When
I was a boy growing up in the 60’s it was a common thing for us to go to the
moves on Saturday afternoons. Back then we had what they called “The Saturday Matinee” which meant that
we would pay 50 cents to see two feature films and four cartoons. It was always
an exciting time for us. We’d watch movies with such titles as; “Jack the Giant Killer”, “The Mighty
Hercules”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “James Bond”…etc.
On
our way home we were all so excited about what we saw that we couldn’t
wait to get home and pretend to be the
heroic characters who were portrayed in the movies. Most of the time we would pretend to be
cowboys, one group would be the outlaws and another would be the sheriff’s
posse; other times we would make swords and shields from wood that was found in
our basements and garages of our homes, then pretend to play Vikings vs. Romans….
For
us it was all about imagination and having good clean fun, it was our way of
acting out and without having to harm anyone or break the law; even as kids we
could separate fantasy from reality. Common sense, along with having great parents, would not allow us to think that
it was real. It was clear to us that the actors on the big screen were merely
pretending to be the characters that they read from a script. We never
attempted to conduct a hanging like in the old west, nor did we try to run each
other through with the sword, it was simply a game.
Just
yesterday I was in a conversation with my pastor and he mentioned that recently
police shot a man who attacked another man and began eating his face like a zombie;
we talked about a second young man in Maryland who murdered his roommate and
feasted on his brains. I recalled how a couple of years ago I had a
conversation with a guy who was so fascinated with vampires that he had his
teeth filed to make him look like one. Now I’m no stranger to horror movies
myself, we saw many at the Saturday Matinee’s, but I can’t recall anyone coming
out of the theater wanting to be Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, or the Wolf Man.
Today
society is being saturated with movies that depict zombies, vampires,
werewolves, and lycans. In many cases these demonic creatures are portrayed as heroes.
Going to the movies has become an instruction guide to living in a dark and
evil culture.
Some
may respond to this message by saying that we are living in the last days and I
agree. But what’s even more frustrating is that on a daily basis many in
Christian society are succumbing to this madness. Television ratings continue
to rise for series like True Life and The Walking Dead, and yet there are many
Christians who have adopted the attitude of; “I’m sorry but I watch it and I like it” Forgive me but the last time that I checked;
we are commanded to let our light shine (Reference Matthew 5:16)
In Genesis the 13th chapter we read that there was strife between Abram and his nephew Lot; in the twelfth verse it states that “Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom”.
In
other words, Lot and his family became daily witnesses of every wicked behavior
that was practiced in Sodom and ultimately became partakers of that very same
behavior. We have a saying that “you are
what you eat”, therefore if you constantly feed your spirit man a diet of
things ungodly, you will ultimately become that what you’ve been seeing.
“For
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”. (Ref. Galatians 6:8)
As
a blood-washed believer I admonish you to not allow your life to imitate media
art; instead let it imitate the giver of life.
“My
old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting God who loved me, and
gave himself for me. (Galatians
2:20 NLT)
Within
each of us lies the power that can cause art to imitate the life of Christ
because the Holy Ghost has come upon us and lives inside making us martyrs to
the glory of God. (Ref. Acts 1:8)
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