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Television |
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Television
is still considered one of the greatest technological inventions ever made in
the field of mass-media. Now, it is common knowledge that television has
changed society for the worse. What are these changes? First of all,
television has reduced the time which the family’s members spend on talking
with each other, for as they have lunch or supper they hardly ever speak to
one another about their problems because they are watching television and
listening carefully to what the television says. In addition to this, television
has helped to increase obscenity, perversion, violence and many other bad
things among people. How did television manage to change society? Because of
its power, which is very big; those who study the ‘television phenomenon’
recognize that television has a great influence on people, which surpasses
human intelligence because it influences the subconscious of human beings. |
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Now, I’m
going to show you from the Scriptures that watching television is harmful to
a believing person. |
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The apostle John says: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1
John |
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If one
considers carefully what is broadcasted on television, he will come to the
conclusion that the television broadcasts all the things which are in the
world, that is to say, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life. That’s why we are not surprised to see that this mass-media has
been ‘successful’ all over the world, because the television broadcasts what
belongs to this world, and since the world loves its own things, the
television is loved by the sinners to the point that they can’t do without
it. Watching television is like breathing the air to them, it is like eating
bread, it is like drinking water; in other words, it is necessary to them. If
their TV set is broken, they call immediately the television engineer to
repair it, as if a water or gas piper is broken. Let’s say it very clearly;
sinners love television because they find in it all the garbage they like
feeding on. |
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Unfortunately,
television is loved also by many believers, who love it as if it were one of
their loved ones. They don’t dare to speak against it, and when they hear
someone speaking against television they get angry as if someone had touched
the apple of their eyes!! They begin to tremble with rage, to gnash their teeth,
the colour of their face changes, they can’t stand people speaking against
their domestic idol. Yes, it is an idol, because the television has entered
their heart, but not without their permission, for they themselves allowed it
to enter into their heart and put it into their heart. They adore television,
they exalt it, they have bowed their knees to the television which has become
their master, they are slaves to it! These are hard words, yet they reflect
the sad reality existing in the midst of God’s people today. They like
watching television, rather I would say that they watch it passionately
because in it they find pasture for their insatiable eyes and ears. They want
to fix their eyes on what is passing away, that is, on the vanity of this
world, on the deceitful vanities; they watch the fashion shows, the Sanremo
Festival, those amusing shows where comedians insult everybody and
everything, they watch different kinds of films, they can watch whatever they
like! Someone will say to me: ‘What are you talking about?’’ I am talking
about the things which are happening in the houses of many believers and many
pastors. Why then should we be surprised at seeing such a widespread worldliness
among the Churches here in |
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Why are the
prayer meetings ignored by most of the believers? The reason is because when
believers come back from work in the evening, the first thing they do is to
turn on their television (unless it is already turned on) and to watch all
the ‘beautiful and interesting’ things which will be broadcasted that evening.
The Festival will be aired in a few minutes! Their favourite comedians, who
make them die with laughter, will perform on TV in just a short time! The soccer
game of their favourite team will be broadcasted live on TV! The latest film
by Tom is on first release! Therefore, they have no time to go to pray to God
together with other believers. Why, after the worship service is finished, do
most of the believers want to go home as soon as possible? Because they want
to be at home in front of their television set at the fixed time, in order to
watch their favourite program. And why do many believers arrive late to the
worship service? Still because of the television, for they leave their home
when their favourite television program is finished or almost finished. How
shameful! Many unbelievers are indeed more zealous than many believers, for
when they go to the stadium to see the soccer game they arrive even five
hours earlier, whereas many believers always arrive several minutes or half a
hour later. Why do so few Christians desire the spiritual gifts? Because
today almost all are so attached to the television that they have no
intention of desiring the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Why is there so much lack
of knowledge of the Word of God? Because the faithful spend most of their free
time watching television instead of spending it reading, meditating and
studying the Word of God as they should do. Then it is right those who stay
day and night in front of their television set who get angry when they hear
some brothers quoting more biblical passages above the average. ‘Brother, the
letter kills but the Spirit gives life’ they are ready to tell you to
discourage you from studying the Scripture. However, you know that the
meaning given to these words by these believers is wrong, because the apostle
Paul by these words meant that the Old Testament (the letter) kills, whereas
the New Testament (the Spirit) gives life. I would like to say to these
believers: ‘Know this, that the studying and assimilation of Scripture don’t
kill, but rather it is your dear serials, your dear soap operas, which are an
abomination, your dear festivals, the jokes and the coarse jesting of your
favourite comedians, the violence and the obscenities you watch on
television, which kill’. For this reason you are dead, even though you have a
name that you are alive, because all that garbage you watch on television,
which you have put into your heart, chocked the Word of God and you became
unfruitful. Why don’t you speak using the Word of God, but you have a very
short memory (as if you lost your memory), or you show such a lack of
biblical knowledge that it seems that you turned to the Lord yesterday? You
look for the book of Psalms between Genesis and Deuteronomy, the Bible is an
unknown book to you, your carry it to the place of worship just because you
want to appear Christians, but you hardly ever open your Bible at home. You
know by heart the times of the movies, the titles of the movies, the actors
of the movies and many other things; but you don’t know the Word of God. At
your house one can see upon the table in your living room the magazines which
speak about the television programmes, whereas he can’t find the Bible. Where
is it? When you pray you say always the same things, you don’t pray in faith,
you recite your prayers, you don’t pray with your heart. Your prayers are grammatically
correct, every word and verb is at the right place, yet your prayers are
dead, lifeless, without zeal. I know, all this is discouraging and
distressing to those who want to pursue holiness and who seek continually the
face of the Lord, yet on the other hand is the result produced by the love of
the world and the things in the world when it enters the heart of a believer. |
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Therefore,
brethren, since television promotes the love of the world and the pleasures
of it, and tends to cause you to neglect the reading of the Word of God,
prayer and the assembling of brethren together, and to cause you to forget
the Word of God, don’t watch television any longer because it’s a waste of
time and money and through it you don’t bear any fruit to the glory of God.
