously thinking about it.

 

How does the media promote Satan’s work?  Recently, I was reminded of the tragic story of Charles Templeton, the former evangelist who preached with the late Billy Graham.  He was the rising star who lost his faith and in the end devoted his life to declaring that God could not exist.  How did he fall?  What caused his faith to crumble?

 

Then I turned on the television, and a possible answer came to me.  We are all washed in a sea of negativity, as Templeton was even before the days of cable news.  Day after day, we’re told of stabbings, shootings, earthquakes and fires.  All of the negative and evil on this earth gets top billing.  The old saying, “If it bleeds, it leads” has never been truer.  Without consciously planning, the media is putting the spotlight on the work of Satan and the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin and the resulting fallen world.  Through their constant spotlighting of tragedy and the macabre in a never ending quest for higher ratings, the media leaves God out of the picture.

 

What if someone started a Good News Channel?  Years ago, the concept of a weather channel or a cooking channel was laughed at.  Now the naysayers wish they had a second chance.  What would something like a Good News Channel look like? Well obviously, the literal and ultimate Good News is the gospel - the hope for salvation given to us by Jesus Christ must always be center stage.  But beyond our central mission of being ambassadors for Christ is our responsibility as Christians to make an honest appraisal of the good old planet earth that Father God put us on.

 

The end will come, but right now there’s still plenty of love and beauty in the world to highlight and celebrate.  Recently, while babysitting some of my grandchildren, I was amazed at the beautiful screen saver images that automatically displayed on my daughter’s TV.  Image after image of gorgeous landscapes, waterfalls, sandy beaches and stunning sunsets played for more than an hour. I never saw one of the magnificent scenes repeated.  How beautiful the earth is I thought – even in its fallen state.  We focus on the negative, but if we ever focused on all the beauty and goodness that God has bestowed on this earth, we’d be amazed.

 

Still plenty to be thankful for. Stunning natural beauty, neighbor helping neighbor, beautiful projects of restoration, selfless acts of kindness – what if we highlighted them on a 24/7 basis?  Wouldn’t that encourage others and also remind us all that despite our damaged world, what God has left us to work with is still by and large incredibly beautiful?

 

If we don’t restore balance – the darkness with continue to overshadow the light. A TV show of nothing but good news would go a long way toward bringing back some equilibrium.  In the meantime, let’s do our part by giving God credit for all of the good he does every second of every day – often through man.  We can start by admiring his beautiful creation.  Your thoughts?

 

Is the study of the Bible���s structure actually promoting the occult?

Final Departure is panned over a perceived flaw. Not too long ago, a Christian counselor and former pastor whom I greatly respect told me that chapter five, “Patterns,” of Final Departure, was a turnoff. The reason he cited? Numerology. I was initially taken aback because no one has ever raised the issue before. I was thankful for the constructive feedback and concerned I had inadvertently made a huge error—so I did some digging.



I’m a neophyte when it comes to biblical research and the study of the Christian faith, so I assumed I had overlooked an important fact.



In this case, I found that numerology is any belief in the divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It’s the study of numbers and how they relate to people, and it encompasses astrology and tarot card reading. In some branches of numerology, numbers correspond with specific physical “vibrations.”



Numerics, on the other hand, is the plain-language term coined for the study of the mathematical patterns found in the Hebrew and Greek passages of the Bible—the Old and New Testaments. Its root word is the adjective numeric, and its most commonly-used form is numerical, which indicates a number or system of numbers.



Crunching the numbers. Biblical numerics is possible because all Hebrew and Greek letters also have a numerical value. Using the numerical values, researchers can conduct mathematical calculations that can be checked and verified.



The study of the numerical structure of the Bible has been ongoing for centuries. One of the most notable numerics researchers I reference in Final Departure is the late Ivan Panin.



