Online Sermons

By Scott Phillips

The Answer to a Dark Night

The answer to a dark night is a good light. I think that without dispute, never in the history of mankind has perversity been so prevalent. I am not saying that man is more wicked, because I believe that wickedness and the evil deeds done by men is as old as the flood. However, it is the availability and distribution that

is so widely availability. It is affecting how course our conversations and threshold of things that are acceptable. Our standards of decency is being attacked.

The other day listening to a "conservative" talk radio host, he begins to read a story about, well if I tell what he was talking about I have just committed the act that I am being critical of, but suffice it to say it was very crude. I promptly turned it off, hating that this man had introduced into my mind thoughts that I would be better off without. I purchased a satellite radio a few years ago, to be able to listen to some greater variety in the evening, specifically it was during the invasion of Iraq. However a few months ago I quit listening to these shows, because the subjects they deal with revolve around rape, molestation, pedophelia, murder and just horrible things, they spend hours discussing to the minutia of details that neither I nor my children need to know. They call it news. It caused me to think back of the controversy revolving a recent president and the details shared that every one snickered about, but really, should "real" Christians be this informed? I have come to the opinion that it is defiling our consciences even as great as the worst things Hollywood belches out.

What can we do, when those that claim to represent what we believe, have so lowered the standards of decency that "Christians" and preachers are listening to details that are pornographic in nature?

In fact one of the rising stars, had a "Political Pornography" tour that only more illustrates my point.

It reminds me of this scripture.

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." Ps 1:1

Most of the radio purveyors and those who consider themselves experts and the talking heads of the day are sitting in the seat of the scornful. We need to not just walk with them, or stand with them, but we must cease to sit with them in our cars in and in our living rooms. We need to see this evil for what it is, it is defiling our minds and our children who sit quietly in the car with us as we drive down the road will be impacted if we are not careful.

Recently, my sons Keaton who is nine and Nate who is six were logging into Neopets.com. We have made off limits pokemon, Harry Potter to name a few things simply on the basis of abstaining from the "appearance of evil". This is a personal choice we have made in our home, while not condemning those who make another choice.  Nate was asking me, "How do I spell neopets?" And I asked him, "what are neopets?" I looked at the page, and on first glance they seem harmless, but asked my wife to check into it. After she came

to a conclusion she discussed with the boys that it would be best not to get into this, they understood and it was no big deal. It is important to me that we don't respond on a whim and forbid everything, but at the same time to do our due diligence as parents.

It is Halloween tonight. Many endeavor to strike a compromise in this area, and I appreciate how difficult it is, when you have small children, you don't won't to be an old curmudgeon. What can we do as parents to strike a consistent level so that our children not only understand but as they get older they will adopt our values as their own and not write us off as being unreasonable and hard?

I think it is found in providing an environment where children know they are loved and cared for. For them to understand that the decisions that are made are not to hurt them or cheat them, but to protect them from the bad things around them.

I don't won't to follow the example of Lot who so entwined his family into the culture that surrounded him, that he lost everything when judgment came. I believe this is the great temptation that all parents face and something we must guard against. What good does it do us to sit in the Gate of our Cities, if our children will

be lost in it's value system?

God Help us to understand that our cities, our culture and our children need to know more than just what is wrong with the world, but what is right about God. To show them the way of light and hope that is found in honest and clean fellowship with each other. To see that the Bible does hold the answers to their lives.

Because no matter how dark the night,

We have a Light of Faith, Hope and Love

That is better and brighter than that old dark night,

In Him, By Him, Through Him,

Scott Phillips

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