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“How Can I Use a Mobile (Cell) Phone Better?”

EMF MCS

These are the basic tips for managing a cell phone if you have one of those and want to reduce that amount of radiation coming from it. This is the page we have for how to have low emf cell phone settings.

How Can I Use a Mobile Cell Phone Better

My anticipated audience for this section are the general public, families, and individuals who still want to use their cell phone or wireless device more than I personally would, but they already have at least ‘some concern’ about wanting to lower their risk of health effects for their kids and themselves.

The “steps” mentioned on this page are also available as a printable (free). This means that you can print those parts on paper and give them to someone such as a senior who might not have a computer or who might prefer to read it on paper instead of a screen. Click here for those pages.

If you want to go further than the “basic tips” to reduce the wireless in your life, read the second part of this post. It’s still written for the general audience that wants something relatively easy to understand.

Basic Tips for Better Cell Phone Management

(Some of the tips here are repeated in another post on our website entitled, A Video about EMFs… which has more points for parents guiding their kids/teens about cell phones. See those additional points over there.)

  1. OFF – Keep it “OFF” unless it is in use. It’s like if you’re not in the room, turn the lights off. Keep your phone “off” unless you need to use it for a specific reason.
    • Use a corded phone for most calls.
    • Use a wired internet (wireless disabled) for video calls or use low emf cell phone settings including wiring the phone to the internet.
    • Don’t store a phone (that is “on”) next to your body or anybody’s body. Putting it in your cardigan pocket “on” and then having a toddler walk with you with his/her head close to that pocket is affecting that little person as is pushing a senior in a wheelchair. (And if location data or an extra tracking app hasn’t been disabled, your phone will continuously emit even higher levels of microwave radiation (RF) as you take each step!)
      • A typical cell phone when it is “on” but not being “actively used” still emits radiation, pulsating out in all directions, at regular short-intervals. Many people seem to think that if they aren’t making a call or texting or if they aren’t checking “where” something or someone is, that the phone doesn’t send out wireless signals – this simply is NOT true! See my post called Tracking and Cell Phones (which will be linked here shortly when it gets posted).
      • Putting the phone on airplane mode and Bluetooth disabled greatly lessens (or even eliminates, depending on what apps a person doesn’t have) the amount radiation emitted. So those settings are the next best solution.
  2. If you can be further away from it when you use it wirelessly, do so. Having more distance from you to the thing emitting the RF helps reduce your exposure significantly. So if you are keeping a cell phone “on” as your main phone at home (e.g. because you do not have a landline) or with you while you’re at your jobsite/workplace, generally you’d want to keep it “on” to receive calls. But try to store the phone in a place (e.g. a bag, a container, a counter) that is a distance away from where you are and put the phone ring as loud as you can so that you can hear it and run to get it if someone calls.
  3. SPEAKER MODE – If you are using a wireless phone (cell phones and also cordless phones), put it on SPEAKER MODE. (Don’t hold it up to your ear/eyes.)
  4. OUTSIDE METAL VEHICLES – Unless it’s a weather or safety reason, if you’re using a cell phone, it’s better to get out of a vehicle to make a call/text. This is because the microwave signals reflect off of metals and go through windows. If the reception is better out of the vehicle (and it can be significantly so), the cell phone itself will not be emitting more powerfully trying to connect. Plus, the wireless radiation will not be bouncing off the metal roof/sides/floor and hitting people a second (or third, etc.) time.
    • An alternative solution is to hardwire the phone into an antenna attached outside of the vehicle as Oram Miller, a building biologist, does since he uses his phone on hands-free while driving, described on his website here.
  5. Families: Share a group-based cell phone rather than getting an individual phone per kid. This means that your mature teens share a “family phone” that has minimal apps and is only used if needed to contact you (or for emergency numbers or important connections). Post-secondary students and employees might get their own phone; but even then, they can be encouraged to minimize the number of apps on it and to use a wired device whenever they could do that instead of a wireless one. (This point is what our family puts into practice and yes, it works well.)
  6. SET-UP for a Lower-EMF Phone – Review the section near the bottom of this post called “Choosing a Better Cell Phone and Set-Up”. That is where you can find our tips for low emf cell phone settings.
  7. OTHER WAYS – If you don’t need the phone for a task and can use “something else” for that task that isn’t RF-based, you will try to use that “something else” instead.
    • The “something else” could be a wired internet connection over an ethernet wire (with all wireless disabled on the device being used).
    • The “something else” could be an alarm clock, a piece of paper, a printed copy of a book, a calculator, a camera – basically the idea that you don’t slide into a habit of turning “on” a wireless cell phone to do so many tasks that you end up depending on it more and more and thinking you need it more and more. Try instead to use it less and less.
    • Aim for other ways to communicate and find information instead of using a wireless phone. Ask a real live person nearby for help.
    • With or without a phone while travelling somewhere – it shouldn’t really matter – we can still pray and trust in the Lord’s control of the situation – He sees and knows all about it and He can send the help needed.
  8. BEDROOM – Keep all technology out of the bedroom area.
    • This means no TVs, no computers, no phones (unless a wired landline perhaps), no video games, no laptops, etc. in the bedroom.
    • A computer/TV/laptop in the main living area where everyone in the family can be around helps to curb addiction and it supports accountability for temptations of overuse.
    • Keeping electronics out of the bedroom area encourages better sleep. Years ago when I was a young adult, that scientific fact was known in the medical world.
    • The only exception to technology needing to be in a bedroom is if the person requires a medical device.
  9. FAMILY and FRIENDS – When your family is together, don’t just play with electronics or virtual things. Spend time in “real life”.
    • Be there in the present-tense (not just showing pictures on the phone from the past). BTW, people have been able to show photos to us when they using low emf cell phone settings too (e.g. airplane mode, Bluetooth disabled).
    • Courtesy and logical manners means that devices should be “off” at mealtimes. Focus your current conversation with people you are actually seeing and who do care about you personally.
  10. Don’t just trust in a “shielded phone cover” to reduce RF for you! See this short video of news reporter, Julie Watts, with Michael Neuert for explaining why this might actually make it worse. It’s short and excellent – shows exactly the issues with shielding products in just over 3 minutes of your time to watch it!
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How much cellular/wireless RF radiation exposure is “too much”?

