This Week In Media—Who's The Extremist?

The loss of trust in the mainstream media is well-founded and well-deserved. For far too long, the media has positioned itself as the gatekeeper of information. They decide what stories the people need to know and what stories shouldn’t be seen.

Look no further than two stories from last week, and see if you can spot the difference. Both involve singers, and both involve politics, but they were covered very differently.

Last week, I was invited to join HUD Secretary Scott Turner to survey the damage from January’s California wildfires and to take part in the conversation about rebuilding Los Angeles.

Why did I get the invitation? Because when the wildfires were raging, Let Us Worship put out the call, and believers from across the country flooded into Los Angeles with supplies and donations. Let Us Worship held multiple worship revivals, distributed aid, and prayed for victims and first responders — and people took notice.

They realized there was something different about us — and it’s the Holy Spirit. So when officials went to survey and strategize, Let Us Worship was invited to pray and lead a time of worship too. Amazing, right?

But on Friday, MSNBC published a long hit piece titled, “Christian extremist joins Trump’s HUD secretary to survey L.A. wildfire damage.” I was attacked as a “Christian extremist” and “Christian nationalist,” and they disparaged the great work we’ve done in aiding wildfire victims. The article was personal, hateful, and — sadly — not surprising.

Contrast that with another story that came to light today. A transgender rock singer performing at a Bernie Sanders rally spewed some of the most vile, disgusting, anti-Christian rhetoric imaginable. And did MSNBC feel the need to inform their audience about this story? Absolutely not.

We shouldn’t be surprised when the world hates us. When these kinds of stories come out, I’m reminded of John 15:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

So I’ll keep on praising and worshiping and serving those whom God puts before me. And I’ll take the hate — because I serve the One who was hated before me.