Dan. 1:8-16

8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
9 Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
10 And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall you make me endanger my head to the king.
11 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
12 Prove your servants, I beseech you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before you, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as you see, deal with your servants.
14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.
16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.

You might know, if you regularly follow this ministry, that we have been working over the last several weeks to free ourselves from Facebook, YouTube, etc. As the one responsible for making all of the changes, I can tell you that it has been quite freeing. I’ve enjoyed a strange sense of liberty with every big tech account I have taken out of the picture.

Thinking on these things reminded me of the prophet Daniel. As a young boy, Daniel was taken captive by the Babylonian invaders. He and his fellow captives were offered the Babylonian king’s rich diet that included things Daniel could not eat with a clean conscience. So he and three of his friends petitioned their wards to allow them a diet of vegetables only.

Well, you can read the text for yourself and see what happened. Daniel and his friends were given the vegetables they asked for. Not only did they not get sick or die, they ended up healthier than the rest of the kids eating the king’s diet. In the end, they found freedom in captivity by dispensing with the earthly king’s plan and go with the real KING’S plan.

In 2021, we have gotten accustomed to doing things a certain way. We have locked ourselves into certain ways of communicating and processing information. We have fooled ourselves into believing we can’t get by without smart phones, social media, email, and so forth. But it’s not true. This isn’t to say that any of these things is evil in and of itself. That’s not the case. The point here is that there are other ways to do things.

Facebook and Twitter are clearly anti-Christian. Guess what? They are also completely unnecessary. All of social media is. There is no need to continue using them any more than there was a need for Daniel and his friends to eat the king’s rich meat. By choosing an alternative, they freed themselves to do things a better way — God’s way.

We can extend this principle to many areas of modern life. We don’t have to educate our kids the way the world does it. We don’t have to fashion our churches after the methods of modern entertainment. We don’t have to follow the world’s lead in terms of gender identity, family roles, sexual purity, and on and on. There are others way. Quite often they are better ways.

Unshackling Disruptive Reality from big tech has been both refreshing and rejuvenating. Now I’m in the process of unshackling myself personally. With every big tech chain I break, I am reminded that there is more than one way to do everything. There are ways to get around the world’s attempts to chain me to their philosophies and vain pursuits. By refusing those chains, I am freeing myself to do things God’s way. I hope you will do the same.

Posted on: January 25, 2021