Way back in 2010, The Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Canada) did a comprehensive study on cell phone usage, essentially concluding that there were only potential issues if a person was a “most intensive user” of cell phone technology. The World Health Organization at that time echoed this conclusion. Here’s the kicker though – The term “most intensive users” was defined as total cumulative use at or exceeding 1640 hours. (Source link)

How many days (24/7) is that amount of exposure to the RF radiation (that smart or cell phones or Wi-fi or Bluetooth produce)? In other words, let’s split this total amount of hours into number of days.

1640/24= almost 69 days (24-hour days)

How many days of just 4 hours each day is that same amount of exposure to the RF radiation? In other words, let’s split the full days further into 4-hour days.

1640 hrs = 1640 days, if it’s only 1 hour per “day” —–

So if we want to calculate 4 hours usage for each “day” (which is a very conservative amount these days), then it’s 1640/4 = 410 days, which is just over a year. That would also have to assume that the person is spending the rest of the 20 hours of his/her day, not being exposed to RF wireless signals of any kind.

The study was done before Wi-fi and Bluetooth were as common (which constantly emit RF), and also when there were fewer cell towers (which also constantly emit RF) in society. Nowadays, it is a challenge to find public spaces where there are only a little or no RF radiation that one is exposed to.

So most people are now usually, by cultural default, exposed to RF wireless microwave frequencies 24/7 – unless they have it completely “off” on their own property and/or are a good distance (or blocked with mountains/forests) from cell towers in their communities!

(I also mention about this study on my post entitled Homeschoolers, Schools, and Wireless Technology.)

“OK, so what? We’re also exposed to the sun’s radiation a lot.”

It is very important to remember that being exposed to manmade RF radiation is NOT the same as being exposed to the sun’s radiation!

