Daily Devotional, Year 2 – OCTOBER 3 (Cease Ye From Man! Part 7: “Detrimental Effects of News-Watching)
By admin On February 6th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 2 – OCTOBER 3
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Cease Ye From Man!
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Part 7:
“Detrimental Effects of News-Watching”
To read Part 1, click here… “August 21st (Cease Ye From Man!)”
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“Be not deceived:
evil communications corrupt good manners.”
1st Corinthians 15:33
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We live in a society today, which, to put it mildly, is very proactive about telling us how to live. From cradle to grave, we are inundated with advice, with maxims, with philosophy, with psychology, and with all sorts of ideological dogma!
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Some could perhaps be considered good. And many laws are good.
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But more and more, there are oppressive laws, which tend to violate the Christian conscience.
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Shoppers in Toronto – cropped image – Wikimedia – share-alike license
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THE “GRAY AREAS” OF LIFE
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But this devotional is not about the laws of the land, but rather, is about things that would be considered “gray areas” of life: the questionable issues of everyday life.
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Such things which society doesn’t consider to be detrimental to one’s character.
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And isn’t it true, that our society is very dogmatic about many customs and traditional practices which they embrace and profess?
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But the Bible says… “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert” Jeremiah 17:5, 6.
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Yes, as the disciple of Jesus grows in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, he (or she) begins to trust less and less in what people say, and more and more in the Word of Christ, and what He has to say about how we should live!
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People on crowded Delhi Bus – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
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THE WORLD LOVES NEWS!
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One area of life which the world loves and jealously protects is in the watching, reading or listening to the daily news.
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Now for the world, the daily news is not such a bad thing. It is even considered by many to be enlightening!
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And certainly, it is informing of the current goings on around the world!
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TV – ABC-Good Morning America – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
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NOT FOR CHRISTIANS!
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But for the Christian, the habit of consuming copious amounts of the daily news can be very detrimental to one’s
heart and soul…
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Listen to the Wise Man’s counsel…“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:23-27
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So here we see that God has given us a great commission to guard “our heart with all diligence!”
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USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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But what in the world could be detrimental about watching or reading the news?
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After all, it’s just the goings on around the world!
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Newspaper reader – Santa Cruz Argentina – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike Lic.
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IMPASSIONS THE CARNAL HEART!
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More and more, the news programs are becoming designed to tug on our emotions: stories about people we love to love! Or stories about people we love to hate! Stories of revenge! Stories about lust! Stories about the very rich! Stories about the beautiful! Stories designed to make us angry! And so many stories that tend to make us calloused and unsympathetic!
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National Enquirer (cover) – Wikimedia – Fair-Use Rationale
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A PEG FOR SKEPTICS
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Oh yes, Satan knows that he must mingle some ‘form of godliness’ into his deceptions. And so, he adds just enough goodness to give all skeptics, “a long enough peg to hang their doubts on”, as the saying goes.
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In other words, by mingling goodness with evil, it becomes more difficult to recognize evil, thus emboldening the naysayers to truth that “the whole world lieth in wickedness”. (1st John 5:19)
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Pilgrim’s Progress – 09, p29 – Obstinate – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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DEFILING THE CONSCIENCE
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But the Bible warns us…“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” 1st Corinthians 15:33
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Yes, when we indulge these salacious and impassioned news stories on a daily basis, we are unwittingly allowing the very same passions into our hearts, thereby defiling our conscience…
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Old man in magazine stand – Paris – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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DO NOT BE DECEIVED!
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Listen again…“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” 1st Corinthians 15:33
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Whenever God adds the words, “Be not deceived”, it is one of those so-called “gray areas” of life which Satan will attempt to deceive us on! In other words, there are many who will try to tell us that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the news….
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But listen to this…“For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” Ephesians 5:12
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You wouldn’t last long in the news business if you lived by this above verse, would you? So much of the news is devoted to evil deeds which were done in the shadows.
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TV – ABC-Good Morning America – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
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“PURIFY YOUR HEARTS YE DOUBLE-MINDED!”
