Earlier this week, I applied a treatment to protect some of our ornamental shrubs outside. The process fit perfectly with something that had been on my mind for a while. The pest I was trying to rid our Dwarf Alberta spruce trees of is a tiny little thing called a Spider Mite. As I was applying the treatment, I naturally thought of the evolution of electronic technology. If you think that’s a bit odd, hang on with me for another excursion back to my early days, and I’ll try to show you how that connection came about.
A Different World ~
For a country boy whose early years were spent in an electronic desert, the introduction and evolution of electronic technology has been fascinating to watch. My early years on a little family farm were spent with no TV, no telephone, and no electric stove to cook on. The only electronic marvels we owned were an AM radio and light bulbs. To say the very least, a lot has changed since then.
Those who live to retirement age or longer can look back over their lives and watch their own incredible parade of revolutionary changes they’ve witnessed over the years. By today’s standards, that ‘party-line phone’ we finally got in the early 1950s is laughably archaic, but to us it was an incredibly helpful electronic marvel. I was still a kid stuck on a dirt road miles from the nearest small town, but now I could dial a number and talk to my cousin in town. Those early electronic marvels are just relics of bygone days now, but they didn’t seem like relics to any of us at the time.
Opening New Doors ~
The electronic advancements that kept coming our way were constantly opening new doors, and it was captivating. We could talk to people in faraway places, and I could sit at home and see things that were going on in other parts of the world. Radio would let me hear music, but when TV came along, it brought the musicians along with it. I could stay home and watch cowboys do heroic things to stop bad guys and wonder how The Three Stooges could smack one another around without anybody really getting hurt. And one of my favorite things about TV was to watch my grandpa watching it. Humorous events rarely ever got more than a chuckle out of him, but on Saturday nights, he’d be laughing out loud at Bob Hope, Jack Benny, and Red Skelton’s jokes, few of which I thought were understandable – or funny.
As the years went by, electronic innovations seemed to come along faster and faster, and the things they could do were more and more impressive. Our world was constantly expanding, and every new device was making life better in some way. Technology was overcoming 
obstacles for us, solving some problems for us, enabling us to be more efficient, or making our jobs easier. If we thought about potential problems they represented at all, most of us didn’t think they’d be serious. There was a general sense of confidence that technology’s benefits would always far outweigh any negative effects. Technology was bringing the world to our doorstep and it seemed like a good thing. We were so impressed with what technology could do for us that we failed to consider what it might do to us. We were incredibly naive in the early days, and didn’t realize that we were welcoming a Trojan Horse into our lives. Now we’re beginning to see that when the enemy offers you a gift, it pays to consider what might be loaded inside.
From Bad to Worse ~
The world that seemed so distant and far away is no longer just “out there somewhere”. All of the helpful, beautiful, alluring, and enticing things it offers are now not just in our homes, they’re in our pockets. But so are the ugly, painful, terrifying, and deadly things that time and distance once held safely at bay. Worst of all, those things are not just in our pockets, they’re in the pockets of almost all of our children as well.
While we were being released from mundane tasks, offered more relational interaction, and discovering more opportunities for intellectual stimulation, we were also being drawn into a new kind of bondage. We were becoming more and more dependent on those glowing
rectangles taking over our lives. Like a rising tyrant uses promises of liberty to cloak the coming slavery, the bright little screens in our pockets promise ease and improvement while they systematically rob us of the freedom to think, to question, to believe, and to act as individuals. Our affection for the little glowing rectangles has blinded us to the frightening power being consolidated in them. God sent us a warning long before i-Phone notifications ever existed, and if we don’t begin to pay attention to it now, the end results will be catastrophic. He said,
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17 NKJV)
A Significant Exchange ~
While having the world at our fingertips is a powerfully appealing idea, it can also have the same effect as the fentanyl pouring into our country every day. The temporary exhilaration it offers comes at great cost. Unfettered access to the world can be as destructive to our spiritual lives as the most addictive drug ever created. We should never forget that the arrival of the internet wasn’t the first time the devil was willing to give someone all that the world had to offer. In light of that discussion, it’s time to carefully consider a significant exchange between the devil and the Son of God:
Then the devil, taking Him [Jesus] up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” (Luke 4:5–7 NKJV)
Now let’s make the connection back to my diseased shrubbery. My Alberta spruce was infected with little creatures called “spider mites.” They’re very tiny little red bugs that are virtually invisible on the plant. You don’t know they’re there until parts of the plant begin to die. If you don’t eliminate them, the plant is doomed.
