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Television
– A Modern day Idol
When
will we learn that the world’s offerings are
garbage - that only Jesus satisfies?
Look
inside the average house of anyone earning more than
Rs.3,000/- a month. Amongst the various things you
will find there will almost invariably be a
television set. In the lounge room, the chairs will
all be arranged so that everyone can see the
television. Day after day, the occupants of this
house will have the television running. Everyone,
from the little children to grandpa and grandma will
spend an average of 3-5 hours per day with their
eyes glued to this marvellous invention. Young
people, as well as Mum and Dad, will most likely
have their own television set in their bedroom also,
so as to be able to watch what they want, when they
want, and avoid conflicts with others in the house
about what to watch.
The
television industry today has tremendous influence
over what people today think and believe. Like the
church steeples of former times, today, television
antennas rise from virtually every apartment block
and home, reaching as it were, to heaven. They bring
to your home the values and the messages that
television’s masters want you to hear. They
don’t tell you what they don’t want you to know
about. Of course you trust them. If something is
presented as truth on TV, it must be true, right?
And if it is not on TV, its obviously not worth
knowing or talking about, right?
Are
You Worshipping at the Shrine of Television?
If
I was to tell you that in order to follow Jesus you
should spend at least two hours a day praying I
would be told off by pastors everywhere (perhaps
rightly so) and would be regarded by many as a
religious fanatic. But two hours a day is not enough
for most people today to give to the television set.
They would gladly devote more time to the
television, if it were possible, and often it is.
Men come home tired from work, and the first thing
they do is grab something out of the fridge and
plonk themselves right in front of the tube, often
totally ignoring their wives and children. Wives and
mothers, often feeling neglected by husbands who
compare them with the beautiful women on the tube,
spend hours every day escaping into a fantasy world
of television soap opera romances. Young children,
feeling rejected by their parents who have no time
for them, spend hour after hour watching the
cartoons and TV shows. Many times these cartoons are
full of occultic images and depict a lost world
without God, a pagan world of witchcraft and magic.
MTV is full of lustful images, mockery of God and
the Bible, and music designed to impregnate the soul
with a spirit more in harmony with the spirit of
antichrist than with the Spirit of God. Yet
preachers all too often remain silent. Perhaps it is
because they and their children are watching the
same garbage and they are unable to offer them
anything better.
Incidentally,
I am not saying you must pray two hours a day to
follow Jesus, nor am I saying that the television is
intrinsically evil. We follow Jesus because we want
to, we pray because we want to, not because someone
tells us we have to.God gives us time to grow. Some
television programs may have value, but usually they
impart the spirit of those people who produced the
show, which is usually not the same thing as the
Spirit of God. This statement applies many times to
television evangelists as well - not always, but
certianly at times. The News often imparts a spirit
of fear, while many times even documentaries about
the beauties of nature are constantly full of the
unproven and godless nonsense concerning the theory
of evolution. Instead of giving glory to God for His
Creation they subtly seek to deny His existence and
put it all down to mindless chance and the laws of
physics which are assumed to exist eternally without
the need for anyone to create them.
The
television is useful when used to play worthwhile
Christian videos - be they films or teachings.
Beyond this, there may be many profitable things the
television could be used for, but most of what I
have seen will not draw you closer to God at all. It
will make you focus on the things of this world and
lose the vision of eternity, if you ever had it. It
won’t renew your mind; it will corrupt your mind
and conform you to the world. When you sit glued to
the television, you have no way of controlling what
image will appear on the screen next.
Some
things on television are not harmful in small
quantities - like sport, but they are irrelevant
distractions for anyone who has a high purpose in
life. I’ve found something worth giving my life
for - I’d rather develop a focus on that now. You
may feel that the television doesn’t affect you.
You are mature, and you can control it. If it
doesn’t affect you, why are you wasting your time
with it? Why not do something creative yourself? Why
not change the world for better instead of just
observing all the real and imagined evil that the
television will bring into your living room?
One
of the most honest advertisements I have seen for
television was in Southern India. There is a brand
of television that has on its advertisements the
image of a horned devil claiming to exercise power
over those who watch it. Big business also knows
about the power of television. That is why they
spend multiplied millions of dollars to use it to
tell you to buy their products. They know it works,
even if you think you are not being brainwashed by
the TV. That is part of the power of it.
An
idol is anything people value more than God
Almighty. An idol is what we are willing to trust
in, sacrifice for, and give time and attention to
more than God. If people gave the kind of time to
God which they currently give to receiving the
things of the world through television, there would
be a worldwide revival and incredible blessing. How
wonderful it would be if we would give time to
considering the things of God instead of the things
of the world, and get hold of a real Christian
faith. We could experience the things God promises
believers in the Bible - love, peace, joy, purpose,
prosperity, healing and so on - after we pass
through the initial wilderness experiences that come
to all who begin to follow the Lord. The greatest
thing of all is the incredible fulfilment that is
found in actually knowing God personally.
Source
: http://www.angelfire.com/ab/fullgospel/articles.html
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