It Only Takes A Spark...

The smallest lie can spark terrible consequences. An exaggeration can blow up in your face. A rumor can kill people. A word unwisely spoken against others can lead to their demise. Newsweek magazine is a good example. (see news article below)

James 3:5-6 “Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

In The News...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newsweek magazine said on Sunday it erred in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article.

Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet. "Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Koran incident in the report we cited," he wrote.

Meanwhile, the report sparked angry and violent protests across the Muslim world from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan to Indonesia to Gaza. In the past week it was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League. On Sunday, Afghan Muslim clerics threatened to call for a holy war against the United States.

"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Whitaker wrote in the magazine's latest issue, due to appear on U.S. newsstands on Monday.

How many innocent Afghans, Pakistani’s and American soldiers will needlessly die due to Newsweek magazine’s haphazard reporting of falsehoods for the sake of sensationalism to sell magazines? How many terrorists will be recruited? What dastardly plots will they carry out inspired by false information from a liberal news media desperate to thwart the integrity of the Bush administration?

When Dan Rather lied, he almost cost Bush the election. Fortunately for Bush, he was found out. Similarly, Bush's credibility was damaged when he reported inteligence reports that said there were WMD's in Iraq. His source was evidently inacurate too. There was other justification for that war and it has brought about many good things, but still our main evidence for war was false. That is not good. The tongue is a fire.

When Newsweek lied, people died from their inaccurate reporting. The United States is rightfully at War with terrorists who would kill them. Who side is Newsweek on? They may be free to publish their garbage. However, we are also free not to purchase or support advertisers of a magazine that use bad reporting to falsely insight civil unrest in countries we are trying to bring peace to.

A lesson to the wise: Be careful what you say. Make sure it’s true and beneficial to those who hear it. Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”