<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

Navigating the Mind Field

Well, you don't have to leave your home to see that today God's law is under attack.

It used to be there was a lot of counsel that we needed to leave the cities, get out of the cities for the influence that was in the cities.

Now I understand somebody has to minister to the cities, but that's not my point this morning.

My point this morning is that the cities have a direct feed into your home and into my home.

Flip through any TV for 3 minutes and it becomes very apparent.

Lying, cheating, violence, murder, illicit sex, homosexuality, reality shows.

They're all full of people being deceitful and selfish and manipulative.

The modern family, a show I'm not even familiar with, but it's called Scandal.

Shows like The Good Witch, The Walking dead, the voice, criminal minds, resurrection.

I ask you, how many of these are promoting our Christian values as a Seventh-day Adventist?

Friends call me crazy, but I believe that TV and movies and the internet are trying to undo everything that the Holy Spirit is trying to do in your and my life.

Oh, but there's good stuff on there too, Pastor.

And by good stuff you simply mean, well, it's just not as bad.

Or maybe you could even make a case where it's not bad at all.

And the overstimulation with all the rapid scene changes, that when you pull out your Bible All of a sudden it seems dull and boring.

There's not something new and fresh hitting you at every moment.

Scott Ritzma was here a few weekends ago and he tells the average American watches 4.7 hours of TV a day.

Now pastor, I don't have time for a devotional life.

A thoughtful hour, who has time for a thoughtful hour?

Apparently the average American has time for a thoughtful 4.7 hours of TV a day.

The average American is on the internet an average of 2 hours a day and plays video games an average of 1 hour a day.

I bet you a bunch of you in here never even touched a video game.

So that means somebody is working around the clock to make up for you.

Let's suppose we should get 8 hours of sleep a night.

Let's suppose you work for about 8 hours in a typical day or go to school for about 8 hours in a typical day.

Then you add your 4.7 hours of TV watching, your 2 hours on the internet, and your 1 hour playing video games, that leaves you about 20 minutes to do everything else.

So I'm brushing my teeth, I'm reading 1 verse and I'm out the door.

But what's it keeping you from doing that's maybe better stuff?

In a time in earth's history of supreme importance, during the judgment hour, right before the return of Christ, we are being lulled asleep, friends.

And by beholding, we are becoming changed.

Studies show that cigarettes will take 11 minutes, 1 cigarette, 11 minutes off your life.

But you do not hear that 1 hour of TV takes 22 minutes off your life.

You thought you were just wasting an hour, you were wasting an hour and 22 minutes of your life.

The average adolescent is watching 14, 000 scenes of a sexual nature every year.

Well, research has also showed that all these images are coming so fast, so fast, so fast.

And we're, as human beings, supposed to digest what we're seeing, to mourn for it, to feel bad for it and all these things.

But we're not doing any of that because it's the next thing and it's the next thing and it's the next thing.

And before we know it, even the news can desensitize us.

But I've been in homes where news is on 24-7.

Oh well, you're talking to the wrong guy.

But you know you can watch anything on demand on the computer.

Well, I don't watch bad adult movies, I just watch the kids' movies, the cute, innocent, cartoony ones.

Friends, God's law is under attack even in children's movies, which seems odd to say because children's movies today have very adult content.

This idea that we should only follow our hearts instead of the law.

And in children's movies, lying, manipulation, stealing, and mystical practices are rampant.

Have you been through the Walmart checkout line?

Highest grossing animated film of all time, Frozen, brought in over $1.3 billion by January of this year.

It was the best-selling Blu-ray DVD sold in the United States.

Parents are buying this DVD, they're placing it in front of their kids, and they're watching it over and over and over and over.

Let me tell you the lyrics of 1 of the songs that maybe you've heard kids humming at Walmart.

It says, don't let them in, don't let them see.

Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know.

And she starts doing all this sorcery stuff and stuff's coming out of her hands and things are whirling around.

It's time to see what I can do to test the limits and break through.

Does that sound like it comes out of God's word or straight from the pit?

Back to Menu

Navigating the Mind Field

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

06 Written in Stone

1h 4m

Prophecy Encounter

The Law of the Lamb, Pt. 2

28m

The Opposites

54m

A Beginning With No End

Carried on Eagles’ Wings: God’s Call to a Higher Purpose

1h 30m

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sanctuary

09 The Most Holy Place

1h 22m

Twin Cities

Reflecting Christ

45m

How Are You Living?

44m

I Am His

I Do Solemnly Sware

50m

The True Medical Missionary

56m

Cosmic Conflict

Cosmic Conflict- Part 1

39m

Sound Doctrine