Wizards, Christians, and the Electoral Apocalypse

The next national election will be decided by the work of electronic wizards, not because they stole it, but because we'll hand it to them. With the help of tools like Deepfake, artificial intelligence (AI), and smarter smartphones, a person with limited skill and nefarious intentions can spin a predictable interview into a 30-second firestorm of anger-inducing trick-foolery. The delivery method for this political dirty bomb is the millions of social media consumers, who, eager to pass along the lie, are often unaware and unwilling to stop and think.

For Christians, getting involved in this madness is a sin. It violates the 9th Commandment—"do not give false testimony" (Exodus 20:16). Passing along a hacked video of a politician saying what he or she didn't really say is taking part in slander and gossip. So is passing along a video or soundbite taken out of context, especially if it's shared to discredit or harm the political leader or opponent. This kind of behavior exposes clear hypocrisy. A video against an unliked candidate comes in, and it's damning, but no thought is offered before it's liked and shared. Then a video of a favored candidate comes along. There's a pause to consider that it must be fake or taken out of context, and then it's trashed. Those are unfair standards.

These videos are circulating, and Christians are passing them along by the truckload.

A Christian should be a truth-teller. He or she should speak about the hope of salvation and the damnation of sin. Christians could address truths regarding abortion, CRT, gender, sexual practices against the will of a holy God, unchecked rage and violence, and many other biblical matters, but not if the Christian shares lies about everything else.

The Christian should be thoughtful about matters, giving time to pray about ideas and claims and checking them against Scripture. Hope is the Christian's watchword, but not hope in the election or the politician or the party. Instead, the Christian hopes in God and God's glorious Kingdom to come. The Christian should not look like everyone else by acting like those in the world but instead look like Christ, who is other-worldly and transcended above 4-year election cycles. A Christian should be trustworthy and reasonable because a Christian is an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Sadly, most Christians are first an ambassador of their preferred politician in whom they've placed their trust to fix their problems.

Stop and think the next time one of these videos pops up in your social media feed. Pray about it. Wait. If it's true, it can be shared in a day or two, if necessary. But a gossipy lie will feel like a flaming-hot potato that must be passed immediately. That's the game Christians must not play.

A time is coming, and may even be here now, when we can trust nothing in media. Nothing. Not the news outlets and certainly not anything that comes from the internet, not even from the sites you like. People will have to hear candidates in person. Others who can't attend rallies and debates must listen to those they trust. Will you be among the trustworthy and reasonable? Will you tell the truth? You won't even get the chance if you're a part of the machine passing lies today.

And now is the time to preach the Truth of God's Word. The American political system isn't going to fix all the problems, especially the ones they created. But there is one who redeems and saves—King Jesus Christ. Abortion is murder, but praise the Lord, God will forgive murderers who place their faith and trust in Jesus. Sex is a beautiful gift given to humanity by God, but it is only to be practiced as God intended—within the marital covenant between a man and a woman. The world's problem is indeed the oppressor over the oppressed, but we are all oppressed under the crushing burden of our sin, which only Christ can lift because only Christ had died in your place to bare your sin, freeing us from true oppression. All life is precious, including aborted babies and people killed by gun violence, because, unlike all other animals in creation, God made humans in his image. God instituted the family because God has charged parents to raise their children in the respect and love of God. God knows what is best for the family, and faithful families should trust and obey God.

Truth-tellers should be able to convey these things, but they will only be heard if the truth is not mingled with false videos, political gossip, and careless words.