When I thought of the term "advance guard" my mind immediately went to the term, "avant garde."I looked up the term (on my computer) and the online Merriam-Webster definition was as follows, "Definition of AVANT-GARDE : an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts especially in the arts the avant garde in the film industry" I then looked up the translation of the word from French to English and according to Google translation service means, "before guard" There are 4 more translations of which all are nouns, "avant-garde, vanguard, cutting edge, and van. How does this apply to the modern day church world.
The computer. It is interesting to me that the computer has become ubiquitous in our world. There was a time when this was not so. A computer called UNIVAC filled a 20'x40' room and had 18,000 vacuum tubes. It had a fraction of the power of a laptop. For a history of the computer and how it came to be please go (on your computer) to "/www.livescience.com/20718-computer-history.html."r.
In the United Pentecostal Church olden days when I first turned to God, the term, "computer" was absent. Not now-a-days. In the 2017 version of the Articles of Faith on page 188 and 189 the area entitled Media Technology, the computer is addressed. This issue was adopted by the 2013 general conference of the UPC. The statement starts by commending the elders of the UPC who in 1954 warned against the evils of television and recommended that members of UPC churches refrain from having a television in their homes. This is where and when the prohibition of TV started in the UPC. Again according to page 189 it states that one needs to be careful of modern technology because television is becoming available on "computers, online media, media players, tablets, smart phones, and game consoles. What we have traditionally called television is merging with other devices which are commonly used,"
What would I do without my computer? More and more we are seeing IPADs and the like take the place of Bibles on podium lecterns. When I want to look up a passage of scripture I am as like as not to go to my computer and pull up one Bible program or other that is available. What convenience it is to have a computer. Email has taken the place of what is now known as snail mail. Texting is even more convenient. One can instantly send a text message to another using a phone. My wife and I enjoy watching videos that deal with nature, etc. However we have also watched other videos that had to do with police, prisons, war and the list could go on and on. All of this available on a computer. Who needs a television these days?
I did a google search of the percentage of porn web sites that are available on the internet. (I have never purposely visited a pornographic website.) The percentage is staggering. According to the first piece of information using the search term, "percentage of porn web sites," fully 30% of computer data transferred across the internet is from porn. And these statistics were from 2013. There is a passage of scripture found in Isaiah 33:14, "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" My mind went to the three Hebrew children found in the Book of Daniel who when cast into the burning fiery furnace were not consumed by the flames. The reason was the fourth man in the fire with them. They were perhaps walking in the midst of the devouring fire and the everlasting burnings. I for one don't want to awaken at judgment and be surprised as a hypocrite.
There is still hope. If you are a professing Christian and have been caught up in worldliness because of the computer, God spoke in Ezekiel 33:14-16 "Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live." Do you hear what God is saying to you? If you will repent, turn from your wickedness and turn to God, He will forgive you, and you, "shall surely live." Why not take the Lord at His word today and live for Him. He loves you more than you will ever know.
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