Our U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the creation of a Disinformation Governance Board. The DHS Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, explained that its proposed purpose is to protect national security by combating “misinformation, disinformation and mal-information (MDM).”
One cybersecurity advisor says there are differences among these three forms of communication:
- Misinformation is false information spread without the intent to manipulate the public.
- Disinformation is the spread of information with the purpose to manipulate the public.
- Mal-information is factual information that’s used maliciously or without context to harm an individual, country or other entity (for example, real documents that are spread or “leaked’ for malicious purposes).
Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas (R) recently said of this new entity: “During the worst border crisis in history, Biden’s DHS is creating an Orwellian ‘disinformation governance board’ led by a partisan Democrat who herself spread disinformation. What a disgrace.”
Others, like Missouri’s Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R), described the board as the “ministry of truth,” probably connecting to the contradictorily named government departments in George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian, fictional novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. There the “Ministry of Truth” concerned itself with intentional ambiguity in language or the actual inversions of the meaning of words for the purpose of government propaganda and praxis. In Orwell’s Ministry of Truth, supposed “truth” was lies and lies were accepted as “truth.”
“Nothing New Under the Sun”
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun“ (Eccles. 1:9, NIV).
The Bible describes the serpent in the Garden of Eden as being crafty and cunning (Gen. 3:1-6, 13; 2 Cor. 11:3) in its deception of Eve. Later in Old Testament history, the snake is listed as an unclean animal (Lev. 11) and is described in Revelation 12:9 as “the great dragon” and as “the serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (NIV).
Verse 10 calls this evil one “the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night” (NKJV).
Just as this master devil deceived Eve, he would seek to trick, trap and trample us today as well. “There is nothing new under the sun.” But our Lord, by His terrible death and wonderful resurrection, has defeated and made a public spectacle of the powers of hell (Col. 2:15).
This God-ordained action fulfilled the Messianic prophecy to the serpent of old:
“Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [seed] and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:14-15, ESV).
Lying Is the Deceptive Tool of the Devil and His Demons
In John’s Gospel (8:44, AMP), Jesus says that there is no truth in the devil. “When he lies, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths.” The same is true of his lesser devils, the demons who try to trick or trap us with their lies of deception.
Like tree roots that work their way into drainage pipes or sewer lines, these demons try to continually convince us of things that are not true. They tell us we are not what we are: blood-bought, forgiven and sanctified children of God! We are “children of the light,” not children of the night (1 Thess. 5:5, NIV)! We are a work in progress, and God isn’t finished with us yet!
Demons try to discourage, depress and defeat us with their “lies and half-truths.” They stir the pot of our spiritual uncertainties. They whisper lies in the ears of our innermost personalities — lies that contradict the confidence and strength and loveliness that God has planted there. Their lies deceptively distract and distort in an unending bid for the most precious places in our minds, dreams and hopes.
Similar to when Satan, that serpent of old, deceived Eve with his accusing questions (Gen. 3:1-13), the devil and his demons want us to think that Jesus doesn’t continue to love us after we may have taken a step backward in our continuing journey to our Father in heaven. They want us to think that our recent bad choices have taken us a step too far away from God’s forgiveness and redemption.
The devil wants to trample us down. Jesus wants to lift us up! That’s the real truth!
God treasures you, highly esteems you and delights in you as His own possession! He offers you His “future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11, NKJV). Receive His love and forgiveness — again — today, as you “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14, NKJV). {eoa}
Gary Curtis served in full-time ministry for 50 years, the last 27 years of which he was part of the pastoral staff of The Church on The Way, the Van Nuys, California, Foursquare church. Now retired, Gary continues to write a weekly blog at worshipontheway.wordpress.com and frequent articles for digital and print platforms.
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