We’ve been studying the book of Judges and we see the cycle. God’s people did evil in his sight.
“You have not listened to me. You have put other things in my place and they have become your priority. You no longer seek me, you’re seeking something else first.”
So the Lord hands them over to the control of their enemies until they cry out to him again. When they cry out, he raises up an ordinary person to lead them to freedom.
When God’s people cry out to him, he rescues them from the enemy who has held them in bondage and sets them free. Then there is a season of peace again … until his people once again become complacent and drift back.
What God has been telling me over and over again is, “My people are in bondage and they don’t even know it.” What is our bondage? Our screens. Our screens have taken the place of God, and we wonder why we can’t hear God anymore. Our screens have become our tool of wisdom, our source of connection, and our guiding voice. All while we miss the fact that the enemy has us in bondage.
Here’s what my soul knows – My phone is evil in the sight of God. It’s taking me away from him and the life he created me for. Is there some good there too? Absolutely? But the enemy is capitalizing on the good I cling to and bombarding me with far more evil. God is sending a message, and the message is, TURN AWAY FROM THIS.
The average American spends 7 hours and 4 minutes per day looking at their screens. What we don’t see are the chains the enemy binds us in with our screens, and the darkness that dances around us while we do. We are literally being destroyed. Our families are being destroyed. We are consumed and we keep coming back for more. More links on the chain. More darkness dancing around us.
So, who will cry out to God? Who will see this bondage for what it is and decide we don’t want to live this way anymore? I know God has been impressing this on me. In my prayer time, God has told me about his desire to rescue his children from the chains of our phones. It’s just hard for me to imagine my words being powerful enough to make a difference, when the truth is, I too struggle with that bondage at times. And I already see my sweet 3 year old grandson with glazed over eyes, chained to a screen.
But as we study the Old Testament and we see the stories repeated over and over again, we cannot ignore it’s still happening. The bondage of the enemy looks different, but the chains are still real. The effects are still real. Lives are being sacrificed and God is not pleased. And none of this will change until we cry out to God for help.
So, who is God raising up to lead his people back to him? Ordinary people, just as he always has. Ordinary people like me who is absolutely sickened by my own chosen bondage. I’m letting it happen. And ordinary people like a 14 year old girl named Madison.
The video of Madison’s testimony is going viral. Some may dismiss it, but I have no doubt God’s Holy Spirit is telling me to not only listen, but to blast this. I’m not going to change anything, I’m going to read it just as it’s being shared. I believe within her testimony is the most vivid depiction of the real bondage we’re in today.
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“My Name is Madison Taylor Brooks.
I’m 14 years old, and on October 17th I died for 12 minutes when our car flipped three times on Highway 29.
I was in the backseat scrolling through TikTok, barely paying attention to mom driving me to volleyball practice. My little brother Tyler was playing his Nintendo Switch next to me.
The rain was coming down so hard that mom kept asking me to look up directions because she couldn’t see the exit. I remember being annoyed because I was right in the middle of watching this d...