Social Media and Digital Discernment

By John MacArthur

Twenty-five years ago Neil Postman observed that television had become an American “necessity” and lamented its effects on society. He correctly described the culture of the 1980s as one that was amusing itself to death. If he were alive today, Postman would be astonished at how quickly Twitter, Facebook, and other forms of social media have gripped our society. His earlier criticisms raise an interesting question about these current trends: If TV put our culture in the casket, has social media nailed the coffin shut?
Almost overnight, the budding world of social media has revolutionized the way our culture communicates. Even our vocabulary has been affected. Suddenly, people are “tagging” each other, “tweeting” about themselves, and “liking” everything they see. For the first time, it’s possible to have “friends” you’ve never even met. Those conversant in the language of social media rarely use complete sentences or even complete words (since they are limited to 140 characters). All the while, words like “screenager,” “vlog,” and “cyberslacking,” are finding their way into dictionaries like Oxford and Webster’s. It’s funny to consider that, not too long ago, surfing was just a water sport and a yahoo was a crazy person. But not anymore.
Social media is also changing the way people spend their time. Recent statistics from Nielson indicate that Americans spend 906 million hours per month using social media.¹ Twitter has over 100 million users. YouTube serves more than two billion videos a day. And Facebook reports that, worldwide, its 500 million active users spend a combined 700 billion minutes on the site each month. That’s roughly 24 hours per person, which is a lot of time to spend checking status updates and changing profile pictures.²
So what are Christians supposed to think about all of this? How can we exercise biblical discernment in the way we use this new media?
On the one hand, social networking websites provide numerous benefits and opportunities. Many of the ministries with which I am involved (like Grace to You and The Master’s College & Seminary) utilize social networking to dispense resources and keep people updated with ministry news.³ Social networking can be a useful tool when used to communicate the right things—messages that honor Christ, exalt His Word, and direct people to profitable tools for spiritual growth.
But social networking can also be abused. When it consists of nothing more than random babblings and personal monologues, it can become self-centered, unrestrained and narcissistic. When it consumes our lives, it can be addictive and controlling. Used unwisely, it is filled with potential pitfalls and temptations. For those who follow Christ, we are called to submit every area of our lives to His lordship—including how we use social media. With that in mind, let’s look at the following five areas of caution:

Virtual Fellowship

First, consider the façade of friendship that can be created by social networking. It has the potential to foster shallow relationships and detract from real ones. Instead of enhancing deep friendships, it tends to flatten out and impersonalize the dynamics of human interaction—creating what Umair Haque calls “thin relationships.” Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Haque notes, “Despite all the excitement surrounding social media, the Internet isn’t connecting us as much as we think it is. It’s largely home to weak, artificial connections, what I call thin relationships. . . . Thin relationships are the illusion of real relationships.” He goes on to explain that, thanks to the explosion of so-called friendships in the world of social networking, the very word “relationship” has lost its value. “It used to mean someone you could count on. Today, it means someone you can swap bits with.”⁴
Haque is not alone in his observations. Gervase Markham, a Mozilla Foundation programmer quoted inThe Sydney Morning Herald, echoes that same concern: “Social networking en-courages people to have a greater number of much shallower friendships. I know what 15 of my friends had for breakfast, but I don’t know whether any of them is struggling with major life issues. If this trend continues, people in 2020 will have hundreds of acquaintances, but very few friends.”⁵
Researcher Mark Vernon, writing in USA Today, agrees: “While social networking sites and the like have grown exponentially, the element that is crucial, and harder to investigate, is the quality of the connections they nurture. . . . A connection may only be a click away, but cultivating a good friendship takes more. It seems common sense to conclude that ‘friending’ online nurtures shallow relationships.”⁶ His advice for maintaining real friendships is simple: “Put down the device; engage the person.”⁷
Social networking gives the illusion of knowing everyone, and yet the reality is that oftentimes no one is truly known. It creates an environment where selfish, one-sided relationships seem to flourish, and where communication is largely unidirectional, made up of sound bites instead of deep interaction.
Moreover, it often distracts people from existing relationships. Instead of pouring themselves into the real-life friendships they currently have, people now spend hours with pseudo-friends online. This is especially seen within the family, where social networking constantly threatens to invade, bringing a barrage of cultural influence into the private world of family life. In the home, focused training in godliness is essential for the development of spiritually-healthy relationships and biblical worldviews. But instant distraction is only a text message away.
As believers, we are called to love, encourage, instruct, admonish, and serve one another. That requires far more than social media can provide. The life-on-life discipleship that characterizes Christian friendship goes much deeper than any Facebook update or Twitter post. In so far as our fellowship is limited to 140 characters of text, it is not true fellowship at all.

Every Careless Word

The book of Proverbs tells us that, “He who spreads slander is a fool. When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (10:18b-19). A maxim for all of life, that statement certainly applies to social media.
Those who spread slander and gossip online can now find themselves in court.⁸ Some might be sued.⁹ Others simply fired from their jobs.¹⁰
But even if such potential consequences did not exist, Christians answer to a higher court. And God has made it clear what He thinks about gossip: “He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, therefore do no associate with a gossip” (Prov. 20:19).
A study in the New York Daily News found that 80% of normal conversations consist of gossip.¹¹ Those numbers seem to be consistent with online interactions, where talking about other people is almost as popular as talking about oneself. In a helpful article entitled “Solomon on Social Media,” Tim Challies gives this timely warning: “There are many web sites, blogs and Twitter accounts dedicated almost entirely to gossip, to sharing what is dishonorable rather than what is noble. Avoid these people and their gossip!”¹²
But even beyond the world of slander, one has to wonder how many careless words are posted, texted, or tweeted every moment of the day. Statistics suggest that there are about 700 Facebook status updates and over 600 tweets every second.¹³ Even if some of those are profitable, that still leaves a lot of empty chatter.
Our Lord addressed this issue directly in His statement, “Every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it” (Matt. 12:36). That’s a sobering thought, especially when paired with the maxim of Proverbs 17:28: “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.” (Many a young blogger would do well to memorize those verses.)
In 1 Corinthians 10:23–24, Paul explains an important principle about Christian liberty. He writes, “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.” If we apply that truth to the world of social media, we can quickly separate that which is valuable from that which is merely wood, hay, and stubble. Tweeting about the inane details of life might not be sinful, but if it doesn’t build others up spiritually, it might be better left unsaid.

