By Xiaotong
Ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling … With the tinkle of the bell, most of my classmates took out their own cellphones and began to play games. At this moment, one of my classmates saw I didn’t do that so he suddenly ran to me and asked if I could play the game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.” I said I couldn’t. He cast a sidelong glance at me, and said, “You are behind the times too far. How can you not even play it!” Hearing his jeers, I didn’t feel embarrassed but very lucky. I thought: I don’t care I am behind the times. You don’t know the harm of playing games. Doing that is equal to falling into Satan’s den. This is because God’s words say: “What kinds of things do computer games mostly have in them? There are many violent things and these games are the world of devils.” Now I can avoid the harm of games. This is all because of the guidance of God’s word.
Though we are still pupils, almost all of my classmates around me play games. During the class break, what they discuss is the contents of games, what they speak is the language of games, and what they like reading are the books compiled according to games. Even our teacher also spends the short break, holding the cellphone, in playing the game “Arena of Valor” for a while in the classroom. Some of my classmates go to share the skill of “killing man” with our teacher. It is fair to say that, the circumstance around me is filled up with the smell of games.
Before having read God’s word, I was affected more or less under the influence of such circumstance. I remember whenever we went to have spring or autumn trips, many of my classmates would download various games in their cellphones or tablet computers and take with them, so as to be convenient for them to play at any time. While they were playing games under the tree, I couldn’t help moving close to them to have a look. Sometimes they asked me to play a few rounds，and after a while I fell into the game world. Take the game “Plants vs. Zombies” for an example. One time after a classmate of mine asked me to play it, my heart was attracted by it and I always thought how to set the scene for it and upgrade my equipment so that I could pass through it more easily. During the break, I joined my classmates and talked how to defeat the zombies with them.
However, because I am a child of a Christian family, my mother would restrict me and forbid me playing games. Although I was not as addicted to them as those classmates of mine, I couldn’t resist the itch to play one more time when seeing my classmates playing.
Later on, my mother and I read God’s word together. I saw God’s words say: “What kinds of things do computer games mostly have in them? There are many violent things and these games are the world of devils. For most, when they play these games for a long time, they can’t do any real work anymore—they no longer want to go to school, or keep learning, or think of their futures, much less do they think of their life. What things now constitute the majority of young people’s thoughts and souls? Eating, drinking, and playing games. Everything they say, the things they talk about, and the things they think of in their hearts are all inhuman. One cannot use the words ‘dirty’ or ‘evil’ to describe the things they think about; so many of them are inhuman. If you talk to them about a matter of normal humanity or talk about a topic concerning normal humanity with them, they can’t bear to hear about it, they’re not interested, they’re not willing to hear it, and as soon as they hear it they roll their eyes and take unkindly to it. They don’t share a common language or share common topics with normal mankind, but on the contrary they can talk with other people like themselves. What are the topics they discuss? (The topics they discuss are games, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. Nothing else.) This describes most of their topics.”
God’s words reminded me of my classmate Hou Xiaojia. When he was in the first and second grade, his learning results were good. He often got more than ninety marks, even one hundred. But since he was addicted to games in the third grade, his results began to fall. When talking with me during the break, he often spoke in the tone of Li Bai (a poet from ancient China), who was a character compiled in the game. Sometimes shaking his body and pretending to be a drunken man, he chanted Li Bai’s poem, “Enjoy things while one can.” Or he walked like a zombie, which was the character of the game “Plants vs. Zombies,” and imitated the zombies’ words, “We are coming.” From then on, his mind was full of the things about games. Even when reading books in class, what he thought was the scenes of games. He usually didn’t do his homework well and he always copied others’. His mother said that he couldn’t play games until he finished his homework. In order to have more time to play games, he had no mind to spend time thinking and considering his homework, so copying others’ was the best way for him to save time and effort. Just like this, his results naturally suffered a disastrous decline. Alas, the reason why he got into this situation was that he was harmed by games.
