Week 3 September 2026 – REFLECTION ON INTERNET RELIGION AND PIETY

“For you have exalted above all things your name and your word.”  Psalm 138:2b

The average morning in many households is probably hectic.  Kids need to be readied for school and if the carpool driver has to honk, the gulped-down granola feeds guilt more than the belly.  The lucky person working from home is free to sip coffee, but skips traditional “quiet time with the Lord” for a devotional quick fix on YouTube.  Great if a big name like Max Lucado or David Jeremiah pops up with a short clip.  A photo of C.S. Lewis posted above the title, “How to fully surrender to the Holy Spirit,” concludes with the teaser that it is the “secret few know.”  For most lacking the time to unlock it just then, it can be intellectually stimulating to sample a few more puzzlers in that genre, to wit:  “Why Matthew wrote 14-14-14 (yes, three times) in the genealogy of Jesus.  Why six jars at the Wedding of Cana that most Christians miss.  Four signs that God is about to change your life forever.  Why Isaiah is the key to the entire Bible.  Why real Reuben-fasting attracts God.  Seven things God wants the elderly to do.”

Nobody can lure me down into their particular rabbit hole of uncovered biblical secrets hidden for millennia from everybody – except for the lucky dude who finally figured it out.  I despise him as some sort of lunatic with an oversized ego, but then belittle myself for wanting to badly find out what God wants “the elderly to do.”  I’ve never liked that term, but have always loved that given my nonagenarian status, my sense of curiosity is timeless.  Funny, the rabbit is not Bugs Bunny, but for the sake of journalistic integrity I just suffered through a recital delivered in measured, passionless tones that almost had me doze off.  Fasten your seatbelt: 1) God wants you to become a living testimony, not a silent observer. 2) God wants you to teach wisdom that books can’t carry.  3) God wants you to pray with power that only time can forge.  4) God wants you to let go of fear and prepare others for eternity.  5)  God wants you to forgive freely…{wake up]  6) God wants you to speak blessing, not silence.  7) God wants you to finish faithful, not just finish alive.  Note to Bugs Bunny, I feel like moving to Finland, but do not speak “finish” even in silence.  What jolts me wide awake are the many red flags that pretend to be Pentecostal red balloons of divine origin.  I’ll single out Nr. 3 as the worst.  Powerful prayers are not ever forged over time or by trial and error due to inexperience.  The Holy Spirit sovereignly prompts and empowers them based on God’s Living Word, resident in His only begotten Son’s promises.  If jolted awake by an earthquake, my solace comes from having memorized Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encamps around them who fear Him, and rescues them.”

Don’t take it from “wise old me,” but from often faltering and “freely forgiven” David  who  wrote Psalm 138.  Verse 8 has long been a banner text at any age, “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me, your love, O LORD, endures forever.”  No need to go fishing for spiritual perks if we are hooked on Romans 8:29, “For those God foreknew, he also predestined them to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.”   His Name and Word are exalted above all, thank God!