We’re living in a time when truth is harder than ever to pin down. And more and more, I find myself alarmed—not just by what people believe, but how they come to believe it. The tools of deception have gotten stronger. The screens we stare at are more convincing than ever... and more capable of lying.
In 2015, I wrote about the tragedy in Ferguson and how social media, cable news, and presuppositions twisted the facts into opposing narratives. I wrote: "Ferguson is a microcosm of a real problem we have in the world of social media and 24-hour news for profit."
Now in 2025, I believe Ferguson was a preview of something worse. Because we’ve entered a world where even the evidence can be faked.
It used to be, “seeing is believing.” But now? Not anymore. We are rapidly losing our grip on what can be trusted.
We’re now seeing viral videos, photos, and audio clips so convincingly generated by AI that people will swear by them—defend them—act on them—without a second thought. They look real. They sound real. And sometimes, they're nothing more than digital puppetry.
We’re no longer victims of bad reporting. We’re victims of synthetic reality.
In Screens We Trust?
Back in his book Future Crimes (2015), Marc Goodman saw it coming. In Chapter 8—aptly titled "In Screens We Trust"—he began with a quote from the 1992 film Sneakers:
“The world isn’t run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money. It’s run by ones and zeros... It’s all about information—what we see and hear, how we work, what we think.”
That was fiction. Now it's frighteningly true.
We’ve all followed a GPS app that led us the wrong way—sometimes against our instincts. We ignored the little voice inside because we trusted the louder voice coming from the device.
But now, it’s bigger than directions. It’s entire realities being fabricated—events that never happened, confessions never spoken, faces and voices stitched together with chilling precision.
Deepfakes. Synthetic media. Fraudulent accounts and bot armies that manipulate perception on a massive scale.
Even back in 2014, Facebook admitted over 140 million fake accounts. That was before AI made it easy. Now, a person with zero followers this morning can post an AI-generated image of a political candidate “doing something horrible,” and by dinner, it’s trending. Fact-checkers arrive late to a room that’s already on fire.
We are drowning in information and starving for truth.
And the real danger isn’t just that these fakes exist. It’s that we want to believe them. If it supports our presuppositions, we embrace the lie. If it challenges us, we dismiss the truth. We don’t follow facts anymore—we recruit them to support our side.
The Most Dangerous Screen
Of all the screens in our lives—TVs, phones, laptops—the most deceptive one might just be the cable news screen. It pretends to inform. But most of the time, it affirms your bias, heightens your outrage, and deepens your division.
We're no longer asking, “What is true?” We’re asking, “What makes me feel justified?”
And in that environment, love loses.
The Power of Presuppositions
I’m haunted by a quote from an evangelical social commentator:
“How do you reach a generation that listens with its eyes and thinks with its feelings?”
It’s not easy. I see it in myself too. I can’t count how many times I’ve presented solid arguments only to see eyes glaze over—or how often I’ve clung to my view in the face of overwhelming counter-evidence. We all do it.
We claim to want truth, but what we really want is vindication.
What would it take for us to say: “I was wrong. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”?
Yielded and Still
In a world where everyone is screaming to be heard, I’m drawn to a quieter place.
Have Thine own way, Lord.
Have Thine own way.
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay...
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
What would happen if more of us started each day with that posture?
What if we stopped demanding our rights and started laying them down?
What if we stopped being so easily offended and started being willing to listen?
Rugged Individualism Meets Christ
I love this country, but our obsession with personal autonomy is becoming its downfall. As Tocqueville warned, no human authority deserves absolute power—not even ourselves.
The Constitution only works when governed by self-control. And self-control only works when governed by something greater—a Creator who calls us to truth, humility, and love.
We need something deeper than freedom—we need virtue.
A Route Out
So is there a way forward?
Yes. But it’s a high-cost path.
Everyone must commit to this one, simple rule:
Be hard on yourself. Be gracious to others.
That’s not a 50/50 deal. It’s 100/0. I bring my 100%, regardless of what comes back.
And I can only do that by the grace of God. Because the truth is—I fall short. I fail. I judge. I assume. I get lazy. I want to be right more than I want to be loving.
So at the end of every day, I pray:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
(Romans 8:1)
I want to be someone who builds bridges, not burns them. Who serves others, even if they don't agree with me. Who tells the truth, but never with cruelty.
Because Jesus didn’t just tell the truth—He was the truth. And He died for those who rejected Him.
Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)
If we lived more like that, maybe we wouldn’t need fake images to shape reality. We'd be living in a way that shapes it rightly.
The Lure and the Lie: Social Media’s Subtle Power
Let me say one more thing before I close: I’m deeply disturbed by what I see on social media—and I don’t mean just the content. I mean the effect it’s having on us.
The line between what’s real and what’s fake is almost impossible to see now. I’ve watched people—good, thoughtful people—share completely fabricated videos, AI-generated photos, and outrage-fueled stories that are absolutely false… and yet they spread like wildfire.
These aren’t just bad opinions anymore. These are designed lies. Manufactured to look real, feel real, and provoke real emotional reactions.
And the scariest part? It works. Because our hearts are already primed to believe what reinforces our worldview and reject what challenges it.
Social media thrives on that instinct. The algorithm rewards certainty and outrage, not humility and nuance. If you say, “I don’t know,” the machine ignores you. If you shout with confidence—no matter how wrong—you get amplified.
But here’s the real warning:
If we consume fake things long enough, we’ll start living fake lives.
We will become more angry than honest. More performative than prayerful. More eager to be seen as right than to be right in God’s eyes.
I’ve had to check myself. More than once, I’ve typed out a “truth bomb” and had to delete it. Why? Because even if it was true, it wasn’t loving. And truth without love becomes cruelty dressed as conviction.
So what do we do?
We test everything.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God...
(1 John 4:1)
We remember that virality isn’t the same as validity. Just because something moves fast doesn't mean it's from God.
We stay yielded and still. We stay anchored to the unchanging Word, not the changing feed. We pursue truth, even when it hurts. We humble ourselves before posting, sharing, liking, or reacting.
And above all, we remember that truth is a Person. Jesus said:
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (John 14:6)
We follow Him—not the influencers, not the noise, not the algorithm. Because the world is burning with deception, and the only safe path forward is lit by the Light of the World.
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