Participants: Joshua Nelson (Host), David Anderson, Jeremy Anderson, Kimberly Pearson, Kory Douglas
Series Code: PC
Program Code: PC000058
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:05 may be too candid for younger children. 00:39 Hello, and welcome to Pure Choices. 00:40 I'm your host Pastor Joshua Nelson. 00:43 I'm so glad again, you decided to join us 00:44 for another edition of Pure Choices today. 00:48 We are talking about a very serious topic today, 00:51 talking about brain scrub, 00:54 what effect the media has on our brains. 00:56 So before we get into this topic 00:58 and before we introduce our panel, 01:00 we got to pause and ask God to be with us. 01:03 Dear Heavenly Father, as we go into this subject, 01:06 we just ask for the protection right now of Your Spirit 01:09 as we do war in the enemy's camp, God, 01:11 we ask that You will give us guidance, 01:13 in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 01:15 Amen. Amen. 01:16 All right, let's begin. 01:18 First to my left, I'm gonna introduce 01:20 brother here David Anderson, 01:21 who is a Oakwood University theology student. 01:25 And across the way is actually his brother 01:28 who is Jeremy Anderson, who is from Madison, Alabama. 01:31 He is a author and speaker, so happy to have him today. 01:36 Also Kimberly Pearson, 01:38 who is the Oakwood University associate chaplain 01:40 and she's here. 01:42 And we also have Pastor Kory Douglas, 01:44 who is a pastor of Grand Avenue, 01:46 A New Life Fellowship Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:48 there in Missouri so. 01:49 And I'm of course from, 01:51 all my churches are in Marion Lake City, 01:52 South Carolina. 01:53 So I'm happy that we're all here together. 01:55 And we really have a big task today 01:58 to talk about this idea 02:00 of being brainwashed by the media, 02:03 we call it brain scrub. 02:05 Let's just talk about at first, Jeremy, 02:09 what effect has the media had, had on us? 02:12 Man, it has a huge effect on our minds. 02:14 Okay. 02:16 And if you think about it, that's the very thing 02:17 that connects us with God. 02:18 It's not our hands... Right. 02:20 It's not our back bone, our chest or our heart 02:22 that pumps blood to be honest, 02:23 I mean, it's our brain that connects us with God. 02:27 And so what I found 02:28 in the media commercial society, 02:30 the enemy has found a way to infiltrate our minds 02:34 about what we watch on TV. 02:35 And so this is a very interesting topic 02:37 and so I'm looking forward to exposing the enemy 02:40 in talking about some of the different ways 02:42 that he actually targets us. 02:43 And so I believe that we need to guard our minds 02:46 because that's the very thing that connects us to God. 02:48 Yeah, that's it, that's it. 02:50 All right, so I also want to add to that what does, 02:52 what does the media really done to get us brainwashed? 02:54 Well, media has become a counterfeit for Christ. 03:00 We see the Christ is an intercessor to God for us 03:03 and media is really an intercessor 03:06 to a place I know, a satanic place, 03:09 so Satan has allowed media to take the place 03:13 that Christ is really supposed to have in our lives. 03:14 Wow, an idiom. 03:16 Well, I kind of want to counter that a little bit 03:17 because I don't necessarily think 03:19 that media is satanic. 03:20 I believe that media is a tool. 03:23 And with any tool you can use that tool 03:26 to build something great 03:27 or you can use that tool to destroy. 03:30 And so I think that media is a tool 03:32 that has been used to do destructive things, 03:36 but it can be used 03:37 to build up the kingdom of God, 03:39 but I know that, I mean, in terms of just how media 03:43 you know, infiltrates our brain. 03:45 You know, media has the power as a tool 03:48 to cause feelings to trigger emotions, 03:52 to trigger nostalgia and make you think about 03:54 you know, thing that, maybe you haven't thought 03:56 about in a long time and you can do that, 03:58 I remember listening, you know, 04:00 certain songs when I was a kid and now that I'm an adult, 04:02 I'm like, that's what they were saying, 04:04 and I was singing that. 04:05 Oh, man, so you do. Okay. 04:09 You know that thing, it's really scary 04:11 because you know, some of the sitcoms 04:13 and the commercials the things that we watch on TV, 04:16 they're selling a specific product 04:18 or a specific idea