CHRISTIAN MEDIA CLASS III
Spiritual Warfare in American
Media
From
Ungodly Influences in
American Media
Welcome to class three of our Christian Media Class series,
Spiritual Warfare in American Media! Our first class was on the history of American
media From Printing Press To Television, and our second class was From Hillbillies
to Super Heroes. Tonight, our third and
final class is entitled From
Malachi 4:5-6
Behold, I will send
you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the
fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I
come and smite the earth with a curse.
Here we see the Malachi curse. God speaks through the prophet Malachi here
to describe what the world will be like just before the coming of Jesus
Christ. To better understand what God is
saying here we need to know just what the Malachi curse is and how has it
affected
Notice here that, while it is obviously speaking of
families, it mentions fathers and children but not mothers. It says that fathers must turn their hearts
towards their children of a curse will come upon the land. To better understand this, we need to see
what God taught fathers about His laws in…
Deuteronomy 6:19
And ye shall teach them
your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
God also tells His people how to prosper,
and what to avoid, in order to become a godly nation. The
Deuteronomy 28:1
And it shall come to
pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to
observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the
Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
From the founding of the English colonies in the 1600’s, for over 300 years, this was the way of nearly all Christian American families. However, within a short time, things will begin to change. Having been born in a Christian America and having watched and studied the changes of the last 50 years, the answer becomes obvious. To explain, let’s take a look at American history as it relates to American families.
From the founding of this country until
the beginning of the 20th century, families basically stayed the
same. A good example of this would be
the Ingalls, a family that existed in the 1880’s and the subject of a
television series called LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. Here we see a Christian father and mother who
lovingly care for their many children.
Although they started their lives living under conditions that many
today might call impoverished, this family had a hearty and happy
existence. Every Sunday, dad would hook
up the wagon and the family all spent their day worshipping God together. The centerpiece of the community they lived
in was the church. They not only took
part in religious services here, but this is also where the children went to
school during the week. This assured
parents that their children were taught godly values and a Christian worldview.
We still see a very similar picture as over 80 % of American
families are still on the farm until World War II. Here we see families like those featured in
THE WALTONS TV series. We still have the
large family based on Christian values but some subtle changes have taken
place.
The family still goes to church on Sundays, but now the
father is absent, so the mother must get the children to church. Daddy Walton no longer considers church
attendance important. This was true of a
growing number of American fathers as the love of money and love of self
replace the love of God that made so many fathers a shining example to the
previous generations of children.
Not only the family but the community has also changed. The church, where all children were educated
and taught right from wrong, has been replaced by the public school. In a short time after this, the federal
government will replace the church and the local community altogether as the
institution that decides what our children will be taught in the American
education system.
By the early 1960’s, we see a change as most families have
now moved to the city and the number of children have dropped to an average of
2.4 per family. An example of families of this generation is the
Here we see a vast change from the
godly families of
Those who lead our government have also noticed this moral
shift in the American family. One who
has become extremely concerned is former head of the National Department of
Education William Bennett. His words
follow.
"In 1940 teachers were surveyed. They were asked 'What
are the most serious problems in the schools?', and teachers told us, in their
own words, that the most serious problems were talking in the halls, running,
chewing gum, and making noise against lockers.
In 1990 teachers were asked, 'What are the most serious problems in American
schools?", and they said alcoholism, assault, rape, robbery, drugs, and
teenage pregnancy. That is cultural
decline."
Proverbs 29:2
When the righteous
are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the
people mourn.
The spiritual state of a nation is determined by those who
are chosen to lead it. Early Americans
like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln set this country on a godly
path. I never think of this time without
remembering how that President Abraham Lincoln, like many other believers of
that time, came to the conclusion that the Civil War was not so much a war
freeing the southern slaves as it was indeed a judgment from God exacted on our
nation for allowing this horrendous practice to continue for such a long time
in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
"It is the duty of all nations, as well as of men, to
own their dependence upon the overruling power of God and to recognize the
sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that
those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."
However, as time marched on, these godly leaders were
replaced with ungodly men who did not believe the truths of God’s word. One of
the deadliest of the doctrines that changed us from the Christian nation we
once were was called evolution.
At about the time that we were finally
dealing with the slavery issue in
As we studied earlier, this ungodly worldview was quickly
accepted by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche who would ultimately declare
“God is dead!” One of Nietzche’s
disciples, Adolph Hitler believed that the German people were
Another German by the name of Karl Marx would also buy into
the evolution theory. He began by
studying to be a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church but would reject God
when he learned of
At the beginning of the 20th century this
political party had been founded in
A central theme of the Christian American worldview has
always been that God created the universe as described in Genesis 1. The basic premise of Communism is godless
evolution. Therefore the first step for
Communism to be accepted in
To do this, the CPUSA had the ACLU put ads in newspapers
around
Because the judge and jury had grown up in the schools of a
Christian America, they found the teaching of evolution illegal. However, belief in the Bible and God as
Creator was ridiculed by the ACLU and the American media shamed the
“The tendency of Darwinianism, although unsupported by any
substantial fact in nature, since no species has been shown to come from any
other species, is to destroy faith in a personal God, faith in the Bible as an
inspired Book, and faith in Christ as Son and Saviour.”
It was the rich American media moguls of the early twentieth
century, who had been educated in the ungodly schools of
Psalms 9:17
The wicked shall be
turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Removing God as Creator from American
public schools brought judgment on our nation.
It also was the first successful attempt by the ACLU to change the
American school system. For 40 years
they continued their ungodly campaign until in 1963, the Bible was removed from
our schools. The U.S. Supreme Court, at
the behest of the ACLU, removed the word of God from our children’s education
altogether.
