And What of the Children?
But if the avid adult is enslaved by his one-eyed monster — what of the pliable young minds of the millions of children?
The facts are starkly horrifying! And they are absolutely substantiated.
Literally HUNDREDS of court cases are on record of boys and girls committing crimes as a direct and immediate result of seeing the same type of crime committed on television!
The Director of Federal prisons told a senate hearing there is a DEFINITE RELATIONSHIP between the high rate of juvenile delinquency and the amount of crime and brutality shown on television.
The Director, James V. Bennett, said a study at a Federal youth center disclosed that 95 per cent of juvenile offenders had watched television from three to five hours a day. Nearly half preferred crime and detective stories. The prison director quoted one boy as saying, "I saw the housebreaking scene on TV and I tried it and I got caught."
Recently, a 13-year-old boy stabbed his widowed mother to death by plunging a seven-inch bread knife into her back while she lay sleeping on their couch, in front of the TV set. The boy said he got the "urge to kill," while watching some "crazy movie" on television. "I'm so darn sorry, it isn't funny," he said, "I don't remember what movie I was watching."
A 14-year-old boy in Osaka, Japan, brutally stabbed to death a teen-aged girl after watching a murder scene on television. "I wanted to see in reality the terrified expression on the face of a murder victim at her last moment," he said.
In Oklahoma, two brothers aged 12 and 10 held up a local grocery store, KILLED the grocer and his helper, wounded a customer, and then held an armed posse at bay until they were finally tear-gassed into the open. When asked for the reason for their actions, the boys' answer came in one word — "television!"
In Wichita, two teenagers, unknown to each other, both undertook to extort money from bereaved widows, using elaborate planning they had witnessed on a TV program called, "Crime Does Not Pay." Apparently, the program had failed to prove its title to the boys.
In California, the body of a 12-yearold boy was found hanging from a shower bar in a motel, the victim of an accident as he attempted to re-enact the details of a TV horror show!
But how many parents are really CONTROLLING what their children watch? "How long," asked one outraged television critic, Paul Molloy, writer for the Chicago Sun-Times and father of eight children, "before perversion and degeneracy come across the tragic lantern in full detail, and perhaps in living color?" HOW LONG, he asked, before this scene takes place in your living room? "You and your children are watching what has become known as a 'realistic' drama. Your fourth-grade daughter turns to you and says: 'What are they doing now, Dad?' And you reply: 'The bad man, dear, is raping the girl. Now hurry and finish your supper; the soup's getting cold."
What does it take to THOROUGHLY sicken any thinking person with the vile corruption of this godless age? How MUCH EVIL FILTH CAN YOU STAND???
What Does God Say About Television?
God commands every Christian to COME OUT — to have NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS WORLD! (Jas. 4:4). Instead, thousands of professing Christians have found a new method of bringing the ways of this world right into their living rooms!
The protection offered by the CREATOR-RULER of this universe to those who really SEEK HIM comes from having DRAWN APART — having separated themselves from this present Babylonish world! (Rev. 18:4). Many people put their television sets ahead of the Almighty God! THIS WRONG USE OF TELEVISION IS AN ABOMINABLE IDOLATRY!
"The average family as seen through
the eyes of the TV tube."
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The real hungering and thirsting Christian who is eagerly trying to learn more of God's way of life will not have TIME to spend SIX HOURS A DAY — OR EVEN ONE HOUR A DAY — hunched in the gloomy darkness of his living room in avid admiration before his television set — soaking up the knowledge of THIS WORLD with its totally FALSE values its WARPED and TWISTED WAYS OF LIFE that are contrary to the commands of God!
God says, "If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. . . . Set your affection on things above, NOT ON THINGS ON EARTH!" (Col. 3:1-2). Are you thinking of spiritual things — getting closer to God while you view a crime-thriller or a panel show?
No — you're allowing yourself to think with a CARNAL MIND! You're plunging yourself into the CARNAL, PHYSICAL WAYS OF THIS WORLD! "For to be carnally minded is DEATH; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Rom. 8:6).
Is DEATH the result you're looking for? Do you really hunger and thirst for ultimate, everlasting DEATH? Or ought you to be seeking to become more spiritually minded — more like God?
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You are told in Philippians 2:12 to WORK out your own salvation with FEAR and TREMBLING! Are you glorifying Christ — WORKING out your salvation — as you sit in front of MURDER STORIES, ENVY, HATE, JEALOUSY, DIVORCE TRIANGLES, WORLDLY SITUATIONS?
Television in Prophecy
The Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, foretold of these exact times! "For know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For MEN SHALL BE LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES. . . . "
Yes, a pleasure-mad people is engrossed in the love of SELF as they seek satisfaction of the in sensual lusts!
"Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." PUTTING TELEVISION AND SATISFACTION OF THE SENSES IN THE PLACE OF God — which God labels IDOLATRY and the committing of spiritual ADULTERY with this present world — this Babylonish system of confusion in which you live!
