They say evil succeeds when good people do nothing about it. But what if the good people don’t even know there is evil being done?
Have you ever really watched and thought about some of the TV commercials we are saturated with?
We are being conditioned to accept as good that which is evil.
How many hours a day do we watch television? According to a recent report by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, here is what they found:
Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.7 hours per day), accounting for just over half of leisure time, on average, for those age 15 and over. The amount of time people spent watching TV varied by age. Those ages 15 to 44 spent the least amount of time watching TV, averaging around 2.0 hours per day, and those ages 65 and over spent the most time watching TV, averaging over 4.0 hours per day.
Now, what is even worse is that when we watch TV we spend almost 1/3 of our TV time watching commercials.
So, why do I say we are being set up? It’s because the commercials are so stupid, so inane and condescending to males and females that I believe it destroys brain cells!
OK, maybe it’s not all that bad, but think about the kind of messages these commercials are sending to us, and believe me when I say that because we see them so often they are affecting us, even if we don’t know it.
For the Record: one thing I learned in all the years I was a Salesman is this: if you tell people something often enough, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, after a while they will believe it.
Let’s take some examples:
I know this sounds a little far-fetched, and maybe even somewhat paranoid, but I don’t think it is. I have seen too many people who are mesmerized by TV, even to the point where they are almost in a trance-like state while watching. I know because I am often like that, myself! And when we are in these states of brain-dead, zombie-like stupors, we receive these subliminal messages that we are stupid, that stealing is OK, that things can help us get what we want: do you see now what I am talking about?
When we accept the commercials without thinking about the real messages they send, we are being set up to accept the more serious and sinful messages the enemy will want us to receive. We will want something, and someone, somewhere, sometime will show us a lucky rabbits foot, or an amulet, or something else that empowers us to get what we want. And we won’t think about what it really represents, which is witchcraft, because we know it is OK to accept it ; we know that because subconsciously we have seen it done over and over and over, somewhere (maybe on TV?) and the person was OK.
Do you recall what Shaul (Paul) calls Satan? He is called the “Prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), and how is TV transmitted? That’s right- through the air.
I may be a little over concerned, I’ll admit to that, but I do not think I am that far off base. I am not suggesting you throw your TV out the window or shoot the Satellite dish off your roof with your favorite shotgun, but I do suggest that you pay more attention (or maybe I should say less attention) to the commercials. And especially if you have kids watching- maybe ridicule the commercials and show the child how silly and imbecile they are. Ask the kid if he or she really thinks people are that naive? Teach your self and your children to analyse what the commercial is saying, and not accept that this is real life in any way, shape or form.
The thing that is worse than these commercials is that we watch them, thoughtlessly, with our minds open to suggestion. That’s when the devil sneaks in the open window in the back of our brains.
Hey… it’s OK to watch TV, to enjoy the movies and shows, but just to be safe turn off the sound when the commercials come on, or direct your attention elsewhere.
Better safe than suckered into taking the Mark one day because it was presented as the Happy Meal toy of the week.
It’s all about control. Well, that’s what I believe. If you have a different reason click the Comment button and please share with us.
But it really is all about control. The world teaches us, from Day One, that we should take care of Numero Uno (this being a Messianic blog, I should use the term מספר אכד) and that we should be allowed to make our own choices. The world teaches us to learn to be self-sufficient and rely on no one but ourselves. The world teaches us that we can’t trust anyone.
God teaches us that we need to depend on Him. God teaches us that we should be trusting in Him and all our hope is in Him. God teaches us that we do have the right to make our own choices, but whereas the world teaches us to blame others for what we do, God tells us that we will be held responsible for what we do.
God gives us more control than the world does, in truth, because He is in total control of everything, and everything He does is for your own good. God always does what is best for us, even when we don’t want Him to. So, naturally, when we allow Him to be in control we have the only One who can control everything acting on our behalf.
God does what is best for you, and the world does what is best for the world.
