Daily Devotional for Friday July 27, 2018

What Traps Do Fox News and Football Have in Common

(2 Peter 2:18; 1 Timothy 5:6; 2 Peter 2:13; Ecclesiastes 2:1, 5:18; 1 Corinthians 9:27; Romans 13:14; Proverbs 29:3; James 5:5)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, please help me to live this day honoring you in my thoughts, words, and deeds. Help me this day to live my life pleasing and acceptable to Jesus. Allow me to use my life to help someone else during this day, and be kind to everyone I come across no matter how they may treat me. Let Christ shine through me throughout this day oh Lord, be glorified through my life! In Jesus name I pray...AMEN!

In talking about the uncontrolled selling of sex in America, I could use an easy target like the multi-billion dollar-a-year pornography industry that operates wide open without any restrictions, but that would be too easy. How about I hit a little closer to home, a couple of places most of you probably make part of your daily lives, FOX News and football.

On the TV in my office, I have the FOX News channel playing in the background all day long. As most of you know, I am a huge football fan, college and pro. So I am hitting targets that are also a part of my daily life. Let’s start with FOX News. It is the choice of most people who hold more conservative political beliefs. FOX News is the only real alternative to the 24/7 Trump-hating programming on CNN and MSNBC, and is the news channel most Christians watch.

Question: Ever wonder why FOX News has absolutely drop dead gorgeous women as on-air talent? We are talking about stunning women, sitting on open sets in in very short skirts, high heels. Ever wonder why they sprinkle in throughout their “news,” tabloid stories of sex that allow them to show clips that are nearly X-rated? It should really not have been a surprise when a few years ago the network was rocked to its’ core with the exposure of the sexual harassment culture that existed at FOX News.

Of course, look no further than the Chairman of Newscorp that owns FOX News, Rupert Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch is one of the most powerful media moguls on the planet. The worldwide media holdings of Newscorp are staggering. Included are the sensational NY Post, The Sun in London with their daily topless model, 20th Century Fox movies studios, and the FOX television network that brings us great wholesome family programs in prime time that make a mockery of marriage and glorify every kind of deviant sex imaginable. Murdoch also owns the Direct TV satellite company that makes a HUGE profit from its channels that sell hard core, XXX rated pornographic movies to their subscribers. Murdoch is a world-class smut peddler.

In a few weeks, college and pro football will be back for their 2018 seasons. Out of all the major professional sports, the NFL is in the best shape financially despite the loss in ratings and revenue they have experienced in the last few years. They still have tremendous television ratings, a solid fan base, and is by far the most popular sport in America. College football is also a multi-billion dollar business each season.

So why does the NFL and the college which already have ENORMOUS fan baeses, have to bring in the scantily-clad cheerleaders and dance squads to perform? Why does the NFL opening package always include numerous women who look like they dance at a strip club?

The advertisers who spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get those precious minutes on NFL and college football games create commercial that are often populated with nearly-naked woman selling beer, soft drinks, cars, and everything else. The commercials during football games have become wars to see who can show the most flesh.

Some reading this today may think it is being written by an 80-year-old nun that never had sex in her life. I am 60 years old and enjoy a very healthy sex life with my wife. Sex is a WONDERFUL gift from God that is intended to be shared by a man and woman in the bonds of marriage.

Every day, I receive over 40,000 prayer requests. A sexual issue is involved in a good percentage of those prayer requests. The more mainstream promoting sex outside of God’s intended plan becomes, the more prayer requests I continue to receive involving sexual issues. Having counseled many men AND women with sexual addiction issues, I have encouraged them to QUIT WATCHING FOX News. Go eat a pickle during a commercial of a football game. Check your text messages when they cut away to the cheerleaders.

I love you and care about you so much. Does this mean you should stop watching FOX News? Does this mean you should stop watching football? Those are choices you have to make. I will say that some men I counsel who struggle with issues of lust, have stopped watching television all together. For most however, this word today is a WARNING.

Men who would never think of watching an X-rated movie, are being hit with similar images watching something as ordinary as the news, something as ingrained into most men’s lives as football. And don’t think this is only targeted at men. More and more women are now being attacked by these mainstream sexual images as well.

I will be praying for you today. I pray today that you will guard your mind. I pray today that you will be AWARE of those images that you are allowing into your mind. I will still watch FOX News, but I do more listening than watching, and I simply tune out their obligatory “sex stories” they run nearly each day. I will still watch football. I simply find things to occupy my mind during the commercials.

We are in a war my friend. Satan is a defeated foe and is playing for keeps. Like in any war, you have to stay on guard at all times. Read the sixth chapter of Ephesians today. All of those in God’s army need to have their armor on at all times. That is why I tell you all the time to not neglect your daily time with the Lord. That is where you will get the strength to stand and fight when the attacks come each day. Those attacks can come at any time, even when you are watching the news or a football game.

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller