Steppin To A New Level Of Thinking Aa Series

Steppin To A New Level Of Thinking

GNLCC 3/12/2006 Proverb s 4:20-27 Philippians 4:4-9

Let’s suppose for a moment, that Bob is out with friends and they talk him into using come cocaine. Bob goes ahead and does it and thinks nothing of it. The next day he goes for a job interview, and the interview goes well. It’s a good paying job one that he’s been looking forward to. As a matter of fact the interviewer tells Bob, I can see right now, you’re the man for the job. Be prepared to start next week. Just go down the hall and take the drug test. As soon as I get the results I’ll let you know when you can start. Is Bob going to get that job?

Let’s suppose for a moment, Janice’s car is on empty before she leaves for work. She decides to use the gas that’s in the gas can in the garage to get to the filling station. But she doesn’t know that her husband had washed out the gas can and put soapy water in it in order to wash away some stains on the back yard patio. She’s not paying much attention as she pours the liquid into the tank. She’s just glad when she turns the key, the car is no longer on dead E. Is Janet going to make it to work on time.

Let’s suppose for a moment that you come downstairs and see a bottle on the table with skulls and crossbones on it. Poison is written all over the bottle. Do you call 911 to report the bottle on the table? Of course not. But what if you saw the bottle spilled open on the counter and a member of your family lying on the floor not moving. Would you be searching for a phone?

In each of these illustrations, we find that what we think, determines how we act. Do you think Bob would have tried that cocaine if he knew there was going to be a drug test as part of the interview? Did Janet’s belief that she was doing the right thing make her car work? Did you panic at the sight of the poison? No, you think as long as the stuff is on the outside of you, it will not affect you. Would you have called 911 if your thought your family member was playing a joke on you. What we think determines our ultimate actions.

The key to changing a behavior is to change the way you think. As adults our government set us up for the War in Iraq, by changing the way we think. They showed us pictures of things that we were told were weapons of Sadaam Hussain, ready to be launched at us and our allies. Now we know they were simply trucks. They told us they had undeniable proof that weapons of mass destruction were being produced. Now we know they never existed. They made us believe that future terrorist attacks were imminent if we did not invade Iraq. They had us believing that the Iraqi people could not wait for us to liberate them, and that there would be dancing and singing in the streets at the sight of American soldiers.

Little by little we swallowed these lies and they began to become a part of the way we thought. We became warmongers and allowed our government to attack and destroy a nation simply because we had the power to do so. Now as a result, everyday American soldiers and Iraqi people die, because someone changed the way we think It’s not longer full page news and politicians showing up when our soliders die in battle. Why were we manipulated and for whose benefit.

Not too long ago I saw a special on the music industry. They showed how recording companies pay bribes to radio stations to play their songs more often than their competitor’s. The more air time a song gets, the more cd’s they sell. So when songs make the top 10, they are not necessarily the best songs or the best artists. They may be nothing more than the songs, companies bribed stations to play the most often. You can be the greatest artist and never crack a chart or even be heard. If you don’t have payoff money.

Now music is one of the things that is used to change the way we think. Where is it that our youth get their messages from about life, about sex, and about success? They get about 10 Minutes a week from a pastor if they attend church. They get hours and hours from the music industry. We have put the wrong people in charge of educating our youth, and are paying them a hefty sum of money to do it.