and little do we know 04:21 but we're watching this thing, 04:22 and it's actually changing the way we think, 04:25 the way we act, the way we walk, 04:26 the way we talk. 04:28 If you look at a child 04:29 and the development of his brain 04:30 even at a young age, 04:32 it's watching his parents do everything 04:33 and without even knowing it begins to imitate it. 04:36 You know, so people say you are what you eat. 04:38 You know, a lot of times you are what you watch, 04:40 and you are what you listen to. 04:42 And so I believe that as Christians, 04:44 God has created us in with His spirit and His power, 04:47 He's given us a certain way to live our lifestyles, 04:50 and a lot of times we just see our media 04:52 is the opposite of that, like sex sells. 04:55 You can talk to anybody in the TV or movie industry, 04:58 you got to have someone as "beautiful or attractive 05:01 or sexy," like sex sells, money, 05:03 money, money, greed, drama, controversy, 05:06 this whole reality series thing, 05:08 it's just going crazy. 05:09 And so I'm sitting back and I'm seeing that 05:11 now what's on TV and I'm just, 05:13 I'm just like wow, 05:14 because we spend the majority of our time watching it. 05:17 I mean, if we can ask ourselves, you know, 05:19 when we get home from work or school, you know, what... 05:22 How many of us are actually sitting down 05:23 and pulling out the Bible or pulling another book. 05:26 Normally we sit there and we plop on the TV 05:28 and we're watching something on TV, 05:30 and so we have to ask ourselves 05:32 how much time do we spend 05:33 watching the shows that we watch 05:35 and ultimately what is that doing to our brain? 05:37 Yeah, we're getting fed all these different things. 05:40 So yeah, so what, 05:41 what is it really doing to our minds, or to our brain? 05:44 Kory, I want you to just kind of talk about that 05:45 a little bit with us, I mean, 05:47 what is, what are the things that are happening, you know, 05:49 we've been brainwashed for what, you know? 05:52 Well, you know, we already said the verse, you know, 05:54 "By beholding you become changed", 05:56 and that is for good and for bad 05:58 which of course we'll come back to later, 05:59 but you know when you behold your mind eat it 06:01 and you being to put it out, you know, 06:03 the things that you see your body 06:05 just somehow naturally reproduces. 06:08 And I think one of the things that we need 06:09 to basically get out there and just be real about 06:11 is that there's a controversy that is going on around us. 06:15 One of the misconception, 06:16 especially among our popular Christianity 06:18 is that because Jesus has died, 06:20 that the controversy is now over, 06:22 but the controversy even though Satan has been defeated 06:24 and we are now free from sin, 06:26 we have that possibility to be free from sin, 06:28 the Bible said, "He's still like a roaring lion, 06:30 seeking whom he may devour." 06:31 And so we have to realize 06:33 that there's only two sides of the story, 06:34 there's a good side, there's bad side 06:36 as God and Satan, there's no gray area. 06:38 And so, if it's not glorifying God, 06:40 you know what I'm saying, 06:41 then it has to be glorifying Satan. 06:43 And that's what we refused to admit to ourselves. 06:45 You know, we like to say, well, you know, 06:47 basically the show doesn't have cursing, 06:49 the music doesn't have cursing, 06:50 maybe it's not that all that bad, 06:52 but if it's not glorifying God, 06:53 then it has to be glorifying Satan 06:55 and we don't have to really trouble 06:56 what that's does gonna do to your mind, 06:57 if it's of Satan you already know 06:59 it's gonna have negative effects. 07:00 Well, I do want to talk a little about that 07:02 that I want to get kind of get some things out, 07:04 so people kind of know what are the effects 07:06 because somebody may say, 07:08 "Oh, I'm not being effected by the media, 07:09 you know, I'm not being," 07:10 but what is the behavior then that, that we can say, 07:13 look, this is the behavior and this has being caused 07:16 by the brainwashing of what's going on in the media. 07:19 I think we're getting de-synthesized. 07:21 You know, I mean, we watch all of the violence. 07:25 You know, studies have shown in the past 10, 12 years 07:28 violence on TV, and movies, and sitcoms 07:30 have more than tripled. 