The culture we live in can easily shape our attitudes and values. But if we are going to be true followers of Christ, all other allegiances must be renounced, and we must become assimilated into the Kingdom of God.

Host: Steve Gallagher has joined me in the studio. Steve is the president and founder of Pure Life Ministries. Steve, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.

Steve: I'm happy to be here.

Host: Steve, we want to talk today, as we continue our discussions in your book, “Intoxicated with Babylon,” about the chapter entitled “Indoctrination.” I want to read just a short statement that you made in this chapter. You said,

“It should be no surprise that when a person comes to Christ after years of listening to these affirmations of self-interest, he needs the Word of God to reshape his thinking and reorder his values.”

What are these affirmations that you're talking about?

Steve: Well, you're referring to this chapter where I begin to deal with the influences that the spirit of the world has on believers. Basically, what I'm saying is that we have been raised in this American culture that our minds, attitudes, values and perspectives have all been shaped by. And when you come to Christ, you become a citizen of a new culture. It's the Kingdom of God, and if you've truly been converted, then there's going to be an overthrow of the old allegiance and in its place, there's going to be a new allegiance to a new kingdom. And the way that the mind gets adjusted to this new kingdom is through a saturation of the Word of God and to some degree, a separation from the voice of the spirit of this world.

Host: You went on to say that the genuineness of our conversion really can be measured by how serious we take this need.

Steve: Well, certainly I think it's one of the standards of measurement we can look at in our lives. We need to ask ourselves, “How much has my life really changed?” And you shouldn’t take that question lightly. You may go to church, you may say all the Christian things, but how much is your daily life shaped by God's perspectives versus how much is your daily life shaped by the culture in which you live?

Host: You also went on to say that not only is there this general American kind of way of looking at life that has an influence on us, but really you pinpointed the whole area of entertainment. In general, in what ways has entertainment impacted us?

Steve: Well, let me just quote from my book, because this really just lays out the enormity of entertainment in the typical Christians life.

“America has become so addicted to entertainment that we cannot conceive of life without it. Americans play cards, board games, golf, baseball, soccer and football. They go swimming, biking, bowling, boating and fishing. They go to the movies, the beach, amusement parks, shopping malls and outlet centers. They read newspapers, magazines, romance novels and tabloids. They surf the internet, visit chat rooms, rent movies, play video games and spend endless hours sitting in front of a television screen. In short, there is no end to our indulgences when it comes to entertainment.”

Host: Now, what you've just described is the typical American, and might I add, Christian life.

Steve: Yeah, and that's my point for mentioning that is because it shows you how little room God has in our daily life and how obsessed we have become with basically indulging our flesh.

Host: So that really is the issue, isn't it? Not necessarily that each of these things is wicked in and of themselves, but it is to the extent that it excludes God from our life.

Steve: That's the point. The issue is that we have this addiction to entertainment and we have to constantly be gratifying our senses. And what that lifestyle does is, it diminishes a sense of hunger for God and His kingdom because the more your flesh is agitated by entertainment, the harder it is to quiet yourself and get into a spirit of devotion to God.

Host: Well, I can just use an example in my own life and make this very simple. If after a hard day at work, I had the option to sit down and turn the television set on and flip through the channels, or if I had the option to go spend some time in the Word of God, my flesh is going to want to choose the television. And we don’t have cable television here at Pure Life for good reason.

Steve: I agree. Occasionally, when I'm in a hotel room, I can turn on the television. Kathy and I can watch The History Channel or something, but I know for myself that if I had cable at home, it would not end at one show. I would watch one and then I’d want to watch another. That’s why I don’t have cable television.

Host: Yeah. Well, let's park on this for a minute. I hope people will listen with an open heart because there really are some things about television that you talk about and I think are very helpful for us to understand in really being more discerning about the impact that television has on us. You mentioned in your book that there is a decisive message coming out of the medium of television.

Steve: Well, there definitely is a message and the message is: you can have life without God. I mentioned in the book that this message is even in shows as innocuous as “The Andy Griffith Show,” and it doesn't get much more innocent than that. Even in that show, you're going through a plot, whatever the corny little plot is, but I guarantee you God is not in that plot. And so, when you sit in front of a television set and you're going from show to show to show, from storyline to storyline, every one of these storylines are people living out their lives without God. God has no input. They're not seeking His will. They're not looking to Him for help. They're not depending on Him. It's life without God. What happens when you spend two or three hours every single night having that message pumped into your mind and into your heart? Well, you're affecting your spiritual life when you do that.

Host: Yes. And we're really naive to think otherwise.

Steve: There is a reason why advertisers spend millions of dollars for 60 seconds of precious airtime. Because they understand what Christians don't seem to want to face up to, and that is that television is a very powerful medium to affect people's thinking. We don't want to face up to it because we don't want to let our beloved little darling go and that's just the truth of it.

Host: Yeah. Another good point that I felt like you made is that television changes our view about our own sin.

Steve: Yes, it definitely does that. I mean, think about the different programs, whether it's CSI or comedies or whatever. They are all the enactment and the glorification of the deeds of the flesh. That's what television is all about. So, number one, we love television because our flesh loves television and it loves what's on that television. And number two, the more that we are focusing our minds and opening our hearts to that kind of message of sin, the smaller we will view our struggles with lust, with coveting, with lying and with all the other sins that we can think of as “minor sins.” It will cause us to minimize the evil nature of the sins we commit.

Host: Another point that you made about the impact of television is that it leads to a passivity and an apathy regarding spiritual life.

Steve: Yeah, you know, Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8, KJV) Now, let's be honest, how many Christians really take any of that seriously? The word sober and vigilant refer to a spiritual alertness. It's like the soldiers in Vietnam. When they were on guard duty, they understood that the Viet Cong would wait until the early morning hours while they were sound asleep, when no one was expecting an attack and that's when they would stage their surprise assaults on the camp. So, they were very alert for every sound they heard in the jungle. Well, it's also true of us and when the enemy plans his attack and television tends to put us in a state of passivity. You're sitting in a recliner, a lazy boy chair, and your heart is wide open, your mind is open and you're just allowing the spirit of the world to infuse your inner man with his thinking, his perspectives and his mindset.

Host: You know, until you said it, I don't think I'd ever thought about the fact that it's called a lazy boy chair.

Steve: And that says it all, doesn’t it.

Host: It really does. And you mentioned Vietnam. I like what Tozer said, “Men think of the world not as a battleground, but as a playground.” And it's just true that the American Church is not grasping the idea that we are in a spiritual War.

Steve: Well, that's because most of them are not in a spiritual war. They are just floating downstream with everything else.

Host: Or have already been captured by the enemy.

Steve: Yeah. Basically, I have come to believe that most American Christians have never really gone through the conversion experience that would give them the kind of discernment you need to spot the voice of the enemy. That's why they just fall right in line with the culture that we live in and this whole television culture is a big part of that phenomenon.