EL CAJON, Calif. (BP) – There is no doubt the content of information and how it is used makes the difference in how we perceive it. The recent election season in the United States illustrates that point eloquently. This is not a new idea. In 1939, the British government knew events were coming that could break the spirit, and possibly the will, of British citizens. So the day after the UK declared war on Germany, the Ministry of Information (MOI) was formed as a department within the British government. They produced films, created press releases and held briefings, censored war news, and created motivational posters. And they did the job. The British people kept their chins up despite several months of bombardments.
God’s ministers of information
When Britain’s MOI was formed, leaders realized that a great many of the country’s best artists, printers, writers and filmmakers were now soldiers. So the MOI recalled many of them to come home and become ministers of information. God has done the same thing in His kingdom – recruited ministers of information to disseminate life-saving truth of a variety of sorts to those who need it.
God distributed information in person to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses and others. And while those first-person encounters continued to happen throughout biblical history, God also inspired authors to write His information down so that others could benefit as well – the first instance being the Ten Commandments, written on tablets of stone on Mount Sinai.
By the end of the first century A.D., the written information was complete and copies were being made and distributed. The printing press accelerated this. All the authors of the Bible were definitely God’s ministers of information. And we are His modern ministers of information as we use the truth of Scripture – God’s wartime posters – to witness to others.
But remember, our battle is still raging. During the Old Testament period, the Jews first had only the five books of Moses, then the wisdom writings and psalms, then the prophets and the historical narratives of the monarchy. And in the first century A.D. the Gospels, Acts, epistles, and Revelation were added. Why? Because we are still in the battle! God has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3).
Everything the world needs to be victorious until Christ returns has been committed to us through the Word and the Spirit – His “great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4). And we are God’s ministers of information to take these promises to the world.
God’s ministers, Christ’s ambassadors
Paul called himself an “ambassador [for Christ] in chains” while in prison in Rome (Ephesians 6:20), and he said, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
There they are – both the mission and the message of God’s ambassadors: to plead with and implore the world to be reconciled to God. That is the perfect message for what our world is experiencing. People in turmoil experience the exact same things: fear, confusion, hopelessness, uncertainty, isolation and danger. And where can all those needs be met? In “the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1).
The Brits were protected from falling bombs by going underground. We are protected from Satan’s “fiery darts” (Ephesians 6:16) by going under the outstretched “wings” of God, where we “take refuge” (Psalm 91:4). And God expects us, His ambassadors, His ministers of information, to give that Good News to the world. People need to know they can “Keep Calm and Carry On” in the midst of life’s spiritual (and physical) battles.
In the presence of God, people can keep calm by finding hope and security. They can keep calm by being freed from guilt and shame. They can keep calm by encountering grace and mercy. And they can keep calm, most of all, by meeting Jesus Christ in a personal way. The Bible is our poster and we are God’s ministers of information, called to speak of God’s peace to a world at war.
Have you responded to God’s call to be a minister of information? He depends on you and me to tell the world it can Keep Calm and Carry On by trusting Him.
