We bombard our brains with noise. As a young person I am now able to go through an entire day and never leave time for silence. But at what cost? It is in the quiet place that God speaks, where the conscience can be heard and secret things revealed. Silence allows us to think through difficult issues, sort out conflicting emotions and get right with God. Gaming, or media in general for that matter, can cause a fear of silence. In the noise, difficult issues become muddled and God can be hard to hear. We often hate to be left alone with our thoughts, emotions and God.

A good way to test your ability to handle silence is to experience it. Go off alone to a quiet place and don’t speak or make noise for an hour. How are you able to handle it? Silence stands in stark contrast to gaming which can captivate even the most ADD mind.

Several years ago some friends and I stopped speaking so that we could learn to listen. We meditated on the Scriptures, listened for God’s voice and to those around us. After that day of total awkward silence all three of us were bursting with new insights, new revelations and a new energy to take on life’s challenge.

Scripture passages which before had been shrouded to our distracted minds came alive. We each had the feeling that we had just spent valuable time with the Living God. We realized that to hear God’s still small voice we must be still enough to listen.

Jesus went out to the wilderness away from everyone. I am sure He spent vast amounts of that time silently meditating on the scriptures and listening for God’s voice. When we bombard our minds with images and noise we miss out on the serenity that flows from that quiet place.

The most tragic thing about silence is that we don’t notice when it is gone.

What do you think?

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Every beat of a man’s heart pulses the desire for greatness. We long to take up our sword and join in the fray. Yet, the lives of most men don’t look like a grand battle. They look more like a game of put-put golf. We don’t realize the things we do have little impact on the world outside the miniature golf course.  The game is fun, but it lacks meaning.

What has happened? 

We hear echos or war, the clash of resounding arms and we long to be a part of something greater than ourselves.  The drumbeat for battle echoes the beating of our hearts. But, we can’t see the battle because it is fought not with guns but with words and deeds. The war is not in trenches but in the arena of ideas. Our enemy twists the truth to steal, kill, and destroy.

Will we stand to fight him?

Throughout the centuries men of God have stood up against this unseen foe. They carried the torch of truth and now hold it for us to take. But, for many of us, the only battle we fight is against an enemy that doesn’t exist. Why invest hours trying to beat level thirty when a spiritual war wages all around you? If we, the generation of today, fail to take up the torch of truth, who will pass it on to the generation of tomorrow? Will history remember us as those who let it die?

All my life, adults told me that my generation would be the one that God would use to usher in revival. Yet, when I look around I see Christian youth sitting idle, getting entertained by their TVs, computers and youth groups. Where are the warriors training? Where are the strongmen who long to run into battle? Where are the warrior poets holding the torch of truth for all to see?  Most of them haven’t even signed up for boot camp. Encouraged by their mothers to value safety over obedience they are still boys. Boys living in men’s bodies. 

This is your invitation.

For you, boot camp can start today if you are willing. The only cost of admission is total commitment. There is no room for double mindedness among the soldiers of light. Those who sign up and then look back have no place in the Kingdom we fight for. Our General shares our allegiance with no one. We are either all His or not His at all. God has no grandchildren, step children, or part time warriors. We must follow him alone and with our whole hearts or admit we follow a different king.

But our journey does not end with bootcamp. Some of you reading this are already trained beyond your obedience to God.  If that is you, the next step is to do something with the hundreds of hours of sermons you have heard. Take the Gospel out of the church and share it with the lost. Feed the poor. Care for widows and orphans.

God has not called us to play defense against evil. We can’t win if the game ends with the score 0-0.  We won’t win by attending weekly Sunday training and then seldom showing up for the battle. God is calling boys to become men of God .

Will you be one of them?

Are you ready to put away childish things and get about your Father’s business? If so, there is a place for you. This book isn’t about helping you quit gaming. It’s an invitation to an adventure that is better than gaming.  This book will change your life, if you will let it.

You have been reading an excerpt from a chapter in my book Digital Cancer. What do you think?

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What is the difference between a fire cracker and a rifle round? They both have powerful gun powder and they both make people jump through sheer noise. The firecracker has no control. Whereas when a round dwells in the barrel, the rifle focuses the power of the powder blasting the bullet hundreds of yards away.

The rifle round can change the course of history, the fire cracker amuses children. Does your life look like a rifle round or a fire cracker?

When God calls us to go somewhere He simultaneously calls us to not go anywhere else. For example, when God called Paul to Macedonia He thereby called him not to go to Asia. We, like Paul, cannot be two places at once or do two things at the same time.

