Our yeartext for 2023 is Psalm 119:160, which says: “The very essence of your word is truth.” Well, that’s true. Jehovah has truly benefited us by giving us his precious Word of truth. That Word is the ultimate standard for what is true and what is false. Well, now, today we live in what’s often called the Information Age. Before, it may have taken many hours or even many days to find certain information. But now using an Internet search engine —after just a few minutes or, in some cases, maybe after just a few seconds— we can have the information that we are seeking. But just because there’s so much information available and it’s so easy to access does not mean that that information is accurate, that it is reliable, or that it is based on truth. It’s interesting that in late 2016, Oxford Dictionaries selected “post-truth” as the word of the year. Now, what does this word “post-truth” mean? Well, it’s said that it is defined as “relating to a situation “in which people are more likely to accept an argument “based on their emotions and beliefs, rather than one based on facts.” Well, what does that mean? It means people choose to believe according to their feelings, their emotions, or according to their own personal beliefs. Well, that means it’s very easy for people to be manipulated by false information, especially if that information tends to agree with their own personal ideas. Now, let me give you an example. Here are three headlines. Now, which one seems to be true to you? “Drinking Three Cups of Coffee a Day May Lead to Stomach Cancer.” Here’s the second: “Regular Coffee Drinking Linked to Longevity and Lower Risk of Stroke.” Here’s the third: “Study Says Drink Tea Instead of Coffee and You’ll Avoid Heart Disease.” So did any of these headlines seem to be true to you? Well, it’s interesting that most people tend to believe the story that matches with their own personal ideas. So if you like drinking coffee, you might have chosen the story that says drinking coffee is good for you. And if you don’t like drinking coffee and perhaps you even think it’s dangerous, well, then, you might have chosen the story that says coffee drinking is dangerous. And if you prefer to drink some kind of tea instead of coffee, well, then, you might have chosen the last story. Well, which one is true? Well, actually, none of these headlines are real. I made them all up just to try to illustrate this simple point, that it’s very easy to believe what we want to believe. Well, how can the Bible benefit us? Obviously, the Bible does not touch on every matter that’s involved in life. But it does give us principles that can help us to evaluate information so that we can discern whether something is true or it’s false. Now, recently we had a very excellent article on the website entitled “Protect Yourself From Misinformation.” Let’s consider a few of the Bible principles that were outlined in that article. Here’s the first one: It’s Proverbs 14:15. It says: “The naive person believes every word, but the shrewd one ponders each step.” Well, now, what does that mean? What does it mean that he “ponders each step”? Well, one reference work says that this is a figure of speech that means “to be cautious, alert, or aware, “with the sense of being careful not to be misled by untruth.” Well, that’s very, very good advice. There are so many false reports that are out in the world. In fact, now there’s even something called deepfake videos. Have you heard about these? So this is where they take video of a politician or perhaps some other well-known person and using technology they manipulate it so that the person seems to be saying something that they never ever said. Frightening. We have to be truly careful that we do not accept information at face value, especially if it tends to support some personal idea that we have. Now, let’s go to the next principle. It’s 1 Thessalonians 5:21. First Thessalonians 5:21 says: “Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine.” Well, how can we make sure that something is true? Well, here are two questions that we can ask ourselves. Here’s the first one: What is the source of this information? Be careful. A website might look very impressive. It might be beautifully formatted; it might have a very impressive name. But none of those things make the information true. Here’s the second one: Is the content current and accurate? See, look for dates in the information. Look for verifiable facts and strong evidence that the statements being made are actually true. But, now, be careful because often the evidence that’s provided for a certain statement may be a list of other websites that are all carrying the very same misinformation. So be cautious. What about statements like this: “3 out of 4 doctors support this product”? Hmm. What does that actually mean? See, for example, say it meant that they had surveyed 1,000,000 doctors and 750,000, or 3 out of 4, all agreed that this product was good and reliable. Well, that would be significant. But it could also mean that they talked to eight doctors and six of them agreed that the product was accurate, or good. Are those two things the same? Well, obviously not. Make sure of what you’re actually reading. And then, too, what type of doctors were they? There are doctors of history, doctors of philosophy, doctors of law. There are even doctors of veterinary medicine. Be careful. Information can be packaged so that it sounds believable and authoritative. Make sure that you have the facts. Let’s go to the third principle. It’s Proverbs 28:26. Proverbs 28:26 says: “Whoever trusts in his own heart is stupid.” Wow! That’s pretty strong language, isn’t it? But that’s what the Bible says. The website article says: “We tend to trust information that confirms what we want to believe.” Well, that means we have to ask ourselves this question: ‘Do I trust this information just because it’s what I want to believe?’ Here’s the fourth and last principle. It’s Exodus 23:1. It says there: “You must not spread a report that is not true.” That’s very strong language, isn’t it? Very clear! What’s the point? We have a very important responsibility not to share information unless we know for a certainty that it’s true. In many cases, it’s far better to hit the delete key than to hit the send button. Well, what did we learn this morning? God’s Word really is the source of truth. It is the standard of what is right and what is wrong. Of course, it doesn’t touch on every subject in life, but it gives us principles that we can use to discern whether information is true or whether it’s false. Jehovah truly teaches us to benefit ourselves by helping us to utterly reject misinformation and cling to what is true.