Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch. In today's episode, we're asking the question, why are we deporting truth? And you might be surprised after you listen to this episode to know it's based on an article in The New York Times.

And the reason I say surprised is because it's based on an article in The New York Times, which taught me that the Trump administration is actually not deporting illegal immigrants at record paces. In fact, they've basically kept to the same pattern in terms of number of deportations that the Biden administration was doing. And in fact, the highest months of the Biden administration really dwarf the highest months so far of the Trump administration, meaning president Biden's team was deporting illegal immigrants at the same pace and sometimes at a dramatically increased pace to what the Trump administration is doing. In fact, the deportations in our country are actually down. The reason I say that's so surprising is because the hype is up.

All I hear about in the news and you to take this from someone who does a daily podcast, I read a lot of news. And all I hear and all I read are stories about how we're deporting anyone who's not strapped down. We're putting them on any plane we can find and sending them to any country that we can. And while that is sensational and it is dramatic and it does make me click, it isn't actually true. The Trump administration does have some new packaging.

They're using more military flights. They're sending illegal immigrants to some newer countries that we weren't sending them to before, but they aren't doing it at an increased rate. The headlines that have been grabbing our attention are not based in reality. And this is not a political comment, by the way. This is a comment on the state of journalism, both conservative journalism and liberal journalism, is they are selling fear, but you and I need facts.

That's just the truth. Proverbs eighteen seventeen says it this way, and I love this. The person who states their case first seems right until someone comes after them and examines them. We have got to learn to read more than just the headline, to read more than just one article. We have got to get through the first two paragraphs that are just designed to keep you reading and actually looked for facts.

We have forgotten how to read. We've forgotten how to be discerning, and it shows in all the outrage that exists right now over illegal immigration and deportation that just isn't true. Listen. The Bible tells us time and time again in passages like first Thessalonians five that God's people are meant to be discerning. We should be the ones thinking the most, asking the most questions, paying attention the most, separating fact from fiction, fact from lies.

That's because, as Jesus tells us in John eight, lies are the playground of the enemy. That's Satan's main attraction. It's getting us spun up in things that aren't true. Taking our eyes off of the truth, which Jesus told us, will set us free. We're called to be led by the holy spirit, not by fear, and that gets harder to do when multibillion dollar corporations are selling us fear all the time.

Listen. You and I have got to be more careful about where we're getting our news. And just for the record so that I make all of you upset equally, there's no such thing as a an impartial news agency. They all have an avenue that they are trying to skew the news towards. But what's interesting to me is whether they're skewing the news right or skewing the news left, they are always doing so in a way that demonizes the other side and gets their people afraid.

And here's my overwhelming concern. People who are afraid tend to draw into themselves, not other people. They become less loving, not more loving. They become less interested in their neighbor, not more interested. In other words, they become the complete opposite of the kind of people God wants us to be and the kind of people we need to be to fulfill the great commission.

Jesus says, go into all the nations and make disciples. You can't do that if you hate the nations. You can't do that if you hate your neighbor, and you can't do that if you're too afraid to leave the house. Listen, let the Bible shape you. Let God's voice be the voice that tells you what the future will be and stop letting the news get you so afraid.

They are selling you things that are not true. Look for facts, not for feelings, not for fiction, and not for lies. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of wake up look up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.