Daily Devotional, Year 3 – April 23 (Television and The Image That Speaks, Part 3: “The Iron Furnace of Foolish Television”)
By admin On May 30th, 2024.
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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – April 23
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Television and The Image That Speaks,
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Part 3:
“The Iron Furnace of Foolish TV”
To read Part 1, click here…October 27th (Television and the Image that Speaks)
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“Thus saith the LORD God of Israel;
Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,
Which I commanded your fathers in the day
that I brought them forth
out of the land of Egypt,
from the iron furnace,“
Jeremiah 11:3, 4
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When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, He gave Egypt a peculiar name, “The Iron Furnace”.
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Now why in the world would God call Egypt, “The Iron Furnace”?
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Question Marks – At a loss – svg – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License
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FIERY FURNACE OF BABYLON
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Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that fiery furnace which God’s three Hebrews were cast into, as recorded in the Book of Daniel… “And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth (the golden image) shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Daniel 3:5, 6
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Here is seen that great golden image of King Nebuchadnezzar, and the punishment for refusing to worship that image: the fiery furnace.
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Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Furnace by G, Dore – Wikipedia – US public domain.
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IMAGE OF THE BEAST OF REVELATION 13
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And this reminds us of Revelation 13 in which the whole world will soon be subject to the punishment of death for refusing to worship The Image of the Beast…“And he (the 2nd Beast) had power to give life unto the image of the (1st) beast, that the image of the (1st) beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the (1st) beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15
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So now is seen that all these things have an end-time relevance!
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Yes, the “Iron Furnace” of Egypt, and the “Fiery Furnace” of Daniel, and the worshiping of the “Image of the Beast” in Revelation 13 all have a great significance in these last days.
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THE IRON FURNACE OF TELEVISION
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From infancy and throughout life, the television, radio, and now Internet, have become the centerpiece of western societies.
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But what most people are not aware of, is that Lucifer, the greatest of all angels, became “the god of this world”.
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And as such, it is his great purpose to cause all the world to worship him. (see 2nd Corinthians 4:4 for reference to Lucifer being “the god of this world”)
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WHAT’S IN A NAME? CHARACTER!
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And Lucifer, now called Satan, realizes that it is not necessary to specifically acknowledge allegiance to him by name.
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No, just as long as the people of this fallen sinful selfish world, love his qualities of character, then they are, in essence, worshiping him, Satan!
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“having their conscience seared with a hot iron”
1st Timothy 4:2
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“The god of this world”, Satan, has used the television, Internet, radio, and the printed page, in such a way, as to normalize sin in the hearts and minds of the public as well as those Christians who allow ourselves to watch and listen to these various media.
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Yes, as we watch various sins being committed over and over again, day-after-day, week-after-week, etc…, sin loses its sting, and our consciences (and our children’s consciences) become defiled and blunted, so that sin no longer appears so evil.
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Listen…“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” 1st Corinthians 15:33
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This above verse is extremely important to our spiritual well-being!
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And these inventions and their ability to bombard us with sin, sin, sin, is the essence of the “Image of the Beast”, and how it becomes transplanted into our hearts and minds: it is the image and character of Satan, which becomes indelibly inscribed upon the tables of our hearts!
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TOKENS OF SATAN’S CHARACTER
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And so, in these last days, Satan has created a society in which his characteristics are now being deeply engraved upon the hearts of humans, via the various forms of the media.
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And qualities such as pride, revenge, anger, manipulation of others, lust, sensuality, greed, force, impatience, harshness, cold-heartedness, silly-foolishness, etc., are the qualities which this world, to a great extent, lives by.
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A MERE “FORM OF GODLINESS!”
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Oh yes, the world has its own version of, “a form of godliness”. There is a great deal of moral behavior here.
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And yet, this moralistic behavior denies the true source of godliness, the Holy Spirit of God. (see 2nd Timothy 3:5).
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Therefore, the moralistic behavior of the world is just another branch of Satan’s government.
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After all, Satan realizes that he would quickly lose control of the world’s inhabitants if the world appeared totally evil.
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And so, there is a great amount of moralistic behavior.
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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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FOOLISHNESS BOUND UP IN A CHILD’S HEART
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Now, today’s devotional will focus on just one quality of Satan’s character: foolishness.
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Yes, so much of the media capitalizes on foolishness. Even from infancy, toddlers are being groomed to behave foolishly.
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Cartoon character – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution
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“CORRECTION SHALL DRIVE IT FAR FROM HIM”
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And it’s not that children need help to behave foolishly.
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The Bible says, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” Proverbs 22:15
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Yes, children are naturally silly and playful. And parents need to allow children to be children: to engage in their childish games, sometimes even playing with them, as this photo shows. That would seem perfectly okay!
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Family – Children’s Playground – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
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TELEVISION: A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF FOOLISHNESS!
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But television takes foolishness to a whole new level, reinforcing childishness in the hearts of its audience.
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And one of the problems with all this is, that as the child begins to grow, television programs for teens often continue to reinforce foolish, childish behavior.
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AN IMMATURE GENERATION
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And it just takes a brief look at today’s teens, to see that a great percentage of young people are still behaving foolishly and immaturely, well into their teens and even into their twenties and sometimes even into their thirties.