Time Mismanagement

According to recent statistics, the average American worker spends almost six hours a month visiting social networking websites during work time. The majority of that time is spent on Facebook.¹⁴
But this is not just about wasting time at work. It’s about wasting time, period. By its very nature, social networking is a massive distraction. It detracts from disciplined study, thoughtful meditation, and concerted prayer.
In a Time Magazine article entitled “It’s Time to Confront Your Facebook Addiction,” Kayla Webley shares some startling statistics. “One-third of women ages 18 to 34 check Facebook first thing in the morning. . . . Of the 1,605 adults surveyed on their social media habits, 39% are self-described ‘Facebook addicts.’ It gets worse. Fifty-seven percent of women in the 18 to 34 age range say they talk to people online more than they have face-to-face conversations. Another 21% admit to checking Facebook in the middle of the night.”¹⁵
Some Facebook “addicts,” like Maria Garcia of Philadelphia, spend as much as 56 hours a week on the site.¹⁶ Reporting on her story, ABC News recounted the concern of those in the medical community: “The popularity and social acceptance of networking sites is one of the reasons Dr. Joseph Garbley says Facebook addiction is becoming a very real problem. . . . Garbley says unlike alcohol or drugs, social networking addiction is psychological not physical. But he adds it is still a serious problem: ‘The problem comes in when life intercedes, when school work calls, when relationships demand your attention and you chose Facebook over those relationships.’”¹⁷ It seems social media sites have become the new soap operas!
Of course, the real problem is a heart issue, not a psychological one. But the point remains. For many Americans, the amount of time spent using social media is out of control. Whether defined as “addicts” or not, people spend vast amounts of time browsing blogs, watching YouTube videos, reading tweets, and managing their profiles. We’ve already noted that, on average, the active Facebook user spends nearly 24 hours a month on the site. In September 2010, the amount of time spent on Facebook surpassed Google for the first time. Combine this with time spent blogging, micro-blogging, commenting, texting, instant messaging, and surfing—and the sheer hours represented become staggering.
Ironically, people can spend hours jumping from link to link without even realizing how much time they are wasting. As author Ivan Misner explains in Business Week, “You go to LinkedIn or Facebook and you read a comment and it takes you to another link and now you’re on YouTube, watching someone’s video. Pretty soon something weird happens in the space-time continuum and you look up and you’ve lost two hours.”¹⁸
As believers, the command of Ephesians 5:15–16 is just as binding upon our modern lives as it was in the non-technological world of the first century. “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” Paul’s exhortation has massive implications for how we interact with social media. One day we will stand before Christ to give an account for how we used His resources (including our time and energy). With that in mind, how much of this life can be justifiably devoted to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the like? Just a few hours each day, over the course of a lifetime, adds up to years of wasted opportunity.

Putting the ME in Media

If there is one word that perhaps best describes social media it is this: self-promotion. The narcissism fostered by status updates and tweets is undeniable. And cultural critics have taken notice.
Some respond with humor.¹⁹ A few see it as a good thing.²⁰ Others are concerned that social media is ramping up society’s psychological maladies—like Narcissistic Personality Disorder.²¹ (Of course, what psychologists label “NPD” the Bible calls the sin of pride.)
Even the majority of social media users admit that self-promotion is at its core: “A national study fresh out of SDSU is confirming that Generation Y really is Generation Me. The jaw-dropping conclusion? 57% of young people believe their generation uses social networking sites for self-promotion, narcissism and attention seeking.”²² In the words of one British journalist: “The Me-Man is everywhere. And so is the Me-Woman. They are the millions of men and women . . . from every class, age and profession who want to talk about themselves, expose themselves, and promote themselves in glorious and often gory detail. . . . They blog and bleat and tweet and text you all the time. The medium may vary, but the message is always the same: Me. ‘Me, Me, Me!’”²³
Dr. Lauren LaPorta, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at St. Joseph’s, sees the popularity of social networking sites as a direct result of the growing narcissism in American culture (due largely to the self-esteem movement of the 90s). Writing for the Psychiatric Times, she observes, “It is my contention that these sites would not have risen to such prominence but for the fact that a generation of narcissists needed an outlet. The millennial generation needed a way to assert their uniqueness, their specialness and garner the attention and praise of the masses. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter filled the bill.”²⁴
But the me-centered world of social media is clearly at odds with the biblical call to humility and selflessness. Consider just a brief sampling of relevant Scripture passages on this subject:

Proverbs 16:18—“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”
Proverbs 27:2—“Let another man praise you and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.”
Proverbs 30:2—“If you have been foolish in exalting yourself . . . put your hand over your mouth.”
Isaiah 66:2—“‘To this one I [the LORD] will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.’”
Matthew 23:11–12—“The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”
Philippians 2:3–5—“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. . . . Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.”

To these, a host of other passages could be added. All of them make the same point: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
When so much about social media panders to pride and shameless self-exaltation, believers need to think about their motives before they jump on the bandwagon. If the goal is simply popularity or personal promotion, it’s time to do a heart check. Our celebrity-driven culture craves for notoriety. But Christians are called to be different. We have died to ourselves. Thus, our concern should not be, “How many people can I get to follow me?” but rather, “How can I bear witness to the wonder of following Christ?”