Using Panin’s work as a foundation, Karl Sabiers, in his work, Astounding New Discoveries! Mathematics Proves Holy Scriptures, analyzes the Book of Matthew, chapter 1, verses 18–23, and through a mathematical analysis of the cited chapters’ numerical values, he discovers what he calls “features.” For example, feature one is adding up the number of Greek words in the cited passages of Matthew. The sum is exactly 161, which is divisible by seven. He goes on to list scores of more “features” that involve the number seven in Matthew. Citing mathematical calculations that support the law of probability, Sabiers writes that the chances of just 24 numeric features appearing in the Bible by chance that involve the number seven are one in 91,381,231,380,566,414,501.



As Sabiers puts it, “… as a watermark identifies the genuineness of paper, so there are mathematical patterns beneath the surface of the original Bible text so complex that they can only be accounted for by Divine Providence.”



Don’t all written works contain some numerical features? Panin did a numeric analysis of popular Hebrew and Greek works from the general time frame of the Bible and found that none contained any numerical patterns.



Is seven really the lucky number? Seven is but one of scores of numbers that appear in the Bible repeatedly. In addition to being part of the Bible’s structural underpinning, the number seven appears to be a number of high significance to God. The Book of Revelation describes 21 (3 x 7) judgments that will be distributed upon the earth via seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls.



In Joshua 6:2–20, God instructed Joshua and his followers to march around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and on the seventh day, to march around the wall seven times and then blow seven trumpets. The walls of Jericho collapsed. Also, let’s not forget that a week is composed of seven days, Moses was called by the Lord on the seventh day (Exodus 24:16), and Joseph correctly interpreted the pharaoh’s dream of seven fat cows and seven lean cows. I could go on and on. The point is not that the number seven has some occultist connection with the supernatural. Rather, it’s just one of many numbers that God has used throughout the millennia to accomplish tasks in our physical environment. Numbers have meaning, and God is showing us that he prefers to use specific numbers for reasons we can’t fathom.



So what’s the verdict? I believe biblical numerics are part of God-breathed Scripture, just as DNA is the molecular signature of God’s design of the human body. Numerics are not discussed in the Bible, but the results of their application reveal God’s unparalleled divine creativity. The meaning of the life-giving words of Scripture and the numerical patterns inherent in those words are two separate phenomena. One is designed for obvious edification and one is hidden for discovery by enterprising researchers stirred by the Holy Spirit.



I believe Panin devoted 50 years of his adult life because he saw and felt the awe of discovery when he crunched the numbers—an awe not unlike what we feel when we finally grasp the full import and meaning of a passage of Scripture. Panin was followed by researchers E. W. Bullinger and James Harrison, to name a few.



The study of the word of God is an exercise in exploration, discovery, and revelation. Some great mathematicians have discovered the Bible has some unique patterns under the surface of the words that qualify the book to be termed supernatural. Self-authenticating is also not off the mark. What do you think?

 

The Book is Done, but the Author���s Not Finished

  I have a confession to make.  I have an I-Love-Me wall in my home. Actually,  I’ve turned almost all four walls of my in-home office into an altar to myself.  Plagues, certificates, photographs, and mementos from fellow government agencies and foreign counterparts.  Now I’m adding framed book awards.

 

Not that there’s anything wrong with displaying academic and professional credentials – particularly in a place of business such a doctor’s office.  And yes, displaying reminders of missions accomplished – particularly in the service of your country - is not inherently an act of vanity.  But the truth is I put those wall hangings there to partly bolster my ego.  I put them up to help me define myself and to give me a sense of self-worth.

 

What’s the point of all this?  One of the biggest moral shortcomings I see in myself and some baby-boomers in general is pride. To my generation, rugged individualism, self-sufficiency, and personal achievements are all considered hallmarks of success and something to be admired and encouraged.  But they can cause problems too. God didn’t create us to worship others or ourselves – only him. 

 

Did Simon and Garfunkel’s I am a Rock have it right? I’ve learned the hard way that an overreliance on one’s own abilities can all lead to unintended consequences. Isolation, arrogance, and cynicism to name a few.  When we think we have all the answers, we stopping asking others for advice and help.  We live in our own echo chamber where we constantly confirm that our way is the right way.  Sadly, many times it is not. We fail to grow and mature in important ways. We become our own role model.