07:32 So we're used to seeing that, 07:34 we're used to seeing destruction, 07:36 we're used to seeing 07:37 all these catastrophes take place 07:38 and then when it happens our hearts are turning cold 07:41 just like the Bible says, 07:42 it's like it doesn't even effect us, 07:44 oh, man, ten people died in the car accident. 07:46 it doesn't effect us anymore. 07:49 So things that years ago may have tossed us 07:51 in a certain place, 07:52 now we're just, it's just the norm now 07:54 because we're seeing all of this violence. 07:56 I mean it trickles over even in the video games. 07:58 You know, we got these gamers, these kids are playing 08:00 all of these games over and over and they're killing, 08:03 and they're robbing people, and they're stealing cars 08:06 and all of these stuff, 08:07 and it just becomes just a way of life, 08:08 and then they're programmed a little differently 08:11 in their brain as opposed 08:12 to being one and being in communion with God. 08:14 And so I'd be sitting back 08:16 just watching this thing unfold. 08:17 I believe that the battle for our salvations 08:19 starts in our mind. 08:20 Yeah, yeah. 08:22 The question is, are we fighting 08:23 on the enemy's territory? 08:24 Or do we, or is our mind in a perfect peace, you know, 08:26 consumed with the Spirit of God? 08:28 So a lot of times we're watching the movies, 08:30 we're watching the TV shows and we're getting brainwashed, 08:33 we're falling into a fall society, 08:35 a fall sins of life that the enemy has depicted. 08:38 But when you look at these reality shows, 08:40 you've got these couple, these people doing 08:42 all sorts of stuff, that's not, that's not reality. 08:44 You know, there is a camera crew 08:46 that they say cut, they say, do that part over again, 08:48 but we watch it and we say that's the lifestyle 08:50 I have to live, that's the kind of car I need to drive, 08:52 if I'm pretty, I gotta get this type of shampoo, if I'm a man, 08:55 I gotta buy this type of truck, and it's a facade. 08:57 Yeah, and it really distracts us from the reality 09:00 which is the great controversy, 09:01 which is striving for right, you know, 09:03 and we get locked into this whole idea, I mean, 09:06 so much so that, I know for me, I've been in a situation 09:09 where I just totally forgot, you know, 09:10 what my Christian walk is all about. 09:12 I kind of got depressed about things, like, man, 09:14 I don't got this, I don't got that and I said, 09:15 "Oh, hold on a second, whoa, you know, 09:17 but the brainwash is there, I'm not looking for the things 09:19 in this earth, this is not my reward, 09:21 you know, why am I so obsessed with these type of things? 09:23 And so, it just, it happens so many times 09:25 and you don't even catch it because you've been 09:27 just totally brainwashed by media. 09:29 But that's because there are so many venues like, 09:31 you know, I remember when TV used to go off 09:34 and I'm not that old, 09:36 but I remember when TV used to go off at night 09:40 until there was a point where the advertisement, 09:43 there was a point 09:44 where the portrayal of things stopped 09:47 and you had peace 09:49 and there's no more peace, I mean, 09:51 TV is on 24 hours a day. 09:54 You know, Facebook is on, I mean, 09:56 you have to literally log yourself off of Facebook, 09:59 if not, it will stay on in every single location 10:03 in which you log on to it. 10:04 And so we're constantly being bombarded 10:06 with these images. 10:07 Even on Facebook you can be anything 10:09 you want to be on Facebook, 10:10 there's like articles and things there about, 10:12 marriages are ending over Facebook, 10:14 relationships ending over Facebook, over posts. 10:17 People seeing what looks like a happy marriage, 10:21 seeing what looks like, you know, 10:24 this good guy and they're like, 10:25 well, I want to trade in what I have for what they have 10:29 and we get brainwashed into thinking 10:31 that the grass is really greener on the other side 10:33 when it's really AstroTurf. 10:35 You know, we've been... 10:37 Oh, sorry, agree on what you are saying, 10:38 not a TV goes all night, that's usually the time 10:40 when it went off, it's usually the time 10:42 where it even gets worse. 10:43 You know, that's the time where things are "uncut" 10:45 you know, that kind of stuff 10:46 and even to go back to what Jeremy was saying. 