Trivializing Truth

None other than National Public Radio recently lamented the growing trivialization of values in American society. In an NPR web article entitled, "Trivialization Nation” (Feb. 2010) Linton Weeks writes, “The wide-spread trivialization of meaningful things is indisputable. Sound bites and silliness reign supreme. . . . Perhaps the tendency to trivialize is born of band-wagonism or laziness. . . . Trivializing large ideals is easier than living up to them. And it’s less scary.”²⁵
Elsewhere, the article cited an interview with the president of Harvard, Drew Faust, in which she was asked to respond to the dumbing down of American culture. “I worry about attention span,” Faust said, “because people will not listen to more than a couple of sentences or read more than a couple of sentences. Does everything have to be a sound bite? Is everything to be digested into something brief? And aren’t there complicated ideas that we ought to have the patience to give our attention to?"²⁶
One novelist-turned-blogger provides firsthand testimony of that trivialization in his own experience. He writes: “This is, I think, the real danger of social media and Twitter. . . . It changes the way I process information. Or to be more precise, I no longer process information—I merely consume it. I speed read hundreds of bits of articles a day, absorbing lots of information, but rarely actually thinking about it. . . . The difficult thoughts, the ambivalent thoughts, the repulsive thoughts, the thoughts too complicated to be reduced to a tweet. They are labeled low priority and sent to the back office of my mind.”²⁷
Geoff Dyer, writing in The Guardian, echoes that concern: “Sometimes I think my ability to concentrate is being nibbled away by the internet; other times I think it’s being gulped down in huge, Jaws-shaped chunks.”²⁸ A CNBC article entitled, “Is Twitter Making You Stupid?” concludes with this sobering assessment: “It seems that we’ve managed, in the words of playwright Richard Foreman . . . to transform ourselves into ‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”²⁹
While scientists and social critics debate the effects of social media on how we think, one thing remains clear: Christians must guard themselves against becoming theological pancakes. Thanks to the market-driven methodologies of the seeker-sensitive movement, the dumbing down of doctrine has characterized American evangelicalism for decades. In many ways, sites like Twitter and Facebook only exacerbate that problem because they provide a venue in which reductionism and extreme brevity simultaneously coincide with information overload and infinite distraction.
But not every theological truth can be adequately summarized in just a phrase or two. And not every debate can be resolved in just one blog article. Many doctrines require extended time and thought to properly process. Mature believers reflect deeply on the things of God and the truths of His Word.
They are not a mile wide and an inch deep. Instead their lives are marked by rich devotion, focused study, prolonged prayer, and careful mediation. Cultivating those kinds of spiritual disciplines takes time and effort—traits that are rarely prized in the information age.
In light of that, believers must not allow blogs, tweets, and status updates to become their primary source of theological education or spiritual input. If they do, they will inevitably become doctrinally shallow and spiritually malnourished.
God’s Word repeatedly calls us to use our minds wisely. We are to think on things that are right and true (Phil. 4:8) as we test all things carefully (1 Thess. 5:21) and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). Our minds are to be renewed (Rom. 12:2) as we allow the Word of Christ to dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16). We are to be sober-minded (1 Cor. 15:34) as we set our minds on things above (Col. 3:2) and prepare them for action (1 Pet. 1:13).
Clearly, God cares how we think and what we think about. Insofar as social media websites cultivate the trivialization of profound truths, while simultaneously fostering shorter attention spans, believers would do well to proceed carefully.

Something to Think About

At this point it is important to reiterate what I said at the beginning. Social networking can be a useful tool when it is used in moderation and for the right things. At the same time, however, pitfalls and temptations do exist; and believers need to arm themselves accordingly. Social media are obviously not going away any time soon. But that doesn’t mean we can be undiscerning in how we approach them.
For me, as a pastor, this issue is particularly important from a shepherding perspective. Christian leaders are called to equip their people to think through every area of life with biblical wisdom. And this is no exception.
Moreover, believers (and especially pastors) need to be careful what they communicate to the world about their lives. Once something is posted online it can be seen by anyone else. Once it’s cached, there is a permanent record of it. That means every status update and every tweet is part of the believer’s public testimony as a Christian.
As Paul told the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (2:20). Like Paul and every other believer, my life is no longer my own. The focus must not be on me, but on Christ. When someone hears from me publicly, I want it all to point to Him.
NOTES:

* Special thanks to members of the Grace Church staff for helping to find these online sources.
* The citation of sources here does not imply blanket endorsement of these websites or authors.

1 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/what-americans-do-online-social-media-and-games-dominate-activity/
2 http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
3 In my case, our staff at Grace to You maintains a social media presence for me (on both Facebook and Twitter) in order to direct people to biblical teaching resources. Though I am not personally involved in posting anything to Facebook or Twitter, I do see the value of those sites for ministry purposes.
4 http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2010/03/the_social_media_bubble.html
5 http://www.smh.com.au/technology/social-media-making-us-shallow-20100706-zy5u.html
6 http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-07-27-column27_ST_N.htm
7 Ibid.
8 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/us/01slapp.html?_r=1&ref=libel_and_slander
9 http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/05/legal-consequences-of-social-media.html
10 http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/slander_or_satire_when_does_social_media_cross_ legal_lines/
11 http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/09/10/2009-09
10_gossip_makes_up_80_percent_of_our_conversations__and_that_might_be_ok_experts.html
12 http://www.challies.com/christian-living/solomon-on-social-media
13 http://searchengineland.com/by-the-numbers-twitter-vs-facebook-vs-google-buzz-36709; for more recent numbers on Twitter see http://mashable.com/2010/06/25/tps-record/
14 http://en-us.nielsen.com/content/nielsen/en_us/news/news_releases/2010/june/nielsen_and_mckinsey.html
15 http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/08/its-time-to-confront-your-facebook-addiction/
16 http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/special_reports&id=7251938
17 Ibid.
18 http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2010/sb2010068_630402.htm
19 http://www.despair.com/somevedi.html
20 http://corymiller.com/why-narcissism-is-necessary-on-twitter/
21 http://socialmediarockstar.com/why-narcissistic-personality-disorder-loves-social-media
22 http://mashable.com/2009/08/25/gen-y-social-media-study/; see alsohttp://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-08-24-narcissism-young_N.htm
23 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1278968/From-YouTube-Facebook-Welcome-agenarcissism.html?printingPage=true
24 http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/news/content/article/10168/1514386
25 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123568025
26 Ibid.
27 http://themanwhofellasleep.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/social-media-and-digital-narcissism/
28 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/15/internet-brain-neuroscience-debate
29 http://www.cnbc.com/id/32569284/Is_Twitter_Making_You_Stupid/

