What Shall We Watch and Listen To?

Reflecting on how reading all kinds of literature and being on social networks influence us and our family, my wife and I also paid attention to the following: no less do we get affected by what we listen to and what we watch.

There is a radio in my car, and when my wife and I drove long distances, we chose a station where we could listen to chanson or pleasant contemporary songs. Although not all of them turned out to have good content, and some even provoked irritation, there were also pleasant melodies with romantic lyrics. And this convinced us that such radio programs could be listened to.

Sometimes we put on discs with Christian songs, which at times were no different from worldly ones, but the frequent repetition of the same melodies tired us, and we returned to the radio again, which did not cease to delight us with its variety.

When a song about debauchery or violence came on, we tried to turn it down, hoping that the next piece would be better.

Somewhere we had heard that music can influence our character and turn us away from GOD. And we even tried for a time to abstain from listening to worldly melodies, but the habit of being in constant noise prevailed, and we turned the radio on again.

Some songs we liked so much and they stuck to the tongue that we had to hum them during the day. Sometimes that, too, became annoying, but we did not know how to get rid of it—and did not want to.

It always surprised me that any performer has a couple of lyrical songs that open your heart, and when you think that everything about him is so wonderful, you run into all kinds of impurity. And you end up listening to that too, since this singer sang something beautiful for you.

One day our pastor advised us to watch a television program called “Hell’s Bells,” which talked about the author of worldly works, especially rock music. We watched it and pondered. It turned out that all this time we had been listening to Satan and singing his songs to him while calling ourselves GOD’s children! We felt uneasy. We decided to discuss this matter at a family council.

We knelt and asked for GOD’s guidance for our conversation. Reflecting on what we had listened to and how it influenced us, it became clear to us that the worldly spirit was gradually taking possession of our consciousness and hindering our spiritual growth. GOD’s truths did not touch our hearts as they had at the beginning of our acquaintance with GOD. And calm Christian hymns seemed boring and droning to us. Although we had read that music has an enormous influence on the human mind, we for some reason thought that this must be some kind of angelic song, especially beautiful, which everyone likes.

Regarding rock and jazz we agreed at once that this is bad and harmful, but we did not know what to do with lyrical songs that so tugged at the soul.

We decided to fast and pray about this topic. I proposed, just in case, to delete from the house and from all electronic devices all works that have no relation to religion and our faith. Although this was hard for us, we thought it better to listen to nothing than to feed our minds with all sorts of trash. Perhaps this looked radical, but we needed to do something, for we so wanted to remove from our home everything accursed.

All discs, cassettes, and electronic files were mercilessly destroyed. It was joyful for us to find yet another worldly fellow and break him together with the storage case. Many so-called “Christian” songs also came under censorship, which, though they had religious words, were in performance style very similar to pop music.

I understood that we had perhaps taken extreme measures, but this was our family and our home, and we consulted over every find before disposing of it.

After the global cleanup we again sat down at the negotiating table and decided to discuss everything. I asked my wife whether she would have broken my discs if I had been against it. After thinking, she answered that she would not have wished to do such a thing against my will, but would only have deleted that over which she had authority.

“And if I had continued to listen to what I had listened to before?” She said she would not have been able to forbid me, but would pray more for me and ask protection for her mind.

I was inclined to such an attitude and told her so. And together we rejoiced in the freedom we have in love for one another, while at the same time being able to come together to right unity in matters of principle.

Along with the music we removed all sorts of audiobooks by suspicious authors.

Reflecting on how wonderful it is not to read and not to listen to what does not edify, we realized that we also needed to do something about our home video library. It contained old cassettes from our former life, as well as all sorts of discs with films that occasionally entertained us.

We had already understood the principle of the purity of our shelves and thoughts, and therefore there was no need for long explanations. Everything suspicious and dangerous was quickly spoiled and destroyed by us and followed its fellows into the trash bin.

We rejoiced and were amazed by how long all this had accumulated, how expensive it had been, and how quickly it was going off to the next world without any regret on our part.

Only the one place we failed to cleanse was our memory. The enemy kept reminding us of familiar melodies that would casually appear on the tongue, or different scenes from films that suddenly surfaced in memory and hindered us from thinking about what is essential.

We decided to fill the resulting vacuum with something spiritual, valuable, and beneficial.

Audiobooks of the Spirit of Prophecy and other spiritual authors helped us greatly—our brethren had recorded them and posted them for free on the internet on various platforms.

There were many Christian films in our collection, which we did not get rid of immediately; but as we grew spiritually, we understood that in visualizing GOD’s messages many Biblical truths are distorted and presented with directorial additions, which does not correspond to GOD’s principles.

Interestingly, although we limited our “spiritual kitchen” to a minimum of harmful products, we did not starve; rather the opposite—we began to have a healthy appetite for wholesome and spiritual information, which began to gladden our hearts and reveal the beauty and depth of GOD’s Character, making it our possession.

My wife and I agreed to be accountable to each other for what we read, watch, and listen to, and to choose something shared that we could then discuss together and draw benefit from.

Over time the LORD showed us in what mortal danger our souls had been, which we had so actively been watering with Babylonian wine. The call to come out of Babylon became very clear to us when we completely left that territory. It was frightening to think that we had lived there and had no cares. But the LORD led us out of there into His Light.

In the purity of thoughts and feelings our love and friendship continued to grow actively and become established.

1. Please read Eccl. 7:5; Rev. 14:8; 18:4, 22–23; Eph. 5:15–21; Exod. 32:17–19; Ps. 68:31; 100:3; Isa. 30:29; Amos 8:3, 10; Rev. 14:3 in light of this lesson.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. What other Bible verses came to your memory?

4. Does what a person looks at and listens to influence the mind? 2 Cor. 3:18.

5. Can worldly music or films harmfully affect my mind? Phil. 4:8.

6. Should any cleansing begin with oneself and one’s own home? Matt. 7:3–5.

7. Will it be important in the last days to leave and remove from one’s life everything that can corrupt my mind?

8. Is it right to consider all worldly songs unclean? Job 14:4.

9. Should we judge those who do not understand the danger of connection with the world through films and music as you do? Matt. 7:1–2.

10. What happens in a person’s mind who looks at the works of Satan and listens to his music?

11. Can a person cleanse his memory of what he has seen and heard?

12. Do you think the authors and performers of worldly songs think about your repentance and salvation?

13. Does Satan succeed in seducing the world through the film industry?

14. What should I do if I cannot imagine life without radio and films, but desire to enter GOD’s Kingdom?

15. What seal can GOD place on a forehead with a damaged mind?