Baxter - Against such there is no law

[Malvaro]

This was sent to me awhile back via email....

The Internet
“Against such there is no law”
by Irvin Baxter

There are many ungodly things available on the Internet. At the same time, the gospel of Jesus Christ is taught on the Internet.
Now, television is on the Internet. A recent advertisement offered 3,000 channels of television right on your computer.
What are we going to do?

I have always been an opponent of television. For 32 years of pastoring, I required that members not own televisions if they wanted to be in our church choir or hold any church office.
Now anyone who has a computer and the Internet has access to everything that is on television…and a whole lot more. Almost all of our people have computers and the Internet. Almost all of our preachers have computers and access to the Internet. Technology has done an end-run around us.
What are we going to do?

We could pass a resolution against having the Internet, but that would be ludicrous, and no one would obey it. It would be like passing a resolution against cell phones. As a matter of fact, cell phones now offer access to the Internet (and to television).
We could say that we can webcast the gospel on the Internet but not on television, but the reasonably intelligent would look at us as being ignorant and naïve because they know the Internet and television have become one and the same.
It makes me uncomfortable to say these things because of my lifelong stance against television. But the truth is the truth, and even though it may risk reputation, the time has come to speak the truth.

So should we remove the prohibition in our manual against television? I have no desire to own a television, but the truth is that I have one sitting on my lap right now. I’m using it to write this article. And if you own a computer, you own a television. Actually, you own something more powerful and potentially more evil than a television. Technology has rendered our stance of the last forty years obsolete.
So what are we going to do?

The first thing we must do is to be honest and face the truth. A computer hooked to the Internet is a television. So have we been wrong preaching against the evils of television all these years? Certainly not! We still have to preach against the evils of television and the evils of the new form of television—the Internet.
Can we banish the Internet from among us? You and I know that’s not going to happen. So how do we deal with it then?
In Galatians 5:23, the Apostle Paul was teaching on the spiritual attribute called temperance. He said concerning temperance, “…against such there is no law.” Paul was saying that it is impossible to pass a law enforcing temperance, yet without temperance a person will never come to spiritual maturity and will eventually be lost.
We are not going to be able to pass a law against the Internet, as potentially evil as it may be; yet if we do not exercise self-control when using the Internet, it will destroy us.
Furthermore, we don’t want to banish the Internet. It is our only hope of reaching the six billion people on earth with the gospel in the very short time that we have left before the Second Coming.

What about ministering on television?
Has the time come to allow ministers to use television to reach the lost? The truth is, we will allow it now, or we will allow it in a year or two. The computer and the television will be totally merged by then. Any informed person knows this is true.
What do we gain by not allowing ministry now? Are we keeping our people from ungodly programming? No. If they want it, they have it right now on their computers.
So what is accomplished by prohibiting preaching on television by people who passionately hold the truth? Two things: 1. We insure that Trinitarians are protected from hearing the truth. 2. We guarantee that hungry people who turn on the television looking for God (this is happening every day) will not hear the truth. We guarantee they will immediately be indoctrinated with a false gospel and the poison of Trinitarian doctrine.

Is television effective in reaching the lost?
Some contend that television is not effective in reaching the lost. However, the same people preach adamantly about how effective it is in spreading evil.
The truth is that the more effective a means of communication is, the more potential it has for spreading good or evil depending on the message being transmitted. God used the printed page to spread His word. Karl Marx used the printed page to spread the evil of Communism.
A Christian TV network put our 2005 Dallas prophecy conference on television (free of charge and unsolicited). We received 560 phone calls in one and a half hours as a result of this single program. Those who say radio and television do not work simply don’t know.
Some religious programming has been rather ineffective; however, some has been very effective. I am privileged to preach to between 300 and 500 unsaved people per week in our conferences around the country because of our radio program—“Politics & Religion.” In 2005, we were able to enroll 1,500 individuals in Bible studies taught by oneness, apostolic people. In one conference alone in Dallas, we had over 3,000 people in attendance. At least 80% of those were non-apostolic people. All of this because of radio.

Dear brothers and sisters, no law is going to be able to control all of the means of audio-visual communications available today. If our people want evil, they have access to all they want. Technology has bypassed the protective fences that we sincerely attempted to build.
Now, only the spiritual attribute of temperance (self-control) will guard us from the encroachment of evil.
Knowing that we can receive hundreds of phone calls each day from people hungry for God, can we in good conscience stand before God if we don’t use this tool? I am convinced that Endtime Ministries alone could average 200 calls per day or more. This would amount to 52,000 calls per year. Others may greatly exceed this. Together it could be incredible what could be accomplished.

Racing the rapture!
We are almost out of time to fulfill the great commission. The newly born Jewish Sanhedrin announced in June of 2005 that they were launching the rebuilding of Israel’s temple—one of the prominent signs in scripture of the endtime. They are building it off-site like Solomon built the First Temple. When the political situation allows, the prefabricated temple will be ready for quick assembly on the Temple Mount.
President Bush signed the Real ID Act on May 11, 2005. This law mandates that every American will be required to have a National ID card by 2008. Without it, you will not drive, fly on an airplane, ride a train, enter a federal building, hold a job or open a bank account. Without a job or a bank account, a person will not be able to buy or sell.
The other prophetic fulfillments that are happening right now are too many to elaborate on in this small space.

If a politician ran for office in America, but renounced the use of television to spread his message, he would be the laughing stock of the world. Yet we have the most important message on earth. Can we justify not using the most powerful means of communication on earth to spread it?
Is this article endorsing the corruption that emanates from Hollywood? Certainly not! Is it a plea to allow the use of the most powerful means of communication on earth to spread the true gospel in the very short time that we have left? Yes, it is.


Footnote: Fellow ministers, this issue should not become a source of division among us. This is not a conservative vs. liberal question. The most conservative among us still have to face the fact that a computer on the Internet is now a television. Whether we like it or not, this is dumped in our laps by advancing technology. Our only choice is to use the world without abusing it, as we are instructed in 1 Corinthians 7:31. As much as we would prefer a black and white solution, it is simply not available and is not going to be. Our only answer is temperance.

NOTE: The following article demonstrates that a computer hooked to the Internet has become a TV with thousands of channels.