10:48 My own personal testimony, I mean, when I was growing up, 10:51 you know, because I guess the color of my skin, you know, 10:53 we naturally listen to rap R&B, 10:56 it's kind of what we were taught when we were kids. 10:58 And one of the things we did when we played basketball 10:59 we used to try to get hide before the game 11:01 so listen to rap. 11:02 You know, because it literally makes you high, you know, 11:05 and we still listen to, 11:06 I remember want to hear a lot of jazzy before the game. 11:08 And you know, I don't know it was a blueprint album, 11:10 you know, I just, I just loved it, 11:12 I'm not going to lie, just loved it back in the day. 11:14 And I remember around that same time I was, 11:17 I was having a lot of anger issues, you know, 11:19 I was having to go to anger management, 11:20 I was always getting into fights. 11:22 I want to fight people with the smallest things, man, 11:23 and I said to myself one day just, you know, 11:25 I can't be like this. 11:27 And I said to myself, well, what can I change, 11:29 and I realize I started listening to a lot of rap, 11:31 I was going to sleep with the radio on at night, 11:34 not even know what they're playing at night, 11:36 you know what I'm saying? 11:37 And so I stopped, I turned off the radio, 11:39 stop listening to certain kinds of music. 11:41 And honestly that things actually got better you know, 11:43 we're talking about the effect that has on your mind, 11:45 there's a lot of things that, that you know their languages 11:47 that's been used, their attitudes 11:49 that are being portrayed. 11:50 Now we sometimes don't even catch upfront 11:52 but it is affecting our minds. 11:54 Yeah, so and there is an agenda, 11:56 there's an agenda going on trying to attack, 11:58 trying to capture your attention 12:00 and that's really what we have fed into being plugged 12:02 in all the time 12:04 and that really when you were talking, Kim, 12:05 I was thinking about the Sabbath, you know, 12:07 and how that is really a time for us 12:09 to get away from that. 12:10 Yeah, the devil may have tried to get, you know, 12:12 lock you in this whole media fictional for six days 12:15 but at least if you're following the Bible, 12:17 you can have a day 12:18 where you got rest from in all, you know. 12:20 I want to get David in here, then I'm going to go to you, 12:22 you know, just kind of talk a little more about 12:23 the agenda behind getting a... 12:26 Satan trying to getting our minds. 12:27 Well, the agenda is not thrown out there 12:30 because Satan is not going to come out 12:32 and tell you I'm trying to kill you. 12:35 But music was designed to match our heartbeat. 12:39 And we know that our heartbeat is controlled by our mind. 12:42 So if music matches our heartbeat, 12:44 now it manipulates our mind 12:47 and it puts our heart into music. 12:49 Wow. 12:50 And so now if our heart is into music, 12:52 the actions that we display 12:54 from listening to certain things 12:56 or watching certain things 12:58 is the agenda that he's trying to be. 13:00 Literally like controlling your life. 13:01 Yeah. 13:03 Well, if I could, you know, 13:04 I believe that I'll just be little more specific. 13:06 I believe that one of the main things 13:07 that Satan is trying to do and you know, 13:09 as preachers we say this all the time 13:11 when we're right at preferably seminars, 13:12 but I believe that first of all Satan is trying to prove 13:14 that he's not real, you know, 13:16 he wants to kind of dumb down his presence 13:18 in movies and television. 13:20 You know, even now when we think about evil, 13:22 we usually think about Taliban, you know, 13:25 we don't really think Satan when we hear evil, you know, 13:27 we think terrorist. 13:28 You know, and I think another thing he does 13:30 what the media is very good at, is distracting us. 13:33 You know, if Satan can keep our attention on other stuff, 13:36 then we won't pay attention to God. 13:38 And so when we watch shows like back in the day 13:40 we used to watch Cribs, you know, 13:42 that shows this all these big houses. 13:44 As a kid you watched that and you're thinking, man, 13:46 I got to get that house. 13:47 And so now all your attention is pulled to gain that house 13:49 and so you, where you would have gone to school, 13:51 now you're going to school 13:52 because I got to get that house. 