The top ten most watched television broadcasts of all time have been Super Bowls....all of them obviously on the Lord's Day....with last year's sitting at the top with an estimated 123 million viewers....and they say that tomorrow's Super Bowl has the chance to beat that....but when was the last time....silly question for you have never heard it....when was the last time that your pastor even mentioned from the pulpit this concept of idolatry? Broadcast companies did not have the measuring apparatus that they have today but the moon landing was surely up there somewhere. How fitting for President Trump to make an appearance....for it will strike a dagger in the heart of half of the audience....and that is his Super Bowl.
So it will be a big day for the average evangelical....an eventful day....not the typical boring Sunday....for this is....Super Bowl Sunday! They will be gathering somewhere...their house....or a brother's house.....or a friend's house. The smiles at church will be bigger than usual....and you might as well forget calling it a worship service in Philadelphia or Kansas City.
Folks....I am out of my league....no pun intended....on this paragraph. So please bear with me as I try to navigate this thing. I have to start with an anecdote. My mother....she passed away ten years ago....so this story is from 2009 when the Steelers were last in the Super Bowl....she was a big Steeler fan. She did not know Christ at the time....but she loved her Steelers. She lived forty-five minutes away from us.....and it was Super Bowl Sunday.....and I knew that she would be in front of her television set. As for us....the television has not been on....on a Lord's day....for at least forty years....(that's one of the reasons that I know that Jesus is near...and that Trump is bad news)....with one exception....the Lord's Day in this anecdote. So it was about six o'clock in the evening....or whenever the Super Bowl started that year....whatever time it was the game was starting right then....and I received a frantic phone call from her....remember she is 85 at the time...."Special Dog! The Super Bowl in not on television!" I calmly told her...."Mom....the Super Bowl is on television." She was panicking...."No....no....it's not on!" I had two choices....three actually....I could get in my car and drive fast to get there to get the game on her television.....or I could call the Pittsburgh station to see if there was a technical problem. That's what I did and I called my mom right back and told her that the game was indeed on in her area....."No....No! I checked everywhere and it's not on!" So there was the third choice. I turned on my television....and there was the Super Bowl....and I told her. So I settled her down....and guided her one station at a time on the remote....until she said...."Oh....there it is! Bye!"
Another small anecdote....this past summer I had new tires put on our SUV....and as I waited in line at the counter there was a crotchety elderly woman who was having trouble with her automobile registration. The man at the counter told her that all she had to do was to go online for the information. She gave him a fierce look and said...."Do I look....ONLINE!"....and turned around and walked out.
From what I can see....tomorrow's Super Bowl will be broadcast on Fox....cable....or I guess that you could stream it. Now....we have never had premium cable of any kind. The only time that I could watch for example....the Hannity show....was when we were on vacation. So even if I wanted to I could not watch tomorrow's Super Bowl.
PRAISE OUR HEAVENLY FATHER....for in His providence....the poorer people who can't afford premium cable....and people like us who have no need for a hundred television stations....will not be able or tempted to tune into that monstrosity tomorrow! America may indeed be under God's judgment....but there is grace here for the lower economic scale in America! The American church....evangelicalism....is Laodicean. We think that we are the cat's meow.....but we are destitute in discernment....having fallen for a false prophet....and false signs and wonders....and lacking knowledge....while seeking glory for ourselves.
Note: The Lord's Day is a hedge of protection on our minds. Cut that hedge down....and we can lose discernment in many ways.
