Malaysian Log (2)

"In such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes..." (Mt 24:44)

I’m thankful that the God has provided me with friends who had been my prayer partners and supporters... these many years while I go about attending to the ministry that I'm being called for. In the last Malaysian Log posting, I mentioned the possible dangers of addiction through excessive abusive use of video games by our young people in the Y generation.
This Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD for short) is not new but it seems like no one has taken it seriously enough to sound a warning to parents all these years. I myself was alerted to this problem some 5 years ago when I preached about the danger of excessive video gaming to a church group in Kuala Lumpur. Soon after the service, the pastor mentioned that several of the young people were seen to have dropped their heads…being their pastor, he knew how his members were involved. That off-hand remark somehow lodged in my mind and I begun to pay attention whenever I came across information regarding IAD. After a fair period of examining this issue, I have come to the conclusion that this is a subtle but silent killer of our youths…the draining of the future church leadership, if left unchecked.
In Malachi chapter 4:4-6:
"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."
The disintegration of the family in today’s context is a sign of moral and spiritual degeneration within our society. God sees the collapse of the family where parents are distancing themselves from their children.
Our 21st Century modern living over-rides home and family by compensating good life with material gain and comforts. All too often, parents can afford “good things” for their families but never have enough time to be with their children or enjoy each other’s company. Willy-nilly, many parents choose toys from the most expensive range for their children thinking that these things would compensate for their absence and neglect.
Well-meaning parents are known to give Game-Boy (a top-of-range Nintendo games) for Christmas or birthdays. Such a choice would be disastrous as it could spell the beginning of the problem. Don’t get me wrong that I’m anti-video games or anti-entertainment for younger generation…but I suspect these gaming consoles are used as a form of “Trojan Horse” by the evil one to entrap our children.
Someone mentioned “This post-modern generation is characterized by having families but no father…” (Henri Nouven). It doesn’t mean that their fathers are not around or dead but rather the headship of the family has been abandoned or unrealized. If we look around us we can see that to a certain extent, the fathers of today are far too busy with their own lives for them to be effective as heads of the household. The Y Generation is moving into more advanced games that may contain elements of violence and witchcraft. These video games can become addictive considering the years of silent exposure…sucking the participants into a never-ending vortex of addiction (worse than opium or cocaine).
It scares me to think of how we could have lost touch with the actuality of spiritual warfare in our very homes. Many parents are naïve to the point of being ignorant of this danger as they do not take the effort to read the small print and discover as to whether these games are really that beneficial to their children, as the manufacturers claimed them to be. Alas, we may have lost out as roles as guardians or gatekeepers to our own household.
We hear of parents hauling in companies producing “tainted milk” to court etc. but we have yet to hear of parents suing the manufacturers of video and on-line games for the loss of their children? If your child has grown up on Game Boy as a kind of entertainment, he will not be satisfied with that alone…he will graduate to other more advanced video games.
We know young people who explain away that these games help them to relax but if that were to be true, may we ask “Why after hours of playing, does the individual seem so distant and remote to others in the family (like the Body-Snatcher has done his work)? If this is true that such games will help one to relax and even revitalize oneself, one would see more communication from our young people…instead of a mental hangover!
What are the signs or symptoms of addiction, one might ask? Certain overt signs are the person seems to be more comfortable with online friends than his former friends in school, church or neighbourhood. Then there is the urge to compulsive playing into the wee hours of the morning where he loses track of time. He may even neglect his own bodily functions and needs e.g. eating and drinking etc. or defers his home assignments or his own family. His grades or performance may drop hence his teachers or superiors are not happy. He may fidget; feel anxious or depressed when he is away from the computer or his playing has been curtailed. He might also think of the computer as his only source of release whenever he faces problems or difficulties. These are some of the signs that he is “hooked to a subtle addiction” which is likened to having “a monkey on one’s back.” In the initial stages, we may wean such a person away from his computer or gaming console. Encourage him to go and enjoy himself doing some healthy outdoor sports that will help burn up calories or even develop wholesome social activities where he can relate to other people in the church or neighbourhood.
It is timely for parents to speak out on their fears of what is happening to their children. We ought to monitor such addictions in order to avoid heartaches later on. As for those already in the troll of addiction, alas, it is too late…we can confront and counsel such individuals to decrease their gaming time…like I said, the road to recovery will be a long and hard one.
Such an individual might not grow out of the addiction. I know some young men in their thirties who are still spending more time in front of their video consoles instead of spending time with their loved ones. We shouldn’t soft-pedal this danger but we should view this like any other form of addiction e.g. alcohol, opium, marijuana or amphetamines addiction. For further reading, just visit the following website for e.g. http://allpsych.com/journal/internet addiction.
Now coming on a more serious note, one may venture to ask: “Who is behind all these attacks on the family?” The evil one has sown the seeds of destruction to maim the families in order to cripple the Church. Let us pray for greater spiritual discernment so that we may know how to protect the family especially our children who are to be the future leaders in Christ’s army.
Maybe there is still time to confess to the Lord of our own inadequacies and allow Him full leverage in our family so that the tide may be turned against the evil one. We must maintain our rank and file in order to keep ourselves for Him and for His work so that this will be done before our time to return to Him. We must not be like the troops during the Sino-Indian War of 70s, where I remembered seeing a picture of an Indian soldier dreamily looking at a mountain blossom…ere not long before that the Chinese storm-troopers scaled the Himalayas and took the soldiers by surprise!
Let us be ever vigilant so that we may do the Lord’s work and be wise to all forms of attack within and without the family. How can we face our Lord when our loved ones are lost to the world or the evil one? What can be more disastrous than this…I can’t imagine. Just stop and think…so that we may consider the consequences of our negligence in becoming watchful even when the battle front is becoming a raging one for our loved ones. What will we offer for the salvation of our loved ones…maybe there is still time so let us “gird up our loin cloth” and proceed to do what is expected of us! I bid you God’s peace and wisdom to fulfil what He has placed in your heart for the days are short and numbered.

Sincerely,
Victor