So-called "entertainment" in the life of a Christian

This was inspired by a recent podcast by Tim Challies & Paul Martin, entitled "THE ART OF GODLINESS, Episode 8: ENTERTAINMENT". I highly recommend it to everyone!

Adultery and all forms of immorality are rampant on television. "Soap operas" are almost exclusively about fornication, adultery, and other forms of immorality, with a dose or two of evil business shenanigans.

Almost every major TV show has one or more regular characters that are regularly involved in either fornication or adultery, and often one or more regular characters that are homosexual or transgender. A few shows, such as "Will And Grace", openly showcase and gleefully celebrate homosexuality.

Many other shows also showcase and glorify other evil behavior such as violence and mayhem of all sorts. "Dexter", "Breaking Bad", "The Shield", and "Animal Kingdom" spring to mind. Not to mention all the vampire and zombie shows that are so popular.

• "Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." (Rom 1:32)
• "[love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth."(1 Cor 13:6)"
• "all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess 2:12)

Even shows that are supposedly good and wholesome, such as "7th Heaven" and "Touched By An Angel" exhibit truly awful, I daresay even Satanically inspired, decidedly anti-Biblical practices and theology.

The Scriptures are quite clear. To allow oneself to watch and be entertained by these behaviors is to "give approval to",, to "[have] pleasure" in them, to "rejoice at wrongdoing". And such things are roundly condemned and point to the possibility that the one that indulges in such "entertainment" needs to "examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" (2 Cor 13:5)

Bring back shows like "The Waltons" or "Little House On The Prairie", that celebrated wholesome lifestyles while not ignoring the evil in the world. Give us more shows like "When Calls The Heart", which in some ways I consider the best show on TV now.

O Christian! Instead of indulging your flesh is evil doings, choose entertainment that glorifies God and Jesus, that showcases true Biblical love, forgiveness, and other wholesome things.

Are "Christmas" movies anti-Christian?

Santa and Ralphie in a classic scene from
"A Christmas Story"

I have to admit it. Like many, if not most, Americans, I am a fan of the classic 1983 movie "A Christmas Story". It is packed with iconic images and lines. Other than that one movie, however, well, not so much.

My beloved Debster on the other hand, detests that movie. I don't understand that. As near as I can determine, it is the only Christmas movie ever made that she doesn't like. In fact, because of her addiction to Christmas movies, mostly from Hallmark but also from wherever else she can find them on our satellite network, our DVR is filled with them. Even though we almost always delete a movie or show after we watch it, she is recording many more than she can watch, so by the time the season will be over, she will still have plenty to watch for the rest of the winter, and probably well into the spring and even beyond.

Since I am "glucose intolerant" or "pre-diabetic", I have to severely limit my minutes per day of watching these syrupy-sweet "films" to avoid going into diabetic shock. However, I still have seen enough to have formed one important opinion: Most of these movies are, at their core, quietly anti-Christian and thus Satanic. Yes, I said that, and I mean exactly that.

The bottom line is that these movies promote the popular culture, not the Christian message of the birth of the Savior. Jesus is seldom if ever mentioned in any of them, unless somebody happens to sing a "religious" carol in the movie. If the birth of Jesus Christ is mentioned, it is usually to promote the idea that he came to promote peace on earth, or some such liberal drivel.

You see countless scenes of families being reunited, of rifts being healed, of people doing kind things for strangers, of curmudgeons being turned into sweet lap-dogs, and so on. There is nothing wrong with sweet wholesome story-lines as such, but when they are used to distract from or to over-ride the message of the Savior, then that is Satan at work behind the scenes. After all, Satan doesn't care if everyone "loves" everyone else. He is primarily concerned with keeping people from worshiping and glorifying God.

Then there are those that are a little more overt in their message. These types of "Christmas" movies usually involve "angels" getting involved in peoples' lives to "help" them in some way. All-time classics such as "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Miracle On 34th Street" are among this group. Yes, I know. Classifying some of the most beloved movies ever as Satanic is going to get me in a lot of trouble. But so be it. I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

I watched part of one with the Debster the other day called "How Sarah Got Her Wings". It was a sweet feel-good movie, much like a modern "Wonderful Life". It was teaching that you must do good things and love people if you want to be allowed into heaven. "Sarah" kept getting sent back to earth to finish taking care of her "unfinished business" before she ran out of time and would be sentenced to "purgatory" forever. Not only is the movie quite lame and insipid on a secular level, it is purely pagan in its "gospel" message. Jesus is never even mentioned, at least in the bits that I saw.

Then there are the so-called "comedies" such as "Elf" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and a myriad of others. They take the vulgarity to a whole new level. 'Nuff said about that.

I put up a post on Facebook asking for suggestions of truly Christian Christmas movies. I have hundreds of Facebook friends, and many of them are solid Christians. Yet I received only two suggestions. One was the cartoon classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and the other was the 2006 film "The Nativity Story". Both are good. No question about that; I heartily recommend them both. But, one is, well, a child's cartoon, and the other is a straight re-telling of the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus. There are apparently no movies set in anything resembling modern times that actually convey a solidly Christian message about the birth of Christ and what it means for us today. That is a shame. And, I think, it is a telling example of how unChristian this nation really is. Hollywood can take some of the blame for this, as the purveyors and, as some have pointed out, the shapers of our culture. But the blame also lies on the population in general. If there was an actual demand for good Christian movies, more of them would be made.

Maybe Kirk Cameron will make a Christian Christmas movie. I don't see anyone else on the horizon that could and maybe would do it. Do you?

I for one am vowing to avoid the Satanic influence of these movies. And I urge all who truly take the name of Christ to do the same.

And yes, I guess that means I'll be giving up my annual watching of one of my once-favorite movies. Good by, Ralphie! I hope it all works out for ya.

God bless you!
Ron