"Later King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an alliance with King Ahaziah of Israel, who did evil.They agreed to make large seagoing merchant ships; they built the ships in Ezion Geber.Eliezer son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, “Because you made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will shatter what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and unable to go to sea."
This short passage really spoke to me when I read it last night. This was a mostly good king, who loved God and who cared for his people. But he made an alliance with a person who was known to be unrighteous, and as a result he suffered.
Today many people do the same thing as King Jehoshaphat. They make business alliances with people who are known to be ungodly. They spend their money at places that send a portion of that money for causes that are diametrically opposed to Biblical Principles. They see movies that use the name of our precious Lord as a swear word. And what's more, we PAY for the priviledge.
The thing is, we don't need to. There are alternatives. We can choose to shop at places that are run by Christians, and we can choose not to shop at places that support things like abortion or redefinitions of marriage, etc. We can choose NOT to see that movie that uses the name of Jesus as a swear word, or movies that promote ungodly behaviours like selfishness, lustfulness, and rebelliousness.
The thing is, most of us, to some extent, already do that. I deliberately avoid a lot of movies because I know they're a bit 'dodgy'. I get hot chocolates at Gloria Jeans over Starbucks because the owner of Gloria Jeans is a Christian who gives a large proportion of his money to Mercy Ministries, a crisis pregnancy organisation. Starbucks, on the other hand, has been known to support homosexual behaviours, etc.
Choosing where to shop is easy. It's important, but in the West we by and large have a choice and making that choice is easy. I mean, the ungodly do it! There is a reason that fair trade coffee and chocolate sells so well, and it isn't that it tastes good!
We need to TELL people the reasons we are shopping where we are. Fellow Christians, yes, of course. But the shop owners, the movie producers. Let THEM know why you are choosing not to frequent their stores or to see their movies. And just as importantly, let those that are doing good know that you appreciate what they are doing.
1 comment:
Unfortunately not everybody who claims to be Christian really is. The owner of Gloria Jeans has been exposed as a liar, and after a govt investigation a Mercy Ministries home that he ran in Australia was shut down because of abuse and mistreating clients. I would choose Starbucks every time! Mercy Ministries and Gloria Jeans are not places I want to support.
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