It seems like God keeps sending us wake-up calls and we keep hitting the snooze button. It’s understandable, because quieting the irritating reminder that it’s time to get up and get busy is certainly the easier option, and the easy option is always appealing because it’s, well… easier. The problem is that our pattern of hitting the snooze button way too often has gotten us to the point where the things we’re trying to avoid are getting more and more unavoidable.

Funny Garbage or Just Garbage ~
Most of us who have access to conservative news sources are aware of Stephen Colbert’s filthy, anti-Trump tirade unleashed on the ‘Tonight Show’ last Monday night. It wasn’t the first time that profane garbage has been dumped on the public in the name of humor. That disturbing practice has been in place for a long time, but Colbert’s performance took the progressives’ lame excuse for comedy to a disgusting new level.

My intent here is not to condemn Stephen Colbert. His own mouth does a much more impressive job of that than I could ever manage to do. But I do want to point out a couple of things that I think are relevant and important to acknowledge:

• The unhinged attacks launched by leftist ‘entertainers’ done in the interest of ‘comedy’ are the only real jokes contained in their performances.
• What spewed out of Colbert’s mouth was not about making people laugh. It was about fanning the flames of hatred against President Trump and those who support him.
• His spiel was not a spontaneous, impromptu verbal convulsion. It was scripted, purposeful, and designed to incite others to join him at his level of depravity.
• A response is definitely warranted…, but God would prefer one that moves in a different direction.

A Relevant Prophetic Warning ~
There’s a briefly stated prophetic warning God gave us through David that is relevant here. The passage is only 15 words long, but I’m interjecting a few bracketed additions in the quote below that I believe help to accurately illustrate what God intended the passage to convey, both for David’s day and our own.

“The wicked [evil men and women of every description] prowl [boldly and arrogantly strut about and flaunt themselves] on every side [they’re everywhere you look], when vileness [anything morally, spiritually, and behaviorally perverted, corrupt, or repulsive] is exalted [lifted up to a place of prominence and made to look desirable] among the sons of men [spread throughout the land in a way that affects everyone]” Psalm 12:8 NKJV.

The tone and content in language used among men is a predictable barometer of the moral, ethical, and spiritual atmosphere of a culture. That’s not to say that our words are synonymous with behavior. I’d rather someone talk about hitting me in the head with a brick, for instance, than to actually hit me in the head with a brick. But words serve to illustrate and codify the underlying thoughts and intents of human hearts that result in, and even predict, patterns of behavior.

A First Response Question, Not a First Amendment Question ~
Colbert’s performance raises more questions than those about censorship and free speech. The issue crying out for us is not just whether people should have the liberty to illustrate hateful attitudes and filthy behavior with disgusting words on TV. The question for those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus is whether we will ignore the implications of the incident and hit the snooze button again by saying and doing nothing. That response is tantamount to condoning, supporting, and promoting such things.

We have allowed much of what passes for ‘entertainment’ in America to become a sewer, and clearly, the lid has been taken off.  The question is no longer one of where continued exposure to its putrid contents might lead; we have already arrived at where it leads. The question now is whether we will be content to continue to have the filth flowing out unabated and uncontested. Men like Colbert are not the only ones gifted with the capacity to speak words. We’ve gotten to this point because they do, and we don’t. Unless each of us begins to use our own ability to speak and write to counteract the filth with words and ideas that are better, theirs will continue to multiply more hatred, violence, and perversion.

Appropriate Admonitions ~
There are a few admonitions worth remembering.

• Jesus said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37 (NKJV).
• “But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer…” (2 Timothy 2:16-17 NKJV).
• “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21 NKJV).

Capping off the sewer starts with a willingness to admit what we’ve really been looking at and listening to in our own house, and what we’re saying and not saying to others. Colbert and the producers of his filthy show wanted a response. How about giving them one they didn’t have in mind?

© 2017 Gallagher’s Pen, Ronald L. Gallagher, Ed.S.  All rights reserved.

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