Furthermore, television is a powerful instrument in the hands of the devil to
imprint perverse and violent images in the minds of believers, who will think
of them when they have turned off their television. Therefore, they will meditate
on perverse things instead of meditating on good, right and true things, as
the apostle Paul commands us to do (Philippians 4:8) and thus they will disobey
God. A similar thing must be said about children, who memorize very easily in
their minds all the things they watch and hear on television, and besides
this they tend to do what they see on television and to speak the words they
hear on television. That’s why they are violent, attached to vanity, and not attached
to the family; that’s why when they are rebuked, they answer with bad words and
vulgarly and they give themselves over to many vices. We can say that they
are ‘brought up’ by the television and not by their parents. They ought to be
brought up in the training and admonition of the Lord, but they are left to
themselves. |
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Some of
you will wonder why I say these things about television; well, the reason is
that I myself have experienced both the harm that it causes to those who
watch it and the peace and the joy which one experiences after he is set free
from its dominion. Obviously, some will say that I am exaggerated or too much
exaggerated; however, I can assure you that if you decide to understand the
will of God, and to understand if what I am saying to you is right or wrong,
and you pray God about this matter, God will reveal to you that watching
television has an evil influence on you and your families and He will deliver
you from the habit of watching television, of which billions of people are slaves
all over the world. When this happens, you will get rid of your television
set, and after that you will inform the RAI (which is the Italian
broadcasting company to which every citizen, who has a television set, must
pay a licence fee annually) that you have no longer a television set in your
house. Your life will change for the better because you will begin to spend
more time serving the Lord, as you have never done before. |
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Jesus said: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be
single [good], thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be
evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23). |
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Our body
has a lamp, which is the eye; note that Jesus did not say that the lamp of
the body is another member of our body but He said that the lamp of our body
is the eye. Now, if this lamp is burning it will enlighten all our body, but if
it has gone out our body will be full of darkness. Therefore, if we want to
keep our lamp burning (so that it might shine on us) we must see good things,
true things and decent things; only on this condition we will keep the following
words of Jesus: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning ….” (Luke |
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Isaiah says that he who walks righteously “stops his ears from hearing of
bloodshed” (Isaiah 33:15 – NKJV). |
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Now, the
television news, which seems so innocuous to many people, gives all kinds of
bad news, such as murders, wars, atrocities, injustices, frauds, falsities,
perversions and so on: so I ask you: ‘What grace does the TV news impart to
you?’ Do you feel edified when you listen to it? Does the news do any
spiritual good to you?’ I watched all kinds of television news (even foreign
television news) for many years and I can say that I did not receive any
spiritual good from them, rather I was disturbed, discouraged and many times
I got angry because of certain news. Furthermore, it is a well known fact
that the television news gives bad news every day, why then should we rush to
listen to it? Oh, that those believers who take delight in the television
news and are in a hurry to listen to the daily news were in the same hurry to
listen to the Word of God! I think that if they were attached to the Word of
God as they are attached to the television news, we would see a great deal of
spiritual progress in their life. I think that if they had a thirst of
hearing the words of the Lord (which abide forever) and not of hearing the
television news, they would be different. But the facts are upsetting:
believers know what the television news has said, but they don’t know what
God has said in His Word; they remember perfectly what the television news
has said, but they immediately forget what they have heard from the pulpit:
they remain many hours in front of their television set to watch the
television news and all kinds of programmes of current affairs, but they get bored
listening to their pastor when his sermon is longer than usual, for at a
certain point they begin to look at their watch saying to themselves: ‘When
will he stop preaching?’ |
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Many
pastors speak about revival; they do a right thing, but I believe that the
revival will come when the believers get rid also of their television set and
begin to spend their time (which they spend watching television) on praying
on their knees, on searching the Holy Scripture and on doing good works. But
as long as ALSO the television is so important to them, the revival will not
come; the reason is that at the root of this affection for the television
there is the love of the world and its worldly lusts. And we know that if
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Do not love the
world, do not love the things in this world, and then the light will dawn
upon you, then the early zeal and power will return, as well as the early
love. You will see the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the
world will know that God is truly among us; you will begin to see that
brotherly love by which all will know that we are disciples of Christ; then
the pastors will expose those worldly lusts which today are accepted and thus
the sheep of the Lord will pursue holiness because their pastors will rebuke
and correct them. Our desire is that the believers may return to perfect
holiness in the fear of God and that the Lord may work powerfully among the Churches
as He did in the days of old. |
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Brothers,
I implore you in the name of the Lord not to watch television anymore and to
take it away from your house. Do not keep in your house this instrument that
the devil uses to create strife in your family, to discourage you from doing
good works, and to cause you to return to the pollutions of the world, which
you once escaped by the grace of God (in other words, the devil uses your
television set to destroy you), and for which – do not forget this – you pay
a licence fee to the RAI annually!! Imitate that brother who, when he read
the following words ‘THE WORLD IN YOUR HOUSE’ on the box in which was the
television set he had just bought and which was about to be brought in his
house, said to himself: ‘What! I was delivered from this world, why should I
bring the world in my house?’ Know this, that you will never regret your
decision, I say it again, NEVER, because you will be blessed, greatly
blessed. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. |