Battles of Faith

Game Of Death

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Atonte Myers, Ivor Myers

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Series Code: BOF

Program Code: BOF000006


00:16 Welcome to "Battles of Faith"
00:18 We're your hosts, Ivor and Atonte Myers.
00:21 We're continuing our series today on the
00:24 entertainment industry, but today we're specifically
00:27 talking about video games.
00:29 Listen to this:
00:31 "Plain violent video games like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D
00:35 or Mortal Kombat can increase a person's aggressive thoughts,
00:39 feelings and behavior, both in laboratory settings
00:43 and in actual life, according to two studies appearing
00:47 at the April issue of the American Psychological
00:50 Association's Journal of
00:52 Personality and Social Psychology.
00:54 Furthermore, violent video games may be more harmful
00:57 than violent television and movies because
01:00 they are interactive, very engrossing and require
01:04 the player to identify with the aggressor",
01:07 say the researchers.
01:09 That is deep to me. Because, to say that it could
01:13 actually be more dangerous than violent movies,
01:16 or violent television programs. I never thought of it as they're
01:20 actually doing the violence, the person playing the game
01:24 so it only makes sense that it could actually be worse
01:26 than watching someone else doing it.
01:28 They're doing it!
01:29 - That's right! A couple of the words you mentioned there
01:32 are striking because it mentions that the
01:35 video game industry in itself can have an effect upon the
01:40 thoughts and the feelings or the emotions is what
01:43 I believe you said. And we've seen in other programs that
01:45 those two things combined; the thoughts and the feelings
01:49 combine, make up the moral character.
01:53 So, here you have a secular source. What was it?
01:57 - It was the American Psychological Association
01:59 - Okay, the American Psychological Association saying
02:02 that video games can actually have an effect upon
02:05 our characters basically.
02:08 So, this is an issue that is
02:11 really taking the world by stone.
02:13 Video games have exploded upon the scene and
02:17 young people all over this planet are becoming
02:21 more and more engrossed in these video games,
02:23 even so more, now than movies and music,
02:27 which is amazing.
02:28 - It's true. It's taking up so much of their time.
02:30 In other shows we mentioned that young people
02:32 are playing at least 7 hours of video games and
02:34 probably even more now, in a week, in a one week period.
02:38 But I want to say, in this program about video games
02:43 that there are so many adult men who are very addicted
02:50 to this program. I was talking to someone the other day
02:53 who said: "That's all my husband does once he comes home
02:56 from work. "
02:57 It used to be: okay, all they want to do is watch sports
02:59 or sit on the couch and watch the news or whatever,
03:01 but that's all she said he does. And then, he even made a comment
03:06 that: "This is the only thing that makes me happy. "
03:08 And she was so taken aback by that. She was like:
03:11 "What are me and the children doing here?"
03:13 The point is, it's so addictive. And it's not just for
03:18 young people.
03:19 - Let's look at one of our definitions on this
03:22 program today, because you mentioned that one of the
03:24 reasons they said this is so dangerous is because it's
03:27 inter-active!
03:29 So, let's look at that word, "interactive".
03:31 The word means this: [text on the screen]
03:39 Now that's amazing Atonte, because what "interactive" means
03:43 in the context of the video games is this,
03:45 it not only means that we have the ability to act
03:47 upon the game, but the game also has the ability
03:51 to act upon me. See, to act upon my character,
03:57 my thoughts and my feelings.
03:59 And so, that's why we call this program today
04:02 "The Game of Death".
04:04 So, while we are playing this game, we don't realize
04:08 that the enemy of souls is playing a game with our souls
04:11 and we're calling it the game of death.
04:13 And again, people look at it and say: "You know,
04:15 it's just a game", but the fact is that it is capable
04:22 of acting upon the thoughts and the feelings,
04:26 thus forming our character.
04:29 - That's right. And I know that we'll be talking more
04:32 about this later on un this program, but
04:34 I don't understand why parents allow their children
04:38 to play these games where the children actually have
04:41 to do the killing and have to do the aggressive
04:44 fighting, in the video game where the Bible is clear,
04:49 especially about killing: "Thou shall not kill",
04:51 so why should we practice on video games?
04:53 - Right. Well, I think we'll find the answer in
04:56 Genesis 3. We invite you to open your Bibles with us.
