Guarding My Eyes, My Ears, and My Heart

 I am embarrassed to admit that there are times when I can recall lines to a song that I heard when I was younger but I have to often look up some Bible verses. That happened today. I was thinking about how, in light of so much easy access to news and entertainment media, we need to be careful of what we take into our awareness.

As much as I worry about where AI is leading, I am a big user of AI search resources. This is what I got when trying to recall some verses today:

Proverbs 4:23-25: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you".

Proverbs 2:2-12: "Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate".

Proverbs 1:23: "My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh".

Now, because my brain is being wonky, I ask that you bear with me as I get through this post. My primary points are:

1. That sin surrounds us so constantly (due to widespread and available media), that we have to be diligent and discerning.
2. The internet offers so many resources for us - preaching, teaching, sermons, debates, etc. We are blessed to have it all. However, this mass of resources provides hiding places for bad teachings and false doctrines. 
3. We need to guard ourselves against the dangers of the mass of news, information, and random media.

One of my favorite Bible study resources is YouTube. That is where I found the entire Learn the Bible in 24 Hours study presented by Koinonia House. That is where I watch channels such as Long4Truth, Fighting for the Faith, Justin Peters, and some others. These channels are presented by people who are transparent and honest and teach discernment tactics. They expose false teachers and dangerous "ministries - all while being free of malice. They encourage the Berean practice of "studying for oneself". 

YouTube is where I can listen to sermons from John McArthur and Paul Washer. And, again, the Koinonia House channel has a lesson series on (I believe) every book of the Bible. How awesome is that?

Now, I have wandered into a video channel of a teacher or ministry I'm not familiar with. Sometimes that turns out to be okay but there have been times when I got snagged into watching some really unbiblical teachings. I think most of the time, the channels have been those of a SDA ministry. They are notorious for concealing their denomination and faith statements. I don't know if I mind the potential false teaching more or if it's the subterfuge. It's just sneaky and deceitful - no matter how well-intentioned. Basically, now I stick with channels or teachers recommended by those I trust.

The reason I try to stay immersed in Bible study and Christian media is because there's almost nothing else "clean" around. I don't think that I have watched more than 3 episodes of a TV show or gotten half an hour into a movie before something distasteful is celebrated. Mostly, this involves a lot of foul language (and casual blasphemy or disrespectful use of the Lord's name), casual sex, same-sex relations, teens gone wild or running the adults, and all manner of madness. The sin is all so very normalized.

I used to love all kinds of music. I didn't know the lyrics half of the time and just went with the beat. That's a bit dangerous. Talk about guarding your ears... These days, I stick mostly to classical music or show tunes (and show tunes aren't always decent). Worse, a lot of "praise and worship" music is worse than blatantly secular music. Christian music, like secular music, seems now to be dominated by people who want to be famous more than they want to offer praise to the Lord. The artists seem to be trying to be the "Christian" version of secular artists. So weird and so unoriginal.

When people try to tell me that I'm being overly sensitive about music and other media, I can remind them that there are studies done proving my point. There are studies about how music enters the subconscious; how beats and volume affect a person's mood, etc. I know from past experience that when I needed to get "pumped up" to clean or exercise, certain songs did the job. I am sure that everyone knows that certain songs can enhance a mood of romance. (There's a reason people labeled songs by Marvin Gaye and Barry White - to name two - "baby-making music". True story.)

I have loved to read from the moment I learned how to. It's a struggle to find fiction books that aren't tainted with cursing, casual blasphemy, and overt sexual themes. I recently found a detective mystery series by David Baldacci with an unusual theme. The main character has synesthesia and hyperthymesia. Listen - I was hooked from the first book. For the most part, the book is non-offensive to my Christian heart and mind. However, there is a lot of casual use of the Lord's name. I'll see how things go as I read more in the series.

But you see my point, right? (And, by the way, I listen to audiobooks instead of reading these days so the effect hits differently.)

The reason all of this is so important to me is that, like everyone, I am sinful by my human nature. If I see sin, it starts to look good or acceptable or... excusable. When I hear a lot of cursing, I find myself having to watch my own language. When I see a lot of loose behavior, I forget how wrong it is. When I see people lavishing on a life of luxury and wastefulness, I begin to crave it and forget to be thankful for what I have.

