Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2009 17:31:26 GMT -5
Selling papers on a cold day, Kansas City, 1899. Was it worth his tired feet?
Even though this American newsboy got weary on the job in the days when all type got set by hand, photography took an expert, and papers got distributed through laborious means, I never cease to be amazed at the persistence with which our society, during the last 150 years, has sought after the news.
Something new every day. The news in such demand that publishing and distributing it has become one of the largest commercial enterprises on earth.
Almost as if our lives depended on it -- as on water or food -- we grab for the news, and just as eagerly we pass on what we heard. As if all of it were true, or conducive to human welfare, or pleasing to God. . . . But more and more of what we hear from a godless media is none of the three, and we would be better off never having heard it at all.
Quite frankly, I am amazed at what some of you keep sending me.
A smutty story comes out. Some preacher somewhere gets in trouble. A lady or a child gets shamefully mistreated, according to the media, and what happens? Instead of burning the paper as you ought to, or deleting the wicked story when it comes, you pass it on! Instead of praying, instead of stopping the vile report (only a smidgeon of which might possibly be true), you eagerly help the devil accomplish his purpose by scattering his rubbish around the world!
How many lukewarm minds get dragged further and further from God through reading the gutter stories published in today's papers? How many young souls have your forwarded e-mails (stories of other people's purported misdeeds) titillated, led into unclean thoughts, or enticed to sin?
Do not fool yourself. The media, TV, the papers, Internet News Services, have no conscience for publishing the truth. Seamy stories about professing Christians never get written, read, or passed on from concern for the common good. Wicked people write them for entertainment alone. Or for the gleeful justification of those that lead vastly more degraded immoral lives than those they claim to portray.
"Catholic priest detained for this or that." "Amish father accused of so and so."
Get real.
What does religion have to do with it?
We live in a sick world. But the Bible speaks of no-one more dangerously sick than the religious person that takes delight in hearing or talking about sins he would not dare commit himself (Romans 1:32). It is a shame, a great shame, to speak of what corrupted people do in secret (Ephesians 5:12). As Jesus' followers, why not rather think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right . . . pure . . . lovely . . . admirable . . . excellent . . . praiseworthy," why not rather think about such things? (Philippians 4:8).
Brothers, sisters, I am sorry you know so many shocking stories (thanks to the media and the devil's internet gossip lines) about so many people. But I can tell you, I fervently do not want to hear even one of them! All I remember when you send them to me is how my mom and sisters used to chase us out of our freshly-cleaned kitchen, its hard-wood floor gleaming under recently shaken scatter-rugs on Saturday noon, when one of us boys had the audacity to come tromping in with pig manure on our boots. "NAUS mit dir! (OUT you go)" and no second audience could we expect until our boots were clean.
Dreadful things happen in the world today. But, praise God, we believers do not need to waste our time telling anyone about them. The dredges of debauchery are widely known. Let the drunken authors and playwrights of Satan, let the perverted media quaff them all and spray them about if they must. But for Jesus' sake, let us who follow him, let us believers, lovers of the truth, preach nothing but his life-changing Gospel, Jesus Christ and him crucified. Nothing but the good news of his kingdom that shall overthrow the world and put an end to sin.
Even though we get tired and our bodies faint, what can we do with the fire of his Kingdom lighting up our hearts than to bring the words of the prophet into glorious fulfillment: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! . . . Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world" (Romans 11:15-18).
If we were honest, we would admit that it couldn't make less of a difference whether Mrs. Astor got saved with or without her pearls, what di Caprio is doing now, or what Obama said last night. . . .
God is speaking. Time is scarce. If you have news to share, let it be what brings others to fear and love him before it is too late.
Peter
Rocky Cape Christian Community
19509 Bass Highway
Detention River, Tasmania 7321
Australia
www.thecommonlife.com.au
Even though this American newsboy got weary on the job in the days when all type got set by hand, photography took an expert, and papers got distributed through laborious means, I never cease to be amazed at the persistence with which our society, during the last 150 years, has sought after the news.
Something new every day. The news in such demand that publishing and distributing it has become one of the largest commercial enterprises on earth.
Almost as if our lives depended on it -- as on water or food -- we grab for the news, and just as eagerly we pass on what we heard. As if all of it were true, or conducive to human welfare, or pleasing to God. . . . But more and more of what we hear from a godless media is none of the three, and we would be better off never having heard it at all.
Quite frankly, I am amazed at what some of you keep sending me.
A smutty story comes out. Some preacher somewhere gets in trouble. A lady or a child gets shamefully mistreated, according to the media, and what happens? Instead of burning the paper as you ought to, or deleting the wicked story when it comes, you pass it on! Instead of praying, instead of stopping the vile report (only a smidgeon of which might possibly be true), you eagerly help the devil accomplish his purpose by scattering his rubbish around the world!
How many lukewarm minds get dragged further and further from God through reading the gutter stories published in today's papers? How many young souls have your forwarded e-mails (stories of other people's purported misdeeds) titillated, led into unclean thoughts, or enticed to sin?
Do not fool yourself. The media, TV, the papers, Internet News Services, have no conscience for publishing the truth. Seamy stories about professing Christians never get written, read, or passed on from concern for the common good. Wicked people write them for entertainment alone. Or for the gleeful justification of those that lead vastly more degraded immoral lives than those they claim to portray.
"Catholic priest detained for this or that." "Amish father accused of so and so."
Get real.
What does religion have to do with it?
We live in a sick world. But the Bible speaks of no-one more dangerously sick than the religious person that takes delight in hearing or talking about sins he would not dare commit himself (Romans 1:32). It is a shame, a great shame, to speak of what corrupted people do in secret (Ephesians 5:12). As Jesus' followers, why not rather think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right . . . pure . . . lovely . . . admirable . . . excellent . . . praiseworthy," why not rather think about such things? (Philippians 4:8).
Brothers, sisters, I am sorry you know so many shocking stories (thanks to the media and the devil's internet gossip lines) about so many people. But I can tell you, I fervently do not want to hear even one of them! All I remember when you send them to me is how my mom and sisters used to chase us out of our freshly-cleaned kitchen, its hard-wood floor gleaming under recently shaken scatter-rugs on Saturday noon, when one of us boys had the audacity to come tromping in with pig manure on our boots. "NAUS mit dir! (OUT you go)" and no second audience could we expect until our boots were clean.
Dreadful things happen in the world today. But, praise God, we believers do not need to waste our time telling anyone about them. The dredges of debauchery are widely known. Let the drunken authors and playwrights of Satan, let the perverted media quaff them all and spray them about if they must. But for Jesus' sake, let us who follow him, let us believers, lovers of the truth, preach nothing but his life-changing Gospel, Jesus Christ and him crucified. Nothing but the good news of his kingdom that shall overthrow the world and put an end to sin.
Even though we get tired and our bodies faint, what can we do with the fire of his Kingdom lighting up our hearts than to bring the words of the prophet into glorious fulfillment: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! . . . Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world" (Romans 11:15-18).
If we were honest, we would admit that it couldn't make less of a difference whether Mrs. Astor got saved with or without her pearls, what di Caprio is doing now, or what Obama said last night. . . .
God is speaking. Time is scarce. If you have news to share, let it be what brings others to fear and love him before it is too late.
Peter
Rocky Cape Christian Community
19509 Bass Highway
Detention River, Tasmania 7321
Australia
www.thecommonlife.com.au