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The Visual Generation - The Death of Discernment by Rev Michael Bresciani, July 2008When Chairman Mao of China wanted to reach an entire generation, many who were illiterate, he produced his communist message in "comic book" style. It resulted in an entire generation of youth jumping onboard Mao's red wagon and subsequently tearing down the culture and traditions and the very structures of one of the oldest societies in the world.
In America it is mindless, Godless and feckless TV programming, You Tube and Hollywood's latest offering of films that pour images on an entire generation. The result is exactly the same as it was in China but on a much larger scale and with so much more to lose.
If you asked anyone who is considering voting for Barack Obama or any liberal why they chose that candidate, the answer you will most likely hear is, "I like him." or "he looks good to me."
If he, she or it looks good that's good enough for the "media generation." No discernment needed, wisdom is too hard to acquire and who has more than a few seconds of time in this world of screen shots, blips and spot messages to look any deeper. A new language and a new media has developed that thrives on abbreviated communications; OMG could I be talking about texting?
People who read entire books and articles to learn something or to see an authors point are becoming rare. Just getting to this sentence means you probably are one of those people. You may have read some Hemingway, Joyce, even Shakespeare or at the very least the morning paper. You may be one of the rare breed of people that actually forms opinions and conclusions based on a careful weighing of all the facts.
In the Bible (1 Cor 12:10) there is mention of a "spiritual gift" known as "discerning of spirits." Unfortunately that gift is often placed in a list of charismatic type gifts that end up being thought of as something only practiced by a few Pentecostal people. In fact the language of 1:Cor 12:10 connotes the idea of a 'judging through' of any and all matters not a fleeting spiritual thought dropping out of the ether.
Discerning of spirits is a God given enterprise that does not work unless God is brought into the equation. He unveils, reveals or shows the deepest meaning of things to the deepest people. They are a peculiar people who weigh everything and refuse to make prejudiced and extraneous judgments based only on what they see or have heard from the grape vine, the media or God knows where!
It is the rarity of such people that serves as only one of a few reasons that can be found for the wholesale blindness that seems to be accompanying the decisions made by the American public about their presidential candidates.
The biblically based reason is far more obvious and it reads like this, "In whom the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not" (2 Cor 4:4a) It is what allows people to assent to what late night talk show hosts say about candidates instead of listening to the candidates themselves and comparing that to all that has gone before. It is almost perverse, because it is a "spirit" that drives the average person to use no "spiritual" discernment at all.
It is what causes thousands to think Rick Warren is actually helping the American public to choose a better candidate by bringing John McCain and Barack Obama to "Saddleback" so they can smooth out their differences. The program or show (side show) is partly sponsored by Meg Riley who formerly headed up her denomination's homosexual advocacy office. It raises the serious question of whose purpose is the author of "The Purpose Driven Life" fulfilling? It's a show, a visual, and a media attraction with or without knowing exactly what is really driving Rick Warren's purpose. What Evangelist Bill Keller told his over two million subscribers on his daily devotional July 26, 2008, was that Warrens sideshow is a "load of garbage."
Has Keller crossed the sacred PC line and sinned against society? No, what he has really done is used God given discernment based on sound scriptural teachings and mustered the guts to say it out loud to a You Tube generation that would rather watch hours of delightful nonsense and tripe rather than discern anything that matters. Kudos to Bill Keller, shame on Rick Warren!
Sadly, what is really happening is what the Apostle James and other biblical authors predicted would become commonplace as we approach the second coming of Christ. James said,"Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" (James 2:4) King James Version or not this is exactly the meaning of "choosing between the lesser of two evils." Not much discernment needed to know what that means. This is America today.
The greatest loss from the abandoning of discernment is that America has lost the connection. We are no longer able to discern the "connection" between our morality and all the other issues. The truth is that the economy, our security, and all the other matters of our national life depend on and are inextricably linked to our morality. We have mistakenly allocated morality to an aspect of our religious life and have thereby disconnected it from our own larger national welfare and security.
Political candidates, the news media and pundits rant about the economy, the war, taxes, crime and all the so called "critical issues" while ignoring the gross immorality of homosexuality, abortion, media filth, evolutionary dogma that passes itself of as academic freedom and general sensory driven visual tripe from Hollywood and similar sources. Morality is relegated to the churches and a few PC deficient fundamentalist Bible thumping diehards who just won't seem to go away.
The result of all this distraction derived from the lack of discernment is in a word: judgment. But is it inevitable? Does the sun Rise? Does the sun set? It is God's judgment that follows the refusal to use our own better judgment.
Using judgment is not a luxury that is reserved for a few and can be ignored by all others. In fact it is a biblical imperative that if ignored will have an immediate and devastating effect on everyone in our nation "The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace." (Isa 59:8)
The simplest rule for using good judgment turns out to be just the opposite of what is being done in America's visual generation. Here it is; "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24)
If you have any discernment left and you must if you've gotten this far into this article then let me suggest that you pray for America to once again make decisions based on sound wisdom and spiritual discernment. Related
http://www.americanprophet.org has since 2005 featured the articles of columnist Rev Michael Bresciani along with news and reviews that have earned this site the title of The Website for Insight Millions have read his timely reports and articles in online journals and print publications across the nation and the globe.  A Special Invitation to You 
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