Why Weren’t The Messages The Same?

On April 1, Townhall reported the following:

The White House’s Spanish-language account on X is not simply a replication of content on its English-language page, critics noticed on Sunday.

While the Biden administration wished followers of both pages a happy Easter, it was only the English-language account that celebrated the Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31. On “La Casa Bianca” page, the White House commemorated Cesar Chavez Day.

“Today we remember César Chávez and his noble efforts to bring dignity to the work of agricultural workers in our country,” the post said, according to a translation. “His legacy lives on in the administration’s values and its support for social justice and economic equality for organized labor.” 

In English, however, “The White House” account posted this: “Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our nation. On Transgender Day of Visibility, our Administration honors the extraordinary courage of transgender Americans and reaffirms our commitment to forming a more perfect union – where all people are treated equally.”

It’s interesting that the White House did not think that the Hispanic community would be interested in the Transgender Day of Visibility. I suspect that a lot of American Christians were not interested in the Transgender Day of Visibility.

A Misleading Documentary From The Public Broadcasting Corporation

A watchdog group that sends out alerts about false reporting on the Middle East sent me the following:

A documentary scheduled to air on PBS on Monday, March 29 distorts facts about and caricatures American Christian supporters of Israel – and includes a doctored quote.
 
The documentary, titled ‘Til Kingdom Come, was produced and directed by Israeli filmmaker Maya Zinshtein. It portrays American Evangelicals and Jews living in the West Bank as nefariously working together to convince the White House to hand the entire West Bank over to Israel.
 
To promote the false narrative, filmmakers spliced words President Trump said in the latter parts of a January 28, 2020 press conference announcing his Israeli-Palestinian peace plan into a statement made at the beginning of the same press conference.

This is the quote:

The doctored quote appears 68 minutes into the 76-minute movie. The film’s audio quotes the president as saying: “The United States will recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory that my vision provides to be part of the State of Israel, including the West Bank described so vividly in the Bible.”
 
The president did not say this.
 
A publicly available YouTube video of the press conference in question, from the Washington Post, shows that he said this instead:
 
“The United States will recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory that my vision provides to be part of the State of Israel.” (He said this soon after the 14-minute mark of the YouTube video.)
 
In the actual statement, there is nothing whatsoever about handing “the West Bank described so vividly in the Bible” over to Israel, although he did say some of these words  later in the press conference in a different context when he declared:

“There are many Muslims who never visited Al Aqsa [Mosque] and many Christians and Jews who never visited the holy sites in the West Bank described so vividly in the Bible. My vision will change that. Our majestic biblical heritage will be able to live breathe and flourish in modern times. All humanity should be able to enjoy the glories of the Holy Land.”
 
In neither one of these phrases did the former president use the word “including.” This word likely came from another section of the press conference (at about 12 minutes and 53 seconds into the YouTube video) where he did use this word.
 
That is, the quote heard in Zinshtein’s film includes snippets from three different parts of the press conference that are spliced together.
 
To obscure the alteration, the film shows the president saying the first part of the quote, then inserts a shot of the audience during the middle of his statement, and then returns to show Trump speaking the last section of the fabricated quote.

The alert concludes:

Altering a presidential statement to misrepresent the content of a key policy address is obviously a blatant violation of journalistic ethics. It appears the filmmakers felt the measured language of the actual quote was insufficient to reinforce their storyline, so they spliced together separate and different passages to create a more extreme – and false – message.
 
This is an egregious distortion of the historical record and must be corrected before it is aired on PBS.

How many people trust the Public Broadcasting Corporation as an accurate source of news? Obviously they shouldn’t.

 

A Message To American Christians

As I watch our nation slide further into godlessness and immorality,  I am concerned for the future of my children and grandchildren. Yet as I watch events unfold, I am reminded that the time of Jesus’ return is drawing near. All of the conditions are being met–Israel became a nation in 1948, communication is such that worldwide simultaneous broadcasting is possible, and we are seeing what Jesus identified as ‘birth pangs.’

I don’t know exactly what America’s future will be. I know that we were founded on Judeo-Christian principles and that we have forsaken those principles. It is interesting to me that the two models the Founders used for our system of government were the Anglo-Saxons and Ancient Israel. In Exodus 18, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, tells Moses to teach the Israelites God’s statutes and laws and to select able men who fear God to be rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. These rulers were to judge small local matters so that the burden of governance would be shared. That is the basis of our representative government. The original suggestion for our national sea paid tribute to both Ancient Israel and the Anglo-Saxons.

What is our responsibility as Christians and as Americans at this time? Obviously, we are to share the message of God’s love, but there is more. The current condition of America illustrates the wisdom of John Adam’s words, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Obviously that train has left the station.

I don’t know if it is possible to rescue America. I do believe, however, that if America is rescued, it will be a sovereign work of God through his people. So where do we start? We need to pray for our nation and for its leaders. Next we need to education our children about God’s love and the role of God in government–His place in our founding principles–and then on our history and their future responsibilities as citizens in a Constitutional Republic. Then we need to seek out virtuous (that is an old-fashioned but necessary concept) people to run for local offices (the farm team for national office) and support them with our time and efforts. Next we need to get involved with out current local and state leaders (that is where we have the most influence). We need to email, call, or write their offices regularly regarding current legislation. (All North Carolina legislators and legislation can be found at ncleg.gov). If you live in a state other than North Carolina, the same rules apply. Your state also has a legislative website that can help you get started. Get to know which state legislators will fight for your freedom. Encourage and support them.

God has placed us in a Constitutional Republic. There are responsibilities that go with the freedom He has blessed us with. Now is not the time to throw up our hands in response to the corruption we see around us. Our window of opportunity may be short. We who are living in North Carolina have some legislators who are willing to fight to maintain our freedoms, but there is no guarantee that they will win. If they do win, we may become a small island of freedom in an ocean of tyranny. Our redemption is near, but we have work to do in the meantime.