http://www.gty.org/blog/B101110/social-media-and-digital-discernment
 

The Downfall of Babylon & The World Today

1. I've been studying Revelation again and began studying about Babylon and it's destruction in Rev 18, and why God destroyed it. I wanted to know what the sins were that God hated so much, because I knew that those same sins must be present in our time too. I'm sure they've always been present, but felt they must be even worse in our time since everything seems to be so much worse now and we've been seeing so many previews of all the judgments that will be coming during the tribulation.
   
   What I found both did and didn't surprise me. I guess the part that surprised me was because it's something the Lord has been teaching me about lately anyway. (He often seems to point out things He's teaching me personally during my study time lol) This time one of the main things was about idolatry. The Lord's been teaching me about the sin of idolatry for almost 2 years now, and I've discovered that it's much much more then just bowing down to some statue.
   
   I think it would be safe to say that most of us would never think idolatry would be a problem for any of us. After all, we do worship the one true God, so we're safe, right? Wrong. The Lord's shown me so much about this sin, that it's mind boggling to me. I've learned since I wrote that first piece that idolatry is very much a sin that's familiar to all of us. This is the sin that's going to continue to grow until it's so ugly and monstrous that it should be obvious to all what a horrid sin it is.
   
   One of the first ways I learned to define idolatry, besides bowing to a statue, was that it means putting anything before God and His Word. Most of us would instantly say that we would never do that, and we'd mean it too. But the Lord's shown me how insidious this sin is, and that in fact, most of us are guilty of it and not just once in a while. Yet another definition of idolatry is thinking anything about God that isn't true or trying to make Him something He isn't. It's something God also calls Spiritual adultery. If you think about it, God often accuses Israel of spiritual adultery in the OT, and He warns us from that in the NT too. But what is spiritual adultery? It's when we become involved in false teachings and things like that. It is NOT when we mistakenly believe something that's not true, because we haven't gotten to that truth yet in our daily studies with Him. But, if we hold to a false teaching, and do not study His Word with Him daily, then He does hold us responsible and does call it spiritual adultery and idolatry, because if we had, we would have known the truth.
   
   Knowing this then, and knowing the state of the Church right now, seeing the direction it's going, it's easy to see how this sin is going to continue to grow. There will be no great revival to bring people back to the truth, like the false teachers say, before the rapture. So this is just going to get worse and worse. Then, after the rapture, although there will be a tremendous and great soul harvest during the tribulation, with many saved who know and live the Truth, this sin will continue to grow in the majority of mankind as they basically worship themselves as god, and/or the god they create in their one world religion.
   
   This is one part of the sin of idolatry that will be practiced by the harlot, the woman riding the beast. Remember that she's dressed in purple, and gold and precious gems and jewels, showing luxury. This shows us the other part of the sin of idolatry practiced by her and all who follow her. (the one world religion). Remember how Jesus told us that the love of money was the root of all evil? This is another aspect of idolatry. It's when the love of pleasures or possessions becomes the most important thing in our lives. And this will be very true of the people during the tribulation.
   
   In fact though, it's already true of the majority of the world, even of Christians. This was the hard one for me to learn about. At first I denied that I could possibly be guilty of this. After all, I don't have much money anyway! Think though of how Satan, the prince of the air, has used the media to encourage this sin in our lives. People were much more content with their lives (like God tells us to be) before radio and especially before TV! They weren't being constantly barraged with pictures and sounds of the "new, improved, and better" things they could have like we are. No matter what we own, we constantly see commercials for the same thing only the next model up that's newer, prettier, improved, better, etc. And of course, everyone wants it! Somehow, you lose your desire for the one you've got, and find that you just have to have the newer, better kind.
   
   I think back to my parents childhood, then mine, my children's and now my grandchildren's and it's so very different! Now days, kids have things that many people didn't get until they were adults, if then! The US prides itself on being so prosperous, but what we are is idolatrous, not prosperous and it's getting worse every day.
   
   Let me quote something from one of the commentaries about the verses describing the downfall of Babylon and the sins she's judged for, and see if it doesn't sound an awful lot like how it is today:
   
   A third sin is Babylon’s worship of pleasures and luxury. To “live deliciously” (Rev. 18:7) is to live proudly in luxury while others go without. It means to make possessions and pleasures the most important things in life, and to ignore the needs of others. John summarized this attitude as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). The world system satisfies the desires of the earth-dwellers who follow “the beast” and reject the Lamb. But worldly things never permanently satisfy or last. The love of pleasures and possessions is but an insidious form of idolatry, demonic in its origin and destructive in its outcome. The Bible exposition commentary.
   
