Preface: The following was just an addendum of the post below this but I decided to make it a post in itself:
It was not a Christian produced film....just as Chariots Of Fire was not a Christian produced film....but it has one of the strongest Christian messages in movies....2016's....Risen....with Joseph Fiennes in the part of a Roman Tribune. There is a scene in the film where the tribune and Pontius Pilate are in a hot bath....and Pilate asks the tribune what god he prays to. Fiennes answers....Mars....Pilate responds....as best as I remember...."Ah....the god of war."
I can't remember Pilate's favorite team! That's not a mistake....the word team. There were all different kinds of pagan idols that both the people of Israel and Judah would serve. With some you had to go up on a mountain and with others you just put a statue in the house...or maybe went on top of the house?
Here is what should be hard news for the Christian to take....sports....not sport....singular....not exercise....not even moderation in sports....not even the Olympics....but the Mount Olympus of American gods....the pantheon of all of our gods....very particularly NFL football....and super-particularly....Super Bowl Sunday....is one of the major idols....or gods....of Americans who think that they can serve God and Milcom at the same time.
Christian men....this is why you do not know....or pant for....or even desire....the return of Jesus in glory and power....along with His mighty angels....or for that matter....it is one reason why you do not recognize Trump as a genuine biblical false prophet. The idolatry of sports....whether on a mountain or in a stadium or on a raceway or in front of TV....has blinded us to the glory of God....and the commands and warnings of His Word....and stopped our ears to the voice of our Shepherd and coming King!
As for the NFL....it is Apollo and Jupiter and Bacchus rolled into one.....whether it be with the man who only attends worship service a few times a year....an avocation more than the devout with whom sports consist more of a daily mass....to one degree or another over the entire year....spanning not only decades but as I have witnessed....over whole lifetimes....to be buried in the team's jersey....which I also have witnessed a number of times.
We have no one to tell us this today. Pastors will not touch it. How do I know these things? Well I spent my time in downtown Pittsburgh after Super Bowl wins....but by God's grace on the absolute least and weakest of all....He took that desire away....and as He so often does....He uses the most unlikely....to show the most educated....the way....and all praise and honor and glory be to Him....now and forever more!
Addendum: This isn't an easy thing to write on....which is why....as I added above...."Pastors won't touch it." Many men view the NFL almost as a family experience...a father taking his son to a game....or watching their home team on television every week. Add to that....Christian football players thanking God....in on-the-field interviews after a win....but ignorance....no matter how sweet it can come off as....is no excuse. This supra-phenomenon has built up since January of 1967 and the first Super Bowl....of which at the time I was a big sixteen year old AFL fan. Not only has it essentially destroyed any hope that we had in the church of returning to honoring the Lord's Day....but it's financial growth....(just think of the Super Bowl commercials).....has taken it to ungodly levels....as the whole football year dominates from August to the following February. And add to all of this....that we are in....'the last of the last days'....or the....'end of the end times'....which means that we need all of our spiritual resources to not only prepare ourselves...but prepare the way of the return of our Lord and Savior and King as best as we as individuals can do. If we cannot even give up....professional football....then how can we expect to spot the great delsuion of the last days?
