Walking in the dark

This is really an article about publicity... or at least various  
attitudes toward it.

Recently someone dug up a 20-year-old article from the Sydney Morning  
Herald, in which I was quoted as saying that "Christianity is all  
about publicity."  What I should have said, of course, is that  
"preaching the gospel to every creature" is all about publicity, or  
maybe even just that publicity is a big part of preaching the gospel  
to every creature, since the message itself is greater than the act  
of preaching it.

Nevertheless, the real thrust of the criticism was just that I should  
have mentioned publicity in a positive way at all.  After all, aren't  
all "publicity seekers" narcissistic psychopaths?  At least that is  
the way the critics reason.  And that same person managed to dig up a  
much older press clipping (45 years old this time) which included an  
article which I wrote for a newspaper when I was 17 or 18 years of  
age.  The article was produced to prove that even at such an early  
age, I was already a narcissist, obsessed with getting publicity for  
myself.

In fact, the article appeared in TWO HUNDRED newspapers, and it was  
written by request of the syndicate that sponsored the national  
newsboy of the year competition that I won in partnership with Rick  
Heidlebaugh, another newsboy from Davenport, Iowa.

Surely everyone who uses the mass media should not be considered  
narcissistic psychopaths.  Some rather respectable people and  
organisations pay millions, even billions of dollars to publicise  
various products and causes.

In my case I paid nothing.  In fact, the media gave me the space for  
free, and even threw in a free trip around the world, including  
personal visits with many celebrities at the time:  Miss World (Tania  
Verstak from Australia), Rock Hudson (who presented the prize to Rick  
and me at a gala function at Disneyland), the Bedsor Twins (English  
cricket stars at the time, who gave Rick and me some lessons in  
cricket), Michael Wendon (Australian Olympic swimming star), and more.

Of course, what bothered this particular critic about the 45-year-old  
article, is that it portrayed me in a positive light.  His primary  
argument against me as a person is that I have also received negative  
press over the years, so he wanted to make a big deal about the fact  
that this positive coverage was some kind of a lie that I had  
promoted over my own byline.  (The full truth is that I only  
submitted a report on the trip at their request, and it was touched  
up by a professional ghost writer; but they wanted to put my byline  
on it, because they felt that I was some kind of a celebrity in my  
own right.  The media has a tendency to do things like that when they  
think someone has done something noteworthy.)

But when it comes to bad press, many movie stars, beauty queens, big  
name athletes, and politicians have also received that at some time  
in their lives too.  In fact, the more successful one is in any  
field, the more likely it is that they will also receive bad press  
somewhere along the way.  It is more less because of their "goodness"  
that bad press about them sells so well!

But the important question will always be, "What other evidence can  
you produce for your slander besides the fact that someone else has  
said it?"

Some athletes have, in fact, been proved to be drug cheats; some  
beauty queens have actually posed for nude photos; some politicians  
have really had extramarital affairs.  But even with these scandals,  
some would argue that the media has made more of them than really  
makes a difference in the overall scheme of things.

For example, one of Australia's greatest footballers, Andrew Johns,  
admitted recently that he took recreational drugs.  Certainly it  
represents a bad example to young people, but considering they were  
not performance-enhancing drugs, they should not take away from the  
legitimacy of his performances on the field.

And so we have to ask, "What are the real charges, and what is the  
real evidence against us?"

Bringing it more back to the topic of this article, I think that the  
media can be one of the most powerful tools in the Christian  
armoury... even if it does screw things up along the way.  If we have  
something that is radically different to what is presently being  
offered, then the media is going to be interested in it.  What the  
media does with it may not be very fair (since the media generally  
represents the status quo, and the status quo generally doesn't like  
anything that is "different"), but that usually will not stop at  
least some of the truth from getting out.  (See "Take up the Press  
and Follow Me".)

My favorite Bible verse as a journalist was, "They that do evil hate  
the light, neither come to the light, lest their deeds should be  
reproved; but they that do good love the light and come to the light  
that their deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in  
God."  (John 3:19-21)

The mass media is far from the perfect Light of God, but it is a lot  
more accountable than the lies and evil that take place in secrecy  
every day.  So the more exposure that any issue gets in the mass  
media, the harder it becomes to cover up all of the truth in it.   
Sure, they can all quote one another and say, "A hundred other  
newspapers could not be wrong when they say you are a cult," but all  
we or anyone else has to do is say one word, and the whole case  
against us will fall in a heap.  That word is "Why?"  One hundred  
liars do not turn a lie into the truth, if they do not have anything  
other than a long list of unsubstantiated lies to back them up, they  
have nothing at all.

A favorite Quaker word for God is Light.  It comes from the Bible (I  
John 1), where it says that if we walk in the Light, we'll just  
naturally have fellowship with others who are walking in the Light.   
But it goes without saying that such a faith and practice will be  
totally incompatible with those who walk in darkness, those who  
operate in secrecy, those who run from accountability for anything  
that they say.  Those who follow the Prince of Darkness can even hire  
private investigators, hack into our computers, bug our homes, hire  
false witnesses to testify against us, and it will not obliterate the  
Light that shines from us.

The world today is sinking into more and more darkness.  So it is  
going to become more and more incensed against those who walk in the  
Light.  But God, the ultimate Light, will reveal all when he returns  
to judge the world.  The Bible says that that which is spoken in  
secret will be shouted from the housetops.  God's listening devices  
have been in place for a long time, and he will have the last say.

In the past, many have been, like Christ, executed for their faith,  
but even that has not stopped the truths for which they died from  
shining through.  And if some of these great heroes of the faith have  
NOT yet been discovered, then the Bible says that their resurrection  
will be even greater than the others when God sounds his final  
trumpet and reveals his final judgment on all those who walk in  
darkness and who war against those who walk in the Light.

So walk on, ye who are of the Light!  Let your light shine!  and  
don't let Satan (or any of his puppets) blow it out!