Yeshua said that we all are slaves to something, and that no one can be slave to two masters. That’s what I mean when I say it is all about control- people reject God because they are told (and they want) to be in control of themselves. It is clear from the Bible that to accept God, accept Yeshua (Jesus) as your Messiah and to accept the Grace He provided to us we need to let God be in control. And that goes against everything that “humanity” teaches.
Yet, giving total control to God is the most sensible thing anyone can do. One person against the world is a losing proposition before it even gets off the table. And trusting people who only trust and care about themselves is like walking into traffic with your eyes closed. God, on the other hand, loves us more than we can love anything, and He is always there. The Lord never slumbers, He never sleeps, He is everywhere, all the time, and He can make anything happen with a thought. Yeshua told us (as do the Prophets) that God is a loving God whose love endures forever. That love is not for Himself, but for you and for me. He will do whatever needs to be done (and He can do whatever needs to be done!) to protect and help you. Even if that means giving you a good slap upside your head to get you back on the right track.
When it comes down to it, the choice we all have, and the one we all have to make whether we know we are making it or not, is to choose our Master: it will be God, or it will be the enemy of God, hidden to us in worldly desires and advice.
Know this: when you choose, if it ain’t God, it’s Satan. That is the truth that people reject as quickly and as adamantly as they reject God. They reject that God is in charge and they also reject that Satan is the only other option as a Master. They miss the boat and jump off the dock at the same time.
We do have a choice but there are only two choices: God or Satan. That’s what it boils down to.
I have chosen God and I love the way Joshua puts it to the people of Israel in Joshua 24:15:
“But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
I think this is how we should put it to everyone we minister to: you have a choice, and you are held responsible for that choice. The world teaches us to play the blame game, and that when we do something we shouldn’t it is society’s fault, or that someone should have done something to prevent it. God doesn’t fall for that line- you do it, it’s your fault. You don’t do it, it’s your fault. It’s not because of the way your parents raised you, it’s not because of the neighborhood you grew up in, and it’s not because of the government. They all can have a part in making the decisions you make, but you have to overcome the bad, you have to overcome the problems, and you have to make the right decisions because you are going to be held responsible at the last Judgement!
So, make you decision because it is your choice. Choose the gods of your ancestors, choose the pantheon of gods in the world today (TV, sports, drugs, work, social media), or choose the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Remember it boils down to God or Satan: Satan wants your eternal soul to suffer with his, and God wants your eternal soul to enjoy Paradise with Him.
When you look at it that way, which is how it is, it makes you wonder why anyone would reject God.
It’s all about control.
He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.
So said Yeshua (Mattitiyu 16:2-3) when chiding the people and the Pharisees for being able to see the signs of the weather but not recognize Yeshua for who He is.
Are you reading the signs of these times? I have written before about the way the enemy of God is making himself acceptable- Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a cult movie but now we accept there are good and bad vampires, there are “good” demons in other TV shows, and now I see that they have a new show coming out, Lucifer, where the trailers indicate that the devil , himself, isn’t really such a bad guy.
Today in the paper I read a story about how the Oscar’s will be boycotted by Spike Lee because of the racial “snubbing” of the Academy towards films that are more African-American centered than Anglo-American (is that stated in a politically correct manner?). That is such a laugh. Not that there is racism, that is not acceptable or funny, but it is the hypocrisy of it all (just as Yeshua pointed out): here is an industry that is rife with homosexuality, drug-abuse, infidelity, and which has (historically) made a mockery of what a marriage is supposed to be, being accused of committing a sin! No! Really?
We live in a time where sin is the “new” good, where TV shows and movies are graphic (both in cruelty and sexuality), where Satan is actually not such a bad guy, where God has been removed from schools and government, and the history channel commentaries on the bible demonstrate that it is all just a story, nothing more than myth and legend.