05:00 We're going to take a look on Genesis chapter 3 and
05:01 we're going to hear quite a lot, because there is
05:04 so much packed in Genesis 3, especially about the subject
05:09 that we're dealing with.
05:10 I want to share something with you, in particular
05:13 in Genesis chapter 3. We read here this story again,
05:17 of Adam or rather of Eve and her dialogue with the serpent
05:21 and God tells her: "Don't eat from this tree" and
05:25 the serpent comes and says: "It's alright,
05:27 you can eat from the tree. "
05:29 One of the interesting things about this is that
05:33 the serpent was talking.
05:34 Why was the serpent talking?
05:37 God did not create the serpent to talk,
05:38 so this is one of the things that attracted Eve.
05:40 How is it that this serpent is talking?
05:43 Well, it's assumed that this serpent is hanging around
05:47 the tree of what?... Knowledge of good and evil!
05:50 And he's saying: "Eve, listen, eat from this tree.
05:53 Nothing's going to happen to you. "
05:55 I think it's safe to assume that the serpent himself
05:59 had already taken from the tree or pretended
06:03 that he took from the tree and said: "Hey look,
06:04 nothing's wrong with me!"
06:06 - That's what I imagine when I think of that scene.
06:08 - So, watch this now. There was a demonstration of evil.
06:12 Now, I want to focus in on that theme for a moment,
06:16 I want to put the word up "demonstration"
06:18 and what does the word mean?
06:19 "Demonstration" means: [text on the screen]
06:30 So, this is what Satan did. He presented, he knew that
06:34 Eve would not have gone out and tempt her own to do evil
06:37 so he had to first give her a demonstration.
06:41 Now, what did the demonstration do?
06:44 - It made her think that: "Oh, look at him! He's fine,
06:47 nothing happened to him!"
06:48 - That's right. The demonstration rendered evil
06:51 harmless. You see! So, once Eve decided in her mind
06:56 "well, God told me not to eat from this tree", but
06:59 according to the demonstration that I have seen
07:01 there's really no evil here.
07:05 The serpent isn't harmed. The tree looks good for food.
07:09 And so, what that demonstration of evil did, is that
07:12 it broke down Eve's resistance, it broke down her barrier
07:15 to evil and, in this way, she was deceived,
07:20 this way she was lost.
07:21 And I want to suggest today that the same thing
07:24 is happening through these so called video games.
07:27 They are demonstrations of evil and because
07:31 they are only "demonstrations", parents and people
07:35 see no problem in it because it's not the, quote on quote,
07:39 real thing. It's only a demonstration.
07:42 But we need to understand that
07:44 what the demonstration does is it says in the mind
07:47 of a young person: "Oh, what I am doing here,
07:49 on this video game, is not evil because the killing
07:53 is only happening in demonstration mode. "
07:56 - And I think all the parents of those children
08:00 who actually committed the crime and did
08:03 school shootings never would have thought that
08:05 the video games they purchased and allowed their children
08:08 to play and participate in, could have actually trained them
08:12 to be killers. They didn't think!
08:15 They just thought: "Hey, this is what young people
08:17 are doing. It's innocent, it's fun, it keeps them
08:20 at home. But, and I'm not saying this is the only thing
08:23 that contributed to these children school-shooters,
08:27 high school-shooters to kill these people,
08:30 but it definitely, in every case, the research shows that
08:33 they were all participating in these violent video games.
08:36 - That's right. Well, think about this, Atonte.
08:40 A lot of times we've traveled. And sometimes I go to churches
08:45 and I see young people, in the church,
08:49 with the video games, with the little game-boys.
08:53 And I'm looking and I'm like: "Wow! Here we are,
08:55 in church and their minds are consumed!"
08:58 I've had parents call me or e- mail me and say:
09:01 "My child is locked away in his room,
09:03 he will not come out, he will not take breaks,
09:05 he is totally, totally addicted to video games.
09:09 What can I do?"
09:11 And again I know for a fact that
09:15 these things started out innocently.
09:17 At first 20 minutes, then half an hour,
09:21 then an hour and it keeps going and going
09:24 and the addictive factor is here just as we've seen
09:27 in all our other studies dealing with sorcery:
09:29 anything that medicated the mind so that
09:32 it will not follow the will or the law of God.
