For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; Luke 4:10

In the 1990’s two television shows really spawned what we recognise as ‘reality’ TV today.  According to Wikipedia ‘Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents supposedly unscripted real-life situations’. The two shows that I am referring to were ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Idols’. In order that my blog is not too long, I am going to look at the programme ‘Idols’ tomorrow

The format of ‘Big Brother’ was that individuals would audition or were chosen to live in a house in which there were cameras capturing every move and conversation they had. Knowing this most people, I would imagine, would run a mile away from such scrutiny, but unsurprisingly this show really caught on and tapped into the voyeuristic nature of man. The phrase people watching indeed took on a whole new meaning.

The amount of media traffic this program alone generated was huge. People would continue watching into the night even while the ‘subjects’ slept! In the staff room on Monday mornings I would constantly over hear “Did you see ‘Big Brother?” as if the people in the house had a real tangible impact on the lives of the viewers.  The gospel of Luke 4: 9-10 records this;

⁹Then the devil led Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully;

Just as God is watching us, so is Satan. Not only that but he has set up the deception of spying, or watching others as a pleasurable rather than a sin. Deposed governments would rule their regimes of fear by getting people to spy and report on each other, promising valuable reward for those willing to trade information for profit.

As a children’s song goes ‘be careful little eyes what you see’. Let us not be trapped by the images we put into our head. The adversary has already tried that lie with Jesus but he has showed us how we too came overcome. Jesus’s promises are the only ones that have a positive impact on our lives and give us hope. Come back tomorrow for part 2.

Virtue sing ‘Angels watching over me’. Click on the picture to listen.