by James G. Owen
Life and culture were vastly different before the computer age came to America. As a boy I remember going to the variety store, the 5 & 10 stores where one can buy a different item needed for the home, and toys for the kids. I would buy the wind-up trucks and cars that were less than a dollar and play in the sand with them. Also, plastic soldiers were part of my younger days. The source of communication was by telephone, CB radio, HAM radio, church socials, or hanging out on the drag, meaning sitting and talking with your friends at a hamburger joint while other teenagers’ road the same streets that made a circle. Life then was listening to soft rock, the songs of Jim Croce, and my country music favorites.
As I got older, I began to see the first microwaves, calculators, and by the time I graduated college computers were coming into the colleges and universities to learn the Basic Code and programming. Typewriter’s were the keyboards of that day, and we had a lever to make the carriage return to the left of the page, now it is the enter key. Life was slower, and people knew one another better. That is the just a small peek into yesterday. There was more going on, but at a much slower pace.
The changing of America took place during the 1980s forward. Technology increased at a greater pace. This period in our history we saw the Radio Shack computers, Apple computers, cell phones, and later the internet. Information at your fingertips began to come, and the minds of Americans began to change, to be mesmerized by the screens of technology, and now we are consumed with everything digital. In the past we had our imaginations, told stories to one another, and dreamed. Today our minds are captured by the screens of computers, TV’s, cell phones, tablets, and pods. We are doing less critical thinking in our current times and believing what we are being told in the news, and all forms of media. Our imaginations have turned from cranial to virtual, and we are becoming less social and isolated with gadgets. Our minds have been captured. Our minds being filled with interests of the world with all forms of subjects, immorality, and games. Technology can change us without us realizing, and it shows up at the dinner table, restaurants, and in church gatherings where people are more interested in their phone screens than interfacing with real humans. Games that are violent are creating violent people who take what they encountered and reenact it. The articles, literature, books, magazines we read online influences us, and changes our moral and value system. These changes affect our spiritual lives, that is the area that should be the most surprising and we should come to realization. These worldly changes keep us from the word of God, our prayer life, and in the ministry of others. The change affects our righteous living because we are bombarded with immoral images, desensitizes us from life because of the influence and advocation of abortion. We should be concerned about moral values, and the sanctity of life, but we are more interested in pleasure and convenience. We tell ourselves we do not have the time for God, but the technology has become our god, an idol. We make time for the technology and what pleases us there on the screen. Do not get me wrong, technology is a great tool for us if we use them correctly and in balance, but what I see as well as others is an imbalance in life.
The enemy, Satan, wants our minds in carnality to keep our minds off God. Anything he can use to corrupt our minds he will use. Many of us do not realize we are in a battle of our minds. There is a tug of war between Satan and God, but I will tell you Satan will lose. He already has lost but he is working before his demise to take everybody he can with him to eternal separation. Paul in his New Testament letters tell us,
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Romans 8: 5-6
To return us to balance would be to get our minds upon God through the reading of his scriptures and doing the good works of our faith. To work continually for the salvation of man by presenting the gospel to all. We are to get our minds off the world, off the pleasures of the flesh. It is the world that brings trouble, suffering, depression, stress, and anxiety, but it is being in the presence of God that brings peace to our spirits.
We are in a war, and that war is for our souls. The mind currently is being controlled through indoctrination of philosophies and ideologies, speech has been suppressed, and truth repressed. The war is to keep us separated from God, knowing his truth, and teaching his truth. Also, in the speaking of truth in history and current affairs. Since we are in a war, what does each side provide us? Satan’s side presents us with death, corruption, and the promise of mankind being his own god. That lie has been unabated since the garden of Eden. The promise of being our own god brings a person desiring power, and influence, and causes the mind and soul to be prideful. This characterization in man is against God the Father. All sin is against God. The war rages against our mind. Again, Paul reminds us of the war.
“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”
Romans 7:23
If Satan can keep our minds from serving and pleasing God through the pleasures of sin, then he has complete control of us. We do need God to help us out of this trap and ask him to help us overcome. The war of the mind would be from the partaking of addictive substances, images, pagan religions, Gnosticism, false doctrines, and fables. Satan wants to keep you blinded of things eternal, to prevent you from realizing your purpose in life and from attaining your destiny. Satan works to destroy all of God’s creation.
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
2 Corinthians 4:4
What does God want for us? He wants us to obey him. The Father wants us to have life, joy, freedom in life and spiritual worship. He works as a parent for us so that we can see the purpose God created us to achieve so that we can be happy in our purpose while he gets glory out of us living a holy and balanced life. He wants us to see, to hear, and be beware of things that can defeat us. Most of all, God wants us to conform to his image and remain in him because he has so much to give us in return for obedience. To conform to his image, we can have a relationship with God, and will not be separated by the veil of sin. We must be the guardian of our minds, and our souls.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:2
How do we renew our minds? Our minds are renewed by continual and daily prayer asking God to purge the sin out of spirits every day, and every hour if needed. We must strive to please the Lord in our living, and in serving each other in meeting needs through good deeds. This is a testament of our faith and showing love to one another as he intended.
How do we prove ourselves? By sanctification, and by the trials and troubles that challenge our faith that refines us. Sometimes the troubles and the sadness that life brings seem to be like we are in a fire, that life is overwhelming at times, but we are to welcome these times knowing it is improving us spiritually and helping us grow in maturity of our spirit so that we can help others who are in trouble and in spiritual need. It is the overcoming of these troubles and trials that brings us to perfection to righteousness.
Be on guard, for Satan comes as a wolf. He is a deceiver, and we must use discernment to be able to discern truth from a lie. We must be watchful, for evil is everywhere and tries to trap us in situations. We are to remain blameless, and to make sure that anything that causes us to spend time away from God could become an idol to us. The changing of life and culture creates a challenge to our minds and does affect our spiritual life. In the year of 2020, the world changed dramatically, and America changed. Change is still going on in America and seems to be changing at an exponential rate, not just in changes in technology, but in all areas of culture. Look for the positive things that will edify God and refuse the negative. Spend more life away from the screens and notice the difference in your thinking and decisions. America, look for a wave of the Holy Spirit in revival and respond to the Lord while we have time. The change spiritually will change the culture and the nation.
Notes:
All scripture is taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.
James G. Owen, Author 