Beginning the Discernment Journey

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see the previous post, Trusting Jesus in Making the Right Choice A journey of discernment looking at the Presidential candidates
in light of biblical teachings

Looking at the Presidential candidates in light of biblical teachings

By Sandy Szwarc, BSN, RN, retired emeritus © Szwarc 2024

“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and
in your teaching show integrity, dignity.” − Titus 2:7

“Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence,
but a false witness utters deceit.” − Proverbs 12:17

God instructs us to use discernment and make wise choices, not to lean on their own understanding, but to look for truth. But he never promised His way would be easy!

It proved more challenging than I realized to learn objective facts about Ms. Harris or Mr. Trump in trying to make the most Biblical voting decision. I learned why. And those reasons went against everything the Bible taught about telling the truth, openly and honestly.

“These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and
render true and sound judgment in your courts.” − Zechariah 8:16

“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor,
for we are all members of one body.” − Ephesians 4:25

“Let no one deceive you with empty words.” Ephesians 5:6

Decades ago, the entire media was commandeered by globalists, nowadays most notably George Soros who’s among the most powerful and most radical anti-God activist donor on the planet. [See Supplement A.] Soros has spent more than $32 Billion building his power base, not only funding radical progressive causes, candidates and District Attorneys; but especially, news media and front groups, like his Open Society Foundations and Arabella Advisors.

One of the wealthiest people on earth, billionaire globalist, Bill Gates, has also spent over $300 million to influence every segment of media and academia, as was documented from Gates Foundation donor records.

America First Legal learned that Mr. Gates and Mr. Soros had also collaborated on massive projects to censor free speech during election periods. More unfathomably, along with the world’s wealthiest and most influential billionaires, they are now pursuing “philanthrocapitalism” – defined as: for-profit investing in progressive socialist agendas by the ultra-rich to control and create a world of coercive dependency by the masses (the people), while appearing philanthropic.

These two examples don’t begin to describe the scope of wealthy outside influences, foundations, government agencies and nonprofits influencing public information, which has been endlessly documented and confirmed for years in government documents and by independent researchers. Virtually everything we hear, read or watch has been funded by unelected elite billionaires and is disinformation spun for political and marketing purposes, not about honestly imparting facts.

Last year, a massive investigative report was released by the nonprofit, Media Research Center, that was praised by Constitutional lawyer Marc Levin and others. The report, George Soros: Propaganda Powerhouse, revealed Mr. Soros has taken control of media in virtually every continent and language on the planet. Just between 2016-2020, Mr. Soros funded $131 million to 253 major journalism/media groups, including all of those “fact-checker” groups, and the most powerful media conglomerates (i.e. mainstream media) and journalists across the globe.

Mr. Soros has also funded a media group dedicated to global Big Tech efforts to censor internet and social media, attack “disinformation” in every issue that conflicts with globalist interests (including scientific and medical research surrounding abortion, Covid-19, climate change, etc.), and specifically target conservative and faith-based groups labeling them as “hate groups” to “protect democracy.” The success of these Soros-led efforts has been well recognized. The Bible is now considered “hate speech” or a “thought crime,” said Pastor Rob Pue in a recent Wisconsin Christian News commentary.

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Legacy media stopped being objective, balanced or truthful long ago. Media bias and restrictions on free speech have been well-documented and the steady movement towards increasingly radicalized liberalism has been going on for years. In fact, by 2021, U.S. media ranked dead last in the world for trustworthy reporting and freedom of the press. This First Amendment right has never been more threatened, with growing attacks on free speech, calls for censorship and speech controls, purging and retractions of dissenting views, and the weaponization of speech to protect what the government deems “disinformation.”

More than $80 million was exclusively directed by Soros in a campaign against Donald Trump for the 2024 election, calling on over 200 groups to implement policies on their media platforms to “protect democracy worldwide.” (“Democracy” is the code word for collectivism, not as in our republic, explained the Independent Sentinel.).

Media Research Center just released an in-depth investigation into Soros-funded corrupt politicians and prosecutors, after submitting 48 freedom of information public record requests. Disturbingly, it found that the Biden-Harris administration is the most powerful group working with Mr. Soros, with Soros lawyers even embedded in its administration.

Eye-opening media revelations

So, when I Brave Searched online (the world has recognized Google internet search engine cannot be trusted) for false or misleading statements by Mr. Trump, the anonymously-written Wikipedia repeated the claim from Washington Post of 30,573 untruths while in office that had gone viral (few held up to facts when examined by multiple objective sources)…while there was no similar page for Ms. Harris.

