Social Media

Richard Ritenbaugh uses the comments made by one individual arguing against the Philadelphia Church of God's offering a course in Comparative Religion as an example of "proof-texting." Proof-texting is the misleading practice of quoting a Scriptural passage out of context, neglecting its broader context and the import of any figurative language God may have elected to employ in it. This particular individual misapplied God's stricture against learning the idolatrous ways of the pagan, recorded in Deuteronomy 12:30, in his argument against the Comparative Religion course. However, comparing the practices of false religions to the Truth of God's doctrine is not tantamount to indulging in idolatry. The law against learning the way of the pagans was to prevent practicing the way of the pagans. Being aware of and being wary of idolatrous practice is not idolatry per se. From the mid-1960's, Ambassador College and Ambassador University offered comparative religion courses, instruction which was approved by Herbert W. Armstrong. The highly cosmopolitan Apostle Paul was aware of the teachings of pagan philosophers and even quoted them in his Epistles. In doing so, he acted within the scope of "rightly dividing the word of truth." We need to avoid carelessly quoting Scripture out of context.

Martin Collins, reminding us that we are commanded to rejoice at the Feast of Tabernacles, observes that the world is clueless as to what constitutes both joy and happiness. Millennials, having turned inward, texting rather than talking, have abandoned a major factor in happiness, the joy of family and community. Hearing the cadence of the human voice, and hearing the Gospel, transcends looking at the freeze frames of the person speaking or preaching. Happiness is not an end it itself, but a by-product of our response to God's calling coupled with our determination to connect with the voices of our Heavenly Father, our Elder Brother, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paradoxically, we must lose ourselves in service to others to find happiness. Joy, on the other hand, is constant, a function of God's Holy Spirit, the Mind of Christ living within us; to God's-called out ones, joy is a birthright. The most exhilarating happiness comes from embracing the Way of life to which God has called us, having His Law written on our hearts. All other forms of happiness, including fame, fortune, and fun are short-lived and ultimately disappointing. With God's Holy Spirit within us, and our sins forgiven, the trials and tribulations of life will be whittled down to size as God fulfills the promises and blessings of the Beatitudes.

Martin Collins points out the potential dangers of a recent trend called "social scoring"—the rating of a person's influence by such criteria as the number of social media followers on Twitter and Facebook. The effect will be to create a 'caste system," as media platforms or government bureaucrats implement automated algorithms to determine whether one is 'trustworthy' or not—calculated by how comments, likes, or dislikes conform with politically correct dogma. When the dubious social score is paired with FICO data, a person's ability to take part in normal economic activity (buying and selling) may be jeopardized. Social scoring would hold free speech hostage as illiberal political agendas would punish citizens for "politically incorrect" behavior. Lacking God's moral compass, the world judges harshly and unfairly, posing a grave danger for God's called-out ones and those suspected of harboring old-fashioned moral standards.

David C. Grabbe:  As explained in Part One and Part Two, even though the Corinthian congregation had four exceptional teachers—including Jesus Christ Himself—their manifest carnality demonstrated that they were paying more heed to a fifth teacher ...

David C. Grabbe:  Part One showed that Jesus Christ's iron-clad rule for recognizing false prophets and teachers was to evaluate their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20)—what is produced not only in their lives but especially by their messages. ...

Steven Skidmore:  In 2011, Eli Pariser, CEO of viral content website Upworthy, gave a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talk discussing what he called "filter bubbles" and their impact ...

Joe Baity draws a distinction between ancient mariners, who recognized they were off course due to stormy weather, and those of us today who may be unaware that we are off course on our spiritual journey. After a storm, those ancient mariners found steady, reliable points of reference in the skies, once the clouds cleared away, and adjusted their courses, pointing their vessels in the right direction. Today, we of God's people can remain off course for extended periods of time, not recognizing that Satan has flooded us with lies designed to subliminally disconnect us from the reference point we call reality. The Gruen Effect—which subconsciously moves shoppers to buy things they don't need—didn't even want—has found application in more than shopping malls, but in the casinos, online shopping outlets and news feeds of all descriptions. The effect of Satan's flood of (mis)information is to disorient us, blurring the lines between reality and illusion, wants and needs, driving us to lose sight of those all-important points of reference necessary for our spiritual growth. We become pulled off course—and don't even recognize it, stimulated as we are by the dizzying lure of the around-and-about. To maintain our orientation, we need to fix our eyes on the reference points established at our baptismal covenant, including God's Law, the Sabbath, and the work of our Savior, High Priest, and Elder Brother, who is both the starting and ending reference point, the Alpha and the Omega of our spiritual journey.

