In recent years I have been confronted with Christians telling me all kinds of muck that is going on in the world that I am not personally responsible for.
They say; "we need to be informed" as though if we choose not to know the filth going on we are somehow a bad citizen. My answer to that is when God leads us to do something then we do it, but I do not go looking for filth and rank rebellion to just know about it. This is Gnosticism at its worst. Gnosticism is the worship of knowledge for its own sake, just knowing is enough. Many people have said to me; "we need to be informed", my question to them is "why", is it necessary for me to know all the secret plans of wicked people?" God tells me what I need to know when I need it to carry out His will. I do not need to search out all the filth and lies of the world just to feel informed. It is paranoia that leads people to feel this extreme need to prepare for things they can't even prove is going to happen. God knows the future, when I need to know something or do something He will tell me. I cannot and will not be driven by media hype or paranoid people.
Ephesians 5:11-14
"11 Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason it says,
God wants us to expose evil when we are confronted with it by warning others not to have anything to do with it. Exposing evil does not mean go looking for filth to talk about it to others. Notice verse 12 which says; "12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret."
Proverbs 4:23-27
"23 Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
24 Rid yourself of a deceitful mouth
And keep devious [a]speech far from you.
25 Let your eyes look directly ahead
And let your [b]gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
26 [c]Watch the path of your feet,
And all your ways will be established.
27 Do not turn to the right or to the left;
Turn your foot from evil."
There was a time when the news media tailored their reports for the area in which we lived. Knowing what is going on in our own communities that we can be aware of for safety or to do something about makes sense. But knowing things just to know them without doing anything to change it or when it is impossible to change it has no value at all except perhaps to boast about the knowledge or to enjoy sensationalism for its own sake.
We cannot avoid knowing the filth of the world when it waltzes in front of us but to go looking for it for just one more tidbit to share is worth less than nothing.
The same people who are continually speaking about the filth and degradation of this world rarely utter the name of Jesus Christ. They are so consumed with the filth of the world that thoughts of Christ are pushed out of their minds.
Philippians 4:8
"8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is [a]lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
We live in the world and we will see things that disturb us, but deliberately perusing the internet to find what we would not see if we didn't search for it is a demonstration of the same mentality that used to watch soap operas on TV back in the day. Drama for its own sake is sin.
We are to take care of the things God sets in front of us and not go searching for muck like it were silver and gold. God told us this;
Proverbs 2:3-5
"3 For if you cry out for insight,
And [a]raise your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And discover the knowledge of God."
If believers would search for wisdom through prayer and Bible reading as much as they search out the goings on in the world their wisdom would be immense. As it is many believers are buying into things that are not even true as though they must know them.
James 1:5
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."
Colossians 3:16
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."
James 3:17
"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere."
Proverbs 3:13
"Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,"
Would a believer many years ago go to the section of the city where prostitutes and criminals hang out just to know what they are doing, NO, they would separate themselves from them except to share the gospel, but they would not continually go to these places to see whatever filth is going on there and repeat it to others.
This is what is happening with believers, only they do not go to the Tenderloin district for their gossip, they go to the local news, the internet, and the conspiracy sights to learn things that are questionable at best.
We are living in times of great deception in which God said even the elect will be fooled. Nearly everything all the time has lies and deception, even the conservative news thinks it is alright to tell lies because they think their cause is right.
The great deception of our day is so monstrous and overgrown that it is impossible to know what is true and what is not. It is better to ignore it all and deal with whatever God places in our path, He will never tell us a lie. But He will allow us to believe lies if that is what we want more than we care about truth, merely for our own entertainment.
Those who think they can make the world better in these last days of apostasy are not reading their Bibles or they are reading with a worldly mindset.
We are in the last days as described in 2 Timothy 3 and the rest of the Bible. We cannot change what is going to happen but we can share the gospel with the unsaved and encourage the born-again believer to keep looking at the world and remain focused on Christ. If He wants us to act we can obey Him, but if He does not tell us to do something then we can, without guilt, obey Him. Any pressure from others to "do something" because they have been taught by this world they should, can be ignored.
Satan loves to distract believers from their calling of the gospel and encouragement to the believers. He likes nothing better than placing corruption and contamination in our minds to deter us from what God gave us to do. He also loves to dominate our minds with depravity.
I am reminded of the story someone about the brownies. He and his wife went out for the evening with the instruction not to watch certain things on television. They arrived home early to find the children watching something that they knew was not allowed. The children said there was only a little bad in it, but the rest was alright.
Dad and Mom went to bed. The next day the mother made a batch of brownies for the children and invited them to take one. As they began to reach for the brownie she said; "I must tell you that I made the brownies with good ingredients but only put a teaspoon of dog poo in the entire batch so it should be alright because there is only a tiny bit of dog poo., other than that they are alright.
No one would eat the brownies, then the mother told them "you wouldn't put corrupted food into your bodies, even a little, but you would put it into your minds."
My prayer is that born-again believers will take their focus off of this world and steadfastly read the Bible believing what He said in it. May believers stop filling their minds with filthy news content and replace it with God's Word, His principles, and His character.
As we read the Bible we will see all that is going on in Israel has been prophesied and we can hang onto the promises God has for the nation of Israel. What an amazing thing to be living in the very end of days when prophecy is playing out just as God said it would.
We cannot ignore the blatant things of the world that prove prophecy to be right, but we do not have to know the details of wickedness to expose what comes into our lives.
Jeremiah 4:22-23 "22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.” 23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.…"
When we know more about the details of evil than we know of God's Word something is seriously wrong.
Romans 16:19 "For the report of your obedience has reached everyone; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent in what is evil."
We are to come to Christ as little children, innocent" in the ways of the world. The more we know the details of evil the more our minds are corrupted.