   Babylon’s sins ‎(18:3). The verse links spiritual adultery (idolatry) with “excessive luxuries.” A focus on material things leads not only to self-indulgence but also to an arrogance which denies any need for God. The worldly person puts his or her hope in possessions and in this sense puts things in the place rightly occupied by God. Idolatry is not just bowing down to images; it is also relying on wealth or power rather than on the Lord. The Bible reader’s companion
   
   When we need something, how often is our first thought of how much money we have...do we have enough to buy what we need or want? Do we have enough to see the doctor or pay for those tests? Do we think of things like that or think of how we might be able to make the money before we ever think of God who is our real provider?
   
   I've found that the twin to this is the sin of self idolatry because we often rely on ourselves long before we turn to God. We save God for the things we can't do for ourselves. At least most of us do until we learn better. When I first heard the term, "self idolatry", I thought it meant worshiping myself, and again figured I was safe. But that's not quite it is it? It's when we rely on ourselves instead of God, and that's already something just about everyone's guilty of in our time, and again is only going to get worse.
   
   Note too how idolatry is linked to Satan and the demonic. It's easy to see in God's Word how the love of pleasure and possessions soon draws demons into our lives. So many warnings against getting caught up in it, both in the old and new testaments. Now we know why. And look how all these forms of idolatry are growing tremendously, and right along side them, so is the occult and new age trash, and the false teachings like the prosperity gospel! It's all nothing more then idolatry.
   
   Suddenly, Babylon was looking awfully familiar! I wrote about it when God first started teaching me about idolatry and what it really was, I used to think that I couldn't ever be an idolater... thinking I'd learned my lesson. I had no idea there was so much more to learn!  I see now that much of what we consider normal in life is nothing more then idolatry. God wants to be involved in every part of our lives. He wants to be a constant part of our lives... of every thought, every action. He's not interested in being a part time God or a genie when we want something. That was one of the things that impressed me in studying Leviticus. His laws were made so that the Israelites were forced to make him part of everything they did, and that was the point. When I think back to the first Christians, that's how they lived too, especially since they knew that at any moment they could be arrested and/or killed for their faith, and also believed that at any moment Jesus could return. In reading Revelation, I realized that's how the tribulation saints will also live, except they'll know almost exactly when Jesus will be returning. Neither group makes us look very good does it? I have to admit it really makes me ashamed of myself. It makes me want desperately to live only for Him, to make Him proud of me. I want to heed His call to come out of her, don't you? I'd like to end with what one of my commentaries says about Rev 18:
   
   Our American society increasingly has traits in common with Babylon: materialism, a passion for luxury, and growing immorality especially reflected in movies, literature, and contemporary music. Our society too will share Babylon’s judgment—perhaps before Christ comes. Let’s make sure our allegiance to Christ is so strong that when our Babylon crumbles we will have grace to rejoice. The Bible reader’s companion

God's Sufficient Spirit

God's Sufficient Spirit

The book titled I’m Dysfunctional, You’re Dysfunctional, by Wendy Kaminer, debunked much of the mystique of modern psychology.[1] The author did not purport to be a Christian. In fact, she described herself as “a skeptical, secular humanist, Jewish, feminist, intellectual lawyer.”[2]

Yet she wrote as a bitter critic of the marriage of religion and psychology. She noted that religion and psychology have always more or less deemed one another incompatible. Now she sees “not just a truce but a remarkable accommodation.”[3] Even from her perspective as an unbeliever, she could see that this accommodation has meant a change in the fundamental message Christians convey to the world. She wrote:

Religious writers would minimize or dismiss the effect of psychology on religion, fiercely denying that it has made doctrinal changes, but it does seem to have influenced the tone and packaging of religious appeals... Christian codependency books, like those produced by the Minirth-Meier clinic in Texas, are practically indistinguishable from codependency books published by secular writers... Religious writers justify their reliance on psychology by praising it for “catching up” to some eternal truths, but they’ve also found a way to make the temporal truths of psychology palatable.[4]

Some of the criticism Kaminer leveled against evangelicals is unwarranted or misguided, but in this respect she is right on target: Evangelicalism has been infiltrated by a worldly anthropology-psychology-theology that is diametrically opposed to the biblical doctrines of sin and sanctification. As a result of this accommodation, the church has compromised and hopelessly muddled the message it is to proclaim.

Psychology and worldly therapies have usurped the role of sanctification in some Christians’ thinking. Psychological sanctification has become a substitute for the Spirit-filled life.

But can psychotherapy possibly accomplish something that the Holy Spirit cannot? Can an earthly therapist achieve more than a heavenly Comforter? Is behavior modification more helpful than sanctification? Of course not.

The Paraclete

To understand the crucial role the Holy Spirit plays in meeting people’s inner needs, we must go back to what Jesus taught His disciples when He first promised them He would send the Holy Spirit. It happened on the night Jesus was betrayed. His crucifixion was drawing near, and the disciples were fearful and confused. When Jesus spoke to them about going away, their hearts were troubled (John 14:1). In that hour of turmoil, they feared being left alone. But Jesus assured them that they would not be left to fend for themselves. He comforted them with this wonderful promise:

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:16–17)

“Helper” in verse 16 is the Greek word paraklētos, meaning someone called to another’s aid. First John 2:1 applies the same term to Jesus Himself: “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate [paraklētos] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The word is sometimes transliterated into English as “paraclete.”

It describes a spiritual attendant whose role is to offer assistance, succor, support, relief, advocacy, and guidance—a divine Counselor whose ministry to believers is to offer the very things that so many people vainly seek in therapy!

The promises Jesus made with regard to the Holy Spirit and His ministry are staggering in their scope. Let’s look at some of the key elements of this text.

A Divine Helper

The word translated “another” (allos) is a key to understanding the nature of the Holy Spirit. The Greek text carries a precision that is not immediately evident in English. The word means “another of the same kind,” as in, “That cookie was tasty; may I have another?”