Richard Ritenbaugh reminds us of the "fake news" in the First Century that Christians were cannibals, atheists and unpatriotic. This view was fact-based, but the facts were contextually contorted by detractors. The Romans had their own version of a media which twists facts through rumor and innuendo. Every culture is prone to interpret facts erroneously—indeed, illogically—and to pass those misshapen interpretations along through various sorts of "whisper campaigns." Today, social media provide a technically advanced conduit for character-assassination. The apostle James recognizes how the tongue, driven by carnal nature, can metaphorically start a dangerous fire. James warns everyone that gossip, tale-bearing and being a busy-body is just as damnable in God's eyes as first-degree murder. Listening to gossip is just as serious an offence as being an accessory to murder. Shockingly, we have a big chunk of the hostile world in our mouth, a potentially deadly three-inch appendage capable of slaying a six-foot human being. When we slander another human being in a whisper campaign, we are diligently performing Satan's work. The prohibition against talebearing occupies a prominent location in the Holiness Code. If we have been guilty of talebearing and gossip—as all have been, we must: 1) ask for God to forgive us, and 2) ask Him to help us present our tongues as instruments of righteousness to God, for healing and edifying, rather than destroying, people.

Martin Collins, reflecting on the practice of "defriending" (or "unfriending") on Facebook, contrasts this practice with Christ's love for His called-out ones, a friending with the condition that godly fruit is born. When Paul challenged the Roman congregation to produce godly fruit, he was not looking for new converts, but evidence of the spiritual fruit of God's character. Jesus Christ became like us so that we could become like Him. The fruit Jesus asked His disciples to bear is designed to glorify the Father, to demonstrate love by obedience to His Commandments, and to increase the believer's joy, a by-product of sincere obedience. God admonishes us to not only bear fruit, but to bear more fruit through pruning. God is looking for a great deal of fruit as we yield to Him in order to exceed our self-imposed limitations, as well as for enduring fruit, in contrast to futile worldly projects which are subject to decay. As we bear godly fruit, the quality of our friendship with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and our brethren will increase exponentially as we make activities like intercessory prayer, sacrifice, hospitality, and charity a perpetual part of our spiritual repertoire.

John Ritenbaugh, reflecting on our prayers for God to "bless the electronics," asks whether the marvels of modern electronics are really a God-send or something less than a blessing. Perhaps some of us need to change our thinking about electronic devices as we strive to stay awake while awaiting Christ's return. At this critical juncture, time management has become a "must have," not an option. Because our time is our life, we must be careful to avoid wasting precious time using various electronic devices. Although TV-watching may have modestly decreased, electronic demands on our attention (for example, via cellphones, I-Pads and computers) have more than filled the gap. The amount of time gobbled up by the combined sources of electronic media is mind-boggling, as well as mind-numbing. We need to carefully consider whether the Internet is really a blessing or a potentially life-threatening curse—another pull we are forced to resist.

David Grabbe, marveling that over the past 25 years the Church of the Great God has assembled a massive library of electronic resources as a service to the Greater Church of God, as well as to the world at large, asserts that God performed this work at a fraction of the cost incurred by our previous fellowship. Though our main focus has not been "to preach the Gospel to the world," we nevertheless provide prodigious quantities of spiritual food to anyone who requests it. If people are hungry, there is plenty of nourishing food to satisfy them. CGG.org received 1.7 million visitors last year and BibleTools.org 2.3 million. These figures testify that the world at large is receiving a witness. The things that we can quantifiably measure are not really important, the Head of the Church decides subscribers, members and income. Noah's warning was fruitless; Jesus Christ's ministry netted meager results. Without Christ, we could produce no fruit. What is important to God is faith—faith which He gives and by which we live. As technology becomes more affordable and available, the material world threatens to crowd God out of the picture. The information age will destroy us unless we learn to manage it properly, discarding carnality and diligently focusing on the Word of God.

