What Hath God Wrought?: What hath God wrought? Numbers 23:23(KJV). During...

What Hath God Wrought?: What hath God wrought? Numbers 23:23(KJV). During...: What hath God wrought? Numbers 23:23 (KJV). During the Middle Ages (1100 – 1453) priests and monks in Europe devoted their lives to transl...

What hath God wrought? Numbers 23:23 (KJV). During the Middle Ages (1100 – 1453) priests and monks in Europe devoted their lives to translating and preserving liturgical texts. Beginning in 1450, with the help of partner Johann Fust, Johan Gutenberg (1398 – 1468) of Germany printed several books, and in 1456 the Bible to the delight of many Europeans. In 1476, William Caxton (1415 - 1492) did the same with his small rudimentary press in England. Such innovations had the effects of revolutionizing Europe and the world.

American and the World's Experience

From the use of ponies, pigeons, trains and steamboats to deliver news to printing presses in the American colonies in the 1800s was followed by the telegraph. On May 24, 1844, through the invention of the telegraph Samuel F.B. Morse (1791 -1872) sent the message “What hath God Wrought?” via telegraphic code. His dots and dashes laid the foundation of electronic voice transmissions. Morse's prophetic saying has come down through history as having far reaching ramifications for American and the world mass communication systems.  It was Wendell Phillips (1811 – 1884) an American abolutionist and advocate for Native Americans who observed, “What gun powder did for war the printing press has done for the mind.”

In Europe, Gutenberg and Caxton were most important figures in the development of printing. Morse's invention of the telegraph later revolutionized news gathering techniques and these discoveries were to have profound effects on the electronic media which followed. Every society around the world could point to such developments as being rudimentary in shaping their nation's destiny – especially politically, economically, and culturally.

Joseph Prince (b. 1963) a senior pastor of New Creation Church in Singapore, one of Asia' biggest churches remarked, “Television, radio social media. The 24/7 news cycle plows forward mercilessly on our desks, in our cars and in our pockets. Thousands and thousands of messages and voices bombard us from the moment we wake, fighting for our attention. All we see and hear, all day long, is news. And most of it is bad.”

The Positive Side of Media

In 1964 Marshall McLuhan (1911 - 1980) a Canadian critic described what he foresaw as a “global village” taking shape. McLuhan touched on the readily accessible nature of media that's used for a variety of purposes, much of it good.

It was Ban Ki-moon (b. 1944) current Secretary-General of the United Nations who saw, “Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.”

With these objectives, Ban Ki-moon could be very well describing the mass media's role in the process of nation building. Mass media is ubiquitous and its impact on nations is great. When one considers the prophetic saying of Morse, it's clear that there's a tremendous outreach of media also in our spiritual lives. This not only comes in the form of liturgical texts but through radio, TV, film and social media evangelists.