The sun is much much lower in concentration for the microwave/RF section of the electromagnetic spectrum by the time it’s radiation/rays reach our atmosphere and earth!

Yes, we can measure this and it is nil (<0.02 V/m which is <1.06 μW/m2) . That’s so low for a sun that my acoustimeter doesn’t even pick up the nil amount in the meter square I stand in outside on a sunny day! That is how much scattered sun rays get as far away as I am from the sun. Nil!

In contrast, for a cell phone that is “on”…

The last one I measured (when it wasn’t making a call or texting or searching an internet, it was simply, “on” and being shown to us) was a phone that continued to radiate about 2.5 V/m up to 6.0 + V/m (which is the maximum on my measuring tool at present), at approximately the same distance a person’s hands/ears and face/eyes would be to use it. (That amount of microwave radiation is the same as 16,578.2 to 95490.7 μW/m2 – I use this online calculator to do the conversion of units to the more common units used now.)

The sunlight has all the other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum frequencies too…. and they are is good balance for what we need for life on earth in amounts of each type and in the distance earth is from the sun. If we were closer, our planet would burn from greater intensities of all of that – but we’re not!

Sunlight is fine.

Getting Rid of Cell Phone Radiation As Much As Possible

If you can live your life without being on your phone regularly, this is a wiser way to live! There are a number of places which remind people to value this decision but I’ll mention three examples here:

  • Look Up! (This is a short video in poetic format produced by someone who wanted to give a creative message of giving less attention to a screen to enjoy the real world instead. That part of it is presented fairly good. The concern shown on it is about the amount of time spent on a device, but not about the radiation emitting from it whenever the device is “on”.)
  • The Gospel Coalition, a popular Christian organization, posted an article about the danger of attributing too much worth to social media (which is most often accessed via a cell phone) here: “Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall”.
  • A Zine about Going Light (This is not an affiliate link. It is from a business blog that sells phones with a goal of people using a cell phone for less things. While I’d appreciate that concept and their efforts towards lessening a cell phone’s usage, I don’t agree with everything there. If their products were made with even fewer wireless features that would be even simpler/better. Please note that we do not endorse any product there or on any other phone site. However, since their blog post was written pretty good and is easy to read, I decided to mention that post.)

The Second Part of This Post

Low emf cell phone settings –

People might want to limit their exposures to RF. They might want to reduce their usage of a cell phone overall but some still choose to own a cell phone for limited purposes.

  • It might be that having a cell phone is the lower-RF choice in comparison to a landline phone that has become digital with a modem that radiates higher than a cell phone would.
  • It might be that having a cell phone that is rarely used, rarely turned on, but “needed” for post-secondary training or convenient communication in travel (e.g. long distance commutes and flat tires or the elderly getting groceries) or similar situations.

There IS a safer way to use technology – through reducing our use of it – definitely yes – but also to set it up in a safer manner for whenever we do use it!

Three Things to Consider…

1. Setting Up a Cell Phone (or Similar) to Act Like a Wired Computer

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If you want to use your phone at home to look at e-mails and the internet, consider using it like some people do with a wired desktop computer.

It’s generally possible to do this now, even with many of the smaller tech devices such as recent cell phones and iPads. (But the phone companies might not advertise this possibility.)

Of course, this is assuming that you have already disabled all wireless signals in your home, including Wi-fi, digital T.V., signals are gone, Bluetooth signals are gone…

  • If your modem/router is a newer one and has wireless signals which cannot be turned off, you might also be shielding it in a ‘Faraday cage’ (homemade or purchased). To read more about this, you can go to my post entitled, “What Can I Do for a Landline Phone?” where I write about the digitalizing of the phone system (linked here shortly).

Setting up a cell phone to be a wired computer only makes sense for situations where you’ve done all that you can do to reduce any wireless emitted within your home. It’s for people who might not have a larger computer but only have a small device such as a phone or iPad to get e-mail or see things online. (Otherwise, if you have Wi-fi continuously running in your house, doing this would make little sense.)