Richard Ritenbaugh reminds us that some prophecy buffs have concluded that the end of the world is on the horizon, citing the media's sniping at President Trump, North Korea's hydrogen bomb threats, and the succession of three destructive hurricanes. When analyzing the overblown coverage of the hurricanes, for example, one must factor in the motives of the Weather Channel , including the insidious political motive of fostering a belief in climate change, and the materialistic motive of boosting ratings by playing on people's fears. God's called-out ones should not look to the media when seeking truthful information. What God reveals in His Word is more reliable than the evening news. God's people do a disservice to the cause of truth when they allow the media-hype to trigger a false hope about Christ's imminent return. We have no absolute guarantee that Christ will come in our lifetime; studying numerology or secret biblical codes will not speed up the event. No one, not even Jesus Christ Himself, knows when He will return; the Father alone has this knowledge. Many of the signs of Jesus coming are perennial, such as deception, wars and rumors of wars, famines and natural disasters. To be sure, Christ averred that the both the density and the intensity of world events would increase before the end, but one cannot build a prophetic marker on a series of natural events, many of which have been over-hyped by irresponsible media outlets. When we are commanded to watch and pray, Christ expects the faithful servant to be watching the progress of his spiritual growth, regardless of whether His return is imminent or far off. The recent disasters should be a wake-up call not as a pin on a chart measuring prophetic fulfillment.

Richard Ritenbaugh, acknowledging that biased media deluges us with lies, warns that God has not endorsed all information, whether from the left or the right, is pulling us toward carnal solutions and away from godly ones. Because the far left has traditionally embraced humanist, 'progressive,' anti-God viewpoints, church members have felt inclined to espouse views to the right of the political continuum. Even though conservative views seem to be more compatible with traditional Christian views, neither Republican (generally, conservative) or Democrat (generally, liberal) standards are consistent with God's standards. Hence, God's true children should subscribe to neither viewpoint.We dare not try to shoehorn God's perspective into our own. Instead, we should follow the lead of our Elder Brother, who steadfastly claims that "My Kingdom is not of this world." Our position should be the same, taking ourselves out of the parochial wrangling which is fracturing the current world.  

John Ritenbaugh, citing the findings of Dave Crenshaw, a business chaos crusher, alerts us that the average worker is interrupted 15 times per hour, many of which are self-inflicted, suggesting that these interruptions resemble small cuts which drain the life blood out of productivity. One of the most deceptively innocent, but deadly traps is the double-q (the quick question) now exacerbated by the ease of e-mail and social media. Regardless of the source of the interruption, productivity hemorrhages. To counteract wasteful interruptions, we must rid ourselves of vague goal setting, replacing this concept with that of a finish line or deadline, continually reminding us that time is a perishable resource. Because e-mail is a potential time waster, and a destroyer of focus, we should quarantine e-mail to specific times in the day to rapidly address correspondents' needs, and then get back to project at hand, concentrating on how to process it to completion.

Martin Collins, revealing that the attempt to censor is nothing new, but has been around throughout history, notably by the government of England for religious reasons, giving control over printing to two major universities, and the Roman Catholic Church over the years, attempting to prevent heresy. Today, the liberal 'progressives,' every bit as intolerant as the Roman Catholic Inquisition, are attempting to thwart criticism of the homosexual agenda by forcefully removing 'intolerant speech' from Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, and You-tube. It is easy to see how the prophesied famine of hearing the word (Amos 8:11-12) will take place. The World, with its 'progressive' disposition cannot bear the stark exposure to the penetrating correction of God's Word and will use every resource to snuff it out. The famine of the word is infinitely more dreadful than a physical famine of food.

Martin Collins, reviewing the process of how God's Word has been preserved and distributed—on media ranging from animal skins to papyrus to the printed word to the internet—warns that sinister forces have reared their ugly heads to censor the Word of God, calling it intolerant, malicious hate speech. In recent years, mean-spirited billionaires such as Mark Zuckerberg and George Soros have commandeered Apple, Twitter, Twitter, Google, and Facebook, all ostensibly created for promoting free speech for the purpose of censoring comments not conforming to the Satanic "progressive" agenda. Apple has jettisoned an app that promotes the pro-life view, and Facebook has openly partnered with gay activists, effectively censoring any comments questioning the morality of their lifestyle. Additionally, the United Nations is actively pursuing power to police online platforms, censoring any speech that does not conform to politically correct standards. The famine of the hearing the Word prophesied in Amos 8:12 is ready to descend on our people like a hideous locust plague. Even in the darkness of media control and media manipulation, we are assured that "everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