But there is good stuff, too- I am proud to say I am friends with people who are deeply involved in organizations such as Jacob’s Hope, Bridges for Peace, and Ezra International. These are Christian-Jewish organizations whose goal is to help the Jewish people throughout the world (especially in the European theatre and Africa) to make Aliyah (return to Israel) and to provide them food, medical supplies and housing. These organizations are helping to make prophecy come true, and we see large numbers of Jews being regathered to Israel. Since it’s inception as a state in 1948, there have been over 3 Million Jews that have immigrated to Israel. According to Wikipedia, in 2014 there were approx. 14.2 Million Jewish people in the world. The Jewish population over the centuries, despite what the enemy has tried to do, has remained fairly constant. So, in the last 70 years or so, nearly 20% of the entire world Jewish population has gone back to Israel. I would call that a good start!
These times are very different than any other time in history: not just because of the regathering of Jews to Israel, not just because of the satanic forces gaining power and (even worse) acceptance, and not just because of the overall rejection of God and the increasing terrorism and hatred against Israel and Judaism, but because this is all happening worldwide faster and more efficiently than ever before. More people can see and read lies because of the Internet: whatever anyone may think can be transmitted worldwide, and people are stupid, people are gullible, and people are like sheep, easily led astray. If you say something often enough, and to enough people, it will be considered fact. Look at the Theory of Evolution: even though “theory” is part of it’s name, how many people do you know that believe it is scientific fact?
I think the hypocrisy Yeshua was talking about was that the Pharisees did know who He was, they did understand what He was talking about and they rejected Him because they didn’t want to lose their power and authority. That’s why people reject God- they want to believe the lie the enemy tells them is the truth: that they are in control of their lives and they are the best ones to determine how they should live.
I will ask you again: can you read the signs of the times? No one knows when Yeshua will return, and He told His Talmudim (students / Disciples) that when they see these signs it will only be the beginning. Well, I think it has begun. I see the spiritual battle in full force.
When I get dressed in the morning I go into my closet and pick out the pants, shirt, belt, and shoes that are the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-16).
To paraphrase a popular commercial saying, “What’s in your closet?”
I am attending a Bible study on the Prophets and prophecy. It is a short study, just during the summer, and already I am learning new things.
One of the things I enjoy about this class is how it brings out that the prophets always left us with God’s promise of the regathering of Israel and the coming of the New Creation. However, there is a lot of Tsouris before that happens and none of it is very enjoyable. Death, famine, mutilation, sexual abuses, murdering babies…sounds more like some video game than real life.
But it is going to be real life. It may happen during our lifetime, it may happen to our children, but whenever it happens, it is not going to be spiritualized or quick. It will be devastating to people, animals and the Earth, itself.
The upside to this is that for those who accept Messiah Yeshua as God’s Messiah, and are working to be more of what God requires of us, we can find peace in the midst of this turmoil.
We have armor that God has provided to us to wear and protect us during the battle (see Ephesians 6) and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), which Yeshua called “the Comforter” (John 14 – 16) to guide and help us in times of trial and need to find that peace that comes with knowing Yeshua.
If I was to try to define what it was that I saw in Believers, before I was one, that attracted me to them it wasn’t the promise of heaven, nor the threat of hell, but the peace that they found even when they had the same troubles and situations I had. I was frantic, angry and frustrated, striking out against anyone and everyone, using cruelly cynical and “dirty” humor and really bad language. Since I have accepted Yeshua, and was given the Ruach, I have calmed down tremendously. Except, maybe, for my language when I am trying to get something down and these stupid, slow and uncooperative computers that I am working with just don’t want to do what I want them to do when I want them to do it so I start to get crazy and then I have to let it all out and say, “$^&&^$##@#&^(**&^$$$#%^^$##%%!!!!!!”
Um…where was I? Oh, yes…peace in the midst of turmoil….
The Ruach helps us to stay in touch, spiritually and, yes, even physically, with God. Haven’t you ever felt the calming touch of the Lord? I miss it so much, so often, and realize it’s because I am not reaching out. So at Shabbat services, I will now and then cover my head with my Tallit, and sit during worship music under my own Kippur and pray to God for His touch. I try to open my heart and my emotions; I try not to think of anything else except asking Him to touch me. That’s all, just touch me. And when I am open, when my spirit is broken, my heart is appealing and my request is genuinely, humbly presented….He responds. I feel that tingling, that sudden emotional “rush” that feels like the waters of life have washed over me, leaving me sparkling clean. I feel the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders, and I have to cry tears of joy and peace.
