But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” Acts 5:34
Exactly how did the word ‘propaganda’ begin? It began as a counter to the reformation in the mid 1500’s happening in the Christian Body. Pope Gregory XV needed to stem the tide of people leaving the ‘Catholic institution’ (Martin Luther and the reformationists, Calvinists, anabaptists, etc.) and began a “missionary effort”. The pope’s effort was deemed the ‘counter reformation’. Our word propaganda came from the Catholic organization formed by the pope called the Congregatio de propaganda fide (Congregation for propagating the faith). The word has since come to mean many things beyond its original meaning.
Merriam-Webster’s defines the word today this way…
1: ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause
2: the spreading of ideas, information, or rumors for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
Were Pope Gregory’s efforts victorious and stopped the reformation? Is the ongoing entire protestant movement a lie? Is the work of the Holy Spirit confined to Man’s ideas and view of theological hierarchical authoritative leadership? We humans LOVE our Man-made formulaic religious ways. The Holy Spirit tends to run counter to those ways. We LIKE to centralize power, programs, buildings, formulas, and authority. The Holy Spirit tends to work in the individual and NOT in the institutional ways. God wants to be our focus… NOT our man-made institutional models. I am reminded of the wisdom Gamaliel said to the Sanhedrin leaders about the disciples of Jesus now filled with the Holy Spirit who were going about and doing miracles in the name of Jesus.
The world is currently in a propaganda war, especially right now in the USA. The institutional media (Mainstream Media) have sided with the globalist agenda thinking the solution is a one world government along with a one world digital monetary system. Anyone against such ideas is the enemy. Sound familiar? Any authority or person NOT aligned with their current daily narrative and thinking is the enemy. (Orange man bad and TDS) And that emotional daily narrative can change in a moment. Facts don’t mean much in that environment. Logic isn’t even in play. Science is twisted to fit the current narrative. Consider COVID (centralized lies for profit). Hypocrisy becomes a valued needed characteristic just to be part of the ‘protest’. You have to divorce yourself from any facts so that you can only be ginned up in your emotions, and usually the emotion is hatred.
How does a Christian walk and live through a time like this? They MUST learn to bring EVERYTHING to Jesus and the Holy Spirit BEFORE, believing, acting, and deciding what is ‘right’. Not an easy thing to do now with social media in everyone’s hands.
Paul encountered this type of atmosphere of “propaganda” within the Roman world. Writing to the believers in the very biggest new ‘progressive’ city of that time (Corinth) he wrote this…
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5
Do you check with Him BEFORE posting on social media? Do you check for the facts of the situation BEFORE allowing your emotions to take you in a direction that you shouldn’t go? Do you even ask Him what you should be posting? I think it would be best if most just left social media platforms completely and worked on real face to face relationships. Yeah… I know… I’m ‘old school’ and ‘out of date’. *sigh*
This old man’s advice? Let’s learn to converse with the Holy Spirit and LISTEN to His answers to us. Learn to check in with Him moment by moment with ALL of your decisions, plans, actions, and emotions. Can you learn to set it all before the throne of Christ BEFORE reacting and responding to things? Can you be ‘still’ and wait for His answer to you? Do you do any research before reacting to the propaganda? Are you a ‘light’ for His Truth or are you allowing your emotions to drive you into believing the propaganda?