“And they set themselves up idols … as did the heathen” (2 Kings 17:11-15).

God had freed the ancient Israelites from Egyptian slavery and had placed them in the land He had promised Abraham He would give to his descendants–a land “flowing with milk and honey.”  He had enabled Israel to removed the heathen Canaanites from the land and had commanded His chosen people to have nothing to do with them because of their idolatry.  But Israel had “sinned against the Lord their God Who had freed them … and had REVERED OTHER GODS … WHICH THEY (ISRAEL) HAD MADE (2 Ki. 17:7,8).  God’s chosen people had not only mixed and mingled with the heathen around them, they had accepted their gods, made images of them and worshiped them.  Israel had “… set themselves up images” (vs 10) and “served idols” which the Lord had forbidden (vs 12), saying to them: “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes according to all the Law which I commanded your fathers and which I gave to you by My servants the prophets.”  But Israel would not hear the words of the prophets.  Instead, they “… hardened their necks … and DID NOT BELIEVE IN THE LORD THEIR GOD” (vss 13,14).  Note it: BY DISOBEYING GOD THEY PROVED THAT THEY “DID NOT BELIEVE IN HIM.”   The message is clear: SIN = UNBELIEF / IDOLATRY = SIN / IDOLATRY = NOT BELIEVING IN GOD.  Does professing Christendom believe in God?  Does she practice idolatry?  Does she live in sin?

In order to emphasize these Biblical Truths and answer these questions, God’s first commandment in His Law states that His people are to have no other gods before (Heb.- ‘al/paneh–beside/in the face of) Him.  God does not share His God status with other gods.  He and He alone is the God of His true saints.  He says of Himself that He is a jealous God who will punish His people for idolatry because in so sinning they forsake Him (Josh. 24:19,20).

Earlier the Israelites had entered the land of Canaan where the descendants of Ham’s son Canaan had lived for generations.  The Canaanites were a heathen people who, having departed from the God of their grandfather Noah, had created their own gods whom they worshiped. Knowing that leaven always leavens the loaf, God had forbidden Israel from having any social or spiritual dealings with the Canaanites.  His rule continues to hold true today for His Very Elect saints who believe and obey Him.  God’s people are to have no social or spiritual intercourse with Satan’s people, but are to remain apart and separate except on a commercial basis.  This makes them “peculiar” in the eyes of God and man (I Pet. 2:9/ Titus 2:14).  God applauds their peculiarity; man, however, does not.  As a result, churchman, desiring to be socially accepted, has become like his unchurched counterparts.

As this website has consistently pointed out, those who profess to be God’s people have become socially and spiritually no different from the people among whom they live.  The fact that God  treats the two groups exactly the same proves this point.  Both groups sin; both groups are cursed by Him because of their sins; both groups suffer at His hand due to His curse; both groups use the same methods of recovery from His curses ….  The process has been repeated many times over the centuries.  One cannot distinguish between the churched and the unchurhed because church people, desiring to be accepted, are as worldly as the world’s people among whom they live.  From appearances, the primary difference between the churched and the unchurched is where the churched spend a couple of hours on Sunday morning.  Come noon on Sunday they again become one worldly body as they pay homage to their idol–their television sets before whom they sit and watch “the game.”

The world is about to go up in flames, destruction and death.  The angry God of heaven is marshalling His forces against her, preparing to shake her mightily as He warned in Haggai 2:6,7,21.  As this is happening the people of the world sit before their idol, absorbing what is being broadcasted by it and wasting precious time which God has commanded to be “redeemed” (Col. 4:5).  To “redeem” means to regain something previously possessed.  In this case, that something is a most precious commodity that cannot be regained once it is lost–TIME.  To redeem time sacrificed to television, one must regain it from Satan.  Studying God’s Word His primary method of time redemption.  When I ask people to compare the amount of time they spend in Bible study to the amount of time they spend watching t.v., let’s just say my suggestion is not appreciated.

When television first appeared on the scene in the early 1950’s it was a novelty whose time, it was widely believed, would shortly pass.  However, the t.v. soon came to be a fixture in the American home as people, including yours truly, became hooked on its offerings.  I remember distinctly when I saw my father heading down the lane toward our house with a big cardboard box in the back of the truck.  I was working in a cotton field and, upon seeing heaven in a box headed toward my house I literally ran home.  Before the sun went down we had the antenna up and pointed toward Memphis.  Before long the one-eyed monster had us hooked.  And we were not alone.  A family might not have an indoor toilet, but they would have a television.  Such was the case in my family.  The “boob tube” owned our lives from suppertime to bedtime.

In the beginning all was well relative to t.v. offerings as the nation’s Christian ethics were plainly evident in what was presented by the networks.  The system shut down at 10:00 each evening at which time a preacher would give a short sermon that ended with prayer.  Then Satan began to infiltrate the system.  Just as God had warned the Israelites against mingling with the Canaanites, those who knew Him began to warn their modern day descendants against television.  As God warned us in Deuteronomy 7:26, we had had brought an abomination into our houses.  Baal had gathered a modern day congregation which has grown exponentially ever since.

Heathenism had destroyed the ancient Israelites.  Television was about to destroy their descendants by bringing heathenism into their homes.   Having grown up in the 1950’s and having watched program offerings slowly, stealthily change from wholesome family entertainment to an emphasis on sex and violence, I stated many years ago that television would be the downfall of mankind.  Still, I watched a great deal of it.  I became hooked on cop shows and sports.

Then the Lord began to convict me for what I was doing.  I was not only wasting valuable time, I was filling my mind with Satan’s perverted offerings.  What goes into the mind stays in the mind.  Knowing that He was right, I asked Him to remove from my mind the need for what t.v. had to offer.  And He did–totally and immediately.

The television world has changed drastically since its introduction.  What was not even whispered about in the 1960’s is now depicted on t.v. as normal life.  What was in the beginning simply a waste of valuable time has become Satan’s sin-broadcasting agent that God commands His saints to reject outright.  Most church people vehemently resent what I say and write about the idol that occupies the most prominent position in their homes and consumes hours of their time each day.  But I take my orders from Him Who speaks from the northern heavens.  Generally speaking, God condemns television.  In future postings I will explain why.  L.J.