(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you." Leviticus 18:24-25, 27-28
I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the events described in these news reports below, but when I saw the video I immediately started thinking about the Scriptures. God tells us that man's sin can become so prevalent and vile that it even defiles the very land in which we live (Numbers 35:33-34; Jeremiah 2:7, 3:9, 16:18; Ezekiel 36:17). As a result, creation itself tries to spew out man and his evil ways.
The earth and that which is within it mourns for the evil man does in the land.
"How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end." Jeremiah 12:4
"For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD." Jeremiah 23:10-11
"Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away." Hosea 4:3
"The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished." Joel 1:10-11
All of creation awaits, groans, and travails for those who truly belong to God to be manifested.
"For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Romans 8:19-22
Yet, even as the land and all creation groans, we know that God is in the midst of this preparing a people to rise. A people who have been prepared for a time such as this and empowered by the Spirit of God to bring deliverance to every heart which longs for righteousness.
Don't be carried away by the distractions of this world. Don't take God's longsuffering for slackness and drift away from your first love. Redeem the times and seek the Lord while He may be found. If we hold our peace, even the rocks will cry out.
This touched me so much. With all that is going on with the Tryvon Martin thing, the Tulsa shooting, the shooting at the Christan college in Oakland, to the tornadoes, we all need to get close to God and seek him, repent and turn from this world to Him because things are not going to get better, we have to trust God and seek His peace. I don't want to get caught up in the world and what the world is doing. I also loved your blog called race-colored glasses, cause it's so easy for us to get caught-up in the outer instead of what God is calling us to do for him. Praise the most high God, thank-you for allowing Him to use you and sharing the Word of God with the world.
ReplyDeleteDear Latter Days,
ReplyDeleteMy church is organizing a teen movie night and the movie they plan to see is the Hunger Games. I have not read the book and the previews of the movie concern me. I asked the youth pastor who is organizing the trip what the movie is about, he said he didn't know, the children were asked what movie they wanted to see and they responded the Hunger Games. I asked him did he see any of the previews and he told me not to worry that he would not agree to take children to see a movie that was "bad". I asked him how did he know if the movie is bad if he didn't know what it was about? Am I being too over protective? Have you heard anything about the Hunger Games? Thank-you.
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteSatan is an expert at sowing his seed in a stealth manner. His wiles include this sowing being done in very small doses over time. As the age ends things are getting more and more over the top and in your face...i.e. satan is becoming less stealth and more brazen.
We must not turn a blind eye to the things of the world like the youth pastor you mention is doing. --- (sidetrack) actually I don't think that there's really a such thing as a 'youth' pastor in God's church as most of these guys have not been properly prepared by God (and life) to be pastors. Having a few kids is not automatic qualification - they have too much 'youth' (hence the name I guess:() ---
As far as the hunger games, I was negligent my own self as I allowed my daughter to read those books, not really looking deeply into it. Sure, it may not have the overt witchcraft and demonic overtones as things like Harry Potter and Twilight (although they are there) but when the rubber meets the road it is sowing seeds of murder and death and that is demonic regardless of the lack of witches and vampires. Some will simply equate it to many novels of the past like the Lord of the Flies etc. but we are not in the past anymore. We are rapidly approaching the end of the age and Satan is pulling out all the stops.
I'll tell you how the devil is really good a slipping us a mickey (especially in movie/video presentations)...he butters us up with characters in the shows that are usually very attractive and personable and we actually come to like them (our emotions are engaged). Then when the character commits a murder or other such sinful act, we will actually become defensive of the character and even cheer them on because we like them, so we therefore become resistant to the sin(s) involved...instead of being repulsed by a murder, our minds are tricked into defending or justifying the murder. This will be used on multitudes to direct them to deny the Lord Jesus Christ.
This movie/book is bad news. I told my daughter (and the Lord) that I was wrong for allowing her to read those books (and everyone knows how much 'better' the books are than the movies) and it stops there for her. I thank the Lord for his forgiveness.
If I haven't said enough to convice you, here's a pretty detailed review that should finish up the job:
http://www.carylmatrisciana.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=343:a-review-of-the-hunger-games&catid=43:entertainment&Itemid=54
Your description of how it was the children who essentially 'decided' what movie to see is right out of Isaiah 3:
v3 "And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them."
v4 "And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable."
v12 "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths."
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI have become more familiar with the Hunger Games lately because of my oldest daughter. As the movie was about to be released, a few friends at her "Christian" school started talking about it in anticipation, for they had read the book. They let her borrow the book to read as well.
Her friends made plans to see the movie the weekend it came out and invited her. All I knew about it at the time was via commercials on TV (which didn't say much). However, I knew that the Hunger Games emblem reminded me of the Anarchy symbol, so I believed that this story was probably like everything else from the world: an attempt to estrange man's mind from God.
We did let my daughter see the movie because we feel she is mature enough to understand what she is seeing (she will be considered legally an adult in less than 2 years). Our preference for raising our children is to let them start making more choices in some areas as they get older so that we can guide them in the wisdom of the choice and help them develop discernment about the things of God.
Afterwards, we spoke with her about it and discussed the concerns raised in the following article: What's So Good About Evil?
She thought the killing - and the kids killing kids aspect - was overkill (no pun intended). She also understood my connection with the anarchy symbol (even though she didn't know what that was before) and agreed that this was likely the meaning of the symbol since rebelling against authority was the whole point of the movie. She then said, "It is basically what the world would be like if there was no God." Then, I knew she understood. While a few of her friends are die hard fans, she is not.
What we share with our children is that everything from the world has at its purpose to pervert the mind away from God in some fashion or another. There is nothing good in the world. We encourage them therefore to be watchful of the ways in which TV, movies, music encourage rebellion against God.
We would never let our younger children see this, nor do I think it is appropriate as a "church" activity (which gives the appearance of endorsement). I sure don't think a church should be sponsoring a youth group to see a movie no adult has even watched (and I share the concerns Bro. Tom listed above about the whole "youth" pastor thing).
I don't think you are being overprotective. There have been many times when our children were not allowed to do what other kids could, because quite honestly the world is not our standard.
God Bless!