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kids – children – Mohawk haircut – cropped and altered image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
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A WAKE-UP CALL FOR CHRISTIANS
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Now for most secular people of the world, this message will probably fall on deaf ears.
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The world, to a great extent sees nothing wrong with having their children spending time with television, radio, and Internet.
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But for Christian parents, this message should be a wake-up call to provide an acceptable alternative to the modern, secular media.
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TV – highquality – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
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“CHRISTIAN” CARTOONS
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Even shows which have a form of Christianity are designed to inspire unbelief in the child.
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Maybe they show Jonah sitting at a table with chair, in the belly of the whale.
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Or Noah’s Ark is so small that it could only hold several animals.
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Or God sitting on a cloud with a telescope, looking down at the world.
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And children are not as naïve as parents might imagine, and see such nonsense, and eventually become unbelievers!
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NOAHS ARK – Public Domain – Wikimedia
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LISTEN TO THE WISE MAN
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Listen once again to the Wise Man of Proverbs…“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” Proverbs 22:15
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This above verse is not necessarily speaking of a literal rod.
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Our patient but firm, yet loving words of correction and our godly example is the best “rod of correction”.
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GENTLY BRING CHILDREN INTO REAL LIFE
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There is a time to allow children to run and jump and laugh, and play their childish games (This of course, does not include television, etc..)
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And little-by-little, the wise parent will begin to bring their children into their housework routine, patiently guiding the child to take on little responsibilities, making these tiny duties fun and pleasant for the child to perform.
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Jesus the Carpenters Son-by-www.lavistachurchofchrist.org US public-domain.jpg
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GOOD NEWS!
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The Good News is that God is a very merciful and forgiving God!
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And even those parents who are now “empty-nesters”, can still make a great impact in their wayward grown children’s lives, simply by their own repentance and turning away from these electronic teachers (TV, radio, Internet, books, magazines, etc…).
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And yet, those Christian parents who do finally and ultimately overcome the world, the flesh and the Devil, will win the crown of life: a crown which each will be perfectly happy to receive and wear throughout eternity!
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Woman praying – Heinrich Seufferheld – 1893 – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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TO READ PART 4, CLICK HERE…
May 17 (Television and The Image That Speaks, Part 4: “Television, The Irresistible Image-Maker”)
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THE READER IS ENCOURAGED TO LISTEN TO THIS 22 MINUTE, VERSE-BY-VERSE AUDIO BIBLE STUDY IN THE JEREMIAH ON THE SUBJECT OF THE NEW COVENANT AND THE IRON FURNACE. THIS STUDY (#217) IS PART OF A 600+ STUDY SERIES CONDUCTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING OF FAMILY RADIO…
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above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Give me the understanding, conviction, and strength to eliminate television and secular radio, etc., out of my life…
Marine Praying – Wikimedia – USMC Public Domain
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…October 27th (Television and the Image that Speaks)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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WINTER CONSTELLATIONS
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This most amazing phenomenon is seen throughout the winter. Although it can be observed most of the winter, it is seen best when it is the western part of the sky, at winter’s end (The end of winter being the final scene of this heavenly Gospel story). Orion , the Dragon, and the Glorious White Horse are beginning to descend into the western horizon (sketch to right is Winter Constellations descending into western horizon. This can actually be seen as early as December, in the pre-dawn hours).
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And at this point it is apparent that the Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12 Constellation is veering toward the two bright stars, known as Castor and Pollux (sketch to left). But the Wide Gate Stars are composed of the two brightest stars of the Auriga Constellation, known as the star, Capella, and the star, Menkalinan. The two stars, Castor and Pollux, make up the concept of the Orion’s Narrow Gate Stars.
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This can even be observed into June in the western sky (for a short time just after dark). While a dark night is best for seeing the Woman Constellation, the 4 stars which comprise the Narrow Gate/Wide Gate Stars can be seen even under mediocre conditions. It begins with the Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12 Constellation (AKA Ursa Major) going towards these two doors.
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The sketch to left shows, the two doors are each composed of two bright stars. The two bright stars that comprise the Narrow Gate are the two brightest stars of the Orion the Reaper’s sickle. The two stars that comprise the ‘Wide Gate’ Stars are the two brightest stars of the wave of water that comes out of the Dragon Constellation’s mouth (for explanation of “Wave of Water”, just click here). The stars that make up the ‘Narrow Gate’ are about half the width of the Wide Gate (see sketch below left).
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(For more information on Orion’s sickle, just click here, “Orion The Reaper”. )
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Editor’s note: These sketches on this page are merely sketches. The stars are not in their exact place. However, they are close enough to find them in the night sky. But as with most stars, it takes persistence to finally locate them.
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Revelation 12 Woman & The Narrow Gate Stars (Orion’s Gate to Heaven)”
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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TOMORROW:
April 24 (The Devil Made Me Do It! Part 8: “Loving The Devil’s World!”)
Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO STUDY IN JEREMIAH
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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS STUDY #113 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING, FORMER CEO OF FAMILY RADIO…
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above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain
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