How do you know what’s real anymore?

From AI-generated content to misleading headlines and endless social media opinions, many Christians are asking how to stay grounded in God’s truth. Discernment has never been more important.

That pressure is not imaginary. Australian research found that 72% of adults who used digital platforms believed they had encountered online misinformation in the first half of 2025. The same report noted a rise in posts labelled “Created with AI” across Facebook, YouTube, X and TikTok.

Another Australian government report warns that misinformation can damage trust, deepen division, and shape attitudes and behaviours in harmful ways. This is especially meaningful in a digital environment where falsehoods spread quickly.

For Christians, that means discernment is no longer a niche concern. It is part of everyday discipleship.

Across Ezekiel, Matthew, Psalms and Proverbs, Scripture gives us a way to live faithfully when the world feels morally blurred and spiritually noisy.

Key 1 – Spiritual Discernment: Distinguishing Truth from Error

Ezekiel’s words are confronting because they describe a society where moral categories have collapsed. In Ezekiel 22:26, the Lord says, “They do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean.”

That’s not merely an ancient problem. It’s certainly a modern problem too.

One of the defining features of our age is confusion. We are told that all opinions carry equal weight, that every perspective should be treated as equally valid, and that certainty itself is suspect. Yet when we lose the ability to distinguish between truth and error, wisdom and folly, holy and common, we do not become freer. We become vulnerable, easier to mislead.

The Australian Government’s 2026 report on Information Resilience says misinformation thrives by inflaming existing divides, eroding shared trust and pushing people toward more extreme positions. That feels strikingly consistent with Ezekiel’s warning. When discernment weakens, deception does not stay theoretical. It enters communities, relationships, institutions, hearts.

This is why biblical discernment is not cynical suspicion. It is not a habit of fault-finding. It is the Spirit-formed ability to recognise what aligns with the character and truth of God.

Key 2: Faith in Jesus: The Foundation of Discernment

In Matthew 17, Jesus meets a desperate father, distressed disciples and a situation they could not resolve in their own strength. His words in Matthew 17:20 are familiar: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed … nothing will be impossible for you.”

It is tempting to read that passage as if discernment were simply a matter of sharper thinking. But Jesus reminds us that the deepest battles are not won by intellect alone. They are met through faith, trust and dependence upon Him.

This matters in a digital age. We can train ourselves to spot manipulation, become more careful with sources and slow down before sharing content. All of that is wise. But Christian discernment goes deeper than media literacy. It is a way of living under the lordship of Jesus.

When the online world rewards speed, reaction and outrage, God teaches us another rhythm if we will listen. Godliness pauses. Godliness prays. Godliness refuses to panic. Godliness remembers that Christ is not confused, even when we are.

Widely respected apologist Hank Hanegraaff put it plainly: “Without the ability to discern, we stand impotent in an age of information overload.” That line lands because it names what many believers feel. We are not struggling only with too much information. We are struggling with how to remain spiritually anchored inside the flood of it.

Key 3: God’s Light: Guidance in a Confusing World

That is why Psalm 132 is such a gift. In verse 17, God says, “Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one.”

A lamp does not remove the night all at once. It gives enough light for the next faithful step.

That is often how God guides us. He does not always answer every question immediately or untangle every confusing signal at once. But He is not absent in the darkness. He provides light, direction, and a steady witness to His promises. In a world flooded with artificial light, God still gives true light.

The challenge for us is not only whether light is available. It is whether we will slow down long enough to walk by it.

Discernment grows where Scripture is open, prayer is honest and the heart remains teachable. It grows when we stop assuming that whatever is viral is valuable, or that whatever is emotionally gripping must therefore be true. God’s lamp often leads us away from the urgent and back to the stability of what is eternal.

Key 4: Speaking Truth: Using Wisdom in a World of Misinformation

The practical outworking of discernment becomes beautifully clear in Proverbs 15:7, “The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.”

That verse speaks directly into how Christians communicate today.

We may not control the whole information environment, but we do control what we repeat, what we amplify, and how we speak. Wise people do not merely consume carefully. They communicate carefully. They do not spread rumours because the story is dramatic. They do not swallow half-truths because the point feels emotionally satisfying. They do not treat outrage as courage.

Instead, wise lips spread knowledge.

That means asking simple, humble questions before passing something on. Is it true? Is it fair? Is it necessary? Does this edify? Does sharing this reflect the character of Christ? Does it bring clarity or only more heat?

The same ACMA research found that almost a quarter of Australians who encountered misinformation reported it, but most people were still unlikely to report misleading content at all. That tells us something important. It is easy to complain about a confused culture while still participating in its habits. Wisdom calls us higher.

Discernment begins with Following Jesus

Discernment isn’t something belonging only to the experts. It is placed inside daily obedience.

Ezekiel tells us to recover moral clarity. Matthew calls us back to faith in Jesus. Psalm 132 reminds us that God still gives light. Proverbs teaches us to use our words well. Together, they show that discernment is not mainly about becoming impressive. It is about becoming faithful.