John Ritenbaugh, quoting from efficiency expert or "business chaos crusher" Dave Crenshaw, urges that distractions and interruptions caused by phone, e-mail, computers, or texting, are detrimental to productivity and to the operating a business at a profit. The average worker is interrupted 15 times per hour, 120 times in 8 hours, 4800 times per week, or 240,000 times per year. These interruptions are like tiny cuts destroying productivity, as blood flows from a wound, When we allow our focus to become divided, we are unable to give our full attention to the assigned task. The continuous shifts in our attention seriously damage our focus. One research company calculates that the average clerical worker loses 28% of his work per day because of interruptions, adding up to losing an entire work week each month. In our journey to the Kingdom of God, we frequently become magnets for distraction. We must organize our priorities and our time to play defense against continuous distractions, refusing to respond when we are focused on a task, assuming if necessary the profile of a curmudgeon when focused on an important task. Establishing and enforcing definite and rational anti-interruption strategies are especially important when we are communicating with God through study and prayer. We need to ensure that we hardwire these strategies as top priorities in our daily chores.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh:  As the days have wound down toward the new year, the media have been saturated with news of woe. Many people would say that sorrowful tales have filled the Internet and the airwaves throughout 2016 to such an extent that it has been the absolute worst year in living memory. ...

Richard Ritenbaugh, reflecting on the fallout from the devastating Hurricane Matthew, a category 4 storm, has observed that some have attempted shamelessly to politicize this disaster, foolishly proclaiming that this disaster was caused by climate change, global warming, or 'environmental racism.' Regardless of the subject being discussed today, mass media and internet social media have been deliberately poking political hot buttons, purposely dividing the people of this nation to take adversary positions. Politicizing issues serves those who seek to expand the legitimate role of government and to institutionalize current power structures. Politicizing is a grave evil because it (1) creates an "us versus them" adversarial approach to issue reslotuon, leading to internecine conflicts, feuds, or civil wars, (2) creates false dichotomies , such as migration or no immigration, disregarding the fact that every issue is far too complex to be oversimplified into terms of black or white and (3) trivializes moral or ethical issues, as exampled in the subtle intimations that one party promotes racism and the other does not, or that lawbreaking will stop simply by passing legislation. God's system does not(and should not) make use of politics, which is motivated by pure prideful ego and a grasping for power. When politics enters the church, disaster and division inevitably follows. The Church is commissioned to do God's will, not its own. Politicians work to get their own will advanced, but our job, as God's called-out ones, is to do God's will.

David Maas, endeavoring to explain the conundrum as to why God would place a desire for eternity in a perishable creature, begins a two-part series, "From Pilgrim to Pillar," exploring classical and modern, biblical and secular, metaphors depicting sanctification, a process through which God transforms perishable raw materials into permanent, indestructible beings—literal members of the God-family. The first message explores the cleansing metaphors of water, appearing in the refining of gold and silver ore, and the potter and clay analogy, in which dross, slag and impurities are discarded and the artifact is softened for shaping and molding. Modern metaphors from print, audio, and visual media liken God the Father and Jesus Christ as copy editors, sound engineers, producers and directors creating magnificent motion pictures from a series of crude graphite penciled sketch-pads. Our carbon-based fleshly bodies are just as temporary as these charcoal etchings: The end product far transcends the prototypes.

Richard Ritenbaugh, drawing a powerful analogy from a book by Dorthea Brand, focusing upon strategies to defeat writer's block and self-imposed creative sabotage experienced by every major writer, applies these insights to spiritual self-sabotage, namely resistance (which is ground zero of our carnal human nature.) As writers and other artists must employ almost superhuman force to subdue natural resistance to creativity, God's called out ones must use military tactics (the whole armor of God) to mortify the flesh (carnal human nature). Human nature absolutely does not want any kind of change, especially positive changes. Jonah, who would rather have died than fulfill the commission God had given him, demonstrated spiritual resistance. We must soberly reflect that we are culpable in using the same delaying tactics that Jonah used. The antidote to spiritual resistance is certainty and confidence in Christ to conform us into His image—a directed movement toward Christ. The Apostle Paul reminds us not to quench or resist the Holy Spirit working in us. As God's called-out ones, we are seasoned with salty trials, making us a benefit to the world. Salt, as the great purifier, makes us unique from the world, but if we let our resistance get the best of us, we will lose our saltiness and our uniqueness. We must maintain humility, the foundational attitude required to overcome resistance, casting our cares upon Christ. This means maintaining vigilance, resisting Satanic and carnal pulls, enduring steadfast in the faith, moving continually forward, remembering that we are not alone. If we endure suffering for a time, God will give us a permanent victory.