"Having a form of Godliness, but DENYING THE POWER thereof!" (II Tim.3:1-5). Yes, people profess Christianity — they attend Church — they have a FORM of Godliness, but that mere outward FORM and CEREMONY is not enough! "How shall we escape, if we NEGLECT so GREAT SALVATION?" asks God, in Hebrews 2:3.
"Love NOT the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the LUST of the EYES, and the pride of life, is NOT OF THE FATHER, but is OF THE WORLD.
And the world passes away, and the lust thereof; but he that DOETH the WILL OF God abideth FOREVER!" (I John 2:15-17).
Are you NEGLECTING your salvation — throwing away with impunity your opportunity for ETERNAL LIFE — for the shoddy, corrupt, temporary lusts of the flesh?
What to Do About It
The biggest question in your life could be — what are you going to DO about it? "Be ye Doers of the word, and not hearers only" (Jas. 1:22).
Is your mind attuned to the things of God? "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). If you have the mind of Christ, will you sit and soak up the ways of this world for hour after hour when you should be studying your Bible — training your children — spending your time in real earnest PRAYER, helping others, being busy and productive?
No, of course you won't! But is the LUST inherent within you too strong for your will power to overcome? "For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage" (II Pet. 2:19). Are you a SLAVE — a WHIPPED SERVANT OF YOUR TV SET? God warns you, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the LUSTS thereof"! (Rom. 13: 14). The real test is, WHAT ARE YOU — yes, YOU, GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Jesus Christ explained the condition of many MILLIONS of Americans when He gave the parable of the sower. Read it in your own Bible! In Matthew the 13th chapter, beginning with the 18th verse. And in Verse 22, "He also that received seed among the thorns is he that HEARETH the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful." God asked, through Elijah,
"HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? if the LORD be God, FOLLOW HIM!" (I Kings 18:21).
How to Overcome Your Problem
If you are honest with yourself, and with God, you will be able to see very clearly the great PRINCIPLE of character behind this television craze that is sweeping the nation.
But — simply agreeing in PRINCIPLE will gain you nothing. Putting a decision, once the right decision has been reached, into ACTION is where the real character is necessary.
If you can MASTER yourself and CONQUER the TV habit — beginning to watch only the constructive, thought-provoking programs — asking yourself, "Would Jesus watch this?" at all times; if you can keep your TV viewing in extreme MODERATION according to the Word of God, then you will have learned a valuable lesson — one that will strengthen you and add to your character.
But, if, like many people, you are UNABLE to master yourself — to FORCE yourself to control this HABIT, then read what Christ said in Matthew 18:7-9.
YES, LEARN TO CONTROL YOUR TV SET.
Then you'll have rooted out the source of temptation. But first ask God to give you the strength you lack to help you CONQUER yourself!
The way to replace bad habits is to exchange them for the right habits. To get the air out of a bottle, you must put a liquid into the bottle. Are you making the most of your time? (Eph. 5:15). Are you studying to improve your mind? (II Tim. 2:15). Are you going FORWARD — GROWING in grace and knowledge? (II Pet. 3:18). God has provided the WAY to keep you engrossed in HIS TRUTH — to keep you SO FILLED with interest, and zeal that you'll remain STEADFAST until the end (Matt. 10:22).
You may hear The WORLD TOMORROW program at least once daily ON RADIO. You can read The PLAIN TRUTH magazine every month, and you should take the Ambassador College BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE. This unique course will open up the Bible to you — make it a clear, sparkling with interest, LIVING book; so interesting you'll be eager to search its pages for the living TRUTH of God!
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Write in NOW — while you're thinking about it, and request this amazingly different STUDY course of the Bible.
The MIRROR of a Nation’s Soul!
Television is only what the PUBLIC makes it. Television, with all its varied shows, delving into every minute facet of the broad gamut of human emotion, experience, and way of life, mirrors the soul of the REALITY of our times!
Yes, television is the mirror of the naked soul of a nation. A nation and a people that is drugging itself into calloused, crass INDIFFERENCE to the very meaning of LIFE!
It is not the television writers, producers, directors — nor the commercial sponsors — who are to blame. It is the AVERAGE VIEWER — the JOHN Q. PUBLIC who is so earnestly and eagerly WILLING TO WATCH!
The TV industry strives only to give the viewer what he wants to LOOK at! He can check his ratings, taken by electronic machine, telephone calls, personal interviews — and very quickly determine WHAT IT IS YOU WANT TO WATCH!
THAT is television! It's the LUST of mankind, the WHIM of mankind, the VANITY of mankind, the SIN of mankind — paraded in an endless, senseless, hideous stream of poison across the video tube — and poured into blank minds like water into a dry sponge! This article won't change television.
But it COULD CHANGE YOU.
God says, "See, I have set before you this day LIFE and GOOD, and DEATH and EVIL . . . CHOOSE LIFE, that both you and your seed may live!" (Deut. 30:15-19)
WHAT IS YOUR CHOICE GOING TO BE?