The Basic Steps to Do This:
Wiring a Cell Phone or Tablet for low emf cell phone settings

Note: If your household has several devices being used over the ethernet at the same time (e.g. laptops, desktops, phones, etc., read the below section about “schools” too.

In Schools and Other Public Places

YES, some schools wire their devices for teachers and students! It is a good option! There are a few places which mention this such as –

To set up complex situations, it would be best to consult with someone (in-person or via phone consultation with a qualified person such as a building biologist or emf engineer or computer service worker) who knows specifically your situation and understands.

The basic concepts (for people who are new to these terms and are non-techy) are –

  • Ethernet cording gets run along the walls (floors and/or ceilings) into the rooms wherever there is a device or devices that is to be used online. You’d hide this cord behind furniture or attach it into place so that people can’t trip on it. The ethernet cord (or wire as it’s sometimes called) carries the communication and information signals up and down within that wire. Ethernet is known to be more stable and more secure for carrying information in comparison to wireless signals so it’s a great choice for those reasons as well! (Depending on what size and other factors your situation is, it’s likely a CAT 6 or CAT 7, see the comparison here.)
  • The modem is like your the internet service station. In a place likely near your modem, depending on how many devices you want to connect to the internet service, you decide on whether you want an “ethernet splitter” (if it’s for 2-3 devices in total) or an “ethernet switch” (e.g. for up to 50 devices) or a “hub” (e.g. in a smaller office) and/or decide to work with a “router“.
  • The devices (which are anything that works as a computer) simply attach to the ethernet cord in the room these are in.
    • If it’s a phone or similar, it might need a short adapter piece in-between the device and the ethernet.
    • Otherwise, it’s as simple as plugging in the ethernet cord to the computer’s port for ethernet.
  • And then, of course, don’t forget to make sure the device settings are Wi-Fi off, Bluetooth disabled, and in “Airplane Mode” (to stop the RF trying to find a cell tower, etc. to connect with).
wired internet for several devices

Health care offices and other businesses could set up a similar wired (non-wireless) system for their staff and so could churches, with connections in the church office(s), at the sound desk, and at the front of the sanctuary where musicians might want to follow along with digital music. Just because people think they want to use the internet in so many places these days does not mean that the devices used have to all be wireless!

Stores with a wired connectivity for commerce purposes could also keep the Wi-Fi so limited that it only reaches office spaces and not into the customer area. (I know this because I shopped at a hardware store that had no wireless signals for customers to connect to in the store and its walls kept out cell signals.) And the smaller stores, could choose no Wi-Fi/no Bluetooth too, at least for whatever aspects of the business they can control. (I realize this could become more of a challenge as time goes on.)

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2. Choosing a Better Cell Phone and Initial Set-Up

The following is based on our experience in our family and friends with phones (and general knowledge from reading). For low emf cell phone settings…