In using this word, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as “another [allos] Helper [of the same kind].” He was promising to send His disciples a Helper exactly like Himself—a compassionate, loving, divine Paraclete. They had grown dependent on Jesus’ ministry to them. He had been their Wonderful Counselor, Teacher, Leader, Friend, and had shown them the Father. But from now on, they would have another Paraclete, One like Jesus, to meet the same needs He had met.

Here, for the first time, Jesus gave the disciples extensive teaching about the Holy Spirit and His role. Note that our Lord spoke of the Spirit as a person, not an influence, not a mystical power, not some ethereal, impersonal, phantom force. The Spirit has all the attributes of personality (mind, Romans 8:27; emotions, Ephesians 4:30; and will, Hebrews 2:4) and all the attributes of deity (see Acts 5:3–4). He is another Paraclete of exactly the same essence as Jesus.

There was, however, a significant difference: Jesus was returning to the Father, but the Holy Spirit would “be with you forever” (John 14:16). The Holy Spirit is a constant, sure, trustworthy, divine Paraclete graciously given by Christ to His disciples to be with them forever.

A Guide to Truth

It is noteworthy that Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of truth” (v. 17). As God, He is the essence of truth; as a Paraclete, He is the One who guides us into truth. That is why apart from Him, it is impossible for sinful beings to know or understand any spiritual truth.

Jesus said, “The world cannot receive [Him], because it does not see Him or know Him” (v. 17). Echoing that truth, Paul wrote:

To us God revealed [things which the world cannot see or understand] through the Spirit... Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us by God... But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Cor. 2:10, 12, 14)

Believers are actually taught spiritual truth by God Himself (see John 6:45). In fact, much of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to believers involves teaching them (John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 John 2:20, 27); guiding them into the truth of Christ (John 16:13–14); and illuminating the truth for them (1 Corinthians 2:12).

After Jesus ascended to heaven, one of the crucial ministries of the Holy Spirit was to bring to the disciples’ minds what Jesus had said and to teach them what He meant: “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:25–26).

That means that the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to recall the precise words Jesus had spoken to them, so that when they recorded them as Scripture, the words were perfect and error free. This assured that the gospel accounts were recorded infallibly, and that the apostolic teaching was unadulterated.

But this promise of our Lord also reveals the Holy Spirit as a supernatural Teacher who ministers truth to the hearts of those whom He indwells. The Spirit guides us into the truth of God’s Word. He teaches us, affirms the truth in our hearts, convicts us of sin, and often brings to mind specific truths and statements of Scripture that are applicable to our lives.

The Indwelling Presence

Look a little more closely at Jesus’ words at the end of John 14:17: “He abides with you and will be in you.” Our Lord was promising that the Holy Spirit would take up permanent, uninterrupted residence within His disciples. It was not only that the Spirit would be present with them; the greater truth was that He would be resident within them permanently.

This promise was not limited to the eleven apostles who were present that night. The Holy Spirit indwells every Christian. In verse 23, Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (emphasis added). Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Thus each believer enjoys the permanent, continuing presence of the Holy Spirit living within.

The Holy Spirit in Biblical Counseling

The new birth is the Holy Spirit’s sovereign work (John 3:8). And every aspect of true spiritual growth in the life of the believer is prompted by the Spirit, using the truth of Scripture (17:17). The counselor who misses that point will experience failure, frustration, and discouragement.

Only the Holy Spirit can work fundamental changes in the human heart. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the necessary agent in all effective biblical counseling. The counselor, armed with biblical truth, can offer objective guidance and steps for change. But unless the Holy Spirit is working in the heart of the counselee, any apparent change will be illusory, superficial, or temporary, and the same problems or worse ones will soon appear.

Conclusion

It is futile to follow the path of psychology and look within ourselves to find answers to our problems. And it is certainly true that those who focus on themselves, their childhood traumas, their wounded feelings, their emotional cravings, or other egocentric sources will never find genuine answers to their troubles.

The true believer, however, does have a Helper who dwells within. He is the Holy Spirit, who applies the objective truth of Scripture in the process of sanctification. Yet even He does not draw our attention inward, or to Himself. Instead, He directs our focus upward, to Christ. Jesus said, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me” (15:26).

Ultimately, it is unto Christ that the counselee’s focus must be directed. “Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corithians 3:18). That is the process of sanctification. And it is the ultimate goal of all truly biblical counseling.

Posted with permission

http://www.gty.org/blog/B140917/gods-sufficient-spirit

See previous parts of this series: Contaminated Cures for Soul Care;

 Insufficient Help, Part 1;  Insufficient Help, Part 2;

God's Sufficient Word, Part 1; God's Sufficient Word, Part 2

We're living in a Godless Age

We're living in a Godless Age

When we read the news or even just look around us we can see how ungodly people all over the world are becoming. The natural tendency of people to follow their sin nature seems to have become 100 fold worse and the "fruit" of that sin nature is obviously increasing because of that.

When we see this so constantly now, it's very easy to allow ourselves to become bogged down and even depressed about it. It's not easy watching the world go to hell, especially when it may include some of our own loved ones. This has always been the case for true Christians, but it seems worse then ever now.

So what should we do to avoid becoming so depressed and sad about the whole thing? What does God say we should be doing? He tells us quite frankly that this will happen and that when it does, we're to focus on His power and His Word -not on the world. When we don't do that, whether we realize it or not, we're giving Satan and his demons a foot in the doorway of our own lives!  (which of course, is just exactly what they want)

Why are so many Christians living like the world does? Why don't they see God's power at work in their lives and in the lives of their loved ones? Why is there so much false teaching and so many that fall for it? Why are so many Christians depressed instead of filled with the Joy of the Lord? Why do so many seem to be no different from the unsaved, yet when the apostles and early Christians were saved, they were changed so drastically, and the power of God was so very evident in their lives, that everyone saw it and talked about it?