Then my mother asked me to continue reading God’s words: “Tell Me, those who always discuss these topics and whose hearts are filled with these things, what future prospects do they have? Do they have any future prospects? What will their futures be like? (These people will go to waste!) ‘Go to waste’ is a very appropriate phrase. Speaking specifically, what does this actually mean? Can they engage in the activities that normal humanity should engage in? If these people cannot do well with their studies and are made to exert themselves doing manual work, are they then willing to do this? When you make them do manual work, what then do they think? They ponder: ‘This work is so tiring. I’m so happy when I’m playing games, shooting one thing after another. How long do I have to do this work for? Playing games is so much more fun and relaxed. What’s the point in working hard? What will I get from it? I can’t get anything from it. Even though you work hard, you still get to eat three meals a day. I haven’t seen you get anywhere good by working. It’s great playing games. As soon as I sit down in front of a computer, I have everything I need. I have a virtual world and living in that virtual world is enough for me!’ And if you make them get a job, working 9 till 5, getting to work on time and working fixed hours—how do they feel about that? Are they willing to stick to those times? Let Me tell you, when people play games for a long time, their willpower would evaporate. The unbelievers have a word to describe this. What is it? It is ‘decadence.’ Always playing games, always playing on the computer—this kind of person is decadent. ‘Decadence’ is a word of the unbelievers. We say that these people have no normal humanity. They have been filled with the violence and killing of these games and with the things of virtual worlds. The things of normal humanity have been stripped away by these games, filled and forcibly occupied by them, and they have forcibly occupied the things within people’s thoughts as well as any room they have for thought; they are then decadent. The unbelievers don’t like these people either. But in this world of the unbelievers now, these young people have no way to turn, their teachers can do nothing with them, and there is nothing any country’s education system can do about this trend except comply. It is for the parents to manage these young people, but they are unable to manage them, either.”
My mother communicated with me, “Games are the tideway which is raised up by Satan and the way by which Satan corrupts us. They have magic. Once we contact with them, we can be drawn to them. Especially like the children at your age, you lack knowledge of various things, nearly have no discernment, and so you are very easy to be tempted and deceived by Satan to accept the thoughts which was infused by Satan. As a result, you treat virtual things in the games as reality and can’t realize you are damaged by them at all. It was reported on TV before: There were three children in their tens, who killed strange men without reason. The policemen asked them why they did it. They said innocently, ‘Because after they died they could revive.’ In the games, after people die they can revive by equipment. Therefore, they considered it was the same as that in the real world. These children were damaged to the extent that they had already lived in the virtual world completely. They couldn’t clearly distinguish between genuineness and fakeness, virtuality and reality.”
When I heard this, I felt games were too horrible. They did harm to us so seriously that we couldn’t differ the real world from the virtual world. Following that, my mother continued to communicate, “Besides this, there are also some people who are trapped in games and cannot get rid of them. They stay at home all day with games for company. They get particularly decadent and lose their youthful vitality that they should have. Neither do they want to go to school nor go to work. They feel like doing nothing but playing games at home. They consider playing games is the nicest thing, and even they don’t know when they should eat and sleep. Except playing games, they have no interest in everything. Xiaotong, all those are the terrible results Satan bring us by making use of games. When God sees we are deceived like this by Satan, He feels sorrow. And He does not have the heart to let us be damaged by Satan again, so He exposes the harm of games and thereby let us see clearly the true fact that they damage man so that we can reject them and no longer be deceived and damaged by Satan again. God’s words say that ‘These games are the world of devils.’ This is not wrong at all.” I said with a nod: “Yeah, mum. I understand that games are the way by which Satan ruins people. I don’t want to be damaged by devil nor be decadent like this. I need listen to God’s word.”
Since then, I had discernment toward games and known they are from Satan and they can take people’s lives. Later when I heard my classmates talking about games, or they instigated me to play them, though my heart was distracted a little, I could realize it was wrong and prayed to God at once for help in asking Him to protect me from being tempted by games. God teaches us, “You should implore God often, that you not fall into temptation, and that you not be deceived by Satan. In this evil age, in this age infested by unclean spirits and devils, you should pray that God’s kindness and protection will often be with you, that He looks after you and protects you, so that your heart won’t leave God, and you can strive to use your heart and your honesty to worship God.” So, I acted according to God’s words. At ordinary times I would read more God’s words and sang hymns of God’s word with my mother. When my classmates talked about games with me again, my heart wouldn’t be distracted. As a result, when my classmates laughed at my backwardness, I didn’t feel embarrassed because I knew it is right not to play games and the way I now take is right.
My friends, if you encounter the things like me—your classmates laugh at you because you can’t play games, you needn’t feel embarrassed. I believe after reading this article, you will know playing games isn’t a good thing but a trick of devil.
