Overwhelmed by the News

The moral fabric of our culture is unraveling so quickly that it is now impossible to focus on any of the increasingly outrageous revelations in our news cycle for more than a few fleeting days before becoming inundated with an entirely new set of shocking threats to our faith, politics, and daily lives. Perpetually agitated by massive quantities of bad news, the response of many has been to disconnect and ignore the news and its implications. But is this the response God desires from His people?

Following the news is both mentally and emotionally exhausting. It is OK to admit this. There is nothing wrong with feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by the news, but there is something wrong with allowing our exhaustion to excuse disconnecting from the moral course our country is charting.

We are a nation governed by the people, but what happens when the people become disengaged, choosing instead to outsource the governance of the country to professional politicians? We have both a patriotic and a moral responsibility to hold our nation to account. As such, our solution cannot be to trust others to pay attention to the news on our behalf and to expect them to resist the moral decline of our country.

It is only through the efforts of informed and engaged Christians that our country has any hope of changing course. However, this requires that we stop thinking of the news as purely political and recognize that there is a moral and biblical undercurrent to most of the major headlines. To illustrate this, let’s categorize some of the major headlines from this last week according to moral issues that provoke God to national judgment.

SEXUAL IMMORALITY/CONFUSION

First Transgender Bishop Elected in Mainline Protestant Denomination; Celebrates ‘Dismantling’ Council of Nicaea Standards^[1]

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America became the first mainline Protestant denomination to elect a transgender bishop, Megan Rohrer, who also happens to identify as queer and is married to a woman. Rhorer celebrated her appointment by tweeting, “The first council of Nicaea’s first action was to try to limit the leadership roles of trans pastors and bishops. I’m grateful the Lutherans of the @sps_elca are beginning to dismantle this and some of the other hurdles BIOPC [black, indigenous, and people of color] and LGBTQ pastor’s encounter.” (Most likely, Rhorer is referring to Canon 1 of the Council which forbids those who have castrated themselves from serving in the clergy.)

Penn State Nixes Labels Such as “Freshman,” “Junior,” “Senior,” Citing Lack of Gender Inclusivity^[2]

Pennsylvania State University has determined that gendered language comes from living in a male-dominated society. It has chosen to replace alleged paternalistic labels such as “freshman/junior/senior/super-seniors/upperclassmen/underclassmen” with “first-year, second-year, etc./advanced standing students/lower division/upper division.” Gender binary terms such as “he/him/his” and “she/her/hers” will be replaced with “they/them/their” and other non-gendered terms such as “student/faculty member/staff member.”

Parent Infuriated after Virginia High School Allowed Student to Read Graphic Book about Oral Sex[3]

Honor students in Virginia’s Loudoun County Public School district—one of the most affluent school districts in the nation—were taught the book Monday’s Not Coming. The 30-plus uses of the F-bomb, graphic sexual language, and borderline pornographic content of this book is far too inappropriate to even provide examples in this article.

LAWLESSNESS

Pelosi Unilaterally Extends Unconstitutional Proxy Voting Scheme through July 3^[4]

When U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defied the U.S. Constitution by permitting representatives to vote via proxies in 2020, she justified the decision by pointing to the exceptional risk that COVID-19 posed to members of Congress. Every member of Congress has now had ample opportunity to be vaccinated, and the Centers for Disease Control has said it is safe to assemble indoors—even unmasked, if vaccinated. Nevertheless, Speaker Pelosi has extended her unconstitutional proxy voting rule.

Disabled Army Vet Attacked by Four Black Women Calling Her a “White B-tch” – Court to Decide If It Was a Hate Crime^[5]

This is one of many reports of seemingly unprovoked and racially motivated attacks—primarily against White and Asian people.

CULTURE OF LIES

After Years Harassing the President of the United States, Donald Trump, the Fake-News NY Times Finally Admits, the Steele Dossier Was a Lie That “Never Materialized or Has Been Proven False”^[6]

This is the closest the New York Times will come to admitting that the Russia collusion story was a hoax, despite their having received a Pulitzer Prize for what was hailed as the Times’ deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage of it.

