Dear John… so nice to be “at” the meeting, vicariously at least. . .wow. ..
Okay. .. my mind is racing with memories. . . so many things you said tonight, pastor John, reminded me of testimonies. . .ohhh how true is the voice of God; the WORD of the Lord!!!! . . .I have heard the exact same thing about watching too much TV. . . whether it’s news or filthy sitcoms or cop dramas filled with lewd innuendo, the Lord has demonstrated to me how easily one can be affected (infected) by those diseases.. . you get tainted… if you become too curious. .. and you spend too much time, inadvertently, in front of the TV.
I have thought,
“Oh, I ‘ll just watch this to see if it has any redeeming value” and it rarely does. . then suddenly you find you’ve spent an hour of your life . . . on rubbish. . . and you have to go take a bath—-in the Holy Ghost!!!
I have a great testimony of what God did for me one time, when I got too curious:
******
It was 1999. I hadn’t received the Spirit yet, but it was influencing me, often.
The movie, American Beauty, had just won the Oscar for best picture. It was being hailed by the critics, praised by the artsy movie-lovers, and I thought I’d go see what all the commotion was about. Was it really a “work of art?” I was familiar with the subject matter, and therefore had my doubts, but there was that nagging thought: “Well, I suppose I’d better see it so I can talk about it intelligently with other people.”
Well,. . . . it was a very perverse story line, full of anxiety, and depressing, pathetic, pitiful, sinful characters, typical of this modern world. . . with no redeeming value (even though the public seemed to think the theme was about redemption! Ha!) . . . and halfway through it I whispered to my friend that I was leaving; I didn’t care to watch anymore. I actually made the move to get up out of my seat, and the HOLY GHOST spoke to me and said,
“NO. You’re going to stay here and watch ALL of this; then you’ll never have to do it again.” and. . . “You’ll never have to feel compelled to see a popular movie merely for the sake of discussing it with worldly people.”
(Unbeknownst to me, God was preparing my heart for becoming a called-out , sanctified child of God.)
So I stayed. I obeyed. .. . And for a very long time, I had no interest in movies anymore. I had nothing but contempt and pity for the director who portrayed such a cynical view of America and suburban life, and got artistic accolades for it. I was sick of Hollywood’s foolishness: rewarding immorality as an artistic achievement.
Then I received the holy ghost in 2002, and my tastes continued to be tempered by the purity of the Spirit. I’m thankful that God touched me so strongly even before I was born-again. It was a memorable conviction.
Topic # 2—-
Re: The beast that you spoke about tonight. . .
Rev 17….”when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
Did you mean that it is two different beasts, one from the past and a different one to come? Or the same creature who has taken a temporary vacation?
best regards,
brother Brad
=============
Hi Brad:
Thanks for that good testimony.
You will hear much more about the Beast in a couple of weeks. But briefly, I meant the latter — but now, how much of a “vacation” it is for him in the Bottomless Pit is hard to say.
Thanks for writing. God bless until next time. Heard you were making plans to come see us in the summer. Really think you can handle the summertime humidity here? 🙂
jdc
=============
Brad’s testimony reminded me of a testimony of my own concerning worldly music. A few years ago I was very much into secular music. I remember driving home from work listening to some radio station and just felt sick to my stomach suddenly. At that moment the Spirit spoke to me and said, “This is poison to your soul.” Basically the Spirit was showing me that when I listened to this music so frequently and had love for it in my heart, it was compromising me spiritually. I couldn’t be healthy and free in the spirit with those chains keeping me prisoner. You can’t love the world and Jesus. Just thought I’d share..
Brittany
=============
Pastor John
These testimonies bring to mind an experience I had recently.
In my teens and onward I developed a love for classical music. I attended concerts, studied music and so on. There was a lot I liked but if I had to nominate a favorite it was Beethoven. Perhaps it had to do with the teenage mind I had. For the last 20 years or so I have only infrequently listened to any of it.
Recently, I was on Youtube and listened to some classical music videos. They led me to search and I found a video of a Beethoven symphony. I wanted Sarah to see what an orchestra looked like. Anyway I listened to a part of this symphony that contained what is considered some of the most emotional and stirring music the man ever wrote. It was not a great performance of it, but I was very surprised at my feelings. It was childish, like a temper tantrum, and it stirred nothing in me except feelings of how pathetic it was. It was so absolutely nothing to me! It may not be the poison that some modern music is, but I discerned how immature that man was, how miserable and in need of God he was, and the world still has him on a pedestal.
When we first heard the “Worthy” song, I had some other feelings regarding the song. Various men have written music to some of those words and they tend to have a certain grandeur and majesty written into the music to evoke feelings. But that song was straight from heaven where things are, simply and meekly, just what they are. There was no need for show. The simplicity was beautiful and glorious. The feelings were real and needed no staging. I felt a simple humility in singing the truth about the wonderful Lamb. God is more than we know but He is humble. It is unearthly. In the music we are being given it is always like that. Just simple truth and sincerity.
Damien
=============
This was fantastic Damien. AMEN! I agree, and my testimony of music loving is very similar.
As for our new song . . .”We worship the lamb. . . so thankful we can. . . ,” that pretty much says it all.
“The lamb is worthy.”
Simple. ’nuff said.
How could Tchaikovsky or Beethoven add anything of substance to that?!
Brad :^)