HEADLINE NEWS
Some people actually notice things and pay attention to what is happening in our world. Something that I have noticed and realized recently is that headlines are used to tell the whole story. This happens a lot on social media. Someone posts a headline that expresses what they like and comment things like: "See, I told you so", or they just give the obligatory "SMH". Often it becomes obvious that the person who forwarded the headline never took time to read the news story completely. Often headlines are spun in directions dependent upon the writers and editors. If they have a bias against a person or party, their spin will be negative. There is no denying the dual standards by news media these days, and that translates into public opinion and bias as well. Sometimes, if you actually read the story, you find that the story has nothing to do with the headline at all, and you see it was purposely written to convey a message to harm someone or a group of people.
So we know that people like these little one-liner headlines and determine everything they need to know from the headlines while at the same time, they do not make the effort to get the whole story.
We understand that in the spiritual realm this has been taking place for a long time. Many people treat the plan of God's salvation in much the same way. Rather than learn everything God has said on the subject, they just go for the headlines. You know, something like: "Call on the Lord and you will be saved": "Believe on the Lord, and you will be saved"; "Whoever believes will be saved". This works so well because repentance, confession, baptism, and faithful living are eliminated from the formula. That becomes nothing more than Headline religion. We know that we are commanded to "be filled with the knowledge of His will" (Colossians 1:9), and a headline does not accomplish that goal. We know that more of God's word is ignored, even though the people feel that they have the complete message, based upon what I call "headlines".
Bur, headlines do not stop there. In a way, each of us is a headline to everyone else. In effect, we become nothing more than what we project to others. We may project to others by going to church that we are faithful to God, and we allow them to believe those things. Yet if we are not truly being faithful to God in all things, we are a deceiver, and that makes us a child of Satan, for he is the Father of lies.
Many people proudly proclaim that they have obeyed God in their life, but the reality is that they perhaps did obey one of His commands at some point in their life, but does that tell the whole story? It may say enough to some people, but God is the final judge in the matters of our lives. We seem so eager to project to our fellow man a form of righteousness, but we ignore God's rules in order to live like we want to live. Folks, that will not get you to heaven. Stop just reading the headlines and open the Book of Life, and learn what Jesus has instructed you to do. Stop being a hypocrite. "OK, now you said it, you called someone a hypocrite. Don't you know that judging is wrong?" My response is it is only wrong if you ignore the "whole" story. When you teach the whole story that comes from God, you are not just picking out headlines; you are proclaiming the truth. The truth is what sets us free, and not headlines. We have to study the truth (2 Timothy 2:15) so that we wil be able to stand before God and present our whole life to Him, and not just a headline of which we know that God will know the whole story about our lives.
By Carey Scott

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