Who takes out the trash at Peggie's REAL Place? That's a million dollar question, quite appropriate as Peggie's Place hit the 100,000 mark at 1 a.m. on Friday, January 10, 1998, (and I stayed up to watch it!) - and as in mid-February, 2004, the counter passed the nine million mark - now, February 2005, 10 million! To God be the glory! BUT must remind myself that this same webmaster, glowing with pride--and the goodness of God--also still had to take out the garbage. A REALITY check!
AND a perfect lead-in for the REAL devotional this week! For I am discovering first-hand that the world--AND the WWW, places of real beauty and enjoyment--are also places of real trauma and trash! I surf the web enough, I receive e-mail enough, to know that all is not well in our world. TRASHman--and you can guess who he is--is busy traveling the streets, highways, and dark corners of our world. If you're not careful, even as a devout Christian, you can be anesthesized--and fooled--by the clean, newly-painted sanitation truck he sometimes drives--but remember, it's FULL of garbage!
And I'm mad--righteous indignation, you can call it--but the devil, enemy to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, has perverted the good things God has given us, has counterfeited and camouflaged them, and is now delivering them to our world every day--and every night. You'll bump into him as you do a simple search on a Web search engine; you'll find him in your e-mail box; you'll catch him TRYING to trip you up! How? Come to the Well and find out!
A Helping Word...or Two!
The TRASHman is trashing LOVE!
Remember the old movies with wonderful, old-fashioned love stories? First there was love, then marriage, and THEN the baby carriage. We live in a promiscuous society where sex before marriage is considered acceptable, even TRENDY--whether on television, the WWW, or real life. So look out--here comes TRASHMAN...and he's got a fake! Satan has taken what God means for the delight of a married couple and trashed it into the destruction of a sick society. It bombards our world--it's in the daily newspaper, on the TV screen, and on the Worldwide Web. Porn, promiscuous living, perversion, paid sex,--and AIDS. For the TRASHman pays...deadly wages!
Christians, awake! Let's be alert to the schemes of Satan. Let's teach our children the moral values we learned as children in the home and the church. Let's watch where we surf on the Internet. Let's protect what God has given us to enjoy. Sex is for marriage--let's KEEP it there!
The TRASHman is trashing JOY!
Remember the Christmas carol we just sang in December? "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!" He HAS and HE has brought real joy to millions of hearts. BUT look out--for here comes TRASHman...and he's got a fake! It's wrapped up in a pretty package called fun--and we all like to have fun. But untie the fancy bow, take off the wrappings, and inside the box you'll find TRASH. Click the TV channels and see "so-called" humor on the sitcoms. Listen to the late night shows and the ribald jokes. Then click it off--and go to the newest place for worldly fun--the Internet. Do a search for the word "humor" (please DON'T!!), and see what comes up. TRASHman has filled the Internet with filthy, forbidden humor. That's fun? That's joy? No way, TRASHman...you're on your way to hell, and taking millions with you. Millions who think they are having fun...
Christians, awake! Let's be alert to the schemes of Satan. Let's enjoy good, clean humor--I like to smile as much as you do, and there's lots of fun, wholesome places to surf on the Web. There's lots of fun games to play, and selected videos to watch with your family. There's fun places to go, fun things to see--and yes, fun things to eat (like chocolate)! So don't turn OFF your smile--just aim it in the right direction!!
The TRASHman is trashing PEACE!
Do you remember the peace that filled your heart when Jesus came in? It turned your world into heaven on earth. Now the high emotion of that moment does not last--we'd be basket cases if it did--but the deep, settled peace Christ offers us remains, in the still places of our heart when we need it, thank God! But look out...for here comes TRASHman again, this time for sure with his shiny, white truck, newly painted, and smell-proof. Listen closely and you might even hear his soothing New Age music playing in the background! He's got all kinds of new religions in his trash truck--PEACEful ones, meditative ones, on-your-way-to-hell ones....because they are all fake. Peace, real peace, comes from Jesus Christ, and no where else!
Christians, awake! Let's be alert to the schemes of religious men who subtlely try to attract you to their special brand of peace. If it's not in God's Word, it's not peace--remember that. Let's be careful what we "swallow" in the guise of Christianity--even certain "angel" places on the Web that are not God's angels at all. They're fake--TRASHman has put them there. If in your spirit you feel something is not quite right, then move on. God has better things for you--the REAL thing!
What's TRASHman's plot? He's out to steal virtue, kill joy, and destroy peace...if we let him. Place a big sign at the entrance to your driveway--"TRASHman, don't stop! This is God's property, and you are not welcome here--today or ANY day!" Send him stormin' down the road--right to hell--where he belongs, and where he will be some day!
Then, let's each do our part to spread the TRUE love, joy, and peace of God around the neighborhoods of our world. Jesus Christ came into the world as a man, to die as God's Son--to take back what Satan means for evil, and to bring good--honor, joy, and blessing--into our lives. Remember, as someone once said, "God don't make no junk!" The love, joy and peace He gives are the REAL thing, so TRASHman, be gone! The GODman is here--and HE has won!
"'Twas the Night before Easter!" - popular parody at Peggie's Place! . . . More Easter resources