It feels like 99% of everything in media for the past decade has been spun anti-Trump, making it impossible to learn objective facts or gain balance and perspective. Not surprisingly, I learned that this perception has been repeatedly confirmed by news critiques.

Even board member Jerry Pierce, Jr. of the left-leaning Washington Media Group, wrote more than four years ago about the media’s hatred of Trump and how every major outlet was spinning every story against Trump. “While watching a non-mainstream television news program, a strange thing happened, they were reporting the news! When I say news, I mean facts, no opinion,” he wrote. “I then changed the channel to CNN and MSNBC and the entire vibe was different. The seemingly single-minded message was immediate, clear, and constant; ‘Trump is wrong, Its Trump’s fault…“‘ He concluded that many in media “have gone from journalist to political activist.”

Media Research Center comprehensively tracks news bias and reported in 2020 that during the entire four years of the Trump presidency, the media demonstrated a concerted effort to tear down this President and “jettisoned its last professional restraints to become active opponents of the President of the United States.” Their report gave countless examples. On each issue, the coverage was spun 89% to 95% negative, while accomplishments − such as promoting religious freedom, record-setting economic gains, and historical peace agreements – were virtually ignored.

Even progressive literary critique, Anis Shivani, wrote: “It has become rank heresy in liberal circles to define Donald Trump as anything but the second coming of Hitler, or at least Mussolini. Fascist or ethno-nationalist motives are evoked to explain Trump’s appeal to the white working class. Yet, during Trump’s first presidency, no new major wars were started, a first for any administration since the onset of the national security state 80 years ago…. Trump was not a fascist when in power. He refused to exercise dictatorial powers when Covid offered him a rare opportunity to do so. His anti-elitist America First movement is essentially the same as what used to be called isolationalism during both World Wars, boasting a legitimate intellectual pedigree going back to the founding of the American republic.” He said the awakening really going on is the raging battle between “American Firsters indisposed towards globalization and all that it brings in its wake, versus a neoliberalism that has emptied itself of any persuasive content except a hypocritical identitarian one.“

By September 1, 2024, Media Research Center found the media bias against Trump, as well as his supporters, had continued relentlessly. Yet, news media insisted it wasn’t bias, MRC reported, because neutrality was considered not an option when it comes to Trump as it would appear to give him legitimacy.

Online clips of anti-Trump communications and the ratcheting up of disturbing violent verbiage stoking fear and hatred against Mr. Trump have raised concerns of growing divisiveness and worries of where it could lead.

It was especially hard to find objective information or critical analyses of Ms. Harris. And since she’s assumed the Presidential candidacy, I couldn’t find a single live, candid interview from her with the press or public or anything that hadn’t been scripted, tele-prompted, and staged. Even the New York Times wrote on August 8^th about her unusual refusal to talk to the news or answer any questions, and Fox News Digital reported on August 26^th that she’d gone 36 days without sitting for an interview or giving a formal press conference. In other words, the only side we’re getting is marketing and scripted emotional appeals. Concerns of media bias were compounded when the close personal ties between Ms. Harris and her husband with ABC News were revealed.

Differentiating sophisticated marketing from objective and factual information is a hard part of the work of discernment. Ahead of the 2020 election, Ms. Harris began laying the groundwork with her own web and digital social media campaign focused on pop culture and Gen Z, according to reporters. Ms. Harris spent massive amounts to build her Democratic power base and influencers, “looking for progressives ready to run innovative and unique digital campaigns.” Within one day after being named the Presidential candidate, her TikTok posts got a reported 14 million views each and raised $100 million in the first 72 hours. The youth arm of the DNC has become a veritable “meme factory” to make her appear more “relatable” and “like she’s one of us.”

Targeting white liberal college-educated young women, the Hysteria podcast created by a Democrat advocacy consultant and former Obama staffer, came up with the “Weird campaign” against Mr. Trump. “This is working because you know what? They’re F-ing weird,” said the host. I was unable to find any serious, thoughtful discussions of issues, but lots of bad language. They currently have 242,000 subscribers and link to the Democratic PAC Vote Save America. Time will tell if young women voters will understand the seriousness and responsibilities of voting for the Commander-in-Chief of the world’s leading free nation. I pray they do.

It turns out, I learned we can’t trust anything we hear to be real. For Christians who value honesty and teach our children to tell the truth, this realization showed me how important it was to learn to discern what was true from false, and to follow the Biblical warnings to test and verify everything so as to not be misled.

So, I dived into researching for verifiable information on a few of the key issues for Christians. The first issue was the freedom of religion, itself…since protections for religious beliefs were so visibly absent from Ms. Harris’ pledge to Americans.