Oregon Department of Education Drops $50,000 on Nikole Hannah-Jones “1619 Project” Webinars^[7]

Despite being told by leading historians that the 1619 Project is untrue and riddled with mistakes and exaggerations, the New York Times produced a curriculum designed to inject this new version of American history into schools. Now the Oregon Department of Education has paid the author of the 1619 Project $50,000 to present her reimagined history of America in two webinars.

“A Pernicious, Insidious, Awful Practice”: How the Biden Administration Is Editing Our News^[8]

“President Joe Biden and his appointees use ‘a pernicious, insidious, awful practice’ to ‘control’ media coverage of this administration, according to Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, as the Biden administration regularly demands the right to revise, rewrite, or remove any quotation made by its officials before it appears in a news story. Numerous journalists confirmed the practice and admitted they often agreed to the Biden team’s terms, even while covering the 2020 presidential campaign.”

Space Force Officer Fired for Blasting Marxism in Military: “We Were Taught” Whites “Inherently Evil”^[9]

Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier was fired after criticizing Marxist ideology in the military and divisions caused by critical race theory. According to Lohmeier, every base service member was even asked to watch videos that “taught that the country was evil, that it was founded in 1619, and not 1776 and that whites are inherently evil.”

CNN Talked about Liz Cheney Four Times More Than the Israel/Hamas Conflict^[10]

CNN illustrated its technical director’s recent admission that the network prioritizes political agendas over news by obsessing over the Republicans’ decision to remove Representative Liz Cheney from its caucus leadership. Incredibly, the removal of the third-chair leader in the minority party received four times more coverage than the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas, and three times more coverage than any economic issue—including the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline due to cyberhackers demanding ransom. Moreover, coverage of Representative Cheney almost entirely replaced any coverage of detentions at the Southwest border reaching a 20-year high or of President Biden breaking his campaign promise by resuming construction of the border wall.

New Video Shows U.S. Capitol Police Gave Protesters OK to Enter on Jan. 6^[11]

America was told protesters overwhelmed the Capitol Police on January 6 and illegally entered the U.S. Capitol building during a protest on January 6. Those who entered the building have repeatedly been arrested and held without bail, but a newly obtained video shows Capitol Police officers at the time welcoming the protesters into the building with instructions on how to properly conduct themselves.

Fauci Flip Flops AGAIN, Now Admits Wearing a Mask While Fully Vaccinated Was Political Theater^[12]

When asked by Senator Rand Paul in a Congressional hearing why Dr. Anthony Fauci continued to wear a mask after being vaccinated, Fauci repeatedly argued that his actions were based entirely on science and not political theater. This exchange was used to justify continued authoritarian mask mandates across the country. However, Dr. Fauci has now admitted on Good Morning America that his actions were for the sake of appearances and that he knew the science showed that his risk of being infected was extremely low.

Biden Revokes Trump’s Order Targeting Online Censorship^[13]

President Biden revoked Trump’s Executive Order 13925 directing that the policy of the United States should be that “an internet provider be exposed to liability like any traditional editor and publisher that is not an online provider.” Because of this policy reversal, we can expect truth and freedom of speech to continue to come under attack while spurious, unchallenged narratives are promoted.

PROMOTING EVIL

Report: Colonial Pipeline Paid Nearly $5 Million in Ransom to Hacker Group^[14]

More than 15,000 gas stations ran out of fuel following the cyberhack of the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies oil to half of America’s eastern coast. After repeatedly involving itself in the affairs of private companies—ranging from public messaging to proposing that all scientific patents be revoked for the public good—the Biden administration determined it was not the government’s place to interfere in this matter, despite it being one of the most significant cyberhacks on our nation’s infrastructure in history. Moreover, the administration ignored our nation’s longstanding policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists, saying the decision of whether to pay a ransom to the Eastern European hackers who compromised the Colonial Pipeline was entirely a decision for the company to make. These actions can do nothing but embolden future ransom attacks.

