Negative Attack Ads

Well folks, it's that time again. People are running for office and trying to beat their opponents brains in with negative attack ads. You've seen them, the ones where the political candidate tries to convince the American public that their opponent sacrifices kittens to Baal or something extreme like that. Some people are affected by these ads more than others. I am very fortunate enough to have a DVR on my TV, so I watch no commercials there. I also listen to a local Christian radio station that plays no commercials whatsoever, so no attack ads there. I didn't actually see on until I went to dinner last week at Burger King and one came up on their TV. If that weren't enough,there are news networks that have "news" segments about the attack ads. 


First we need to talk about the attack ad itself, what is one? A negative attack ad is an ad which takes the fault, or perceived fault, of an opponent, and usually blows it out of proportion. If no fault can be found, then the attacker will distort the truth. In other words, lie their butts off. Then I got to thinking. I wonder how old the attack ad actually is. Do you think that Abraham Lincoln was subject to opponents who claimed he wasn't as honest as he claimed to be? Did FDR get attacks from Herbert Hoover claiming that it was un-American to have a name consisting of only three letters? Well, I decided to do a little research, and found that attack ads go back farther than Lincoln, farther back than America. Through minutes of exhaustive research, I have found the first attack ad.


Granted, no one in this story is running for political office, but the attack was between some of the biggest figures in all of history. That's right, the first attack ad appears in Genesis 3. The attack ad comes first in verse one, and then again in verses three and four. Satan  (in this case in the form of a serpent) asks in the second part of verse one Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? In verses three and four he goes on to say You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.


What happens next is the first of another political tradition, the blame game. Adam and Eve both give in to the Devil, and are later caught by God. When God questions Adam, what does he do, blames someone else. Then that person blames someone else. As the great philosopher Don McClean would say, Satan was laughing with delight. 


What really happened here happens all the time, and not just in political campaign attack ads. Satan tries to distract people from the reality that is God. Unfortunately, he wins people more than he loses them. Satan gets us to question our faith in God by asking Will God really forgive that sin? The same thing happens with political attack ads that happens with Satan's attack ads; each one gets increasingly attacking in nature than the last. The next one would be Did Jesus really say all those things? followed by Did Jesus really die on the cross for your sins? all leading up to Is there really a God anyway? These attacks will happen until the fight is over. As always, the best way to defend yourself against such attacks is to know the truth. Study the Word, and when claims are made check them against the word. The best weapon to have in your arsenal to fight against attacks of false accusations from the Devil is to know the truth beforehand.


Amen.