Searching for Pokemon

Searching for Pokémon

“Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.”  Isaiah 55:6

Pokémon Go has quickly become popular for those who play it on their cellphones.  I don’t know much about the game, but it looks like a lot of fun if you have the time to be running around.  Many Christians are making a huge argument that the game is totally demonic.  There are things that upset people like things evolving and dark forces and searching for power. 

We went through other things that people grabbed on to such as not using certain products because they had demonic signs on the packages.  Don’t have anything in your home that depicts owls because they are demonic.  Don’t let your children watch the Smurfs because they represent something evil.  I could go on and on about things that Christians think should be banned. The only thing I firmly believe comes against things of God is Harry Potter and I won’t go into that here, but there are other things we’ve all followed or played that we shouldn’t have.

From a Christian perspective there are things about Pokémon that I like and that is the diligent searching.  I wish crowds would gather in various places and play a game called, “Searching for Jesus”.  I can envision this game that leads from one Bible scripture to another as you are searching for Jesus.  You see, once those who play the game would eventually find Jesus, they would also find ‘Power’.  We know there is Power in the name of Jesus which enables the faithful Christion to do amazing things.  To name a few:  heal the sick, eternal life, find provision from God, direction from the Holy Spirit, Jesus gives you the power to do all things, be set free from all the sins of your past and give you understanding of things in the Bible.

Those are just a few of the things you find when searching for Jesus.  You will also meet different people like the Apostles, the Prophets and Great Men of old.  You will see things that in our nature could not happen, like a donkey that could talk, a big body of water that split down the middle and a chariot made of fire.  There is so much of what you would call magic in the Bible, but God calls them miracles. Here are some of those things:  Dead people being brought back to life, water coming from a rock in the desert, crippled people just standing up straight, those that were blind for their whole life getting their sight back and so many more. 

How about scary demonic things, where demons made people do things they didn’t want to do, an evil one called Satan who raised up armies of demons to try to control people and cause pain and agony to all they can.  Then there is a place deep under the earth called Hell and Satan and his demons work day and night to cause others to do evil so they will go to Hell which is filled with fire which burns everlasting. 

Pokémon has nothing as exciting and scary as the Bible.  The best thing of all is if you find Jesus, he did an amazing thing and that is this; he loved you so much, he willingly died on a cross.  These people who killed him hung him and this wooden cross and then they took big nails and a big hammer and pounded those nails right through his hands and feet.  He did it so you would never have to go to Hell if you asked him into your heart.

Pokémon has nothing as exciting as this and besides that, the Bible is real, not a game.  It only tells the truth and never a lie.  In a way, Christianity is a game of life, but one in which you get to choose the ending. You have one of two choices and that is Heaven or Hell for eternity.  How do you choose which ending you want?  The answer is in the Bible, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16]  This choice means that when you die, you will go to Heaven.  The other choice for those who have followed the world, here is the end result: “He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”  [Revelation 14:10]

I can’t say whether or not you should play Pokémon Go, because that is up to you, but I hope you think about all the exciting things in the Bible and who wins and who loses in the ‘game of life’.  The end of it always happens one way or the other.