13:53 You know, what I'm saying, you're distracted 13:55 by all the stuff even like Kim said, you see these, 13:56 these relationships on television, 13:57 you see all the stuff, the fashion, whatever, 13:59 and you spent all your attention 14:01 trying to go after that stuff, 14:02 and I believe one of the biggest agendas 14:04 of Satan is to just keep our minds distracted, 14:06 and not to, not to belabor, 14:08 but it reminds me of something I preached the other day 14:10 where Jesus says in the end time 14:12 our job is to watch, to stand, to be on guard, 14:15 lest these things should overcome us. 14:16 We've got to keep our eyes focused on the sky, you know, 14:19 lift up your head 14:21 because your redemption draw nigh, 14:22 and Satan is trying to make sure 14:24 our eyes are pointed at the ground you know, 14:26 and so that's something we got to, 14:27 we got to be on guard. 14:28 Yeah, that distraction, that distraction thing 14:31 is so serious, and I believe that the enemy is like, 14:35 I don't even need you killing people, 14:37 I'll let you sleeping around and strolling on drugs 14:39 as long as you're not active in service, 14:41 as long as I have you in front of this TV 14:43 four, five, six hours a day, then I've got you there. 14:46 You know, because we put this in the mold of the limbo, 14:49 like we're watching TV to be entertained, 14:52 like the entertainment intertwining of our minds, 14:55 like there's no thought process, 14:57 we're just sitting here and we're watching this 14:59 and then what happens with the perception. 15:01 And the plot of the enemy is to break up the family, 15:05 it's to break up the home, that's the number one plot. 15:07 And if you just take a second 15:09 and if our viewers would just take a moment 15:10 and just look at some of the major networks 15:12 and some of the shows that's coming on, 15:13 they were attacking marriage on a whole another level now. 15:16 And that's why marriages in the church, 15:19 in our Sabbath church are struggling 15:20 and the divorce rate has got hot, 15:22 because every sitcom you watch, 15:24 there's some type of you know, revenge that's taking place 15:26 or some type of scandal that's happening on the show, 15:29 that just totally derails you, you know, from there. 15:31 And so we have to make sure that the things 15:34 that will be watched coincides 15:35 with what we believe with our savior. 15:37 You know, it's just shows that I'm watching, 15:39 is it helping me get closer to the Christ, 15:41 or is it drawing me away? 15:42 Is it helping me tap into a mode of complacency 15:44 in my marriage? 15:45 Or is it challenging me 15:47 to seeking for more righteousness? 15:48 Yeah. 15:49 And that's the last thing that television nowadays is doing. 15:51 Yeah, yeah. 15:52 You have to ask that question 15:53 that's all about being a mature Christian. 15:55 That's right. That's right. Yeah, but you know what? 15:56 A lot of times, I think 15:57 we deceive ourselves into believing 16:00 that we can filter our own reigns. 16:03 That we can discern and figure out, 16:06 oh, that's targeted to me, so I'm not going to watch that. 16:09 And it's so much more subtle than that. 16:10 A perfect example, you know, we're on, you know, 16:13 we're talking, we're on set and Jeremy was singing a song 16:19 and he was just singing, just humming it to himself, 16:22 and I went back later on 16:23 and I was like humming this song like what, 16:25 "Why am I humming this song?" 16:27 And then later on I came back and he was singing I was like, 16:30 that's where that song came from, 16:33 he was singing it, 16:34 my subconscious picked it up without me even knowing it 16:38 and I found myself singing it later on. 16:40 Wow. 16:41 And so that happens with so many other things 16:44 that we see that we're feeding ourselves 16:46 that we're not realizing, 16:48 the same way I can go pick up a French fry, 16:50 I know it's a French fry, eat a French fry 16:52 but all the stuff that went into making a French fry 16:54 I don't know, 16:55 but it's affecting my body in ways 16:57 that I'm not cognizant of during the digestion process. 17:01 It's the same thing, the things we ingest 17:04 are affecting our minds and our souls 17:06 during that digestion process in a way 17:08 that we're not even aware of. 17:10 So we have to stop playing with ourselves and saying that, 17:13 Lord, I know, I know they're targeting me. 17:15 Yeah, and that goes into my other question 17:17 is because now you're saying I'm mature Christian, 17:20 I know what, are you all, I'm listening to, 17:22 watching Pure Choices, 17:23 I know exactly what media is doing 17:25 but does it mean now I am protected, 17:26 now I can just, you know, I know the agenda behind it, 17:29 it's not I'm just gonna watch whatever I want to watch. 