Remember earlier, when we discussed what caused the
difference between the godly families like the Ingalls, the Waltons and the Taylors
that led us up to the beginning of the 1960’s and in the 1970’s when the
Bunkers and the Osbournes that represent so many American families today began
to become the norm? I truly believe that
the decision by our government to take the Bible out of the public schools in
1963 is the event that began this process.
In 1925, the government siding with the godly view that we
were created, not evolved. However, now
our government has taken the opposite stand.
Because of this ungodly decision, God’s second judgment on 20th
Century America is directed against our government. Before the year is out, American President
John F. Kennedy is assassinated and we have been on a long moral slide ever
since.
The godly hedge protecting this nation is now dropped and an
ungodly media is instrumental in introducing the evils of illegal drugs and
Rock & Roll to the American public in a big way. The first wave in this assault comes in 1964,
when four young men named John, Paul, George and Ringo step off a plane from
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. We're
more popular than Jesus now."
Within the decade, our government, again under the direction
of the ACLU, actually legalizes the killing of unborn babies by their mothers
in a medical procedure called abortion.
How quickly we turn away from the godly principles God laid out to us in
His word, once this word is taken away as the centerpiece of the education of
American youth. In half a century, our
nation has totally reversed itself from the Christian position laid out by
William Jennings Bryan in 1923…
“Children are a part of God’s plan. They come into the world without their own
volition, and every child has as much right to all the advantages which life
can give as has your child or mine.”
Needless to say, this wickedness is quickly followed by
God’s judgment. God’s third judgment on
20th Century
God’s 2nd judgment on 21st Century America’s
government and people for turning away from Him comes in 2005 with a series of
hurricanes; Katrina, Ophelia and Rita, which rip across the southeastern United
States. What will our 3rd
judgment be? What will happen if we
don’t? What can we do to help stem this
evil tide and turn American back to God?
Luke 21:26-28
And when these things
begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your
redemption draweth nigh.
As you have just seen, there are many things we can do to
help turn
In 1986, Christian author Frank Peretti wrote a novel entitled THIS PRESENT DARKNESS. It outlined in detail what was happening in small towns across our nation and showed how God was using a godly remnant to battle this growing darkness around us. The success of this book caused a revival in Christian fiction.
In 1995, Pastor Tim LaHaye and author Jerry
Jenkins joined forces to created the LEFT BEHIND book series. This series would run for 10 years and
created a great awakening within the Christian community about the return of
Jesus and how we need to tell others about Christ else they be left behind. While the print media has always been
powerful, the electronic media has been so much more so, as so many more people
watch movies than read books.
It was during this time that I myself became involved in
this media revival. Over the next
decade, I would direct and produced several television programs in
In the process of producing these programs, I had the
pleasure of making contact with Peter and Paul Lalonde, who were producing
Christian programs in
"In the ’70s and ’80s, before the days of VHS,
16-millimeter church film nights were one of the greatest ways that churches
could introduce non-believers to their church.
We want to revive that outreach."
In 2001, another blockbuster film comes out called THE LORD
OF THE RINGS-FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.
This story was originally written by a British Christian by the name of
J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien was deeply
concerned about the ungodly media in
The success of these two Christian movies seems to have opened
the media floodgates. In 2002, LEFT
BEHIND-TRIBULATION FORCE, a movie that God uses to show us that He has people who
are battling evil in the Last Days, is released. In 2003, THE LORD OF THE RINGS-THE TWO TOWERS becomes a smash hit, where God shows
us that His people can conquer evil regardless of the odds against us. These movies pale besides the next Christian
blockbuster.
The year 2004 sees the pre-Easter release of THE PASSION OF
THE CHRIST, most likely the most powerful Christian movie released in
history. Through this movie, God shows
us that He conquered evil through the sacrifice of His Son. Who would ever have
thought that any movie made in dead languages would make over $370 million
gross profit? Concerning this movie, Mel Gibson says,
"I want to show the humanity of Christ as well as the divine aspect.
It's a rendering that for me is very realistic and as close as possible to what
I perceive the truth to be."
2004 also sees the release later that year of THE LORD OF THE RINGS-THE
RETURN OF THE KING. Through THE PASSION
God shows the world how Jesus first came to earth as a sacrificial lamb. In THE RETURN, God shows us
that His Son will return as King of kings one day.
2005 is another year that is filled with Christian movies
galore. In LEFT BEHIND-WORLD AT WAR, God
shows us that wars and pestilences are a sign of His soon return. It also shows how God will preserve His
people during these times. THE LION, THE
WITCH AND THE WARDROBE was a story originally written by C.S. Lewis, a English
writer and friend of J.R.R. Tolkien who shared his concerns about ungodliness
in his day. In this story, God shows us
that, with the faith of a child, we are all able to defeat all manners of evil
and all the hosts of Satan.
Peter and Paul Lalonde’s CLOUD TEN
PICTURES have now launched the Church Cinema Chain project. This project brings Christian movies into
churches to help boost church membership.
Just as they did with their first LEFT BEHIND movie, Peter has realized
the potential of bringing godly media back into the heart of our nation to help
turn our nation back to God. This is
only one of many ways we can use Christian media to wage the battle of
spiritual warfare in
This battle is not over, not by a long
shot! It will continue as long as there
is breath in the body of any true believer.
However, it will not go on forever.
It will end for us on that glorious day, described so well in the
wonderful LEFT BEHIND series, but even more so by Saint Matthew in…
Matthew 24:27
For as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be.