09:34 And we see the same it's true in the video games.
09:37 - That's right. And we even had older parents call us
09:41 for their adult children who are married,
09:43 with children, and call us and say:
09:45 " Can you please pray for our son!
09:47 He's 30 years old and he's addicted to these
09:49 video games and it's taking him away from his
09:51 wife and his children and he can't seem
09:54 to break away with it. "
09:55 But I want to say this: that I know that it
09:57 actually does take a certain level of skill
10:00 to be very good at these video games.
10:03 And so Satan is training a part of the mind
10:05 that God would want to use.
10:08 You know, if we can use that part of the mind
10:10 in studying the Word and using it to
10:14 teach others and show people how to be drawn closer to God,
10:17 I mean, what a blessing that would be!
10:19 - That's right. One of the things that
10:21 makes a video game so attractive is that
10:23 it provides a fantasy realm. That's one of the reasons
10:27 why people think this is harmless,
10:29 because it's just a fantasy realm!
10:32 And... I think gamers call it the "virtual realm".
10:38 And this is, supposedly, that virtual world
10:42 where you can go in and do all these things,
10:46 play all these games, do all this killing
10:49 and all this violence and really not count.
10:52 But I want to throw up some more words on the screen
10:55 you know, I enjoy looking at words because
10:58 when you study the origin of words you find out that
11:01 there was more behind the scene than
11:03 what we understand.
11:04 So let's look at the word "fantasy" for a moment.
11:06 And we'll put it up on the screen.
11:08 You'll see there the word 'fantasy' which we spell as
11:13 f- a-n-t-a-s-y
11:15 was originally spelled as
11:17 p- h-a-n-t-a-s-y. fantasy!
11:24 And the reason why the word 'fantasy'... we'll put the
11:28 word on the screen... this is what 'phantasy' means:
11:32 [text on the screen]
11:38 Well, that doesn't sound so bad.
11:40 But let's take that word a little further
11:43 and if the word 'phantasy' looks familiar to you
11:45 is because it also comes from the word 'phantom'.
11:51 What is a phantom? I don't have to read the definition to you
11:53 but you'll understand. We're going to put the word
11:55 up on the screen. The word phantom is this:
11:57 [text on the screen]
12:06 Let's put these things together.
12:08 When we talk about a phantom or a fantasy world,
12:13 we're talking, in reality, about a spirit world.
12:17 We're talking about a world where
12:20 we are dealing with not flesh and blood,
12:24 but against spiritual wickedness in high place.
12:28 And I say: "Oh, come on! You're telling me that
12:30 what I do in my fantasy life, actually counts?"
12:34 Remember, Jesus was having a discussion,
12:38 I believe was the sermon on the mountain.
12:41 And He said something that was absolutely astounding.
12:45 Here's what he said. He said: "You've heard it said that
12:48 you shall not commit adultery, but I say onto you that
12:53 if you look after a woman to lust after her... where?
12:58 - You committed adultery in your mind.
13:00 - In your mind, you know! Or we might say,
13:03 in your fantasy life, you are still guilty.
13:07 In other words, the law of God penetrates even into
13:09 the fantasy realm, the spiritual world,
13:11 even into that place where we have our own
13:14 private thoughts and feelings, so that if you do the act
13:17 even in the fantasy realm, Christ said it's still
13:21 as good as sin.
13:23 - So, when we're playing these video games and we have to
13:25 kill this person and that person to get to the next stage
13:29 or the next step, that is still sin in God's eyes?
13:33 - You know, think about it like this, Atonte.
13:35 There are many people, many men out there that
13:37 struggle with pornography.
13:40 Now, they may not be in an act of physically
13:44 committing adultery. But they are looking
13:46 through these magazines.
13:47 Now, Christ deals with that very issue. And He says:
13:52 "If you're looking, if you're imagining this thing,
13:55 you may no even be looking at a magazine,
13:56 you may just be in your fantasy life,
13:58 imagining these things and Christ says that
14:01 even there, the law of God penetrates so that
14:05 it is written in the books of heaven as sin, as evil.
14:09 The devil says: "Hey, it's just a demonstration!
14:13 It's just fantasy!"