17:31 David, talk to me as a young brother, man, 17:32 schoolman know that, it's hard. 17:34 I mean, even, even I know older, 17:36 the older generation still has to really rely on Christ 17:41 to tell them what they have to watch 17:43 and what they have to listen to 17:44 because nothing new is under the sun. 17:46 And we fight not against flesh and blood 17:49 but against principalities and high places. 17:51 And it's really hard to say 17:55 what to watch and what not to watch, 17:57 you can't have a definite list, 17:58 because something that I can handle, 18:01 another person can't handle. 18:02 A case in point, 18:04 there are some gospel songs that actually push an agenda 18:08 that is not gospel related. 18:10 And so I can break that down, me being a theology major, 18:15 but the next person might not be able to, so I would... 18:18 It varies in different situation. 18:22 Yeah, and that's all about staying in the word, you know, 18:25 willing to be able to discern that, you know, 18:27 when you stay in the word. 18:29 Well, if I could just play devil's advocate 18:31 for a little bit because I do, I do, 18:33 I do kind of believe that there are maturity levels, 18:36 that certain people are able to handle certain things, 18:40 you know, I don't make a conscious effort 18:43 listening to certain things but if I hear it, 18:45 I know I can handle it, 18:46 even though I do understand also 18:48 that certain things do just get by your subconscious. 18:51 But I also hear what you're saying in that, 18:53 and I tell my peoples all time as a pastor, 18:54 there's certain songs I don't want them 18:56 to sing in church because there's certain songs 18:57 that are just, they have messages 18:59 that we sing and we just kind of, 19:00 we think it as gospel that is acceptable, you know, like, 19:03 like one hymn I think about you know, man, "I Fly Away", 19:07 "One Bright Morning", you know, 19:08 songs that kind of talk about the, you know, 19:10 historically tell about the rapture, 19:12 you know that, we don't believe in but we sing it, you know. 19:14 I believe at the end of the day though that 19:16 it boils down not to just what you do, don't do, 19:19 watch and don't watch, 19:21 but more so about having the spirit of discernment 19:23 which of course you know you cannot have, 19:25 but God has to give it to you. 19:26 And so when we talk to people about well, 19:29 what to do with media is that we're not saying pray to God, 19:32 tell me to discern, I'm just going to watch everything, 19:34 I'm still gonna watch what I'm watching, 19:35 but I want to pray and say God give me Your Spirit 19:38 so that I can know for myself what is wrong, what is right, 19:41 what I can't handle, what I can handle, 19:43 what I should say in front of them, 19:45 what I shouldn't say in front of them. 19:46 Okay. 19:47 You know, that's, that's so beautiful what you said, 19:49 and you know, God convicted me on something similar to that 19:52 because I was like, God, I want to hear Your voice, I was like, 19:54 God, speak to me. 19:55 And God says, "Son, I'll talk to you all day." 19:57 The question is, are you gonna be obedient to My voice. 20:00 So I would challenge us all and the viewers 20:02 that's watching this program to really ask yourself. 20:05 Next time the Holy Spirit says, 20:06 that's show is not of My spirit, 20:08 I don't want you watching it. 20:09 What are you going to do at that time? 20:11 Yeah. 20:12 Do you still watch it, is that your guilty pleasure, 20:14 or do you say, you know, what, God, 20:15 this isn't feeding me, 20:16 it's not helping me grow in You. 20:18 And so I'm going to move from it 20:19 you know, but we look to be, 20:21 you know, entertained 20:22 and that's where the enemy gets the victory. 20:24 Yeah, and another thing that, you know, 20:26 I'm talking about pure choices again and sexual purity, 20:30 another thing that you know, television does, 20:32 is that it can kind of be as a, serve as a trigger, you know, 20:36 where it can intrigue you into things 20:37 and looking at things especially, 20:39 you know, at least for me, you know, 20:40 I'm looking at how that view, few ladies went down there, 20:43 you know, you have to be very, very careful 20:45 and still like that because that's, 20:46 is really the sexual demons are trying to capture you 20:52 by using that stimuli to really get you into a darker place. 