There’s a lot of information available nowadays if a person wants to learn things. Our innate curiosity leads us into knowledge of events and trends about which we now have the means to explore thanks to the tech age, but we have to be careful what we buy into. You see, a lot of places and you tube channels hawk things on their titles (and/or thumbnails) that are designed to get clicks and do not contain the actual information advertised (or sought). Then there are the ones that have content that is flat out false, and I believe that is a much bigger problem because with AI technology unscrupulous entities are able to produce narratives that require careful scrutiny, otherwise some of us might actually believe them. And why not? We’re not all gifted with the necessary discernment to recognize each truth from each fiction, at least in every case, and with the improvements in conveying what is being passed for reality, that’s getting harder every day.

Having said that, it’s plain we are in constant danger of being misled, often in important ways about important subjects, it’s almost as though we have at our fingertips available narratives to support anything we want to believe. That’s where this Bible verse comes in, [ 2 Timothy 2:3,4]: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” So some people are looking for information they know to be suspect – or outright false – because their sources are saying what they want to hear. As responsible adults, especially as Cristians, we have to make every effort to ensure our information sources are trustworthy – even (and often especially) if they are saying things we don’t like. Are we clicking on a thumbnail because we want to see something that might support some preexisting notion we already have, or are we trying to learn something that might be useful to our Spiritual growth? Do we search the menus for things that might serve to satisfy some carnal craving, some want for gossip, or any other of myriad desires that might impede our Spiritual growth rather than enhance it? It almost requires the wisdom of Solomon to discern the intentions of whichever content we choose before we decide whether or not to watch, read, or listen to it.

There are those who simply advise folks to avoid the internet altogether, and if one doesn’t possess the Spiritual agency to recognize truth from fiction, they may be correct in that advice, but I believe it’s possible to explore the web and find genuine content (like Folkpotpourri) that offers helpful and truthful information for practicing Christians. There are many which produce helpful information for everybody and are not necessarily anti-Christian even if they do provide secular information, such as recipes and how-to hacks for do-it-yourselfers. Then there are the documentary type programs, and it’s among these that we have to be careful, because some of the creators are Satanic and can surreptitiously offer content that may seem on the Spiritual up and up, but to the discerning reader, they can be poison. The only way one may tell what they are reading or watching is toxic is by comparing what they say whenever possible, to the Bible, for it is always the Truth.

If a program, website, or video can be 100% backed up with Scripture, it will be beneficial [2 Timothy 3:16]: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…” to read (or watch) and heed. One must also be careful to watch out for those servants of malfeasance who manipulate words of Scripture to try and make them appear to say things not intended by the author. This is probably the most irresponsible method of interpretation of the whole Bible, and some folks do it all the time – watch some of the wealthy hucksters that try to pass for ministers, and they do it almost invariably to increase their wealth.

With the advent of artificial intelligence, AI technology and computer graphic imaging (CGI), artificial content can be produced today that in almost every aspect can pass for the real thing, so now we have to be on our toes with what we believe to be true. For example in one case, I watched a video story – obviously AI generated, but nevertheless believable – about a Saudi Arabian airline pilot who was supposedly of the Islamic faith who found his airplane about to crash and kill him and his passengers, so he prayed to Jesus and his plane miraculously was saved and he got into all kinds of trouble with religious authorities when he got home – even ended up in prison. It was a story that any believing Christian would be overjoyed to hear – aside from the prison part – and I even wrote a post on it, but before publishing it I decided to research it a little more thoroughly and to be honest, I only found a couple of other You Tube videos narrating essentially the same story but the pilot had a different name, and no information whatsoever anywhere outside of You Tube. I’m not saying the story is necessarily false, there may be elements of veracity in it and of course, even if it was true the Saudi Arabian government wouldn’t publish any information on such a story, so sources would be expectedly limited, but nevertheless I decided not to publish it. Too much room for it being just a feel-good story for Christian believers but totally false, and on that likelihood, Folkpotpourri did not publish. I have some made-up stories elsewhere on my site, but hopefully they are so obviously made-up that readers know it. If anyone researches the above story and finds anything to verify it, please let me know in comments, I still have the post in draft status and it’s such a great story I’d love to find out it’s true and publish that post on it.

At the end of the day, this writer believes that AI has the potential to be tremendously useful if used for good and decent purposes, but there’s so much room for deceit and disinformation that it can, and probably will be hijacked by nefarious entities for nefarious purposes, and therefore as do all new things with potential, it will become a net misfortune for humanity, possibly even to the point of becoming a fearsome enemy of humanity. In fact, we shouldn’t trust it at all and should warn our fellow travelers not to trust it either. As of this writing, there are some giveaways that reveal most AI productions, some of the repetitious phrasing, video glitches and resolution, repeatedly stumbling over numbers in the script, and so forth, but don’t depend on those to last. AI will continue to be refined until we won’t be able to tell the difference.

I suppose if there is an upside to learning about how we can (and are being) be deceived, all this new information available by all of the various creators of differing political and/or social persuasions has the benefit of providing methodology for us as to how profoundly we have been deceived by our mainstream media over the last decades. At least those who care to know, but unfortunately such information is so unsettling to some folks’ world views, that many choose to ignore it and so will continue to be deceived. But now it’s by their own choice – reality is out there, folks just need to be curious enough to find it. And God once winked at ignorance, but no longer [Acts 17:30]: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent…” The apostle in this case was speaking of those who followed after false gods, but the passage can be more broadly interpreted to apply to people believing in things which are not true because they are deceiving themselves intentionally. Fortunately, those who unquestioningly accept everything offered by mainstream news are a dwindling few anymore.

If it ain’t in the Bible, it’s suspect. If it can’t be backed up by Scripture, take it with a grain of salt. If it’s something that doesn’t apply to Scripture, it’s your choice, but be ever discerning.

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.

MK