Yes, the big, tough Marine cries. Heck, I cry if the TV commercial has a happy ending. I can’t cry at real life, but I can cry over a movie or a stupid TV show. One day I’ll have to figure out why that is.
Have you felt God’s presence? Do you know His touch? If you do, then you can understand, and I’ll bet as you are reading this you are feeling exactly as I feel writing it, thinking just how nice it would be to feel that way right now! But if you don’t know what I am talking about, you need to ask God for His intervention in your spiritual growth; ask God to send the Ruach and have an open heart and mind to accept it. Also ask the Ruach, itself, to let you know it is there. I remember reading somewhere that we can ask the Ruach, the Holy Spirit, to come to us. It is a sort of self-help, with the Ruach’s help: you stop what you are doing, you close your eyes (obviously you don’t want to do this while driving or operating heavy equipment) and you ask the Ruach to give you peace, to help you overcome the moment. Breathe deeply and slowly, relax, prepare yourself for whatever the Ruach is going to do, and faithfully expect that your prayer will be answered. I really believe, from my own experience, that if you genuinely ask and trust in the Spirit, the Spirit will answer you with a sense of peace and relaxation. Maybe even joy, in the midst of your Tsouris.
That’s what we can look forward to; in the middle of the destruction, we will be at peace. God gives us a spirit not of fear but of victory. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will have no fear, for Thou are with me.
Those are very powerful words, and they should be a reminder to us that the power of God is living within us, and greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
When the world starts to fall apart, which it is already doing, don’t look to yourself for the strength to survive: ask the Ruach for help.
For any human to find peace during the Tribulation times, it is impossible, but with God, well…you know how that one ends, don’t you?
Necromancy is strictly forbidden by God. The dead are dead and we are to leave them alone. Remember how much trouble King Shaul got into when he called up the spirit of Shmuel? Not a very happy “seance reading” when the spirit you call up says that you will be joining it for dinner, is it?
Below is a list of Wikipedia’s definition of what “psychic powers” are composed of:
There are 22 different psychic powers here. Some we read about in the Bible as being revelations from God, such as predicting the future (this is, in fact, one of the tests of whether or not someone is a true prophet), healing, and astral projection (being lifted up in the spirit, such as Daniel was.)
Talking to the dead is also included. On TV there is a show called the Long Island Medium, and she seems like a nice person, but her life is devoted to telling people that her psychic powers allow her to channel and talk to their dead loved ones. Are you wondering why am I concerned about a TV show with a lady who can talk to the dead? After all, we also have ghost chasers and survival experts now searching for BigFoot (you would think searching for food would be hard enough!) on TV, so why worry about a medium?
It’s because I see this as just another “nail in the coffin” to Godly spirituality in our society. TV is so prevalent and consumes so much of our children’s time (and our own, as well), not to mention that humans will believe anything if they hear it said enough times, that whatever is heard or seen on TV is sure to become a fact to many people. Think about conversations you have with people- how many talk about a TV character as if it were a real person?
This TV medium, from the little I have caught having to watch the commercials, seems to always tell people exactly what they want to hear. I never see her say that, “Your Dad said he is glad that he is dead- now he doesn’t have to hear your whiney voice anymore.”, or “Your husband says he is in eternal suffering and can hardly wait for you to join him.” No…it seems that all she says to people is how their parents or friends loved them and are watching over them and are happy now. It’s all happy-happy, lovey-dovey heavenly stuff. But the Bible tells us differently, doesn’t it? Aren’t we told that only a few are chosen? That the gate is narrow? That there will only be a remnant? How is it that this medium only finds the few, happy and blessed people? If you were to say maybe she is in “touch” only with those that are in heaven, the ones that are Yeshua’s sheep, then why would those people, being followers of Yeshua, even allow her to contact them, since what she does is strictly forbidden by God?
The Bible is clear: a true prophet will tell us what God wants us to know. In my opinion, those who are psychically channelling the dead are telling us only what we want to hear, and doing that in order to get us to accept their sinfulness as proper and, thereby, trap us into sinning, also.