James 4:8
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We Christians must be ever watchful and vigilant! The Enemy of Souls is working around
the clock to derail us from our highest duty: the purification of our heart!
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Listen to the Isaiah’s counsel… Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He…that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;” Isaiah 33:14, 15
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Now here is another passage which journalists will never be able to embrace. After all, so much of the news thrives on blood (violence) and thrives on displaying evil images.
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Chaplain reads Bible – Wikimedia – US Govt. Public Domain
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REJOICING AT CALAMITIES
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“Rejoice not when thine enemy falls, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbles:” Proverbs 24:17
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Perhaps the greatest evil for the Christian to beware of, is the temptation to want certain apocalyptic-like calamities to occur. In other words, the Devil may tempt us to be glad over earthquakes, volcanoes, paradigm shifts, tornadoes, and any other similar catastrophes which might signal that the end is near. And when we hear of these tragedies we might be inclined to rejoice in heart.
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Vespucio Norte Highway after 2010 earthquake – Wikimedia commons – Share-alike License
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LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF!
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After all, if such an earthquake or tornado, etc., were to come to your town or my town, we wouldn’t rejoice, would we?
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But perhaps we are a little like a modern-day “Jonah”, watching and waiting for Nineveh to be destroyed!
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So, this is a matter of loving thy neighbor as thyself. And this is one more great sin associated with news-watching.
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A BATTLE MAY ENSUE
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Now for those of us who decide to stop watching and listening and indulging in the news, there may be a fierce battle ahead. You see, just like any other of the “desires…of the mind“, immersing one’s own self in daily news can become a terrible bondage! And because it often seems like a rather harmless indulgence, it even becomes more difficult to quit!
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So don’t be surprised if this indulgence has a firm grip on us! It will require much prayer and searching out the Bible for Divine help to cut this sin off!
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And even if we do get the victory over this, Satan will no doubt tempt us to fall back into this earthly pleasure!
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ABOVE PICTURE: Battle for the heart – www.signsofheaven.org
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LOOK UP! LIFT UP YOUR HEADS!
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The Good News is that God is now calling us to, “look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near!” Luke 21:28
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Like never before in history, we have reached the hour in which God instructs us to look up, and lift up our heads! We must take our eyes off the filth, scum, and violence so prevalent all around us! We must fix our gaze on Jesus like never before! Satan is now flooding this world with the sights and sounds of evil.
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He wants us to view life from an earthly perspective!
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We must completely take our eyes off the world and fix our eyes upon Heaven’s Jesus!
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Starry Night at La Silla – cropped/altered image – Wikimedia – Share-Alike license
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TO READ PART 8, CLICK HERE…
OCTOBER 13 (Cease Ye From Man! Part 8: Trust Ye Not In Any Brother!)
Mask Murderer – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to spend my remaining time on earth, studying and meditating on Your Word, as much as I possibly can. Help me to become fully engaged in the purification process of my heart…
Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…“April 13th (The Ultimate TV Censoring-Device!)”, or you can also read… JANUARY 2 (Look Up, Lift Up Your Heads, Part 4 Nightly News!)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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THE MILKY WAY RUNS THROUGH
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THIS HOLY-GHOST-RIDER
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Now one thing that is noticeable and makes this constellation even more dramatic, is the fact that the Milky Way runs right through it. And the question that must be asked is, “What biblical implications does this constellation/Milky Way connection have?” Well, very simply put, if stars represent Believers, then this rider works in the world through His True-Worshippers, to a great extent.
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WHY IS THIS CONSTELLATION SO INCOMPLETE IN APPEARANCE
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So why is this constellation merely an outline? Well it does show his back, rear end and leg…and arm. But unlike, say, Orion, this constellation is very vague, even mysterious in appearance. Almost vacant in appearance. Yes this horseman represents Christ. But even more than this, it represents the Holy Spirit of Christ. And as we all know, the Holy Spirit is very, very, un-intrusive, almost impossible to detect His presence.
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “The Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation”
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TOMORROW:
OCTOBER 4 (How Shall the Moon Be Turned Into Blood? Part 2: Mark of the Beast in the Moon?)
2nd Face on Moon
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS IS STUDY #641 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain
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