A Valuable Tool or A Deadly Danger?

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. Ephesians 5:11-13

In the day in which we live, these verses should be ever before us. I am thinking specifically of the many forms of media that can enter our homes by way of the Internet. Many of us have made the decision to guard are our homes from the influences that come in through the television and worldly music, but in many homes there is a battlefield that is raging forgotten. The Internet has a lot of incredible tools to search the Bible and find out good information. This ease of information is the greatest danger of the Internet. Just like it is easy to look up Bible verses or listen to sermons, spiritually deadly content is all too easy to stumble upon.

The Internet is often likened to a highway. This analogy is a good one, if you are with a safe driver, in a safe car, at a safe speed, and are around safe people you are probably safe. If you were to walk out in the middle of the highway you would quickly be killed. If any one of the above “if’s” were not true you would likely be killed. The point is a highway is a good tool for getting from one place to another, but if not used with proper protection it can be deadly.

If we choose to continue to use the Internet as a tool or must use it at work, we must safeguard ourselves in order to prevent ourselves from falling. Here are several safeguards that I would recommend:

1. Never “just surf” the Internet. The saying is true, “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”.

2. Always have an Internet content filter installed on your computer. A good one that is available for free is K9-Web Protection. You can download it at: http://www.k9webprotection.com/

3. Place your computer in a place where you are always accessible. One man who worked at home, when building his new home decided to plan his office without a door so that anyone could come into his office without announcement.

4. Avoid free e-mail accounts if at all possible. Often times these have inappropriate advertisements.

5.Avoid public chat rooms and only use instant messaging such as MSN with people that you know. The rule “don’t talk with strangers” applies here.

These ideas are just a few safeguards you might implement to protect your home. These may not be the only walls you put up to protect your family, but please consider using these basic protections.

The day may be coming when these measures may not be sufficient to protect you and your family from being defiled. At that we will have to either find new methods of protection or likely we will need to stop using the Internet all together. Nothing is worth defiling our hearts or the hearts of our children.