There are many things that confront us in our world today. Although, there so many good things happening around us, the frequent reports of bad news in the media drown the few good news we celebrate in-between.
The heart of man is desperately wicked. That’s why it so receptive to bad news. Besides, bad news sells because it has a bigger market in a world that is full of darkness, a world of unregenerated spirits; people who don’t care about godliness. Let me declare right away that this no homily about holiness, I am only giving you a brief preamble to the subject of negativism and how it is fed into your mind.
This evil report is what undergirds the mindset of most people today and that’s why many are so bitter and frustrated. It is the reason the world is full of violence, unrest, murders, divorce and evil of various dimensions. People are being programmed to watch bad news every minute of the day.
It is so shocking this bad news, in turn choke people up, becloud their thoughts and manifest in aggressive behavior which translate into violence in all forms as we see today. Iniquity and evil are glamourised, as the sin of homosexuality and other forms of sexual immorality are now celebrated in some societies, as new found freedom.
The airwaves is saturated with evil reports, there’s little positive news that lift up the soul. And because the human mind is impressionable, we hear good news with a kind of cold indifference because good news is rare in the news media. When you hear bad odour for too long, it no longer repels. Your sense of smell gets used to it. Same with bad news. When your taste bud gets used to salty foods, you won’t like foods that are not salty.
Our sense of rage is gradually being lost because evil no longer shock as it used to be. When you hear breaking news! It is more likely it is about something bad. It is becoming rare for good news to make the headlines; good news are still being reported, though, but they are too few and far between. Now, the question: which report do you believe? I ask this harmless question because, to a large extent, we are all influenced by what we see and what we hear.
If your mind is used to absorbing negative information most of the time, you’re likely to start thinking and acting in a negative way. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is”, according to a popular Bible verse. Another popular Scripture says, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh”. This is the basis of the principle of the “power of positive confession”, which I teach in this column and at seminars.
Since you are invariably influenced by what you hear; you automatically become a product of what you absorb into your subconscious. The information stored in your subconscious largely determines your beliefs and course of action. For instance, a fresh law student is constantly taught law subjects. After a period of five years, that student virtually becomes a lawyer. After law school, he or she is called to the bar.
A load of legal information or tutelage fed into students of law turns them into lawyers after some years of legal studies. That applies to other courses like medicine, engineering, pharmacy, architecture, etc. In the same way, if you get to hear bad news all the time, your mind would become more disposed to negative information, so much so that positive news no longer excites you.
You may not be able to control what the new media dishes out per time, but you can decide whether to hear it or not. One is not saying you shouldn’t listen to the news. You ought to listen to current affairs to know what’s going on in the world. However, it is your responsibility to sift the information you are receiving and decide which ones to discard. There’re a lot of trash trending on the social media .Ignore the junk news that have no substance and listen to genuine information that gives you real value.
Guard your mind jealously for therein are the issues of life. We have a song in church with this refrain: “which report do you believe?” I think that song is apt for the moment. It reminds us that not all reports are to be believed. You are not supposed to read all books you come across. There are some very bad books; there are bad magazines; bad sites on the internet which dish out bad news and satanic pictures like pornography.
Any kind of information that promotes negative values is not worth having. There’re movies you watch and you start having nightmares. There are folks you move with, and you start having negative vibes. If things are not going well for you in life, it may come down to the report you believe; the information you are fed with.
The forces of evil in the world are battling to take control of your mind. The human mind is the last war zone of the Devil in these last days. So, guard your mind jealously.
Weekend Spice: The purpose of our lives is to add value to people of this generation and those that follow – Buckminster Fuller.
Ok folks, stay motivated.
Ayodeji is an Author, Activist, Pastor and Life Coach. He can be reached for mentoring and counseling on 09059243004 (sms & whatsapp only).