20:56 Do you know what if I can add and we... 20:59 You want to go? No, go ahead. 21:00 Okay. I'm after you. 21:01 I think it's important to point out 21:03 that there aren't two choices when it comes to this. 21:07 I don't believe that when it comes to media 21:09 and the affect it's having that the only two choices are don't 21:12 and do not watch. 21:13 You know, and I don't think those are the only two choices. 21:15 I think that we also need to add that Satan, yeah, 21:18 he has his creativities, 21:20 yeah, he can make things sound good, look good, 21:22 but if Satan can do that 21:24 and God can do far much more than that. 21:25 And I think one of things that we leave out, 21:27 is that God can also empower us to be able to create things 21:31 that are holistic, that are edifying 21:34 and that are enjoyable. 21:36 And so you know, I will challenge those 21:37 who view those who watch, you know, 21:39 pray to God and say, well, God, 21:41 not only do I not want to watch things that aren't pure, 21:43 but I want to be able to be a conduit 21:45 and someone you can use to create things that are pure. 21:48 We talk about the fact 21:49 we're sitting on a set right now. 21:50 Yeah. 21:52 You know, talking about these things 21:53 because somebody was led by the Holy Spirit, 21:54 you know, what I'm saying to be creative 21:56 and to put something else out there, 21:57 and I think that's something we have talked to as well. 21:59 We have young people out there that are gifted, 22:00 that are talented, 22:01 who can do and make things better 22:03 than what the enemy has out there. 22:04 Yeah, amen. 22:06 You know, I was gonna say that talking about 22:09 how the media pulls us 22:11 and then creates sexual scripts. 22:14 And so it creates these sexual scripts 22:17 that we especially as women 22:19 turn into these little fantasies, 22:21 "Oh, I want to gotta do that from me, oh, oh, 22:24 when I get married I want it to look like this and I want, 22:27 and I want my relationship to look like that 22:29 and we create the, yeah, we create these, 22:31 we create these sexual scripts. 22:33 And so then we expect the people in our lives 22:36 to act according to those scripts 22:38 and then when they don't, there's dysfunction, 22:40 there's unhealthy relationships, 22:42 there's all this tension in 22:44 and just all this mess that we have created 22:49 living up to the fairytales that TV creates for us. 22:52 And nowadays a lot of TV is like soft porn. 22:55 Yeah. 22:56 You know what I mean, everything but, 22:58 and all that does is feed into, now you're in a situation, 23:03 let's say you're in a car, it's late, it's dark, 23:06 this scenario looks like the scenario I saw on TV 23:10 that played out in a way 23:12 then I want my life to play out, 23:15 now I expected to play out in that way, 23:17 so I let down my standards, I led down my boundaries 23:20 and now I have no defense mechanisms 23:22 against this situation. 23:24 So the Bible talks about, you know, 23:26 lifting up a standard and talks about that, 23:27 that you know we have to guard the avenues of ourselves 23:32 not just put sentinels around the house, 23:34 but you need to put some guards in the street down the block 23:37 to make sure that things aren't coming your way. 23:39 As you're saying that, 23:41 I don't know if I can share this 23:42 but as you're saying that I remember thing like, 23:43 I remember when I was, you know, dating and you know, 23:45 date and breakup and I used to listen to secular music 23:49 and let that, let those words free my mind 23:51 about different relationships whatnot. 23:52 I almost felt like I was in a movie you know, 23:54 and I listen to music and everything like 23:56 certain artist was telling me stuff 23:57 and I'd be looking to it again and that's it, 24:00 you know, that's what I'm going through you know, 24:01 and I would go and do the things 24:02 that were safer for me to do and feel those weight up, 24:04 and I'm just like, now, I look back and I said, man, 24:06 I was totally trapped. 