It's a simple answer really, but one most people don't really want to hear. It's simply because they don't spend time studying God's Word with Him every day. It's that simple; that easy, but they won't do it. Because of that, they wind up being swayed by false teachings, and sometimes even lose their faith altogether. The Lord didn't give us a bunch of commands that He knew we couldn't keep. He also gave us the tools we'd need in order to keep them, and they can all be found in His Word. Not only that, but He even gave us a teacher, so that we couldn't possibly miss anything He had for us so we could live an abundant life here and now. Too often though, we ignore that teacher and even ignore His Book.

When Paul (and the other disciples) tell us what the people of this day will be like, including many so called Christians, they underline it all by saying that they may appear to be godly people, but they will deny the power of God and His Word. (2 Timothy 3:5) And isn't that exactly what we're seeing today? It's so sad because the main way we experience God's power and strength in our lives, is through His Word, when we study it with Him daily. Knowing God's Word, and getting to know Him better through the time we spend studying His Word with Him, increases our faith, protects us from false teaching, establishes a strong intimate relationship with Him, encourages us, gives us the wisdom and right perspective with which to make daily decisions, and of course gives us all the faith and strength we need to endure until He comes for us. My prayer is that even though we can see the world falling apart around us, we'll remember to keep our eyes on the Lord and be able to say with the psalmist: Psalm 46:1–2 —God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, *And with the psalmist may we also put our hope in His Word, for there is nothing more powerful or more certain in this world!

1 Corinthians 4:20 —For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
1 Corinthians 1:24 —but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. *

2 Timothy 3:12–17 —In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, *while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. *But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, *and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. *All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, *so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. *

2 Corinthians 10:4–5 —The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. *We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Timothy 3:5 —having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. *

Isaiah 48:18 —If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. *

Psalm 130:5–6 —I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. *My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. *

The Civilized World’s Made Things Harder For Us

The civilized world has taught us that we're independent and don't need anyone but ourselves. We are taught to think of ourselves first, to love ourselves, to be ourselves, to do for ourselves. We're taught that no one can make us do anything and we can do and be anything we want to. We're told anything and everything is ok as long as it makes us feel good and that we should feel good. We're taught how great and wonderful we are. We're taught that the stars are our limit -in other words there is no limit to what we can do. (sounds an awful lot like the tower of Babel to me) It's funny, but the more I study God's Word, the more I find that the world has lied to me about many, many things and has corrupted the meaning of many things as well. As I was studying Deut 5 I came across something surprising that I'd like to share with you. It's something else that our civilized world has made it hard for us to understand and relate to.

Deuteronomy 5:6 —“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

Let's look closely at this first sentence. "I am the Lord your God". Before we can really be saved or have the fear of God or love Him or anything else, we first have to know that He is. As Hebrews 11:6 says: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Now that may seem strange to us, because we rarely question His existence, but then again, if we really believe He exists and is aware of us and all of that, wouldn't we tend toward being obedient to Him a whole lot more? No, I'm not suggesting we don't really believe in Him, but I am suggesting that we might benefit a lot from focusing on His existence and reflecting on it until we really, really knew it. At least, that's what I determined for myself.

I've thought for many years that because we're so "blessed" to live in such a "civilized" country, that we really don't understand concepts such as "God", or "slavery" or things like that. We know the definitions of them, but we don't have any real personally emotional attachment to them. Most of us have had jobs and bosses we may not have liked at all, but we could always quit. When I dwelled on the concepts of Lord's and slaves, and tried to imagine what it would be like to wake up in the morning, knowing that another person owned me and that they could literally kill me at their whim, it was hard to do that and make it "real" to myself. Sure, I can imagine it, but it's more like a fantasy then anything possible, even though I know that there were and are slaves all around the world. When I imagine it, I think I'd "run away" or find some way out of it - I can't make it last in my mind for a lifetime.

Yet, it IS real. God is real. God created us and He sustains our very lives every moment of every day. He can wipe us out en mass, or one at a time or any way He chooses, whenever and however He chooses. The fact that He doesn't do so, doesn't mean that He can't. He can bless us or curse us, give or take away. Yet for the most part, we ignore Him and go on with our lives as though He wasn't there. If we were slaves in this world with a physical Lord over us, we couldn't do that. He'd be in our face constantly and be a constant reminder that if we don't obey Him instantly, He could and just might, have us killed. See what I mean about why I felt I needed to dwell on that and make God more "real" to me?

So first, we need to know that God IS. He is God, He is the Lord. But, there's another word in that sentence that makes a HUGE difference in it's meaning. It doesn't say, "I am the Lord God", it says, "I am the Lord your God". Out of all the other people on this earth, He is MY God and I am His. He's personal. He knows and acknowledges me and wants me to know and acknowledge Him. It's more then that though. Because He's not "my God" and no one else's. He says that to everyone. It's up to each individual to accept Him as their God or reject Him. And that means something very important for each of us and this is what kind of blew me away when I realized it.

Everyone has a "god", it's just not always the One True God. In fact, everyone generally has quite a few gods. We all serve someone/something. That may change according to what happens during the day and how we're feeling, but regardless, we all serve something. It's just that in our civilized world, we don't think of them as gods. The problem with that is that The One True God does think of them as gods and He doesn't want us to serve any one or anything but Him. See, God designed us to be in relationship with Him -with God and so we seek that constantly whether we realize it or not. That's what I've always thought of as the empty "hole" we're always seeking to fill, that will make us "happy" and "complete". It's the something missing that we all search for even when we don't know we're looking for it.

