The Bible commands Christians to redeem the time:
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)
I have thought for a while about ways to use for the Lord in the best possible way the limited time we have on this earth to serve Him. For quite a while I have not spent any significant time reading news articles; to learn the news, I have cut and pasted articles, mainly from the “useful sources for news” section on my website, to keep up with what is going on.
In a recent article on my website, I wrote the following:
[I]f you do not spend serious time in Bible reading, study, memorization, meditation, and prayer daily, in order to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, along with being a serious servant in one of Christ’s true churches, then forget about [things like politics] … and forget about social media, YouTube, and other such unnecessary things until you repent and make seeking the kingdom of God your first priority (Matthew 6:33).
Wanting to actually put in practice what I am writing, I thought about whether the time I spent listening to news articles was the best use of my time. I have as a life-goal to write a mutli-volume historic Baptist systematic theology. Would progress toward that goal, or study related to other writing projects, be a better use of time than keeping up with secular world events? Would spending more time memorizing or having Scripture read aloud be a better use of time? Am I truly redeeming the time I spend listening to the news?
As a result, I determined to cut both reading and listening to the news out of my life–to take a “news fast” in August, as it were–and evaluate after the month was over if the time was being used more profitably. The question is not whether there is profit in being aware of the news–perhaps comparable to the profit of bodily exercise, for a little time, 1 Timothy 4:8–but if it was as profitable as other things that are more specifically kingdom-related. Indeed, since God is sovereign over the affairs of men, doing something more specifically kingdom-related may indeed even do more good in this world than would the knowledge gained from the news, as well as having promise of the life which is to come.
So how did it go? I have not missed knowing less of the news by using the time for other things that are more specifically kingdom-related. Sometimes I have been curious, but I do not think I have missed that much. It might be fine as well to know less contemporary news and have time to do something like listen through Churchill’s History of the English Speaking People or some other classic work that will help provide broader perspective on history. I am planning to prayerfully reevaluate now that the month is over in order to see what is the best way to proceed for the glory of God at this point.
The time many preachers of the gospel spend on the news, or watching various videos, if added up, could be time that would enable them to be fluent in both Greek and Hebrew, vastly sharpen their preaching and ministry skills, and lay up much treasure in heaven drawing near to Christ and ministering to the saints and the lost. And how about the use of time by ordinary church members? We will have to give account for every one of our minutes at the judgment seat of Christ.
There is profit to knowing the news. However, to repeat what I had affirmed earlier, please prayerfully consider the following:
[I]f you do not spend serious time in Bible reading, study, memorization, meditation, and prayer daily, in order to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, along with being a serious servant in one of Christ’s true churches, then forget about [things like politics] … and forget about social media, YouTube, and other such unnecessary things until you repent and make seeking the kingdom of God your first priority (Matthew 6:33).
If you do not seriously study Scripture and read the Word daily, forget about the news. If you do not spend serious time in prayer, forget the news. If you do not memorize Scripture, forget the news. If you do not set aside regular time for meditation–or you have, over the years, read thousands and thousands of pages of news but not even one book on meditating on Scripture–forget the news. If you do not regularly preach the gospel to every creature and seek to make disciples, forget the news. If you do not have family devotions, forget the news. And what goes for the news goes for social media and other similar time-suckers on the Internet.
–TDR
I agree. Synagogue of satan is always trying to corrupt us and distract all of us from the word of truth. They’ve even infiltrated the churches trying to do this. Lots of people seem to be tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, not having a firm grasp on the basics, rather than trusting others to do it for them. That’s how you end up with hucksters selling you snake oil, like the folks from the synagogue of Satan; and yet entire groups of Christian men and people who are supposed to be leaders, end up not even questioning it – nor even knowing the fundaments or first principles of how to, in the first place.
I’ve never heard a cogent or truly biblical response when I raise my concerns about some of these doctrinal issues surrounding modern talmudism, for example, and I’ve asked many people. God is my witness to this.
Dear Andrew,
I’m glad you want to you your time wisely.
Most modern Jews don’t care what the Talmud says, and the ones that do don’t control churches or control the world or anything like that. They have more kids in Israel than the secular Jews and throw rocks at evangelical church buildings in Israel and try to hinder the gospel, while they sacrifice chickens to try to atone for their sins and stuff prayers in the wailing wall–lots of vain foolishness which they should stop.
What Christ meant in revelation by the synagogue of Satan is very bad, certainly.
Thanks.
Yes, I definitely do want to use my time wisely. That’s why I have prayed and studied all of these things out. Many others have done the same, having searched the Scriptures, and that’s the only way to realize that this stuff about zionism, which was invented not that long ago, isn’t actually in the Holy Bible. And as a side point, you won’t find people historically teaching it, either. At least not before the people who I’m about to mention. What I’m talking about above is some kind of syncretic belief system, one that is trying to make its way into churches, while very few are equipped (though they should be) with the Biblical knowledge or the fortitude to speak out against it. They instead see, in (the world’s) media favorable depictions of very wicked things, and then they hear preachers of false gospels telling them things that also aren’t true. And of course, corrupted Bible versions play a part in this as well. This is truly going on in a lot of different places. But if any one would just search the Scriptures as Christ commanded, and pray, they too would find out the truth. There’s a reason why God’s word is known as the word of truth, after all.
When I talk about talmudism here, I am mostly referring to implicit teachings of men finding their way into the churches. They are adapted to disguise themselves as Scriptural doctrines. The vector for a lot of this was John Nelson Darby, as well as C.I. Scofield, whose ideas gradually got promoted in the mainstream of thought in many seminaries and places that should be for biblical learning. And these teachings were promoted by people who are greedy for filthy lucre, who wanted allies in this world who would be a source of income for them so they compromised on doctrine. Wouldn’t you know it, they find lots of funding. And then, others heard and inherited their false teachings and uncritically accepted them, without putting in enough study. Sad to say that many of these hyper-dispensationalists are still around now, who sometimes call themselves just dispensationalists as a way of distinguishing their views from the purely biblical one. That’s what I raise my concerns about primarily. So, very good article overall, I got a lot out of it.