Ryan McClure, referring to the aggressive, offensive, and sometimes violent interaction between internet users called flaming, asks if we are flamers, or if are we pursuing righteousness in our speech and communication. It is important how we interact with our brethren and others. We can look to our Savior, Jesus Christ, who chose His words carefully. We do not want to spark flames with our opinions. When we speak, we should speak truth only, in kindness and gentleness.

Martin Collins illustrates the horrible degradation of this society because of the abandonment of the Fifth Commandment, insists that God intended children to be a heritage and a reward to those who obey His Law. American society is cursed because the family, its most important component, is dysfunctional. It is impossible to raise families without God. Gentile societies have historically demonstrated subhuman treatment to both women and children; Modern Israel apparently wants to follow suit by murdering 3,000 children per day, with 1.09 million unborn children annually. Last week, the largely reprobate American Congress voted to fund the guilty murderers on a grand scale, an act even natural law would regard as patently inhumane. Children have two duties to their parents: to obey them (in the Lord) and to honor them. The parent (ideally) is to serve as a representative of God to the child. Cursing parents in the Old Covenant was a capital offense. Honor goes far beyond obedience. The parent is expected to teach children in a restrained and balanced way, not embittering, provoking, irritating, harassing, and not breaking the spirit of the child. Parents must remember that customs change, that trust trumps control, and that children need encouragement. Sons must be prepared for leadership, being encouraged to offer suggestions in family meetings. Aubrey Andelin offers fathers positive suggestions as to conducting family meetings and communicating. (1) Stop all activities and give full attention to the children. (2) Listen carefully, even if not in agreement. (3) Be understanding and express sympathy for their ideas. (4) Tell them you will think about their suggestion. (5) Praise their ideas as useful and important contributions even if you are not able to agree with, or implement, them. As parents, our mandate is to bring children up in the understanding of the Lord's will, largely by our own positive example.

Bill Onisick describes the development of a robot having self-awareness, able to recombine knowledge, and generalize, providing an artificial intelligence which could make the human being obsolete. Some have concluded that artificial intelligence could be a greater threat to human existence than the atomic bomb or germ warfare. Human beings have never stopped falling for Satan's con of convincing them they could be like God, beginning with Adam and Eve and the abortive Tower of Babel. The system of Babylon is still hell-bent on ousting God, 'replacing' Him with human ingenuity, overpowering the scattering of languages with translating machines, replacing all forms of work, deemed a curse by liberal-progressives. Human workers can be replaced by general purpose robots for less than an annual salary of a human. China is working to replace every type of human career with a robot. Greed has replaced human labor with machine labor. One could speculate that much of the havoc wreaked upon humans in Revelation 9 and Matthew 24 may be carried out by autonomous weapons. Even the Beast could represent artificial intelligence which loathes humanity.

Mike Ford cues in on the narrative about the religious hobbyist, Micah, in Judges 17, who practiced his own self-devised hybrid of religion, amalgamating some orthodox truth with abundant noxious, pagan admixtures, bringing a curse on himself and his community. Heretofore, when strong leadership existed, idolatry was held in check, but by chapter 17, the train (of undefiled worship) begins to go off the track. We cannot take anything from paganism and use it to worship God. Micah was a thief, having stolen the life savings from his mother, but returned it when she cursed the thief. Upon the return of the silver, Micah's mother blessed him profusely and then she had an idol made of the silver. Micah had procured an ephod and presumptuously consecrated his son a priest. Adam Clarke gives him a pass, claiming he was only replicating the temple in Shiloh and was merely worshiping the true God. But the preponderance of the evidence does not support Adam Clarke's faulty assumption that the ephod was connected only to the worship of the true God. Gideon's ephod, for example, became an idol. Some contemporaries of Gideon and Micah liked to dress idols in ephods, attempting to give them religious legitimacy. Micah and his household had abundant teraphim (or household idols like the ones possessed by Laban), negating the pure intentions ascribed to Micah by Adam Clarke. Albert Barnes makes the absurd assumption that the Hebrew people during the time of the Judges were illiterate. Micah certainly knew the laws of God, but he was enamored of the pagan rites, and tried to blend them into the worship of God. When Micah drafted the young, itinerant Levite, a grandson of Moses, he persuaded him to continue in the syncretized pagan rites. These presumptuous actions of Micah were disgusting in the eyes of God; it is dangerous to extrapolate anything from paganism to worship God just because we personally feel good about it.

