The general theme of the articles in this issue of Words of Truth is the Word of God. As we begin
a new year, what better object can we have before us for the coming year than for the Word of
God to have a more prominent place in our lives. How much we need to feed upon the Word and,
indeed, to "labor … for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life" (John 6:27). But we need
much more than storing up Biblical facts, learning Scriptural doctrines, and committing verses to
memory. These are very important and necessary, to be sure, but by themselves are not very
helpful to our spiritual lives. It is like eating and swallowing a piece of bread, only to have it lie
in a lump at the bottom of the stomach; it will not provide energy to the body or build up the
tissues of the body unless it is digested, absorbed, and assimilated. So it is with God’s Word. It
only becomes good to us as we allow it to act upon our hearts and consciences, to change our way
of thinking and our way of behaving, and to guide us in all the ways of our daily lives.

I fear we often (and it is sadly true of myself) read God’s Word with the main thought of seeing
how it applies to our brother or our neighbor. So as we learn new truths, new principles, our first
thought tends to be, "This Scripture certainly applies to Brother X," or, "This is a good one to
throw at my wife’s cousin." How often, when we read the Word, do we honestly, earnestly
beseech God as did the Psalmist:"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my
thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me" (Psalm 139:23, 24). In Hebrews 4:12 we
read that "the Word of God … is a discerner [or literally, a ‘critic’] of the thoughts and intents of
the heart." Do we allow the Word to criticize us as we read it? This is not an easy thing to do:the
flesh within us rebels at such a thought. But this is the only means of spiritual growth. We must
not be sparing of ourselves. We must allow the Word to do its necessary work in our own lives
before we can think of wielding that "sword of the Spirit" toward others. May we learn to use the
Word to build up others and criticize ourselves, rather than to tear down others and defend
ourselves.

The article on television m this issue may at first appear to be out of place as far as the general
theme of this issue is concerned; however, it was actually selected with the theme in mind. Can
anyone think of a force present in today’s world that so eats into the time of God’s children and
so deadens the appetite for spiritual food as television? But not only is it a negative influence in
the sense of taking the place of God’s Word in the believer’s life; there are positive though very
often insidious evils in television. I speak not only of the obscenity, the sensuality, and the
violence:these are the more obvious evils found on television, and I hope that our readers are at
least attempting to keep themselves and their children from watching programs which are
characterized by these particular evils. The more subtle evil lies in the philosophies of life which
pervade the programming These are the philosophy of permissiveness (liberty to do whatever one
wants to do his own thing"), materialism (keeping up with the Joneses), fighting for our rights
relativism of sin (that is, the idea that an action is wrong or sinful, only if another person is
harmed by it), and evolutionism, to name a few, These philosophies are presented as much, if not
more, in the "clean" programs_the news analyses, the documentaries, social commentaries, and
so-called "family programming"_than in the movies and "adult programming." I have no doubt
that Satan is using this device as a very insidious, and effective, means of chipping away at the
Christian’s foundation in the truth and filling the cracks with these worldly philosophies.

Let me hasten to add that these problems and evils are not by any means the exclusive property
of television. The same philosophies pervade the radio, newspaper, and secular magazines. The
effect on the senses may be more profound and lasting with television, hitting as it does both eye
and ear, but radio with its "talk programs" (an extremely potent source of our opinions and
thought patterns are the opinions of the common folk, the people just like ourselves), and
newspapers and magazines with their editorials, commentaries, and worldly-minded selection of
news stories.

Let us be watchful. Let us be extremely careful in our choice of what we read, what we hear, and
what we look at. May our thought patterns, our attitudes, our opinions be formed only by the
Word of God.

"Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and READ" (Isaiah 34:16).

"HEAR the Word of the Lord, all ye … that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord" (Jeremiah
7:2).

"Go VIEW the land.. . . There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed" (Joshua 2:1; 13:1).

"But we all, with open face BEHOLDING as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18).