  • KEEP IT SIMPLE – Get a phone that has the least amount of features.
    • The more features you get, the likelihood of the phone needing more RF (and other EMFs in the battery too) to operate properly.
    • Don’t be a Linus with his security blanket from Peanuts comics – Don’t take your phone “wherever you go”. Choose to leave it in your house or in your vehicle. It is only a phone, not your life. Wouldn’t we all look funny if we carried every important tool or gadget that we like to use with us everywhere?! A drill to church each Sunday in case a screw comes lose and we can fix it immediately rather than trying to remember such a need for later – A food processor each time we visit a friend so that we can show her what our life with it looks like…. oh dear!
  • COMPLETELY TURN OFF ALL UNNECESSARY FEATURES so that you won’t be tempted to use them and they won’t be making more RF while sitting there waiting to be used. For example:
    • If you don’t need “Data”, turn this feature OFF. Data is for phones that are looking at the internet. A phone does not need to have the option of looking at websites. It just needs to call (or text) a phone number and that is done through a cell tower (or a Wi-Fi hotspot on a property which acts like a mini-cell-tower-of-sorts).
    • If you don’t need “Bluetooth”, turn this feature OFF.
    • If you don’t need “Wi-Fi”, turn this feature OFF. (A phone does not need Wi-Fi to make a phone call or text message.)
    • Forget the idea of having a communicating watch that syncs with your phone. The watch can’t usually be turned off even if the phone is off. And the watch is a like a feature to the phone. A watch just isn’t really worth the added risks, even if having one might be like a coupon and save you money on insurance if they can track your heart rate.
    • Turn off TRACKING unless briefly if you’re lost and want such a map for directions so you can get out of a pickle.
    • By keeping Data, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi OFF, a cell phone becomes much lower in RF, according to our experience.
    • Keep the cell connection feature “ON” to make phone calls/text. But for the periods of time when you’re not actually needing it “on” to communicate with someone or wait for a call, then the best setting is either “OFF” (if you aren’t using the phone for a timer, alarm clock, calendar, notes, reading a book, etc.) or “Airplane Mode”. “Airplane Mode” turns the cell connectivity “OFF” for communication but keeps the phone able to be used as another “tool” such as a calculator or alarm clock. Airplane Mode has much lower or even zero RF emitted when it is in that setting.
    • ONLY download special apps that you need. Limit your apps! More apps tends to mean higher amounts of RF regularly emitted according to our experience. Maybe you’d like a bus route app or need an app for school classes. A cell phone is lighter-weight in comparison to a wireless laptop to carry to school if your teacher requires you watch something over a wireless connection or communicate with others in online group projects. But you don’t need apps for entertainment (including games, audio stories, etc.)
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3. How to Regularly Change the Settings to Be Lower-EMF

  1. Change your settings for low emf cell phone settings BEFORE you are in the crowd of people. Do it in your vehicle or at your house. Whenever you change your settings, extra spikes of RF are emitted. So you can aim to do your part of reducing other people’s exposures to RF by changing your settings away from other people, even away from other members of your own family.
  2. Go to your device’s SETTINGS tab/page, NOT the ‘short cut’ settings page. (Some people go to a “short cut” settings page because that is easier. But the short cut settings page can be inadequate!! I learned about this from Oram Miller which you can read on this page, section title “The Difference Between Using the Short Cut Page Vs. Settings to Disable…”)
  3. Turn “Airplane Mode” ON. (Now the phone cannot connect with a cell tower but you still can use other parts to your phone.)
  4. Turn “Bluetooth” to DISABLE. (Now the phone cannot emit a signal to access Bluetooth.)
  5. At this point, your phone should have nil or zero RF being emitted from it and can simply be used as a convenient way to read things including messages and books, to make notes, to write things to send later, to check a calendar and write notes for that, as a timer, etc..
  6. BUT, some phones might not be really set the way you just set them! This is especially true of the iPhone. With some phones, you have to change two different places or else your initial changes won’t take effect! (I know, this is crazy to have it designed like this but it’s true for some of the newer phones in recent years. Some phones can even revert back to default “on” settings if it has been “off” for a time and the company programmed it to be “on” each day or week for updates, etc.. In other words, just because you turned that “off” a few days ago, and haven’t used it since, the phone might be back “on”!!
  7. So, you need to check to MAKE SURE that you really have turned the RF off on your phone! And that it IS indeed “off”.
    • Go to your SETTINGS tab and double-check that the settings are actually the way you want them.
    • On an iPhone (and maybe some Androids)… If the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are truly “OFF”, they will have a diagonal line stroke through them, like a “Do not enter” slash. (They will not just be a faded colour.)
As Time Goes On…

As time goes on, some items have factory-built settings which cannot be changed to disable all wireless.

This is the case for many computer printers and modems, for example.

Some devices change back to default settings which turns wireless back “on” when you didn’t notice.

This is a problem but also a reality of how things are evolving in the world of technology. Tech wants to update with their fixes and new ideas they hope you’ll like, to track because they want your data, so they want to wirelessly connect to your devices whenever they want.

So, every once in a while, people with sensitivities especially should re-check them and make sure the settings are what they want them to be or else try to shield the items they want to keep with special materials.

