Like it or not, you and I are being watched nearly all the time when in public, and perhaps even when we think we’re in private.  Welcome to life in the 21st century, life in a fish bowl.

The surveillance may come from the business world.  We go into banks, there are video cameras.  At the mall and in the stores which we shop, more than likely we are on camera.  At the work place, your employer may be monitoring how you’re using your time on the computer, and what sites you’re visiting on the web.  They’re possibly even monitoring what phone calls you’re making on company time.  They may also have your cash register, work space in the factory, or job site under surveillance by camera.  Truck drivers are monitored in some companies by GPS.  Smart cars can now monitor speed before a collision and other things.

The surveillance may additionally be coming from “Big Brother.”  Many municipalities are turning more and more to video surveillance.  Downtown areas, public areas, freeways and major roads are monitored.  In order to increase revenue many have turned to traffic enforcement cameras at major intersections.  If they catch your car committing a red-light infraction on camera, a traffic ticket is mailed to you. Judge Andrew Napolitano expressed his concern over the practice saying, “Numerous studies have shown that the most effective way to  reduce red light violations – and traffic accidents – is to increase the yellow light interval.  When one San Diego intersection’s yellow light interval was increased from 3.0 seconds to 4.7 seconds, the number of monthly red light violations dropped from 2,265 to 205… When the yellow light interval becomes so small that it is inevitable that you will run a red light, a was the case in some San Diego intersections, the government is entrapping you: it is facilitating and inducing you to break the law if the government caused the duration of the yellow light to become one second or less it would be forcing you to commit a crime” (Constitutional Chaos, p. 42-43).  Why would they do such?  For each traffic ticket San Diego receives $271, of which Lockheed Martin gets $70 – this was the agreement – Lockheed Martin manufactured, placed, and operated the system of  cameras; one camera alone generated $6.8 million  in eighteen months (ibid).  Like it or not we are being watched.  Also, we may be subject to audio surveillance.  Place a long distance phone call to a certain  foreign country and the government may want to know with whom you are talking and what you’re saying.  Travel out of the country using your passport and the government can keep record of your travel.

Add to this personal surveillance.  Caller ID has made prank calls no longer always anonymous, and other such calls as well that many think are anonymous may not truly be.  Cell phones now have cameras and audio recording capabilities.  Spy equipment, such as cameras hidden in smoke detectors, teddy bears, pencil sharpeners, phone jacks and other items now permit parents to spy on their children, or spouses on one another.  We would be wise to assume that our words and actions are being digitally recorded, or in some way stored.

Then, there is personal revealing.  Many young people are shocked to discover that what they had posted on MySpace or other such sites has found its way into the viewing eyes of one’s parents, or potential employer, or countless others.  Also, it is alarming to some to find out that the activities on one’s computer can be followed or retrieved by parents, law enforcement, etc…

Many may say “all of this is fine with me, I have nothing to hide,” while others may be shaken and troubled, or alarmed.

But, here is the point to remember: If no one else knows what we do or say, God always does.

1.  Proverbs 15:3, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.”

2.  Psalm 139:2, “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understand my thoughts afar off.”

3.  Ecclesiastes 12:14, “God shall bring every good work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.”

4.  Matthew 12:36, “…Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

5.  Romans 2:16, “…God shall judge the secrets of men…”

6.  Hebrews 4:13, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

7.  Revelation 2:2, 9, 13, 19, 3:1, 8, 15, “I know thy works…”

Let us live our lives as if we are always being listened to and watched… For we are!