If we want to change the world for God we must learn to say "no." He wants us to focus our lives just like a round is focused down the barrel. As God gives direction, hold on to it for dear life. View every decision through the prism of “how will this help me fulfill the purpose God has given me for this season?” You must say “no” to anything outside your vision. When you say “yes” to distractions you are saying “no” to the things God has called you to do.

Focus.

It is better to do a few things well than to do many things poorly. Do ing less means no ing more. Jesus had to say “no” often because he focused on the will of His Father.  Could you imagine how the crowds must have felt when He just up and left to spend time with God?  He had a vision for His life and he stuck to it, even to the point of death.

Getting vision is like putting on glasses. The world becomes clear, yet God calls us to more. He wants us to put the rifle to our shoulder and zoom in on the scope. He wants to refine our vision. That means not looking at most of what you can see so you peer into the impossible. Once you have that vision for your life you can see what you must do and what must not do.  Jesus changed the world by focusing on twelve men. He aimed for the impossible and hit His mark. God has placed us where we are for tactical and strategic Kingdom victories.  We must not despise the day of small beginnings.

When seeking God for vision and direction for our lives we must ask the question: How does what I am doing glorify God and bring me closer to Him? Are we  glorifying God as we pretend to sin in video games? God does not take joy in the death of the wicked yet we are pretending to kill wicked people in violent computer games.

However, for most of us it would be difficult to prove how gaming or entertainment for that matter fits within the plan God has for our lives. Our focus becomes muddled between serving God and pleasing ourselves. At best entertainment is a diversion. At worst it is a deadly distraction pulling us away from the true adventure God has called us to live. Entertainment can not only take time away from kingdom pursuits, it also can cause our minds to dwell on that which is unholy.

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Hello Friends,
Quick note.

For those of you who only get this blog via Facebook, you are missing out. You get way more coolness and less hassle when you subscribe via email or RSS .

I have started blogging at cgames.com . Think of it as the rough draft of the book I am writing about the dangers of digital gaming . Brain Morgan is a contributing writer to the cgames blog .  Those of you who haven’t read his stuff will see he’s a smart guy.

I will continue to write on this blog about politics, religion and public speaking and technology. But the book related posts will now all wind up at cgames . You can even get the cgames posts delivered directly to your email in-box . How cool is that?

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Here are some interesting thoughts from Father Raymond J. de Souza

“Don’t play video games. Don’t own them. And for the sake of all that is good and holy, don’t buy them for your children.

“Video games are like a black hole into which time disappears. Students today often confess to wasting a couple of hours a day on them. Corporate Canada likely loses whole weeks of productive work to those who are playing games at work. Video games have some kind of addictive allure that means any number of hours is not enough. It is always possible to play again — to rise to that “next level” which somehow acquires near-mystical importance. They are the crack cocaine of the electronic world.”

He also says

“My mother, whose principal goal in bringing up her children was not to affirm our self-esteem, was fond of telling us that only unintelligent children got bored. Our house had books and toys and siblings, and we had our imaginations — my mother thought that more than sufficient for any child to amuse himself. Television, let alone video games, wasn’t necessary.”

Read the full article The crack cocaine of the electronic world.

Thanks to Brenda for the link.

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In the movie The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn takes a risk by going into the mountain of the dead. He went in hopes of securing for Gondor reinforcements to aid in the fight against evil. The dead while an unlikely ally in this cause ended up making the difference.

I have been thinking a lot lately about why I am writing a book about the dangers of digital gaming. And frankly, it’s not about the games. My heart is to see a generation of young men rise up as men of God and start living kingdom centered lives.

Imagine what would happen if thousands of gamers suddenly dropped their nets and started following Jesus like the men in the New Testament. I see gaming as an area filled with bound men who have huge potential for changing the world.

Many of my friends have hearts that burn for various nations around the world or even for the nations in general. My heart is to see the world reached but my heart burns for the United States. The U.S. church is withdrawing from society so quickly I am afraid we are quickly on our way to becoming another England or Europe.

If we are to see victory we need to gain small tactical victories that can lead, through Christ, to bigger victories and I think setting gamers free from gaming is one of those areas.

Like Aragorn I want to go into a place unlikely to yield greatness and find mighty warriors for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. I don’t hate video games. But, I love Jesus and I want to see an army raised up that will make a change for good.

I want to see men of God run after Jesus whole heartedly. Thats why I am writing this book.

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