I once heard Chuck Missler remark something along the lines of "You become like what you worship." I find that to be true - on a moment-to-moment basis even! I don't want to worship gold and diamonds and expensive cars. I don't want to focus on things that don't matter to my eternal destination. I surely don't want to be less than thankful for what I have - just because I am looking at what someone else may have. As my own mother always said, "All money ain't good money." That can be said for so many other things: beauty, power, and even "worship". People worship all kinds of "gods" and they will be going to hell because of that.

I'm not clear now on where I wanted to go with all of this. Basically, I guess I'm just ranting about the everyday mess of this world. Maybe I should be glad that I have a good radar for what is offensive. That makes it harder to browse a lot of social media and peruse any entertainment sites, but who says that's a bad thing? It leaves more time for paying attention to what strengthens me. 

I hope that all of you are staying in prayer and staying encouraged. I hope that you are fighting for the faith. It's a battle that won't end til we go "home".

Peace

--Free

Witnessing As An Introvert

 I am something of an introvert. Even though I tend to "keep myself to myself", I still like to witness to people. One way I do this is by handing out pamphlets and sometimes buying Gospel of John tracts to leave out in public places. Around the middle of last year (2023), I bought a small hanging chalkboard and some liquid chalk markers. This is how I use these for some "passive witnessing":

INSERT PHOTO

This hangs just outside my apartment door. A lot of the building residents decorate their entry space with plants, holiday items, or sports memorabilia. Some of them even have small tables outside their door to hold their decor.

Since I started using the chalkboard, I've had several of my neighbors indicate that they read the messages. This includes a neighbor who lost her husband a couple years ago. She is Catholic and once mentioned to me that she "prays for his soul". 

Mostly, I post Bible verses on the board. Sometimes, I post one of the funny or thoughtful "church sign" messages I see online.

This is such a casual way to share the Gospel with folks. And, yes, I do post the basic gospel message regularly:

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (I Corinthians 15:3-4 NKJV)

Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you. It's such a simple way to display God's Word and share the gospel message.

I am not affiliated or compensated in any way for this but, in case you are interested, here are the supplies I use.

• The chalkboard set
• My favorite markers so far (except I don't need to white marker)
• The other markers (LOL)

As with anything these days, you can find several types of those supplies. I am looking for a slightly larger chalkboard (like these). The ones I have now are not quite large enough for me to write longer messages. I don't want a huge one because of the wall space I'm working with. I really like the first markers I bought but the second set of colors is not quite as eye-catching.

I hope this was encouraging to you. 

Peace

--Free

The World Is Laughing at Some of Us

I rarely visit YouTube since they cracked down on ad-blocking. When I did venture onto the site the other day, one of the suggested videos was this one:

As I watched the first few minutes, I was laughing. Then I realized that while these folks are laughable, what they are doing is not funny. It's just sad.

I have a friend who was never exposed to any type of religious worship until she was in her mid-30s. By then, she had a young son and was dealing with a lot of stress in her life. When a friend invited her to church, she was hopeful. She thought that maybe she would find something beautiful and meaningful there.  Unfortunately, the church she visited was similar to most "holy roller" type places. What she found there was frightening and confusing. The "preacher" was shouting and wailing throughout his "sermon" and when the worship music started, the congregants started wildly dancing around and "getting the holy ghost". My friend said that she had to leave not long into all that mayhem because her child was actually scared.

That is sad. That is depressing.

I grew up in a "holy roller" church. It was sheer silly entertainment. I did enjoy the music. My cousins and I got a kick out of washing this 'sister' or that 'brother' jumping and shouting. Sometimes, a wig would go askew or a shoe would go flying. Pure mayhem. None of us was ever taught (in that church) the actual gospel. It was years before I became a Christian. Only one of those 3 cousins ever did turn to God. To this day, one of them wants nothing to do with church or "religion" because of those childhood experiences. 

That is sad. That is depressing.

That video is just one of several. I watched probably 3 or 4 of them and they got worse and worse. In some of them, there were little kids "preaching". The little boys were doing perfect impressions of the shouting, wailing, pastors they obviously grew up watching. One of them kept wiping his forehead with a handkerchief as he flipped through a Bible during his "sermon". I felt like sobbing.

Like the little pastor-imitating children, the adults in these videos seem to be better at playing church than being Christians. They know how to be "churchy" but not how to be holy. They know how to shout and dance but not how to worship. They know how to bring the club into the church but not how to accept Christ into their hearts.

To the credit of whoever puts out these videos - or at least the ones I saw - they had a brief disclaimer that not all churches/churchgoers are like those shown. And that is true, of course. But which type of churchgoer probably comes first to the mind of the skeptic or general observer? 

Peace

--Free