CNN Faces Backlash over Contributor’s Pro-Hitler Tweets: “He Did Good with Those Jews!”^[15]

CNN has repeatedly accused its competitors and political adversaries of being Fascist, Neo-Nazi, Racists, but only CNN is known to have hired such an individual to its staff. For eight years, CNN has employed Adeel Raja, who has 54 articles under his byline at CNN. Unfortunately, Raja has repeatedly tweeted anti-Semitic and pro-Hitler comments. During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Raja wrote, “The only reason I am supporting Germany in the finals – Hitler was a German and he did good with those Jews!” The next day he tweeted, “Hail Hitler!” This week he wrote, “The world today needs a Hitler.”

CORRUPTION

Windham, NH Audit Results Show Ample Evidence That Voting Machines Favored Democrats, Are Not Reliable and Cannot Be Trusted^[16]

An audit of the voting machines used in Windham, New Hampshire cannot replicate the official totals from machines used in the 2020 election. According to Belknap County, New Hampshire Republican State Committee Member Dr. David Strange, the audit shows machines consistently shorting Republicans at a greater rate than Democrat candidates. (This is only one of numerous disturbing reports this week related to election audits, including a decision by the election supervisors to ignore the senate’s inquiries and subpoenas related to an ongoing audit in Maricopa, Arizona.^[17])

HUGE! Maricopa County Audit Team Admit Files Were Deleted but THEY WERE ABLE TO RECOVER THOSE FILES^[18]

The audit of Maricopa, Arizona’s 2020 election has surfaced several disturbing issues, including that an entire election database had been deleted from the voting machines by an unknown party.

Voting Machines in Pennsylvania County Only Rejecting Republican Ballots in Tuesday Primary Election^[19]

Voting machines in Fayette County are rejecting ballots—but only Republican ballots, according to Chris Varney, Judge of Elections. Until the problem can be resolved, election officials are defying proper procedure and risking allegations of fraud by collecting the Republican ballots and storing them in the back of the voting machines without scanning them.

SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD

“Source of Discord”: Vatican Urges Caution to U.S. Bishops Considering Formal Rebuke of Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians^[20]

Because politicians regularly support other sinful practices besides abortion and euthanasia which the Church does not wish to emphasize, the Vatican has cautioned against withholding the Eucharist from politicians on the basis of their policies regarding human life.

Abbott Sings “Heartbeat” Bill Allowing Texans to Sue Abortion Providers^[21]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an abortion law preventing clinics from performing or inducing abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The law also allows lawsuits to be brought against abortion providers.

Supreme Court Takes up Mississippi Abortion Ban Case That Could Limit Roe v. Wade^[22]

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case regarding a straightforward ban in Mississippi on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Court will consider the question of “whether all pre-viability prohibitions are, by definition, unconstitutional without regard to what they ban and whether they present only limited restrictions on what the Supreme Court has defined to be a ‘right.’”

Do you feel overwhelmed? Considering that the above list is merely a highlight reel of morally relevant stories from just one week, it is easy to understand why we feel overwhelmed by the news. But note how these “political” stories are really reports of ways in which immorality is being fostered in our country. As such, monitoring the news is truly a form of spiritual vigilance. Conversely, to ignore the news is to ignore spiritual threats to our country.

What should we do? How can we find a balance between becoming overwhelmed or disconnecting? Perhaps we can begin by simply choosing one issue to watch. Rather than ingest every news report on a myriad of issues, choose one issue to monitor. Scan headlines for that particular issue. Subscribe to podcasts and watchdog organizations that will notify of developments in that particular field. And ask friends to tell us when they hear important updates on that issue.

There is an old adage that says, “A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.” Perhaps we may consider adding additional issues at some point, but let’s start with one. Let’s become informed on one important issue so that we can inform others. And let’s get involved. Let’s do something with the information we have in order to make a difference.