In summary, change is inevitable and devices including how to manage them under “Settings”, can also change as things get “upgraded”. For now, I think that low emf cell phone settings are generally possible but we should keep in mind that this is not guaranteed to always be an option.

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A Note About Safety Code 6 and SAR Values

(Please note that we do not endorse or recommend ANY brand of cell phone.)

This section is meant to help “non-techy people” understand how to look some things up.

Important: You will need to figure out the name of the cell phone brand names and specific models that you’re wanting more information about first. You might ask your family or friends in your area about what brands they like.

Look at cell phones that have the lowest SAR values that you can find BUT…

Be aware that this does not necessarily mean that a lower SAR value is going to emit less RF than a phone with a higher SAR value!!! For an explanation on why the SAR value does NOT fully matter, see the official reasons on the FCC page here.

How much RF emitted can depend on other factors too, such as how close one is to a cell tower that has Bell versus Rogers or another company’s signals mainly on it, how much the power (from the design and the battery) is needed to work a specific device in a certain area where the person is standing, etc..

AND ALSO, realize that SAR values are actually only a part of what should be safety standards!

The SAR is a rate that is to indicate the rate at which a body absorbs RF energy. SAR compliance testing is based on the rate of absorption, for a 220 lb (100 kg) mannequin that scientists have used so that their testing can tell them what it might be like if the RF was absorbed by the same size of an adult human. (Source of information from Women’s College Hospital (Canada), a symposium pdf from 2022, see page 56)

CBC’s Wendy Mesley’s investigation called “The Secret Inside Your Phone” talks about SAR as well. (The video is about cell phones at a time when they were not as powerful as they are today.)

How can a person find the “SAR values” for specific names of phones?
  • You might find it by searching for the “Owner’s Manual” online for the specific phone you’re considering.
  • You can try going to the website of the company that makes the specific phone you’re considering by searching for that name as a keyword. Here is an example of a phone where the details are easily found –
    • The Light Phone – (This is the company that has the fore-mentioned blog post (“A Zine about…”). But the layout of their page about SAR is also easy-to-read. From their homepage, you’d go to “Support”, then “Device Details”, then “What is the SAR Value?”)
  • For some phone websites, they do not make the SAR easy to find, even if you type that in a search bar on the website. Here is an example of a phone where the details are not as easily found –
    • Motorola – This more-common company had a difficult website to search for SAR values. From their homepage, you’d go to “Support…” then “Phones”, then choose a specific phone a few times, then there is a Q & A that you can scroll to find out more about SAR but you have to pick a country and then you get a definition instead of any numbers yet. After that, you choose a specific phone (again and… again), then you finally get a page of details with some numbers on it.
  • Sometimes, the SAR information is easier found in a chart on a more general website that compares various brand names and models of phones. It could be in a small-print chart that you have to scroll through to find the heading “SAR” and sometimes the information about the specific phone is “blank”. Here are two examples of chart-based searches for several brands/models of cell phones:
    • One example of such a website is called “Device Specifications” (which is a dot com website).
    • Another example of such a website is called “GSMArena” (which is also a dot com website).
    • Both of these provide single pages about specific models of phones as well as the ability to compare between 2-3 models by using the compare (or “Add to Comparison”) types of buttons.
      • The brand names are listed on each of the home pages. Choose the ones you want and narrow down the choices to the specific model(s) you want info about (e.g. according to what year the model is and specific name).
      • Get to the single page about one of the cell phones and notice that you can choose to compare it with another phone.
      • Choose the name for the next phone you want info about and for comparison.
      • We could then see a chart of the two phones we wanted information about and then scroll through to find if they give a SAR value, etc..
Safety Code 6 –

This is an old standard used for today’s wireless technology that basically says, if it doesn’t immediately heat things to a certain noticeable level in the majority of things, then it can’t be harmful. The standard has to do with thermal effects of radiation. It ignores low-levels of thermal effects that can exist and it ignores all non-thermal effects which could be harmful. The code is very out-of-date with current technology and the RF emissions in our communities.