Bill Onisick, cuing in on Isaiah 9:6, reminds us that God gave Jesus Christ to us to restore peace, reconciliation, and harmony with God. We must follow Christ's example of sacrifice to be at peace with God. Our God is called a God of Peace and our Savior is called the Prince of Peace. In the Beatitudes, the peacemakers are called sons of God. To achieve the title "Son of God, one must emulate His proclivity for peacemaking. Besides practicing the absence of strife, peacemakers must augment harmony and joy. Godly peace goes way beyond truce and superficial cessation of hostilities, but actively builds harmony, unity, and tranquility within the God family. We are admonished not to be a peace breaker, causing our brother offense, but instead to actively build up harmony and unity with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and our brethren in Christ. Among the seven things God absolutely hates is one who spreads discord among his brethren. We constantly offend and are offended by brethren, making us peace breakers. God certainly does not need our help in correcting others. We should avoid heavy handed opinions, gossip, and other harmony-destroying activities. Peace breakers are not sons of God, but are sons of Satan. Peace in the God family begins with our relationship with God the Father. If we are not reconciled to God, we will not be reconciled to our brethren. We are not called to be peace lovers, but peacemakers, using His Holy Spirit to guide our behavior, bringing joy and harmony to the God-family as a true Son of God.

Ronny Graham, citing statistics from the non-profit organization Open Doors, asserts that persecution against Christians is rampant and dramatic, escalating in many parts of the world in which professing Christians suffer governmental harassment, torture, and death. In North Korea, owning a Bible is a capital offence, bringing death or a life sentence in a gruesome labor camp. Iraq and Nigeria are prime examples in which hostility and persecution against Christians seem to be tipping culture and society into extreme chaos. World Watch Monitor has warned that the persecution of Christians is a harbinger of discord in the world society. In the United States, Christian liberties are eroding in the wake of the destruction of constitutional liberties. Liberty Institute claims that governmental (largely federal) agencies are trying to push Christian expression out the door, with pompous federal judges condemning public prayer, the mention of God's name, actively meddling in the hiring and firing of rabbis and ministers, and actively editing high school valedictorians commencement speeches. While not as extreme as North Korea or Nigeria, persecution is here in America and the free world, with anarchy and chaos following closely behind. In this evil time, it is necessary to exercise prudence, caution, judgment, and common sense. We should not bring about needless persecution on ourselves or on the body of Christ because of our foolish texting, posting, tweeting, or e-mailing.It is high time to exercise prudence and to keep silent.

Joseph Baity, reflecting on Marcellus,' oft-quoted pronouncement from Shakespeare's Hamlet, "something rotten in the state of Denmark," suggests that this aphorism has served as a shorthand for political corruption and intrigue in our culture. In scanning the Internet, one finds impelling substantiation for this poignant observation in the bizarre headlines which surface on a daily basis, indicating that the family of man is becoming highly dysfunctional, reflecting an abnormal behavior contrary to what is intended, threatening social stability. Functional refers to fulfilling the role for what was intended or performing as designed. Functional families deal with conflict, avoiding abuse or neglect. When God created the earth, everything was called good—functioning according to how it was designed. The Mechanical Translation of the Torah translates the word good as functional. All of us were designed by our Creator to function in a specific way. We were designed to obey God's commandments; to disobey is to be dysfunctional, leading to chaos, disorder, and misery. Dysfunction comes from denying the truth regarding the chaos and disorder we experience. The Laodicean era could be considered a time of dysfunction. Spiritual creation did not end at the conclusion of physical creation, but only commenced. Satan tries to make us dysfunctional by focusing on the lures of the world, enticing us to be productive in our pursuit of them. When we try to blend the world with God's Truth, we actually water down the truth. Watered down truth is not truth. Knowing the truth is not equivalent to walking in the truth. Spiritually, to function is to use and process the truth. To function or not to function; that is the question.

