DESTROY THE PICTURES?

At the beginning of 2009, I launched into the 11th time around of listening to the reading of the entire Bible. Never would I have dreamed that this yearly event could mean so much to me! Strangely, even though this is something I do each year and even though I've been studying and reading for many years, there are things that I hear that I do not remember ever hearing before. So it was with this verse:

Numbers 33:52
Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places....

I don't remember ever hearing or reading the words, "destroy all their pictures." I can't help but wonder if the reason it jumped out at me is because of the work God had already been doing in my heart. My immediate thought was "Hollywood," and my immediate response was, "I know what I need to do."

Ken and I "turned off" our TV in 1996 after a challenge by our pastor to do so for a week. When we turned it back on and flipped through the channels one night, we both knew that TV had turned the corner to a pathway of programming diametrically opposed to the heart of God and His people.

So we turned to collecting movies, finding old ones at resale shops as well as buying some new. I'm not sure how many we had when God called him home, but it was a good number. God had already begun to stir our hearts about some of those movies. How could we have bought films in which the name of Christ was used as a swear word! We decided to promptly toss every one as they came to our attention. 

When I moved to my townhome, God was working in my heart, quietly and patiently, regarding this whole subject.  None of our movies could be labeled as trashy...none R rated...yet as I handled them, I knew which ones still needed to go. Into the garbage they went. Still there were more, stuffed in the basement closet. When I heard this verse, while riding in my car, my spirit pledged an even further cleansing. There were certain ones, nice sets of movies, that were next on the list. A few days later, they were in the garbage in time for the next day pickup. 

The pictures God wanted the Jews to destroy were ones that would draw them away to worship other gods. The stuff you and I see in Hollywood's creations do the same thing. They dilute our convictions and open our eyes and minds to revenge and materialism. Adultery is glorified as heart rending affairs. Violence is so prevalent that you don't flinch at the graphic way in which it is now portrayed. You find yourself rooting for the person seeking revenge. And you begin to think and dress and react and live like the world.

Out on the internet, I did some searching to see if anyone else tied TV and movies with this passage. I found this, written by Steve Maxwell, author and homeschool convention speaker:

As I read this passage recently, I noticed how the Lord was very specific in His instructions for when they conquered Canaan. They were to drive out the inhabitants, destroy their pictures, their idols, and places of idol worship.

Pictures are very powerful in how they can influence, and God said the Israelites were to get rid of the pictures. God knew the effect it would have on the Israelites, and that is why the pictures were to be destroyed. Those pictures would have been nothing compared to the sizzle of today's TV programs. Yet God said destroy them because He wanted to protect His children from being pulled to the world.

That is why my heart breaks for families who choose to watch TV or movies and think that it won't harm them.

I kept some old movies and some newer ones that seem harmless, but my heart is soft towards God in this. I don't watch but one or two a year, but if He whispers in my ear that they must go, too, they will go. Since becoming a widow, more than ever before I sense that God is working in our lives to bring us to the point where we need nothing but Him and love nothing but Him. His commandments are never unkind. They are for our good.

Hollywood has too much influence in the lives of Christians today. Do you really want to walk with God? I think you're going to have to get rid of the pictures.