This week’s three pieces of news in three Decency Minutes (narrated by Bill Johnson – just click on the script’s title) cover bad legislation, the ever-present danger of pornography, and the promise of “BUT God” – the fact of His sovereignty and that He works “all together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Two quotes (one here and one following the Decency Minute scripts) by puritan Thomas Manton may help to broaden our spiritual understanding on these matters:
“If you yield to Satan in the least, he will carry you further and further, till he has left you under a stupefied or terrified conscience: stupefied, till thou hast lost all thy tenderness. A stone at the top of a hill, when it begins to roll down, ceases not till it comes to the bottom. Thou thinkest it is but yielding a little, and so by degrees are carried on, till thou hast sinned away all thy profession, and all principles of conscience, by the secret witchery of his temptations.”
If all the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare stated, then all we need to do is look to the nations, world, and individuals that surround us, acting out the truth which Manton so plainly states. Whether it’s bad legislation – past or present, COVID lies, election fraud and a congress’ attempt to codify it – repealing our rights, LGBTQ+ antics assaulting our sensibilities until the “love of many grow cold,” or personal sins and attacks on purity like pornography and the many pride-stemmed “darling” sins which bring us to a calloused conscience by our frequent allowances, we find ourselves in the path of Manton’s stone, a very dangerous place to be.
Americans are horrified by the riots and violent, anti-Semitic rhetoric on college campuses. Threats and intimidation are not protected speech and should be prosecuted.
However, an anti-Semitic hate speech law making its way through Congress isn’t the answer – no matter how well-intentioned. The Civil Rights Act already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race and religion. This new legislation is vaguely written and could easily be used as precedence to chill any speech the government doesn’t approve of.
One day it may be Christians whose speech is stifled for speaking out against LGBT ideology. Allowing the government to determine what speech is and isn’t allowed is a dangerous, slippery slope. Any limit on free speech is another step toward tyranny.
As George Washington warned: “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
Click here to read a well laid-out view of the dangers which come from such legislation, which we published earlier this week.
Pornography does destroy. That is a word that was often heard back in the 1980’s and 90s. But not so much since the Internet became popularized through cell phones. Does pornography no longer victimize? The half has not been told!
Pornography is often a silent victimizer – what you watch and listen to does impact. God warns us in His word: Place no wicked thing before your eyes. “Be Holy for I am Holy,” says the Lord.
Marriages are destroyed by pornography when a husband or wife finds that their loved one is feeding off from pornography. Young people, even the very young, get a warped view of being a man or woman and of sexuality. Pornography not only degrades our relationship with our loved one, but also with God. Using pornography is sin! God hates pornography.
Dear listener: May this be used by God to convict you of the wickedness of pornography. May God help you as He has me.
Two of the most encouraging words found throughout the Bible are the simple little words, “but God.” For example, in Genesis 50, Joseph says: “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”
As we see the turmoil and strife within our nation, we can easily lose sight of the fact that God’s plan is unfolding. Leftists are striving to impose Marxism and undermine the Constitution and the rule of law. However, Psalm 49 says: “They are like the beasts that perish” … “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.”
So, when day after day we’re bombarded with bad news, we can find hope and joy in the Lord – no matter what the future brings. As II Chronicles 20 reminds us, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
But God! He is NOT mocked; we will reap what we sow. But God! HE WILL WORK ALL THINGS OUT FOR GOOD. His plans and purposes are perfect. His ways are above our ways and His person beyond our finite understanding. As Manton so aptly states:
“We know God but as men born blind know the fire: they know that there is such a thing as fire, for they feel it warm them, but what it is they know not. So, that there is a God we know, but what He is we know little, and indeed we can never search Him out to perfection; a finite creature can never fully comprehend that which is infinite.”
But as we trust God and walk faithfully in His ways, we will better understand His holiness, His love, and His sovereign help. We will never fully comprehend Him, but as we draw near to Him in prayerful obedience, He draws near to us (James 48) and we will better, though not fully, understand Him and His ways. We will be given greater strength to walk courageously through this dark, sin-filled world until He calls us home.
Diligently: Be faithful. Be prayerful. Be about your Father’s business.
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