Personally I am so tired of the “news”!  I listen and then get up and leave or turn it off.  No news.  Some news.  All news.  Real news.  Half truth news.  Fake news.

What is “fake”?  Pretend, deceptive, fraudulent, untrue.

“Fake News” is a relatively new term in today’s lexicon.

Departing from the “news” I began thinking about other “fake news” stories …  (fake news in bold … real truth news in italics) …

“There is no life after death” …

Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement.”  

II Corinthians 5:8, “To be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”  

John 11:25, “Jesus said … I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live …”  

John 14:2-3, “In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (ESV)

“There is no devil” …

Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say…” (NIV).

Isaiah 14:12, “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer son of the morning!  How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” (NKJV)

“There is no hell” …

Matthew 25:46, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Revelation 21:8, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (ESV)

“The 10 Commandments are not valid for today” …

Matthew 5:17-19, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (ESV)

“The Old Testament is not for today” …

1) “The Old Testament substantially influences our understanding of key Biblical teachings…Some doctrines of Scripture are best understood only from the OT…the NT worldview and teachings are built on the framework supplied in the OT.  In the NT we find literally hundreds of OT quotations, allusions, and echoes, none of which we’ll fully grasp apart from saturating ourselves in Jesus’s Bible.”

2) “Jesus said that all the OT points to him (John 5:39) … if you want to know Jesus more, read the OT!”

3)  “Paul commands church leaders to preach the OT … Paul was referring to the OT when he spoke of the ‘sacred writings’ that are able to make a person ‘wise for salvation’ and the ‘Scripture’ that is ‘breathed out by God and profitable’ (II Timothy 4:2-4).”

(all above quoted from The Gospel Coalition, 10 Reasons the Old Testament is Important for Christians)

“I’m too bad and even God can’t forgive me” …

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”  There is NO sin, but one, that God won’t forgive … a repentant sinner He will NOT turn away.  The one sin?  Matthew 12:31-32, “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.  And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” (KJV)

“It’s too late to give my life to Christ” …

The thief on the cross, moments from death said to Jesus in Luke 23:42-43, “‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’.  And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise.’” (ESV)

“God doesn’t love me” …

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  (KJV) That LOVE includes EVERYONE!

“Everybody is going to heaven” …

I Timothy 1:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”.
Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction …”

“There are many roads to God/Heaven” …

John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  

Acts 4:12, And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (ESV)

“I am good enough” …

Romans 3:10, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (KJV)

“How can I know the Bible is true” …

Fulfilled prophecy!  The Old Testament was written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus and contains over 300 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled through His life, death and resurrection.  Here are just a few …

1)  The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem … Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah.  Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.” … Matthew 2:1-6, “Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea …”

2)  The Messiah will be born of a virgin … Isaiah 7:14, “…Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call Him Immanuel — ‘God is with us.’”  Matthew 1:20, “…for the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.”

3)  The Messiah will enter Jerusalem triumphantly … Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem  Look, your king is coming to you.  He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey — even on a donkey’s colt.” … Luke 19:35, “So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for Him to ride on.”

4)  The Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver … Zechariah 11:12-13, “And I said unto them, ‘If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear.  So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. … And I took the thirty pieces of silver …” … Matthew 26:14-16, “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, ‘How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?’ And they gave him thirty pieces of silver…”

(For a more complete list of fulfilled prophecies, go to “Biblical Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus at CBN.com).

“The Bible is an irrelevant book for today” …

The Bible is a book about Jesus and how He can change lives.  It’s a LIVING book.  Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (NKJV).

Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not…” (KJV)

“I don’t need to read the Bible” …

II Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (KJV).  If you are a doctor, teacher, attorney or in many other professions you keep reading and studying to keep up on the latest information.  We eat physical food to stay alive … we need spiritual food to stay alive spiritually!

“I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian” …

Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (KJV)

“Jesus is a crutch” …

Is there a better One to lean on?

“You can’t be sure where you are going after death” …

Romans 10:9, “If you confess with you mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  John 10:9, “I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”(ESV)

“There is nothing I have to do” … “There are no rules to follow”

Matthew 22:37-38, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”

Micah 6:8, “What doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

There are MANY verses in the Bible as to the “do’s and don’ts” of the Christian life … We obey because we LOVE Him.

Don’t be mislead by the “fake news” that we hear today from many pulpits … “Jesus Christ the one yesterday, and today, and forever”!!