24:08 I was looking at the word for those, for the solutions, 24:10 I was listening to this artist here, 24:12 that artist there you know, rap secular artists, 24:14 may not even know God to direct me in my decisions 24:17 or my choices. 24:19 And it was so deep as you say to direct you 24:21 in your decisions and choices. 24:23 And so what happens is we don't even know 24:25 about the media, music, media, the sitcoms, the movies, 24:28 they're directing us in a specific ways 24:31 by the functioning of our brain on how the operate. 24:33 And the Bible clearly speaks against that. 24:36 Romans 2:12 says, "Not to be like the world 24:39 but to be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." 24:42 So God and His infinite wisdom and power and glory 24:45 knew in the Bible days, he said, 24:47 look, in the last days you guys are going to be dealing 24:50 with some serious stuff 24:51 and the battle for our salvation 24:53 is right here in our mind 24:54 and it's important that we keep God 24:55 and His love and His power consuming within our brain, 24:58 that's the only way 25:00 that we're going to fight this down and move forward. 25:01 Because there really is a study of our brains being done 25:03 by the media trying to capture us 25:05 to get us off there. 25:07 There's a study called type scenes 25:10 that sitcoms have adopted. 25:12 And what it is, is each episode they have the same format 25:16 of the story that they want to portray 25:18 but in each episode is a different details, 25:21 different characters. 25:22 And the Bible actually has the same format, 25:26 especially in Genesis, we see in every story 25:29 particular story in Genesis it follows the same format, 25:32 different characters, 25:33 different place, different time. 25:35 And with this type scene format, 25:38 we find that by the end 25:42 or along the road we're picking it up 25:46 more and more 25:47 and we start acting out these types scenes. 25:49 And in the Bible if we're daily in the Bible 25:52 and reading the Bible, 25:54 the type scenes in the Bible 25:55 we're going to act that out too. 25:57 Wow, wow, wow. 25:58 You know, I also want to say along these lines 26:01 that there are some drastic measures 26:04 that are often taken when it comes to media. 26:06 People hear things, oh, media is bad, 26:09 let's go break all of our CDs, throw away all our DVDs, 26:13 cancel the cable, you know what I mean, 26:15 and two weeks later 26:17 you're downloading the same stuff back off iTunes 26:20 so you don't have cable, 26:21 now you got Netflix and Hulu, you know, 26:23 it just brings it to your phone and it's just like 26:26 there has to be more than just getting rid of the source, 26:29 that's not the end all, be all, it has to go deeper, 26:32 it has to go down into, God, I want You to transform me 26:35 and make me more like You. 26:39 And that is a process 26:42 and sometimes when you try to go this, 26:44 you know, direct route, let God do it the way 26:48 God needs to do it in your life, 26:50 I just want to, you know, just throw that out there. 26:52 Appreciate that, and I'm, our time is running now, 26:53 I want to end with this, 26:55 with this kind of a testimony for me 26:57 because I see a lot of young people 26:58 who are plugged in all the time, 27:00 they're looking at their phones, 27:02 they have their earphones in 27:03 and they're listening something always being fed 27:04 by what's going on in the media or what's being fed to them, 27:07 and that was me, you know, 27:08 I was kind of that individual, you know, 27:09 just walking through life, just looking at whatever it was 27:13 that was presented to me. 27:15 You know, but one day I just unplugged everything 27:18 and I just looked up, it was even got look up 27:21 and I saw the stars in the sky and I saw the moon 27:24 and I said, wow, 27:26 there's something bigger than me 27:27 just putting the earplugs, 27:28 I was just encouraged to just to put down that phone, 27:31 put down turn the TV off sometimes 27:32 and just remember who God really is. 27:35 I want to end with this verse Romans 12:2, 27:37 "And be not conform to this world, 27:39 but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. 27:42 Then ye may prove what is that good and acceptable 27:45 and perfect will of God." 27:47 That's it, we have to be brainwashed by Jesus, 27:50 let Him create us as a new, a new heart, a new mind 27:52 and let Him be the influence in our lives. 27:54 Remember, always make Pure Choices. |
Revised 2017-06-05