What God tells us is proper in His eyes almost always seems to be the opposite of what the world tells us we should do: God says love others and take care of them, the world says watch out first for Numero Uno. God says to worship Him and the world says to worship money, material things, sports stars, celebrities and fancy cars. God says to love one another in a holy and faithful way while the world says sex out of wedlock is not only acceptable, but practically expected.
All I am trying to say in this Drash is that you need to be aware of what is happening around you- be sensitive to your surroundings and don’t believe what you hear on TV or in the newspapers. And never, never, NEVER believe what someone tells you about God without checking it out in the Bible for yourself. I am amazed, although not surprised, at how lazy people are, even when it comes to their eternal soul. I mean, really? You are going to watch a TV show about who Jesus “really was” and take that as gospel instead of reading the real Gospel? Or see a movie that says Moses and Rameses were brothers? We really don’t know which Pharaoh was the one that ruled when Moshe went back to Egypt. In fact, Moshe was 80 years old when he went back and the average lifespan for a human back then was much less than that, so there is little reason to even think that the Pharaoh Moshe went to was the one he knew when growing up.
We need to be aware of what we are hearing, what we read, and especially what our children are exposed to. In order to make sure they grow up knowing what they need to know to protect them from falling into the traps of the Evil One, we need to know the truth, first, and we need to know what they are being told. The only way to get your kid to tell you about their day is to wait until they are adults (just joking): seriously, the way to get our kids to communicate with us is to communicate with them. Have dinner together without TV, without the I-Phone and without interruption. Talk to them as you would talk with another adult and allow them to talk as they feel comfortable (watching the language, of course) so they can feel that what they say is important to you. And it should be- they are telling you how to raise them, what to teach them and how to protect them. I think it is more important to listen than to speak when dealing with our children (not that I am any better at this than anyone else: in fact, my kids don’t even talk to me anymore.)
Salvation is from faith and trying to follow what God tells us to do; eternal suffering is from the Enemy telling us what everyone else is doing and that we should be like them. God on one side, Satan on the other, and us in the middle.
That’s why we need to watch every step we take and stay focused on the right path.
Have you seen the trailers for the new movie, “Exodus: Gods and Kings?” Christian Bale is Moses:
Not bad for an 80 year old guy, right?
Do you remember the Cecil B. DeMille classic, “”The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston as Moses? Another 80 year old man who didn’t look a day over 38.
Oh, yes- who can forget that classic with F. Murray Abraham and Jon Voight about Noah? It was so bad the only thing worse, and less biblical, was the remake recently with Russell Crowe, another virile and young-looking Noah, who was actually about 500 years old when he went into the Ark.
There have been scores of biblical stories, all “Hollywood-ed” down to the basic elements of any story that sells tickets- love triangle, action, and happy ending. Did you know that the Queen of Sheba was white? And that she prayed to God to help Solomon, and that after she was stoned God miraculously healed her wounds? You didn’t know that? Didn’t you see the movie with Yul Brenner and Gina Lollobrigida? Yeah- Sheba was Italian; what? You didn’t know that? You didn’t know that she loved Solomon and she was the one that turned him to foreign gods?
C’mon, get with it…ya gotta believe the movies! They wouldn’t lie, right?
OK…enough fun. Let’s get serious now. The Devil is called the Prince of the Air by Shaul, and the Bible tells us he wasn’t sent to hell but was thrown down to the Earth. And what is the Devil’s primary means of turning souls away from God? He accuses God of being a liar. When God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of Knowledge or they would die, HaSatan (the Accuser) said that wasn’t true- he called God a liar. But God didn’t lie: after eating from that tree Adam and Eve were sent out of Paradise, and that meant that they would now have limited lifetimes. In other words, because they ate from that tree they will die. God never said they would die immediately, just that they would die.
When God told Satan about the righteousness of Job, Satan said, effectively, he didn’t believe God; in other words, he said God was lying.