Whenever we're not in an intimate relationship with God, we will be in an intimate relationship with something/someone else, because that's who our hearts have been designed. We have to be in an intimate relationship with something/someone. Many women look for it in a man. Many men look for it in a woman. Others look for it in work or school, money, children, booze or drugs, or books, movies, porn, sex, parties, friends, food, the internet, computer or video games, our homes, gardens, etc. or for instance when we endlessly strive for the approval of others, or the love of others. The things we look for it in aren't necessarily bad in and of themselves, although they can be at times, but they become bad no matter what they are because whether we know it or not, we become slaves to them. (Rom 6:16)

So we're all slaves, all the time. We're simply slaves to different things or people or "gods". Remember too, Jesus tells us that we cannot serve 2 masters. We have to choose. Besides which, God also tells us that He will not "share" us with others. It's Him or them. That's why Jesus pleads with us and says in Matthew 11:29–30 —Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. *For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” * A yoke is what's used to join 2 cows or horses together so they can pull a plow. Jesus used that word because whoever or whatever we're slaves to, we're joined together with. We're "yoked" to them. That's again why we're told not to be "unequally yoked". If you yoke a little cow with a large horse, it won't work. They can't pull the plow evenly. Back to the point though, when we serve someone or something besides God, we are slaves to that and we're yoked to it whether we realize it or not.

And that too is something I really needed to dwell on because generally, in our day and time, we don't realize that. We think we're just hanging out with people or just eating junk food or just drinking, or just running after a man to love us, or whatever. We'd be more inclined to think of them serving us rather then the other way around. The Truth though, is that we're serving them; we're slaves to them. That's why we run to them every time we're scared, or depressed or worried or lonely, or whatever our personal triggers are.

Here's the really bad news for us who are saved. When we do that, we're not just slaves to those things, we're slaves to false gods. They are our "idols". We have put them in God's place in our lives. We can know that because if we didn't have any false gods or idols, we'd be running to the One True God, "our God", when we felt that way. All the various things we each choose as our idols and false gods, generally look pretty good to us. If they didn't, we wouldn't run to them. But in reality, they're cruel masters. For example, those of us who choose food, then must constantly worry about our weight and/or our health because our idol has messed up our cholesterol and our weight. Our false gods have made us promises to make us feel good and they can't keep those promises; worse, they lead to death. But there is a True God who will help us, if we will just choose to take His yoke on ourselves instead. Yes, we will still be yoked to someone, but this God is loving and His yoke is easy and the burden is light.

That brings us to the last part of that first line -“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery". The One True God tells us that He is our personal God and He qualifies that, even though He certainly doesn't have to. He says that He is "our" God because He brought us out of the land of slavery. He doesn't want us yoked to those false idols that lie to us and use us and throw us away. He created us to be in an intimate relationship with Him, not with them. He wants 100% of us though and He wants us 100% of the time. All day, every day. He wants us to be yoked to Him and nothing else. Can you imagine yourself literally yoked to Jesus? That's what I try to do to remind myself that no matter where I go, what I do, what I look at or who I talk to, He is with me. He's not just a passive partner that I'm dragging around with them though. No. In fact, He's bearing most of the burden for me, making my burden lighter, just because He loves me and He's "my God."

Speaking of bring us out of slavery, some folks might say, that's not talking about me, that's talking about the Jew's when He brought them out of Egypt, and so it is. But it's also talking about you and me. Well, at least me for sure, because I know without any doubt at all that He's brought me out of my slavery. He rescued me from myself, from the occult, from the new age, from depression, from loneliness, from fear and worry, and from so many other things that I've been a slave to all my life that it would take too long to list them all. And He's still doing it. He brought me out of that slavery and shows me every time I start to slip back or sneak back into one of them. He says we all are enslaved to various different things, and if He hasn't freed you from those things yet, He wants to and He will, if you will let Him.

When we do finally agree with that first sentence and can say, "He is the Lord my God, who brought me out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery", then He adds a command to it. Then He tells us, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. *“You shall have no other gods before me. * (Deut 5:6–7) Most of us don't even think twice about that statement. I know I certainly didn't used to. Not until I understood what a false god really was. When I finally understood that it could be other people, other things, and put it together with who I ran to when I was hurting, instead of running to Him and His Word, only then did I understand what a false god and an idol was. It's not necessarily some statue in a church that we kneel before, light incense to, pray to or "worship". (although that certainly can be one too). That's often what it was during the time when the Lord brought the Jew's out of Egypt, but times have changed and we worship other things now. Even they often worshiped other things besides their stone idols. Whether the idol is stone, wood, a person or thing, doesn't matter. It's still a false god and an idol and we should run away from it as fast as we can.

Why? Because He IS God. Because He is OUR God. Because He loves us and paid an awful price to bring us out of slavery and set us free from slavery to sin so we could be slaves to righteousness instead. Now our slavery doesn't lead to death, instead His yoke is easy, our burden is light and it leads to eternal life with Him.

This is now something I try to dwell on daily and reflect on it as it's important to let it really soak in. He is God and I am not. (in spite of what I often seem to think) I imagine myself literally yoked together with Jesus and try to hold that picture in my mind several times every day. I'll pick out something I do regularly, like opening the fridge or something like that, and every time I do that, I imagine myself yoked to Jesus to remind myself that He is here and He is REAL and that He is God.

Somehow we have to get past this "civilized" world's training that I'm god and make ourselves realize that we're really not and He really is, and just what that means. How can I love God with all my heart, with all my mind and all my strength if I don't really get what God is, what a Lord or Master is, or what a slave is? How can I fear God if I don't understand those things?

I've chosen the idea of imagining myself yoked to Jesus and remembering Deut 5:6-7 as well as Romans 6:16–23 and reflecting on them regularly every day.