What Shall We Read?

Each new day of our family life brought us fresh experiences, fresh revelations about one another, and added new blessings to our treasury of family happiness. How easy it is to speak about the beautiful qualities of the soul of the person you love! You do not need to invent anything—only to immerse yourself in the blessings of mutual love, scoop up by the handful what you live by, and give it to those who are interested.

I saw that our mutual love and the spirit of friendship became noticeable to other people as well. And when our acquaintances see the two of us together, they always smile at us, as if sharing our joy.

In fellowship with my wife, I noticed that, sharing with one another new knowledge and events, we bring up for discussion what we have read, watched, listened to, or pondered during the day.

I decided for myself to exclude television, and my wife supported me in this intention, but we still had the internet. Free newspapers are thrown into our mailbox. And not far from our house stands a former telephone booth with books, where anyone can bring and place everything he does not need so that others can take and read it.

I began to notice that different books started periodically appearing in our home, to which at first I paid no attention, trusting my wife. But when another spirit began to penetrate our conversations, I began to wonder where the source of what we were discussing was located.

Our meetings after forced separations began with hugs and kisses, and then came the question: “Do you know? …,” and a detailed retelling began of everything with which my wife had fed her mind during the day. And it was very easy for me to determine what my beloved had “eaten.” At first I did not attach importance to this and let all conversations about world events and about the lives of certain fictional characters pass by my ears, assuming that my wife is a spiritual person and would not allow something dangerous to our confession of faith into her heart.

I did not want to be a gendarme in my family and violate someone’s freedom by establishing my own rules. And I myself, having read all sorts of news on social networks, willingly shared with others what touched me. Over time our boundaries became blurred, and certain things that I had initially considered unclean and dangerous no longer frightened me and at times even began to attract me with their sensations. And the brighter the event was, the more of a “wow” it elicited in me. And when my wife told me her discoveries, I skillfully inserted into her narrative my knowledge of the political world order.

During the hours of Sabbath rest we laid aside all our worldly news and tried to spend the holy time in reverence. But it became more and more difficult for us to sanctify this day. And at times we impatiently glanced at the clock, awaiting sunset, in order to learn quickly what had happened in the world or how events would develop in the lives of the heroes of the books we were reading. At first, all these things did not hinder us from studying the Bible, and we even managed to have special revelations, because we saw how world events speak of the soon Coming of CHRIST.

And we also learned to mask our interests under feigned righteousness. It was so pleasant, sitting in church, to solemnly open the Bible at the needed place and to compare what was said with what was written. My spirit was even caught up by how spiritual we appeared from the outside.

One day our pastor visited us, and he did not begin to have conversations with us about religion but simply told about his life and attentively listened to our stories. He silently studied the contents of our bookshelves and asked whether we read what stood on them. Although not a word was said to us about this, I felt uneasy at the thought that someday the LORD might ask a similar question. The whole abyss of the condition to which we were so confidently moving opened to me. I suddenly realized how far I was from GOD, and how uninteresting it had become for me to spend time with Him, because I was pondering empty and earthly things. Although I continued, out of habit, to pray, it no longer brought the joy I had experienced at the very beginning of my acquaintance with the Truth.

And my wife, as if nothing had happened, in the simplicity of her heart began to tell which books she liked most and which events from them had influenced her feelings. I listened to her and realized that we were somewhere other than where we ought to have been.

The pastor listened to my wife with special interest and worked out some important task in his mind. I intervened and told our guest that I had understood everything, and that we would settle this matter within the circle of the family. The pastor was surprised but said nothing.

In the evening, when we were alone, I invited my wife to talk about what had been revealed to me and shared with her that my attachment to the world through reading news and various secular books posed a danger to our family. We were at risk of falling away from GOD while remaining members of His Church.

Although I spoke only about my own problems with reading, my wife guessed that this concerned her as well, and she said that she had also thought about it; but, seeing my silent agreement, she had not attached great importance, assuming that everyone in the church lives this way and willingly shares everything that is happening in the world.

I proposed that we take a spiritual fast and read nothing but the Bible. And together with this we decided to study on this topic the works of the Spirit of Prophecy as well.

And I myself began to pray even more, trying to understand what was wrong in my life. In Testimonies for the Church we read quite convincing recommendations about absolute abstinence from reading worldly literature and about how destructively it influences a person’s spiritual life. And when we both understood that through these means we were inviting into our home another spirit, we decided to rid ourselves of everything unclean and to remove from our shelves and from our phones the excess trash.

It turned out to be difficult to leave our social networks, where it had been so interesting to spend free time.

But we decided to replace virtual communication with live communication.

We also agreed that until we had studied all the books of the Spirit of Prophecy, we would not read anything else.

When I went to my profile in my favorite social network, I could not imagine how all this could be left. So many years had been spent on creating my world there, surrounding it with friends, gathering thousands of likes, filling albums with beautiful photographs. And to cross it all out just like that?! This was beyond my strength. My finger would not rise to perform such an action. To be lost in this world of fantasies turned out to be beyond my strength. I decided to tell on this platform about CHRIST, but I did not know how to implement it or what to say.

At first I was only able to delete everything empty and worldly. This took several days.

And my wife did not hide her tears, telling me that she had deleted all her social networks, and now she had only me and the LORD. And that from this time on only we could remain with her as her meaning and support. And I looked for justification for my decisions, but she did not ask me about myself, granting me the right to decide everything on my own.

The blessings did not delay themselves, and our spirit revived under the new conditions. It began to develop quickly and to bring abundant gifts.

1. Please read Mark 1:17–18; Ps. 1:1–3; 101:2–4; Eccl. 12:11–14; Prov. 29:18; Isa. 29:13–16; Luke 4:16–20; 1 Thess. 5:27–28; Neh. 8:1–8; Acts 8:26–35; 19:18–20 in light of this lesson.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. What other Bible verses came to your memory?

4. Can the enemy of the soul influence your mind through what you read?

5. How do you understand Mark 1:17–18 in the light of our time? Prov. 1:17–18.

6. What is best to do with those books in your home that have been revealed to you as dangerous for the soul?

7. Is it worth sometimes setting your dwelling in order to get rid of the accursed thing? Deut. 7:25.

8. Is it worth having wisdom when deciding to undertake a thorough housecleaning in your life?

9. Can newspapers, books, and social networks serve for the good of one’s neighbor?

10. Does GOD observe what you read and publish? Mal. 3:16.

11. What should be done if the LORD calls me to get rid of something, but my heart resists this and does not want to obey? Hos. 4:17.

12. Can my books of various subjects attract evil spirits?

13. Are various media interested in my salvation?

14. How do you understand Josh. 24:15 in the light of our lesson?

15. What will happen if I remove from my life all that is bad but do not fill that place with good? Matt. 12:43–45.