14:15 But Christ says: "No, not so. " In fact, Atonte,
14:18 you realize that one of the reasons... in fact,
14:22 let's go at Genesis 6.
14:26 Some of you may actually already know this
14:29 and some of you may not, but there was one reason
14:32 why the people in Noah's time were destroyed.
14:36 The Bible gives us that reason. You'll be surprised.
14:39 Look at what it says in Genesis 6:5.
14:42 The Bible says there: [text on the screen]
14:59 Now, surely they didn't have video games back in Noah's days,
15:02 maybe they did, I don't know, but
15:03 the Devil understood this principle of providing a
15:08 fantasy, an imagination realm in which men felt
15:11 that they were comfortable. Men were deceived into
15:14 feeling that they were comfortable enough,
15:16 to feeling that: "Hey, if I stay in my mind, if I think
15:19 even in my mind and it's not actually done in reality,
15:23 it doesn't count. "
15:24 Now, what happens is that once it is committed in the
15:27 heart, it will eventually and naturally play itself out
15:31 in action. Remember, this whole
15:34 battle of faith is about keeping our eyes focused
15:37 on Christ. It's about getting our characters to reflect
15:41 the character of Christ. It's about getting our image,
15:44 turning our image from the image of ourselves
15:47 to the image of Christ.
15:49 And the enemy does not want that.
15:51 He wants to divert the mind so that the heel itself
15:55 will be diverted. Remember? We said that
15:57 God's mission for the church is to bruise the head
16:01 of the serpent, according to Romans 16:20.
16:04 Satan knows that. And what controls the heel?
16:07 It's the mind. And so he says:
16:09 "If I can get into their minds, I can divert them
16:12 or amuse them"- as we saw the word 'amuse' means
16:14 'to divert'- "I can amuse them and distract them
16:19 so that they will not fulfill their commission. "
16:22 And again, this is one of the ways in which
16:24 the Devil seeks to do that. This is one of the ways in which
16:27 he controls our characters, he creates this
16:30 illusionary world and says: "It's alright for you
16:33 to sin here. The law of God doesn't reach here.
16:35 It's alright for you to kill in this realm.
16:38 It's alright for you to commit adultery in this realm. "
16:40 I was reading the other day that there are
16:42 pornographic comic books.
16:46 I'm sure that no parent out there would allow their children
16:49 to read a pornographic comic book.
16:51 And they wouldn't say: "It's just a comic book;
16:56 it's not real! It's just drawings on a paper,
16:59 it's just fantasy. " They would never say that
17:01 because pornography is taboo. But not when it comes to killing
17:05 which is part of breaking God's law just as adultery,
17:09 or any other thing like that. Then, all of a sudden
17:12 it becomes okay.
17:14 - The amazing thing to me, again, is that
17:16 video games did not start here. They didn't start like
17:19 Mortal Kombat. When we were children, Atari came out.
17:24 And there was Packman, and you just ate the little dots
17:27 on the screen and you needed to get to the little
17:29 energy thing so that you could, like I said,
17:32 kill the little monster that was after you,
17:34 but it didn't start as bad as it is now.
17:38 And so, Satan, again has just started something off,
17:42 really innocent, he's allowed it to take
17:44 20 years or so and now it is to a point where
17:48 it is very bad. As a matter of fact,
17:49 there are even video games that don't just have killings,
17:52 but there are women that appear on the screen
17:55 and they are half naked women.
17:56 The purpose of them... I don't really understand.
17:59 I don't know. I guess that if you win, the woman appears
18:01 or whatever...
18:02 - Pornographic video games.
18:04 I have a friend in Australia who mailed me some information
18:10 on video games. He's in a lot of research Steward Masaferry.
18:14 We've been in contact and some if the things that
18:18 he's been sharing with me about where
18:20 the video gaming industry has gone is just absolutely
18:23 mind blowing. And the sad thing is that so many parents
18:26 don't see it, and again it is infiltrating,
18:28 like I said, young people in the church.
18:31 Satan is sending out this flood and, we've been saying this
18:36 in a couple of programs, it seems like we're like,
18:39 you know: "Is this picking out a straw, video games?"
18:42 This is not a straw, this is a flood.