No Early Diagnosis ~
The internet has brought some incredibly helpful things into our lives, but the intent of its designers was not altruistic. The enemies of God will use it to implant things in our hearts and minds that will begin to feed on us. Like the spider mite issue, we may not know we have a problem until we begin to see “dead places” in our spiritual lives.
The poisonous trash woven into the content already available on the internet is bad enough, but the “artificial intelligence” looming on the digital horizon will unleash toxic “bugs” more voracious and less visible than anything we’ve ever known. The only way to be freed from the enticing lies that bring us into bondage is to expose them to absolute, unshakeable truth. Jesus made that principle crystal clear:
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31–32 NKJV)
It might be enlightening to imagine how we’d react if we had to switch the time we spend on the internet with the time we devote exclusively to God. Honestly contemplating an exchange like that might help to reveal how our spiritual lives have been affected since the world crept into our pockets. Better yet, it might also lead to reviving our relationship with the One who can reverse the damage and set us free from the grip of digital bondage.
“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below. Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .
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- “We were so impressed with what technology could do for us, we failed to consider what it might do to us. We were incredibly naive in the early days & didn’t realize we were welcoming a Trojan Horse into our lives. It pays to consider what might be loaded inside.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- “The poisonous trash woven into the content already available on the internet is bad enough, but the “artificial intelligence” looming on the digital horizon will unleash toxic “bugs” more voracious and less visible than anything we’ve ever known.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- “While we were being released from mundane tasks and discovering more opportunities for intellectual stimulation, we were also being drawn into a new kind of bondage. We were becoming more and more dependent on those glowing rectangles taking over our lives.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- “Unfettered access to the world can be as destructive to our spiritual lives as the most addictive drug ever created. We should never forget that the arrival of the internet wasn’t the first time the devil was willing to give someone all the world had to offer.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- “The poisonous trash woven into the content already available on the internet is bad enough, but the “artificial intelligence” looming on the digital horizon will unleash toxic “bugs” more voracious and less visible than anything we’ve ever known.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
Check out Ron’s book, “Right Side Up Thinking in an Upside Down World ~ Looking at the World through the Lens of Biblical Truth”
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© 2023 Gallagher’s Pen, Ronald L. Gallagher, Ed.S. All rights reserved.
Gallagher's Pen ~ 
There’s something about speaking truth that can free a person, isn’t there my friend. I started out thinking about how no phone, no running water in the house, no indoor plumbing at all, and sometimes no electricity in the house (we rented a lot when I was a youngster) was “normal” in my childhood. I also remember the only television I saw was a black and white set, with a tri-colored lens/filter in front of it at my grandparents’ house. Weekly (note I didn’t use daily) entertainment consisted of piling into car, getting an ice cream cone or cola and riding around listening to the Grand Ol’ Opry on the car radio. Then, television finally came. Along with it came “The Wonderful World of Disney” on Sunday evenings. Of course, there was the Red Skelton Show (I always loved Gertrude and Heathcliff myself), the Honeymooners, Jack Paar, Bishop Sheen, and a few others I can recall. Ever consider how I mentioned Disney came on Sunday nights? How many considered that a coincidence? Even though I considered those early shows to be wholesome, family entertainment, I can remember missing many Sunday night services because something good was going to be shown (Swiss Family Robinson, Jungle Book (no, not that one, the animated one with Baloow the Bear), and so many others. Even fifty plus years ago, television and other entertainment venues were seeking to disrupt and change the American way of life. Its power to influence has only gotten stronger through the years. Consider, as you mentioned, the telephone. Years ago, we giggled as mama would spend hours silently listening to others on the party line phone. It was her entertainment, but it led to an exponential increase in gossip. Now, I wonder how many lives are lost when people are hit by vehicles while crossing the street because their focus is on their smartphone screen with ZERO situational awareness.
