Think On These Things

 Philippians 4:6-9, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

The Bible teaches in Philippians 4:8 above that we should think about these eight different things:

1. true
2. honest
3. just
4. pure
5. lovely
6. good report
7. virtue
8. praise

How does that compare to the daily news? I refuse to watch the daily news, because it is so negative and full of bad things. All of the reporters wear mini-skirts, whorish in their attire. Tv has become so filthy. We are surrounded by ugly things in American culture. The news these days is anything but fair and balanced. Nearly all so-called “truth” that we hear is mixed with lies. We live in a nation of liars. I bought a Marie Callender's Chicken Corn Chowder Pot Pie at the store. I bought it because it said 450 calories on the front. But then when I went to heat it up, I noticed on the back panel that it contains 980 calories. Why did they lie? Obviously they want to convince people that it is lower in calories than it actually is. If people saw 980 calories on the front cover, much fewer people would purchase it. Marie Callender's are LIARS!!! We live in a nation of liars, deceivers and dishonest greedy people.

Let's look again at our list of things which the Bible says to think about, things that are:

1. true
2. honest
3. just
4. pure
5. lovely
6. good report
7. virtue
8. praise

We don't hear much praise these days on television do we? Politicians are at each other's throats, attacking one another. The media are predators, hunting down anybody they can to destroy their name and life! They do this for ratings and money. Sometimes the vile newsmedia will add a one minute nice story at the end, after giving you 29 minutes of horror, filth, bad news, scuttlebutt and crime galore; but then they'll end with a nice story of a dog rescued under some debris in a fallen building, or someone who gave their lunch away to a homeless person. We are a sick society! We've lost our decency. Bad news is at a premium nowadays. Media outlets pay big figures for bad news! In fact, they pay millions of dollars oftentimes for negative news, gossip and hurtful slander. Anything to make more filthy lucre!

Philippians 4:8 makes very clear that as God's children we need to control our thought life. The owners of Netflix belong in prison. As of 2020, Netflix has a staggering 192,950,000 paid viewers worldwide. Netflix is guilty of promoting Satanic hardcore filth, homosexuality and transgender perversion. This is social engineering, indoctrinating the world's masses to accept homosexuality and all manner of immorality and perversion. The Antichrist in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3 is called the “Man of Sin.” This explains why the world is being led to accept sin, to prepare the world's masses to receive the Man of Sin when he comes.

As Christians, one of our seven spiritual weapons in Ephesians 6:12-18 is righteousness. This includes both God's imputed righteousness, and one's own practical righteousness. Proverbs 28:1, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.” Nothing weakens a preacher's message like when his name is tarnished by sin. Satan fully knows that if he can destroy the credibility of a preacher, he has ruined his effectiveness as a preacher. This is why Satan is called “the accuser of the brethren” in Revelation 12:10. You're never more like the Devil than when you accuse others.

The heathen newsmedia accuse whoever they don't like. The world accuses godly Christians, but overlooks the sins of their own (John 15:19). David Lee Roth (lead singer of the sexually immoral band Van Halen) has a spotless record on Wikipedia. This is the man whom the New York Post said invented the drive-thru of fornication after his rock concerts. Yet, if you read about Pastor Jack Hyles on Wikipedia, all manner of evil is unjustly associated with his name, merely because he was a fundamentalist Bible-preacher. They are blaming Dr. Hyles for crimes committed by people who worked for him several years earlier. Why doesn't Wikipedia apply the same scrutiny to David Lee Roth? If they did, Mr. Roth would have an ugly Wikipedia page a mile long!!! We can clearly see the hatred of the world against godly Christians, but their acceptance of the degenerate wickedness of their own kind. Woe unto the world!

I had a Facebook user who was infatuated with pedophilia news. This is a Christian man. He sent me everything he could find on the subject, so I blocked out his messages. I don't want to read that crap! The guy has a problem controlling what he allows into his mind. I don't hesitate to block out anybody who brings negativity into my life. I refuse to allow anyone to drag me down with them!!! You need to do the same. If you have a parent or a family member who is abusive toward you, who disrespects you, you need to filter your phone calls. Do not allow them to call you at their whim, pushing your buttons. I have an answering machine that filters all my calls. I decide when someone can contact me, not them. 

Kindly, an emergency on your part doesn't necessarily constitute an emergency on my part. If someone is making your life miserable, you have to filter them. When my former wife (who divorced me in 2006) was harassing me years later, I turned off my phone's ringer and only checked for messages once a week. That worked great! I cannot work on my ministry while being distracted by an angry woman who doesn't honor me. I don't block people out completely, because I love everybody, but I don't allow them to run my life either. Think on these things the Bible says, things that are just, lovely, pure, honest and of good report.

Think on these things:

1. true
2. honest
3. just
4. pure
5. lovely
6. good report
7. virtue
8. praise

The Bible is not giving us a suggestion in Philippians 4:8, but a command. We are commanded to think on things that are true, honest, lovely, virtuous, just, good report, pure and of praise. Hobbies are a great thing! I love pedal steel guitar. It is a good and honest hobby. I love all instruments with strings. I don't play as much as I used to, because I have been sad and lonely without a wife, in bodily pain all the time, and I am at home most of the time on disability, with no friends. That is why I write about Harvest Baptist Church on Guam so much, because they were my church family in 2014, but they sinfully kicked me out and have ostracized me since, because they are selfish, horrible, uncaring, wicked people. Yet, God's grace sustains me in my loneliness. One of my favorite sermons by Pastor Jack Hyles is called: “When You Have To Stand Alone.” That is my sermon; I am standing alone, while Harvest Baptist Church on Guam drops the ball for God.

God didn't just put this verse in the Bible to humor us, but to give us a recipe for happiness. Garbage in equals garbage out! The human mind is like a sponge. If you think negative, you're going to be negative. I avoid negative people. I love happy music. I love a beautiful rainbow, a red sunset, a dew filled morning, a windy evening, a delicious meal, a pretty lady, et cetera. Life is largely what we make it! I live with depression and loneliness, but I am happy in my misery. I have the peace and joy of the Lord. I enjoy a good meal. I enjoy a good movie. I enjoy going to church. I enjoy listening to the King James Bible. I enjoy working on my website ministry. I enjoy the little things in life.

Psalms 23:1-6, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”