18:44 An we see it in the churches, we see it in the world,
18:50 the enemy is flooding the minds of young people
18:54 with so many things that it is impossible for them
18:58 to keep their minds focused on God.
19:01 - And it's only for one purpose and that is
19:03 that it will not follow the will of God or
19:06 won't even think about following the will of God.
19:09 - That's right. We've been talking about imagination
19:12 and, you know, I'll tell you something.
19:13 If you read Isaiah 26:3, we mentioned this text quite often,
19:18 "Thou will keep him in perfect
19:19 peace whose mind is stayed on Thee"
19:22 You note the word there for 'mind', if you look
19:25 on the margin in your KJV Bible, you will see the word
19:28 'imagination'.
19:30 "Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose
19:33 'imagination' is stayed on Thee. "
19:36 And you'll notice the similarities between
19:38 the word 'imagination' and 'image'.
19:41 'Imagination' and 'image'.
19:44 Through these images in the video games and through
19:46 these images through the media,
19:48 what the Devil is attempting to do is he is appealing
19:52 to the imagination.
19:54 Because he knows that it is through the imagination,
19:57 whoever has the imagination, has the heart.
19:59 So, if the Devil provides this atmosphere where he says:
20:04 "Hey, let your imagination run free, unrestricted. "
20:07 But really unrestricted means
20:09 unrestricted to the law of God. You see...
20:11 Then he knows that he can have the imagination, and just as
20:16 those in the antediluvian age, in Noah's time
20:19 were destroyed because Satan got a hold
20:21 of their imaginations, it's the same thing
20:23 he's doing now. Jesus said:
20:24 "As was it in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days
20:28 of the Son of Man. "
20:29 And we are seeing that the imaginations of
20:31 man's hearts are only evil continually.
20:33 Atonte, I remember reading a story of how
20:37 'Harry Potter' came into existence.
20:41 Mrs. Rowling was on a train riding one day, and she
20:45 says Harry Potter just walked into her imagination
20:53 while she was on that train. It was a spiritual experience.
20:59 You know, an invigorating experience.
21:02 She just got this idea that just popped into her head...
21:04 Harry Potter.
21:05 Now, I would ask, where did that thought come from?
21:08 You know, I think it was a thought bomb from the enemy.
21:11 And so, from this woman's imagination
21:15 she begins to put this stuff down on paper and then,
21:19 through her imagination, I mean, these books that
21:24 she has written have gone all over the world,
21:26 and through one woman's imagination,
21:28 literally millions, in fact the next 'Harry Potter' book
21:32 is coming out and they are printing 10.8 million copies
21:37 for the first printing. The most ever in this country!
21:41 You see. And so, the Devil is after the imagination
21:44 and just through the imagination of one person look at what
21:49 damage he can do.
21:50 Think about this, Atonte. He's got the imagination of
21:52 the entire Hollywood elite at his fingers.
21:57 So, all he has to do is inspire and say:
22:00 "Okay, here's what I want you to do.
22:01 Alright, I want you to make this video game,
22:03 okay, I want you to do this" and... it just goes out...
22:06 mass-media!
22:09 Think about this Atonte and you listening out there,
22:13 think about the warfare that is going on between
22:16 media and meditation...
22:19 Those words sound alike. - They do.
22:21 - 'Media' and 'meditation'... Both have to do with
22:25 what's going on right here.
22:27 We are no longer wanting to meditate on God
22:32 and His Word, because the media is taking control
22:38 of our lives.
22:40 The media is flooding our minds through all these
22:43 different things and because of it,
22:45 when we close our eyes to pray, we don't see any video games
22:51 illustrations, we don't see any explosions,
22:54 we see only darkness.
22:56 The mind is not used to that, it does not want to be
23:00 in darkness and that's why we don't want to sit and pray.
23:04 - It almost seems impossible for that mind to do that
23:08 because, to meditate is to sit and to be calm
23:12 and to speak to God and hear His voice speaking
23:15 to you, where, if we're gamers or
23:18 training our minds to play video games,
23:20 it's just not what the mind is used to doing.
23:22 It's constantly like moving and thinking...
23:24 I read an article that was actually supporting
23:27 the video game industry saying that it's actually helping
23:31 children to be able to be good problem solvers
23:34 later on in life. And at the end of the article
23:38 it was talking about all of the millions of dollars
23:40 that that industry is making.