 

If we have complete faith in our own abilities, then why should we appeal to a higher power for help?  Why should we seek the strength and grace of Father God when we can do it all ourselves?

 

Who get’s it right? According to the late C.S. Lewis, the moral failing that is the greatest evil is pride. It separates us from God.  Pride was the vice that caused Lucifer’s downfall and his becoming the devil.  In my case, pride was the most difficult personal flaw to identify.  I needed a trusted confidant to break the news to me gently.

 

I bring this up because pride nearly caused my downfall before God found a way to get my attention and bring me back to reality.  I wasted decades in my self-constructed cocoon of self-reliance.  I wish someone would have pulled me aside years ago and whispered in my ear the harsh but necessary truth – you can’t worship God when you’re worshiping yourself.  Someone finally did, but only after I had done much damage to myself and others.

 

Will the one really worthy of worship please stand up? My role model now?  Jesus Christ.  As Matthew 11 tells us, Jesus was gentle and humble in heart.  Yet the Bible also reveals he was shrewd, brave, open to others, and patient while being unbelievably strong in character.  Not to mention the fact that he could perform miracles.  Even secular historians who wrote about Christ’s life documented that he was a wise man and a doer of wonderful works.  Great qualities to emulate, particularly when we consider he was God in human form.  Someone worthy of worship.

 

Better late than never.

Why are NDEs a prominent part of the Final Departure���s Story?

Organized religion has doubts

Last year, I received a letter from the associate pastor of a major evangelical ministry who had read Final Departure.  I greatly respected their ministry, and I had sent them a copy in the hope of getting some feedback. While their overall impression was highly favorable, they did express some unease that one of the foundational premises of the book was based on near-death-experiences (NDEs).  They were concerned that I had attributed too much credence to them. I’ve seen many other Christian pastors denounce NDEs as satanic or something negative that should be ignored.

Why did I include NDEs at all?

Final Departure is a novel that presents information, that when evaluated as a whole, becomes a body of circumstantial evidence that tends to prove that God exists.  Just as I did in my previous career, I surveyed all potential evidence and evaluated each category for relevance and strength of supporting facts.  I found NDEs to be a compelling body of eyewitness testimony that should not be ignored in my view.

 

Did I just make up the information about NDEs?  After all, my book is fiction.

I studied many hundreds of NDEs and read many scores of books about specific NDE accounts.  I also read professional NDE studies done by members of the medical and scientific communities, and I interviewed NDE witnesses.  I simply summarized my findings via the dialogue of the novel’s protagonist.

 

Stories from NDE witnesses are just anecdotal information. I can’t prove anything based on anecdotes – right?

True. Anecdotes are unverified stories provided by untested individuals.  In cases where NDE witnesses’ cases are examined by impartial professionals, their accounts take on new weight.  Their “stories” are examined, tested, and compared with all available information surrounding the events in question. They cease being anecdotes.

In the criminal investigation profession within the law enforcement community, eyewitness testimony – in the absence of direct physical evidence - is sometimes the strongest – and in some cases the only evidence proffered in a trial as fact.  Either the jury or judge decide the facts have been sufficiently established or not.  In the case of NDEs, I believe the consistent reporting of many thousands of NDE witnesses tends to reveal a distinct pattern of common elements in their experiences. I also believe those common elements tend to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that NDEs are a unique phenomenon that do occur.  What can never be established is the authenticity of each reported NDE and the reliability and veracity of each individual witness. Just as in each criminal trial, the witnesses and evidence must be examined on a case by case basis.

 

Why the focus on hellish NDEs?  Aren’t I worried about scaring readers away?

No, I feel I have a moral obligation to present the facts – in this case through my novel.  Based on my own review of past research on the subject, I believe hellish NDEs are the most underreported and under-studied form of NDE. I believe that God, through Jesus Christ, is trying to warn mankind that hell is real and that the only way to avoid an eternity of misery is to repent, humble yourself, and develop a true relationship with Jesus Christ.