So, where does the Prince of the Air and always accusing God of lying fit together? They fit together in that today’s world is digital and downloadable. The information from the Internet, TV, and movies (we still have the theaters and DVD’s, but streaming movies is becoming more and more popular) is transmitted through the air directly into our homes, and to our children.
Hollywood is the penultimate example of supply and demand: what society demands, Hollywood (and the media) supplies.
TV shows are disgusting demonstrations of how decrepit people are today. Look at these “reality” shows that are so popular- Hoarders, Bridezilla, Kendra on Top, 90 day Fiance, Naked and Afraid, and let’s not forget that cop shows, showing us the dregs of society, have been top rated since Jack Webb first said, “Just the facts, Ma’am…just the facts.”
We need to realize that TV, Hollywood, the media in general, are all telling us what we want to hear, and what we want to hear is garbage, gossip, murder, rape, adultery, sin, sin ,sin, sin, and more sin. That’s what we are ingesting, mentally, when we watch TV or go to the movies, or even when we read a newspaper. God forbid we should believe anything on any Internet site.
Cynical, ain’t I? Maybe it’s not as bad as I say, but it can’t be that far from it.
I might see the movie Gods and Kings just to see the special effects, but my wife is thinking twice about going with me because she is afraid (and rightly so) that I will start to get really annoyed at the ridiculous way they twist and add to the story to make it more “Hollywood” and less Godly. I understand, I understand…if you really want to know God and honor Him, the movies are not the place to do it. I get that, so I shouldn’t get upset or angry when they screw up the Torah so badly that you can’t even recognize the main characters anymore.
But, I do.
Let me tell you a short story to give an example of why I am so concerned about this: there was a gentle, humble and uneducated man I knew where I used to worship, many years ago. He was a man who did love the Lord, and he was curious to know God better. One day at Bible study he asked me if I knew that Yeshua’s mother used to call him “Shuie” as a nickname? After picking myself up off the floor, I asked where he learned that. He told me it was in a book he read. Here was just some book someone wrote, something that was obviously biblical-fiction, but this poor man thought it was accurate and valid. His ignorance of the true word of God and conditioned response to the written word (meaning he thought that if it is a published book it must be true) was turning him away from the truth about God, which eventually will turn anyone away from salvation.
It’s that serious. We need to keep our understanding of God and His ways as pure as possible, and that will only come from reading His word. Nothing else matters.
Don’t get the wrong idea- I am not against extra-biblical references or books about the bible. I mean, really- I wrote a book that is about the Bible and want everyone to read it (the links are on this site), but it, along with everything else, needs to be taken with a grain of salt and tested against the true Torah, the true B’rit Chadashah, and the Ruach Ha Kodesh.
What I really hate about the way the media treats God is that they treat Him with disrespect, and just like the guy who runs their delivery system, they constantly try to show that what God says is not the truth. Moses wasn’t an old man, Noah was a jerk, the Queen of Sheba was Italian…you get it. They use the wonderful workings of God throughout history, then prostitute it to appeal to the lowest common denominator of human depravity.
I am really ranting on, and I hope you will forgive me for doing more of a “this is how I feel” than a “this is what God says” kind of blog today. I believe that somewhere in here is a true message that honors God, but it might be hidden between the rants and raves.
I hope you find it.
{Please allow me to do more of an opinion piece than a Bible study today, although it does speak to our eternal needs.}
Let me start off by saying that I am not fixed on TV- I am transfixed by it. I grew up eating dinner watching George Reeves as Superman saving the world, with Batman and Robin fighting evil (dahdah-dahdah-dahdah-dahdah….BATMAN!!!)
Today, my wife has a small mirror attached to a long handle to put under my nose when I’m watching TV to check if I am still breathing.
I don’t like most of what’s on, and we watch mostly animal shows and cop shows, with an regular flip to the Discovery and History channels. Like most Americans, we spend about $100 a month to have more channels than we can count, none of which have anything really worth watching. It’s like Imelda Marcos going into her closet and saying, “I can’t find a pair of shoes I like.” (that really dates me!)
