Continued from last week
Then listen to how people speak. Even those with master’s degrees curse and use slang words as though they have little more than a third-grade education. It is as though some have chosen to “dumb down” themselves to be accepted by people whose opinions never used to count. Others love to copy those who cannot form complete sentences without cursing or using God’s name in vain.
Take a look at mainstream entertainment and media. So much of this is little more than what has been described as “what’s hot, what’s new, what’s next”—the latest hit movie or sitcom. Today, entertainment means “how far can we go?” in pushing (or blurring) even past human boundaries of decency and good taste. Never mind what God thinks, or what His standards are. Most want more extramarital sex, more violence, more blurring of the lines between good and evil, less morality, less common sense, less decency, and the promotion of situational ethics instead of having to choose between right and wrong.
Desperate to show how sophisticated their tastes are, many embrace the world of independent films—a subculture of absolute sickness and depravity passing itself off as intellectually fashionable.
The music, dance, dress, language, books, plays, conduct and other trends that are underground and cutting edge today invariably become mainstream tomorrow. This drives the underground scene to be even more extreme, knowing that today’s extreme is tomorrow’s mainstream!
Across college campuses, and in high school and middle school hallways, the air is charged with sexual tension, mixed with peer pressure and bad judgment. Using a “band-aid” approach, adults turn a blind eye to the misadventures of the next generation, which is sexually active, jaded and always ready to move on to the next perversion, generally translated as the latest “trend.” Sadly, many are in awe of homosexuality and lesbianism, thinking these to be “cool,” and as something to experiment with. More and more early-teenage girls are adopting the trend of having a casual lesbian relationship with a school friend on the side, while simultaneously—and actively—remaining heterosexual.
So many have gone from periodically visiting the sewer to living in a cesspool—and the cycle of perversion will continue and grow worse, until this world mirrors the times of Noah and of Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:26-30).
This is the world you live in—and it is trying to instill in you every wrong principle of dating and courtship. But Satan’s world is not the only roadblock to a happy marriage.
Human Nature—Whose Nature?
Recall Satan’s influence. Before the invention of radio, his power—as arch broadcaster and prince of the power of the air—could not be as easily understood. Now you can comprehend!
We can now better understand the “children of disobedience.” Like Christians, these people are also inspired and guided by a spirit—but that of the god of this world. Satan broadcasts a spirit of disobedience—through attitudes—into humanity. Ephesians 2:2 is plain. But a deceived world knows nothing of this understanding!
If you listen to radio, you usually select a station that plays what you desire to hear. Of course, today, people more often “surf” television stations. Eventually, something interests them, and they stop at a station of their choosing. In every case, stations are selected by choice. People have control over what they hear or watch.
It is not the same with Satan’s “radio station.” No one decides to tune into the devil’s broadcast. And no one ever sets out to be deceived! But every human being on earth is automatically tuned to Satan’s wavelength! His wickedness, hostility, rebellion, deceit and selfishness are continuously “on the air.” Though you cannot see it, anymore than you can see radio waves or television signals, the air around you is literally charged and “crackles” with the power and energy of Satan’s broadcast.
