An Old-Fashioned Book Burning

“And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” (Ac 19:18-20 AV)

It seems to me we need an old-fashion book burning!  It used to be that about once every generation, there would be a revival resulting in the forsaking of a common vice shared among everyone in that culture.  I have heard of stories from decades gone by about how an evangelist would preach a lengthy meeting of several weeks or even months and by the end of it all, every bar was closed and every drop of booze was poured down the sewer.  I have heard of other times when a preacher when through a town and all the gambling joints were permanently shuttered.  Or other times when houses of ill-repute were closed and sold off.  There were times when drugs were eradicated from a neighborhood.  These things have happened.  And they can again.  All it would take is for God’s people to set the example of repentance and forsaking.  It astounds me how much we tolerate and even entertain as though it is no big deal.  The whole idea of “Go Woke and Go Broke” plays into this principle.  That being, if those with principles would exercise those principles, the group pressure would cease the ungodly activity.  If believers would ad-hoc reject all that God is displeased with, the rest of the culture would change as well.  It is truly up to us.

Book burnings are often looked at as reactionary, old-fashioned, or fanatical.  They are seen as unnecessary and an embarrassment.  Rarely does the generation that needs it the most see its absolute necessity.  They challenge the need for it by extrapolating to the extreme.  Those above, burned books and materials directly associated with the dark arts.  Those who would scoff might assume the evangelist would have them burn every book they have that is not the word of God or spiritually edifying in nature.  They assume a deep commitment to cleansing would carry to an extreme and nothing would be considered as having merit.  Therefore, they do not jump on board to destroy that which is obviously wicked because they feel something that is not may be assumed to be so.  I had my own “book burning” once.  When I was a teen, rock music was a thing.  It was a big thing.  This was before videos.  I joined a club that sent rock albums once a month.  Remember those?  You would send the initial form off with a penny and you got about twelve albums.  After that, they came once a month.  You could order them at a severely discounted price.  When I finally canceled my subscription, I might have amassed two hundred or so.  Then the LORD came and saved me!  All those albums had to go.  I did not sell them.  I did not give them away.  I took them to the trash can and smashed them all.  It was cathartic!  It wasn’t enough to simply remove them.  I had to take vengeance on that which caused me so much harm.

It is interesting how much we allow into our lives that offend God without realizing that is what we have done.  It usually starts off as innocent and not all that serious.  Years go by and we realize there are things that we would never have entertained.  I am finding that most of what is on TV is not worth watching.  Worst of all are the ads that play in between the show.  June was horrible!  I have written off any streaming service that shows these commercials.  I am done!  Other venues need to go.  Our current generation does not read books.  They may not even know what they are.  Our generation is electronic.  Our book burnings need to start with a delete button.  “Uninstall” is our modern bonfire.  If we want to see God’s hand work in the present as He has in the past, perhaps it is time for the church to have an old-fashioned book burning!  Maybe if our services were testimonies of the people of God and what they did with their apps, their social media accounts, and their entertainment devices.  It is time for a book burning!