That is good news for every believer who feels overwhelmed by the noise.

We don’t need to master every technological trend to walk wisely. The world isn’t crying out to hear our instant opinion on every controversy. But what we all need is to stay close to Christ, letting the Word renew our mind and keep our hearts soft toward the Spirit’s correction.

In an age of misinformation, discernment looks less like striving for first place and more like being close to God. Less like reacting quickly and more like listening deeply. Less like winning arguments and more like bearing witness to truth, with grace and unconditional love.

And perhaps that is where peace returns. Not when the world becomes quieter, but when the voice of Jesus becomes clearer than all the rest.

Article supplied with thanks to Vision Christian Media – a non-profit, follower-funded Christian media ministry taking God’s Word to every corner of Australia and beyond through broadcast, online and print media.

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God is up to something in our world. Have you noticed?

Every day the headlines bring another exposure: hidden abuse, financial corruption, and insidious cover-ups. Sin is being uncovered across the globe, and we are confronted almost daily with humanity’s frailty.

The Epstein files are one recent example. Politicians, business leaders and members of royalty have been named in connection with the abuse of young women and children. Where wealth and status once offered a shield from scrutiny, perpetrators are now being called to account.

We saw it in the #MeToo movement — a tidal wave of women courageously naming abuse by powerful men. Entire systems of entrenched misogyny are now beginning to crumble.

We’ve seen it in the exposure of institutional child sexual abuse. In Australia, the 2013 Royal Commission revealed horrific patterns of systemic failure, with trauma still reverberating through families and generations.

We’ve seen it with the violent mistreatment of indigenous peoples in our colonial past. In Australia we’ve realised that as we’ve studied the travesties in Europe, we’ve omitted the atrocities against the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our own land.

We’ve even seen it in the Church. Pastors and leaders who once enjoyed global accolades have suddenly been exposed for abusing wealth and position in the name of God.

It’s shocking. It’s humiliating. It’s ugly. Our trust in leadership has been broken, our role models smashed. We’ve found ourselves disillusioned by the disturbing mismatch between public image and the private character of those we once looked up to.

But in the midst of the darkness, can you see the Holy Spirit at work?

The Holy Spirit is a Truth Teller

Jesus said that one of the roles of the Spirit is to convict us of sin and lead us into truth (John 16:3,8). The Holy Spirit is a truth-teller, exposing lies and deceit so that freedom can be found. The author of Hebrews describes the Spirit’s revelation as a “double-edged sword.” Piercingly accurate, it separates truth from the false, penetrating our thoughts and attitudes so that everything is “uncovered and laid bare.” (Heb. 4:12,13) Truth-telling is a work of God.

For all the grief of exposure, there is an upside.

The sins now being uncovered are not new. Adultery, hypocrisy, abuse of power and exploitation of the vulnerable are age-old symptoms of the human condition. What is new is the willingness to confront them. For generations, society has looked the other way. We’ve denied, deflected and protected the status quo. Leaders in the media, business, politics and the church have all been complicit.

But now, we’re opening our eyes and having the courage to see it.

For it does take courage… to keep the lights on when we want to close our eyes. To sit with the ugliness of sin instead of reaching for fig leaves. No wonder we deny it, deflect it and cover it up. We’d rather walk on by, circle round the pretence and maintain the status quo. We all do it. Who wants the toxicity of our hearts to be seen? Who wants the masks of pretence to be removed? Like the accused standing in the dock, we hang our heads, pick up fig leaves and cover our shame. Yet, the Spirit comes like fire, seeking to burn away what is false (Heb. 12:29) – not to destroy but to purify.

The Gift of Truth

We must not miss this moment. For without truth, there can be no grace.

Indeed, truth is a gift of God – first for the victims; for the protection and the healing of the women, the children, the indigenous, the poor and the vulnerable. Trauma cannot be fully healed without first being acknowledged.

But truth is also a gift for the perpetrators; for the freedom and redemption of the Epsteins, the abusers and those confined to prison cells. Restoration cannot be received where sin is denied. God’s conviction is not condemnation; it is an invitation to freedom (John 8:32).

This is the ultimate aim of our sovereign Truth-teller – freedom through grace.

What About Us?

As we watch truth surface at a societal level, we must ask what God is doing within us.

Macro exposure invites micro reflection. As we witness truth-telling around us, we’re invited to see it in our own hearts. We must take the log out of our own eye even as we see the speck in others (Matt. 7:3). Where is the Holy Spirit shining a light in my own heart? Where is God inviting deeper honesty?

It may not be as serious as an extra-marital affair or criminal activity. It may simply be that subtle exaggeration, a quiet resentment, a sideways comment, the need to protect image, the instinct to hide weakness. The same Spirit exposing corruption in systems uncovers hidden motives within us.

As we read the headlines, can we also read our hearts? This cultural moment is not only a reckoning; it is an invitation. Truth sets us free – but only if we are willing to see it.

Article supplied with thanks to God Conversations.

About the Author: Tania Harris is a pastor, speaker, author and the founder of God Conversations.

Feature image: Canva