A longer, more technical look into safety standards for cellular technology and why the current standards should be updated, can be found in this article by Dr. Magda Havas about safety code 6. Frank Clegg (CEO of “Canadians for Safe Technology” and former president of Microsoft Canada) would be another good name to search for if you’re interested in learning further about Safety Code 6.

I hope this was a helpful page for you. I tried to answer many of the cell phone questions we have heard over these past years, and from an EMF sensitive person’s perspective. How to get low emf cell phone settings is one of those questions. I wanted to take at least some of the “techy-language” out and make it simple for ordinary people (young adults, homeschool moms, senior citizens, etc.) to understand how they might make good choices.

If there are other small questions I’ve missed, I’ll try to add them here on the page you’ve just read.

If they are questions that take a longer answer, such as why I don’t recommend any “protective” stickers on phones, I’ll aim to put those kinds of answers on separate posts. You can see all of the posts for the EMF MCS topic on our “EMF MCS Related Posts – Start Here” page linked here.

Joy

(Thanks to our daughter for drawing the black and white device diagrams for this page and double-checking the write-up for accuracy/clarity.)

Disclaimer- This post represents my personal opinion and thoughts. I’m not an engineer or doctor. I’m a mom and educator. Please consider this as that type of informal blog.

Prayer versus Relying on a Cell Phone

I began using a cell phone back in 1992, the kind which was wired into a car. I had grown up with my dad sometimes having a CB radio (shortwave frequency but low-power thus short distance for mobile communication) for travelling in the car too. But I was one of the first people in my village to have a cell phone.

My parents felt that it was a good safety feature to add since I would be travelling across rural roads as well as along city streets. (I appreciate their concern.) However, although I did face a safety issue at one point, and considered using the emergency phone number from my cell phone, that would have been a bad idea in that situation. Instead, I continued driving to my night class (a First Aid/CPR course) and informed my instructor that I was going to use the phone in the building. The policeman told me I had done the right thing by not using my cell phone but instead coming directly to where real people were.

A Christian does not need to rely on cell phones for “safety reasons”. I maintain that phones are only a ‘tool of convenience’. (I’ve used one to call from the side of a road about a vehicle problem and also at times when someone is quite unwell. They are handy things. But not a “must-have”.)

Psalm 121:1, 2

For centuries and throughout the world, God’s people have called upon God in moments of danger and distress and He is still the same God today. He still knows exactly where you are, what is happening, and how to help. He can still send His angels too, if He wants to work that way, to come to your assistance (Psalm 91:11-16, Hebrews 1:14).

God hasn’t changed. But sometimes, I think that where we have put our trust, has.

One reason why we might not notice God answering prayers is because we’re too busy trying to answer them ourselves and cover the situation for Him. Just a thought to ponder.

“and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” Mark 4:19 NKJV

(The black and white drawing was drawn by a cousin whose artwork can also be sometimes seen in our curriculum books and in our shop here.)

There is another picture with a saying that sometimes come up on social media feeds; it says: “Prayer – The World’s Greatest Wireless Connection”. It reminds me also of some more Bible verses:

  • “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” Psalm 20:7 ESV
  • “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us….if riches increase, set not your heart on them… from Psalm 62 ESV
  • “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10

People sometimes complain or worry if a “modern convenience” isn’t available or a part of their lives anymore. As humans, our dependency for our well-being can tend to slide off away from just a simple trust in the God Who sees everywhere and can look after the slightest concern perfectly. We CAN be very content in knowing that our God is more powerful, more available, more present, and more caring than anything/anyone else.

Prayer truly is the best ‘wireless connection’ AND there are no negative side effects with it!

Here is a song based on Psalm 20:7. It has a catchy tune, taught by Steve Green, and is a good one to remind ourselves that even if we have and use “conveniences” in our lives that our trust needs to remain on our God! We Trust In the Name of the Lord Our God

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV

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I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.
John 10:28-30
DailyVerses.net

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