As for AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning), the data scientists of the world, which is one of those new words I’ve learned only in the last decade have become masters and “data mining.” They develop complex algorithms to identify patterns and trends and can then adjust content that someone is fed (note I said fed not requested) dynamically. Ever wonder why if you Google something, your “anti-social” media feeds are nearly instantly inundated with advertisements for that very thing? That’s ML in action. Ever try to get customer support for a problem over the Internet or telephone and you hear or read, “You have entered ‘xyz’, is that correct?” That’s AI. While both of these have some positives (Fraud Prevention, where data is analyzed and compared to other data to identify potential fraud, waste, and abuse in one example), more and more we see technology being used to divide our attention and further separate us from one another. Alas, as you often do, you’ve hit a sensitive spot in my psyche and I’ve climbed atop my soapbox. Sorry for rambling on.
Now, if your treatment doesn’t work, find your local Tractor Supply and get a small bottle of Permethrin. Mix is up, spray on and around them trees, and spider mites are gone! Caution, don’t get any on the cats! Dogs, no problem, but cats and pyrethroids don’t mix well. Then again, neither does too much technology and our faith. I thought about this the other night at our AWANA meeting. The children were using their phones (all of them second and third graders had one [“That ain’t right”]) to look up scripture verses referenced in the lesson. Not one of them could tell us beyond John 3:16 what any of the verses said from memory. I was saddened as I considered how we stored Scripture in our heart, so that it was there when we needed it. I wondered, “What’s going to happen when an EMP attack takes down the grid and there is no Internet, no phone service, etc.? Folks won’t be able to do anything because they no longer have to learn anything beyond how to use their phone.”
God’s blessings my friend. I’m going to go talk to my cows, donkeys, and chickens. They make more sense to me than this world does these days.
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OK, you’ve got Mrs. Diane ready to just publish your response for next week’s post. We loved reading your nostalgic review of the TV programs that inserted themselves into your life and we could definitely relate to all of it. Television changed the patterns of our behavior and once that door was opened, the enemy gradually began to challenge, then replace, and finally repudiate the Biblical foundations for determining which things are morality acceptable and which are not. Then the internet came along and now, the whole idea of what’s right or wrong, good or evil, has been turned on its head.
Addressing this subject is one of the many things the Church (including me, of course) should have been doing decades ago. As if the drift away from church attendance wasn’t bad enough already, the pandemic was an invitation for multitudes to make the break complete. The shift away from meeting together was easier when churches were closed, or subjected to all kinds of restrictive measures. Sitting at home watching church on TV was so much more convenient and comfortable, which made going back feel even more inconvenient and uncomfortable. While I was glad that at least the digital option was there when it was needed, there’s no substitute for personal contact.
Like you, I’m especially concerned about the number of children who are now carrying phones. I see some who can barely talk entertaining themselves with an IPhone. It isn’t surprising, because their parents are busy doing the same thing. Our church recently began a push for our people to engage in a “digital detox” project, and it’s encouraging to see so many beginning to make an effort to break their dependence on the many addictive apps and options they carry around with them.
I know that there are lots of benefits that the digital explosion has made possible, but there’s noting that we humans ever found helpful or useful that the devil didn’t want to use as a doorway to insert his poison into our minds and hearts. Thank you once again for adding insights and substance in this area, and God bless you for working with those kids and for being a leader for their parents and families. They may not remember all the lessons you strive to teach them, but they’ll never forget who you are and what you did for them. Our prayer is that the seeds you’re sowing in them will produce a harvest that helps to change the hearts of many and the direction of this country.
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