So, why am I rambling about TV? Because I grew in a time when we practiced going into the hallway at school and putting our head between our knees waiting for the bomb to land. Yet, despite the threat of “Commies” everywhere destroying our nation, it was not the Communist threat that destroyed the American family, it was the TV. That little electronic box sitting in the family room that dominated our attention.
At first TV was a form of entertainment. It was too expensive for most people and advertisers were hard to find. Stereotypes were not just accepted, they were exploited so that people, like sheep, were led to believing that what they saw on TV was real life. The TV slowly grew into including a VCR, then DVD and cable shows. Again, at first the cable was new because you paid for it.You paid so that you didn’t have to watch all the stupid commercials (although some are funny). Today we pay through the nose for our cable and it has as many, if not more, commercials than old TV did. My gosh- even the movie theaters have TV commercials now!
So, where is the threat? It’s right there- in front of you! It’s what we are watching. Soaps demonstrate the lowest of human degradation; the “reality” shows are disgusting displays of how low people will sink, airing out their dirty laundry to the world, so that the public can feel better about themselves by knowing they don’t weigh 650 pounds, or hoard until their house is condemned, or act like Diva’s. And the movies that eventually show on TV are about vampires that are really loving and compassionate, and witches that are just regular girls trying to make their way through the world.
Don’t forget about the video games we play on the TV- Grand Theft Auto, where children are rewarded for stealing cars and causing civil mayhem. All the zombie killings and war-related games. Aliens that are always aggressive and have to be shot and blown up. Killing, destruction, mayhem…and it’s all for the kiddies. Didn’t someone say that a child shall lead them? Maybe there are two sides to that thought- there was a child who led us to salvation, so could there be another child who will lead us to destruction? If so, he or she is being trained now, with every minute in front of the TV set or on-line playing games.
Violence, sex, lying, deceit, self-importance…Bridezilla’s, Cops, Hoarders, Bar Rescue, Diva’s, Jersey Girls, and on and on and on. It’s all just drek!! (Yiddish for garbage) Try , just try, to find a news station showing anything but murder, theft, sex scandals or horrible things happening to people. And let’s not ignore Televangelists! Sorry- but I don’t think God is really going to heal you if you touch the TV, and why do I have to send a check just so that the “Right Reverend” will pray for me?
TV has become a bane of our society, and I am just as guilty as anyone- even more so because I think I realize what it is really all about, but I haven’t stopped.
TV transmissions go through the air, and the Bible calls Ha Satan the “prince of the air”. Get it?
I will continue to watch TV, although I am trying to get away from it. It is a terrible habit, just like any other sin- it appeals to our lowest nature and is hedonistic. Anything but Godly.
Just like Shaul said, I do what I don’t want to do and don’t do what I want to.
I want to spend more time with my wife, maybe playing Scrabble or talking, or sitting in the hot tub (yes, we have one- it came with the house. It’s soooo nice after a rough day) or just sitting next to each other. We have tried, and for awhile we will set up the dinning room table for dinner and not have the TV on, but it is just so easy to sit there and watch while we eat and all we need is one time to say, “Let’s just eat watching TV tonight” an that’s it- back to the old habit .
Sin is just that way- it is easy, comfortable, and like a barbed hook: once it is in you it just keeps digging itself in deeper each time you try to remove it.
Will I get rid of the TV? Will I cancel the TV part of my ISP bundle and throw away the remote? (OH NO!!! PLEASE- not the remote!) Doubtful. I am stuck, like everyone else.
The best I can do (hopefully, if you agree with me, you can do better than I do) is become more selective about what I watch, not buy products that advertise for smut and Devil-related shows, and try to eat out on the porch or anywhere else but in front of the TV.
TV, movies and video games are teaching our children that satanic creatures are not just OK, they are actually cool, they have superpowers and we want to be like them; robbery and murder have no consequences, killing gets you a reward and if you are killed you just reload the game; and they are honored for being more treacherous and violent than the next guy.
And by our own choice we allow this dangerous and harmful thing in the center of our family, introducing our children to it before they are even old enough to know right from wrong.
Something to think about.
