"Post-Truth" is Oxford's Word of the Year. Defined by the dictionary as an adjective “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”, editors said that use of the term “post-truth” had increased by around 2,000% in 2016 compared to last year.

How interesting. Steve Tesich, a playwright, wrote an essay for Nation magazine in 1992 and coined the term "post-truth" with this phrase:

"We, as a free people, have freely decided that we want to live in some post-truth world."

Do we care what the truth is anymore? Do we even know what the truth is anymore?

On both sides of the aisle, Republican and Democrat fake news articles have permeated Facebook. Whether you're conservative right or liberal left, you probably succumbed to reading, believing, and even sharing these fake news stories that have cropped up over the last few months, especially in this election cycle. I know this is true - many of my friends on Facebook are conservatives, and they have fallen victim to these fake news stories and misinformation.

We seem like, on the surface, that we don't care what the truth is anymore, so long as it goes along with what we believe. And that's wrong.

Because as Christians, we know what the truth is. The Bible word for this is discernment or to discern.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1.9-11)

This scripture flies in the face of post-truth. We should always be testing, always be seeking the truth in all things.

Closely related with post-truth is post-modern. This is a mindset that there is no absolute truth, and that whatever I feel is subjective to myself only. Both of these mindsets do not align with Scripture.

Our discernment in this age of misinformation has never been more important. In an era when we can instantly share a story or video, fake or true, with one tap of our finger and potentially send that message to thousands of people, what message are you sending?

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4.2-5)

Like it or not, the future is up to us. And I don't mean the future of America. I mean the future of the Kingdom.

It depends on us. So many of us would be content to sit back and let someone else make the stand and let someone else do the work. That can't happen. Christ's church will always have a future, but it will be in our hands. It depends on good men and women to work in the kingdom.

It depends on our willingness to serve. How far will you go to serve your fellow man? Will you step out in faith or sit tightly by yourself, hoping that no one asks you to help?

It depends on our homes. If there is anything that parenting is teaching me, it's that Satan's battle for this world starts in our homes. Our core teaching for the future of the church isn't neccessarily in church. It's right at home.

Hold Christ's truth above all other truths.

Have the attitude of Christ Jesus in all things, and show that to your children.

Serve others sacrificially from a true heart.

This is where forming our future starts. Not from some man or woman sitting the Oval Office. But in our homes. In our children's hearts.

Stop trusting in men and women to lead you and look to God and His Word. Start forming the future for the kingdom, not just a nation.

The completed Bibliotheca set. Shipping early December 2016.

Over 24 months ago, I was able to speak through emails to Adam Lewis Greene, the creator of the Kickstarter project named Bibliotheca. It was an exciting project that explored a revision of the American Standard Version into a reader's version with no typical verse breaks or references. Just the text, presented with a custom font, in a four-volume clothbound set. 

The initial ask was that of $37,000. Greene got $1.4 million. 

I was privileged to be backer number 469 out of 14,884. 

Greene said the initial project should just take months, and should be delivered sometime that next year. That was in 2014, and that never happened. 

As it turns out, getting a new Bible printed in four volumes is hard work. The initial project was pushed back a little over two years. Some of that was delays; most of it was just to get things right.

Greene announced last Friday that the project is finished. The announcement video, complete with a tearful Greene:

From a personal standpoint, I look at this video and see just how much that Adam poured his heart into this project. It almost makes me angry that people would criticize him for wanting to do this right and not instantly. Good things come to those who wait. 

If you were one of the backers, you should be receiving your shipment of your set in December. If not, there are a limited run of copies available at bibliotheca.co.

There is a special place on my desk for this set, and I look forward to sitting down every day and reading the Word of God from these volumes. Truly, Adam Greene has changed the face of Biblical printing. 

Star Trek turns 50 today. The original series episode "The Man Trap" premiered on NBC television on September 8, 1966. It's been around for 50 years, and for half of that, I have been a diehard fan.

Few things have influenced me as much as Star Trek.

I can remember being ten years old and sitting and watching my first bit of Trek: 1991's feature film The Undiscovered Country. Arguably one of the top three films in the franchise, I saw it and I was hooked. 

I jumped on episodes of Next Generation and watched reruns with my dad. I asked him all sorts of questions. A casual Trekkie himself, he was not prepared for the barrage of inquires about the show, nor was he prepared for the pandoras box which he had opened up by showing me the world of Trek.

Of course the real fanaticism didn't hit until Deep Space Nine and Voyager. As a teenager, I watched those shows with fascination. As a young adult and United States Marine later on, I watched with all new eyes. The episodes concerning the War with the Dominion on Deep Space Nine really hit home as I caught up on the series when I came back from Afghanistan and Iraq. Issues that faced the Voyager crew every day about being 70,000 light years from home resonated with me as I struggled and missed my own family across the globe. 

The tech side of me loved the show, but it was the characters that drew me in. The stories were captivating and still amaze me when watching reruns to this day. 

As so many other Trekkies will say: Star Trek is more than just a TV show. It's a vision of the future filled with adventure that we can all be optimistic that will one day come true. 

As the new show, Discovery, hits the airwaves (and the internet) in January, I hope a whole new generation can enjoy and be impacted as much as I was from this franchise. 

Live long and prosper. 

If you'd like to know what Apple said and announced today in one succinct list, look no further. Looks like a lot of great improvements coming to all four platforms. 

watchOS 3

• 7X faster
• Apps launch instantly, info is updated in the background
• Swipe from left to right to switch watch faces
• New watch faces - Simplicity and Activity
• Activity sharing with other watch users
• New app: Breathe - helps with breathing exercises to combat stress
• Free upgrade in the Fall

tvOS

• Sling TV app announced today
• New Apple TV Remote app, also functions as a controller
• Siri on TV: search by topics now (i.e. "Find high school comedies from the 80's)
• Also: "Search YouTube for ---" 
• Launch apps for Live TV: "Watch ESPN 2"
• Install apps with Siri as well: "Install MLB app"
• Single sign-on for app authorization to watch TV
• Dark mode

macOS

• Renamed from Mac OS X
• New version named macOS Sierra
• Auto Unlock - authenticate from you Apple Watch
• Universal Clipboard - images, video, text pasted from your iOS device
• iCloud Drive - all your files available everywhere
• Optimized Storage - older files compressed to free up space on your Mac
• Apple Pay - now on the web, securely authorize using Touch ID on your iPhone
• Tabs - in multiple-windowed apps like Maps
• Picture-in-Picture - video inlay on top of apps
• Siri - find files, follow-up commands, play music, search the web, message
• Available in the Fall as a free upgrade

iOS 10

• Biggest iOS release ever
• User Experience: redesigned lock screen with 3D Touch support
• Clear All with 3D Touch (finally!)
• Control Center also redesigned
• Slide from the right to access Camera instantly, slide left for Widgets
• More info on 3D Touch app widgets
• Siri API for developers - devs can now write apps for Siri
• QuickType - now with Siri intelligence 
• Photos - advanced computer vision on the phone such as facial recognition
• Advances AI to analyze content of photos, on the device
• Maps - new design, open to developers
• Music - all new Apple Music app designed from the ground up
• News - all new design, clear sections
• HomeKit - new app called Home, control your home, integrated with Siri
• Phone - voicemail transcripts 
• VoIP API so Slack, Facebook, Skype can be taken like regular phone calls
• Messages - rich links, play videos right inline, bigger emojis, bubble effects