God Fearing Christians have always struggled with the
world--not against it--but against loving
it.
Many Christians don't struggle against it at all.
They embrace it enthusiastically.
It has always been so, but today, it is even more
so.
It is difficult--If not impossible--to find
a church fellowship that is not infected with the love of the world and the things in it.
It starts with the leadership, and the fruit of
their ministry is always reflected in those who follow them.
As the saying goes, the speed of the leader,
is the speed of the gang. If a shepherd loves anything at all about the world, it will be reflected in his sheep.
Recently, a pastor at a church we were attending, announced there was a flyer,
in the lobby of the church, describing a particularly disgusting, God hating, television movie that was due to air the
following week.
This is a good pastor. He preaches good word, and in general leads his flock in the right
way.
We know he enjoys certain things on television (as most pastors do). We know
he enjoys either cable or satelite T.V., but we also feel certain he is careful about what he watches.
One Sunday morning he asked all the members to take one of the flyers, he had mentioned, and
call the local television station in order to protest the airing of the movie.
He said Christians should make their voices heard, and deluge the station with phone
calls complaining about the programming.
Butch and I were fairly incensed at the entire scenario, because we believe
the best way to make our voices heard is by not supporting the trashy entertainment
industry with our money.
If every Christian protested by withdrawing their financial support from the
local cable companies, their voices would be heard loud and clear.
Not only would they not be paying for filth to be piped into their living rooms (no matter
what programming is chosen, trashy commercials and previews cannot be prevented), but their time
(and money) would be freed up for healthier, more godly, pursuits.
They would save money, not only because they wouldn't be paying cable bills, but because
many of the advertisements coming into their homes, and setting up lusts in their hearts for things they never before dreamed
they needed, would be stopped.
Christian families would have more opportunity for communication and fellowship with
one another, because a major avenue of escape would no longer be available in their homes (many family members live
completely isolated, separated lives from one another, because their homes feature a television in each room!).
Parents would be more alert to what's going on with their children, and have more time
and energy to deal with them lovingly and effectively.
Children would feel their parents were really interested in them.
Christians would get more sleep, because the programming schedule would no longer
be dictating bed times.
Those are only a very few, of the more obvious, benefits of getting an ungodly altar
of profanity completely out of our homes.
Christians are commanded in the Word of God, not to love the world or any
of the things in it.
We are commanded to be conformed into the image of Christ. Television watching only leads
to being conformed to the image of the world.
At the very least, it leads to tolerance of things a Christian should never tolerate.
The harm that has been, and continues to be, done within the Body of Christ, due to television
addiction, is immeasurable.
The pastor that encourages his flock to make their voices heard by making phone calls
to the T.V. cable companies, would have done them a far greater service if he had made his voice heard, first, by withdrawing
his own money from supporting the entertainment industry, and then encouraging his flock to do the same.
Make the phone call--but not to feebly protest and continue donating to the proliferation
of filth--but to cancel your cable subscription.
Money talks.