23:42 So, again, the love of money is the root of all evil.
23:46 They have these big, not conferences, but they pack
23:51 these big arenas to display all the newest video games
23:55 and have people come and try them out because there's
23:57 so much money there to be made.
24:00 - That's right. You know, I can imagine someone listening
24:03 and saying: "But, you know, it's just a game!"
24:08 You've got to remember that the Devil is playing
24:13 the game of death for our souls and he will do it
24:18 in any way that he can.
24:20 Once we have the battle plans and we see the depth
24:23 to which the enemy is going, we throw our hands up and say:
24:26 "Lord, if you don't come in and do something supernaturally
24:29 in my life, if I don't have a supernatural connection
24:32 with you there is absolutely no way that I can escape
24:35 this assault that is upon me, and that's really upon
24:39 the whole world. " We've got to get connected
24:41 with Christ in a supernatural way.
24:43 - And again, a supernatural connection with God
24:47 can only happen through prayer and,
24:49 when we train our minds to constantly be moving and
24:53 jumping and whatever it's doing when you're playing
24:55 video games, it's so hard to concentrate during prayer.
24:59 People can sit down and play video games for hours and hours
25:04 and cannot pray for a minute, or five minutes.
25:08 There is a problem, there is a problem there...
25:11 - Is it just a game? I mean, you know, my purpose
25:14 is not to try to prove that video games have evil in them.
25:18 I think everybody knows that.
25:19 It would be like: "Look at that evil!" We know that!
25:25 The real issue is, does it count?
25:27 Does sin in the fantasy realm count?
25:33 And Christ clearly answers the question. That ends
25:36 the argument for me.
25:37 Because the Word of God says that if we sin
25:39 in our imagination, if we imagine evil... you know...
25:43 And again: Thou will keep him in perfect peace,
25:45 whose creative imagination is stayed on Thee.
25:48 Atonte, I think of Isaiah 30:21, something you've just said
25:51 earlier. In Isaiah 30:21 the Bible says here:
25:55 [text on the screen]
26:06 Christ says "I am going to direct you, in this
26:10 battle of faith, I'm going to direct you, I'm going to
26:13 speak to you. You're going to hear my voice and
26:15 I'm going to be able to direct you. "
26:17 Remember, we've got to see by faith and we've got to hear
26:20 by faith.
26:22 You remember that we've said in other programs that
26:24 the definition of witchcraft was "to whisper a spell".
26:26 Well, you know, the enemy is bombarding our minds with
26:30 all these voices from the video games and from the music
26:33 and from the media for one purpose only,
26:36 so that we will not here the voice of God directing us,
26:41 saying: "This is the way. Walk ye in it"
26:45 - Right. We have to many bombs and explosions going on
26:48 in our minds, that we cannot concentrate and focus
26:51 on hearing the voice of God.
26:53 - That's right. - And Satan thinks that he's
26:54 so clever.
26:55 That's why I feel that this program that we are doing
26:59 is so important, this whole series is so vital
27:02 and very important to understand
27:04 because hearing the voice of God is life to the Christian,
27:09 it gives spiritual life.
27:10 - That's right. And God tells us, in the book of Isaiah,
27:13 He says that it is quietness and rest that we shall be saved.
27:17 You see. And so, the devil says:
27:19 "I can't give these guys any time to be quiet.
27:21 I've got to bombard their minds and just
27:25 come at them and flash the Hollywood lights
27:27 and all these different things so that
27:29 their attention will decrease, they will not be able to hear
27:32 God's voice because too many voices are going on
27:34 in their minds and enduring this, they will not be able
27:38 to keep their imagination stayed on Him,
27:40 neither will they be able to hear His voice,
27:43 the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts and
27:46 right now, I think that some of our listeners
27:49 are hearing the voice of God saying to them:
27:52 "You need to come closer to Me. You need to move these things
27:56 out of your life and allow Me to enter into your heart. "
27:59 And this is where the Lord wants us to go.
28:01 I hope you respond to His call.
28:03 - That's right.
28:04 Well, we're all out of time. We do thank you for
28:07 joining us. Please don't miss the next program.
28:10 Until then, God bless!


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Revised 2014-12-17