Martin Collins, reflecting on the term blessed and blessing, rendered into triviality by the prosperity gospel, cautions us not to be glibly equating God with a magic genie or spiritual automatic pill- dispenser. Material blessings do not necessarily equate to prosperity, even though God has commanded us to be productive and work hard. In the Beatitudes, the destitute and disenfranchised were given promissory notes of His Kingdom. Individually, most of the major figures in the Bible did not have abundant physical prosperity , but were immensely blessed spiritually. We should desire the spiritual side of the spectrum, worthy to be well-spoken of at Christ's return. When we ask to be blessed, it should be exclusively on His terms, leading to our eternal good. What God has done in our earthly lives should be the best preparation for our future responsibilities. There can be NO blessing without the indwelling of Christ through God's Holy Spirit, the true source of our joy and happiness. Without the fellowship with Christ, there is no prosperity, either spiritual or physical. The Seven Churches of revelation all received immense spiritual promises, a new name, co-rulership over the nations, being kept from the hour of trial , and being made pillars in the Temple of God. These rewards are contingent upon overcoming a specific deficit through performing a specific developmental task, all involving the keeping of God's Commandments.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh:  Have you ever done something and almost immediately regretted doing it? It is easy to do such things from our computers, whether it is sending an email critical of the boss or a coworker to the whole company ...

Martin Collins, stating that Classical poets and philosophers had an aversion to pride or hubris suggests that in nearly all of their writing, there was an explicit and an implicit warning about offending the gods by overweening pride. Psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow suggests that narcissism in American college students is exponentially on the rise. Public media such as Facebook, You Tube, and Twitter delude young people into thinking that they are rock stars. Both Nebuchadnezzar and Herod were dramatically humbled after letting pride which is really ego inflation go to their heads. Our young people are addicted to narcissistic self-love, a condition which will reap a harvest of suicidal depression when the bubble bursts. As Haman demonstrates, God deposes the proud and will bring them low. We must learn to humble ourselves under God's hand, and He will exalt us.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh:  We live in the Information Age. News hits us from the four corners of the earth, making the journey in mere minutes. Images flash before us on the screens of televisions, computers, and phones. The Internet hums and thrums ...

Martin Collins, reflecting on the pervasive influence of pornography on the Internet, television, music, and print media, suggests that young people engaging in premarital sex are acting like sheep to the slaughter, totally oblivious to the real facts of life. Dating should be preceded by wholesome group activities; God created us as social beings, placing a longing in each individual for a member of the opposite sex. The purpose of dating should not be considered merely a pre-marriage ritual designed to prepare one for marriage, but instead (1) to develop wholesome interactions with the opposite sex in contrast to the world's dating games, totally mired in the lures of temptation and emotion described by James 1:14-15; (2) to help individuals to see their own strengths and weaknesses, gradually understanding themselves; (3) to develop practice in serving others, and (4) to discover the person one will marry. The more similarities there are in a relationship, the less likelihood that conflicts will emerge. A key ingredient in the dating process is faith in God's purpose in each person's life. The relationship one has with God takes precedence over any relationship with any other human being.

Everything we can know is communicated to us in some form. Usually, we are able to identify the sources of these communications through our senses. Yet, as John Ritenbaugh explains, we are also open to invisible communication from the spirit world—communication designed to conform us to "the course of this world."

John Ritenbaugh focuses upon Satan's great rebellion when he rallied one-third of the angels against the government of God. They were cast down to the earth, where they have since held a beachhead of operations, even though the venue has been downgraded from a headquarters to a prison. Though these demons share the habitation with us, they are greatly restrained. Ultimately the demonic powers will be unleashed again. As an indication of potential problems in the future, we have experienced a number of seemingly insoluble relationship problems. Some of the demons ability to communicate with mankind has been opened up to them. The battles are likely to be psychological and spiritual. Cities are places of concentrated evil. Air is that medium through which most media travels, including radio and television—and spirit in general. Experimenter Emoto discovered that negative attitudes can distort the molecular structure of water. The demons who already inhabit the earth look upon us as interlopers. We need to monitor our thought impulses, lest we might be bothered by demons. Trench and Bengel suggest that the cosmos, the spirit of the world or the zeitgeist entraps us into carnal and human nature- moving us along into aberrant behavior.

Human civilization has experienced two major sociological ages since the beginning of its appearance on the earth. Currently we are in transition to the third age or Third Wave, which has frightening prophetic consequences. However, it's the Fourth Wave, God's soon-coming Kingdom, we need to catch!

In Matthew Christ likens end-time events to the time of Noah's Flood. John Ritenbaugh gives insight into how this end time flood might manifest itself and what we can do to avoid being swept up in it.