I rarely go to movies and my television viewing is mostly limited to the news, sports, and HGTV. Why? Because I believe 95% of the movies being made today and 90% of what is on TV is garbage or have enough garbage in them to make them unfit for Christian consumption. But if one reads the movie reviews some Christian media outlets print one would be hard pressed to agree with me. It is not uncommon for movies to receive four or five “stars” from sources that bear the name “Christian”. I would expect the secular media to laud praise upon movies that gratuitously submerge themselves in violence and nudity, but for the Christian media to do so reveals, at the very least, a lack of discernment of the danger of exposing oneself to violent and pornographic sights and sound, and at worst, a willful rejection of that which is holy and righteous in order to feed the insatiable appetite the fallen human nature has for lust.

The Body of Christ would do well to memorize Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (NASU). The Phillips translation reads: “Here is a last piece of advice. If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on the things which are holy and right and pure and beautiful and good.” How can one “dwell on these things” or “fix your minds” on these things when watching movies and shows that contain mindless violence, subtle or less than subtle sexual innuendo, or nudity. The answer is one cannot. No matter how superb the musical score, how good the storyline, how stunning the cinematography, the mind is being poisoned. It may not be enough poison to kill one’s spiritual life outright, but even in small amounts poison weakens one’s health.

The Greek word translated as “dwell” and “fix” above is logizomai. It has been translated a variety of ways in the English versions of our Bible: reckon, consider, impute, esteem, and think, among others. The Louw and Nida Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament defines it as: “to keep a mental record of events for the sake of some future action.” In other words what we fix our minds on or allow it to dwell on will affect our future behavior.

Is it any wonder Paul encourages us to think about that which is true and honorable and right and so on? Further, he tells us we should be “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NASU). Doing so ensures our future actions, whether in thought, word, or deed will bring glory and honor to our heavenly Father. “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12 NASU). Love for our neighbor requires us to “abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22 NASU) and to live a holy life so that unbelievers would have no grounds for speaking evil against our Master, but would rather be drawn to Him. If that means denying ourselves the pleasure of watching a movie or TV show that is mostly uplifting, but contains elements – poison – that offend our Lord such as gratuitous violence, nudity, sexuality, or filthy or blasphemous language, or glorifies lifestyles contrary to the nature of Yahweh, so be it. (That is not to say a movie such as The Passion of the Christ, which contains a great deal of violence, is unacceptable for Christians to watch. I would have no problem watching this movie while sitting next to Jesus. By the way, He is sitting next to us at all times.) 

Actually, by not watching the movies and TV shows the world finds so entertaining opens a door for us to witness about our Master. When others discover we have not seen a particular movie or TV show they may want to know why. That is a wonderful opportunity to witness to them about our relationship with the Lord Jesus. They may not agree with us and may actually mock and ridicule us when we tell them we find such entertainment offensive. They may call us prudes or old-fashion or fundamentalists or crazy Christians or right-wing fanatics. If so, rejoice! “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23 ESV). The truth of the matter is such revilement may be nothing more than prideful bluster on their part to hide from their friends what their heart has already told them. If so they will remember your faithfulness to Jesus and possibly seek you out later. What an honor that is. 

Unfortunately, unlike Moses (Hebrews 11:24-26), it seems at times Christians are unwilling to sacrifice the fleeting pleasure of sin. They rationalize their viewing of violent, blasphemous, profane, offensive, obscene, or even pornographic material in movies and TV as only being a small portion of the overall show, or that such content is needed to make the show more realistic, or that they are mature enough to handle such content without damaging their spiritual well-being. These are nothing more than satanic lies that the enemy whispers into the ears of those who willingly deceive themselves into believing. 

Satan well understands the power of the mind and the tendency man has to justify his rebellious actions against the Father. He understands that as man “thinks within himself, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7 NASU). Therefore, one of the most effective weapons Satan has to separate man from God is to make him believe good is evil and evil is good or better yet, blur the lines between good and evil. That is he has to get man to think good is evil (Christianity is a crutch; sex restricted to a monogamous relationship between one man and one woman is foolish; refraining from viewing sinful activities is only for the weak-minded, etc) and evil is good (abortion is not murder because the preborn are not human; evolution is a fact because science says it is; homosexuality and heterosexuality are simply expressions of God’s love, both equally beautiful and good; viewing small amounts of evil is not harmful, etc). Lies. All lies.

Satan also understands that not every Christian will fall for such lies because their consciences become a little uneasy at such thoughts. They know that something is not quite right even though they may not be able to explain it. Therefore, to get them to violate their consciences Satan uses an indirect attack. He does not expect Christians to watch entertainment that they know will poison them because a secular media source praises its visually stunning scenes or heartwarming storyline. Christians expect (or should expect) secular media sources to be blind to or exuberantly embrace the poison within the entertainment the world produces. So, Satan uses “Christian” sources to “sweeten” the poison he wishes to feed Believeres. 

How does he do that? By taking some “Christian” media sources, such as Christian magazines, captive to do his will. The result is for them to lavish the same type of praise upon the entertainment that contains the poison that the secular media does. Their movie reviews differ little from their secular counterparts. The result is those Christians who are weak in the faith (or wish to be deceived) violate their consciences reasoning that if a “Christian” source is extolling the virtues of a movie it must be acceptable for them to watch. Satan well understands the power and influence a Christian source, whether that is a magazine, church, denomination, para-church organization, or Christian brother or sister, has upon the behavior of other Christians. Do we understand that? 

And while “it is necessary that temptations come”, Jesus warned, “woe to the one by whom the temptation comes” (Matthew 18:7 ESV). Therefore, for “Christians” to downplay the poison – sweeten it so to speak – within the entertainment they review or recommend to others is sin. 

Speaking of false teachers Peter said, “For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:18-19 NASU). Those Christian media sources that highly rate entertainment based upon the same criteria the world uses should be ashamed of themselves. They deserve the same condemnation Jeremiah heaped upon false prophets: “Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: the committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah” (Jeremiah 23:14 NASU). The prophets of Jerusalem should have been warning the people of God’s impending judgment like Jeremiah was doing. Instead, they were appeasing the consciences of those who were violating God’s covenant. The result was national extinction. Should we expect anything less?

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About Terry L. Brown

Terry taught a home Bible Study for over ten years. In January 2000 he began a writing ministry called “Whispers of the Spirit”. In June 2003 he graduated from Yellowstone Valley Bible Institute with high academic honors, receiving a Certificate of Ministry. Upon graduation he taught adult Sunday school classes and preached upon occasion while maintaining his writing ministry. Terry is also the author of “Hallowed Be Thy Name”. It is available at www.authorhouse.com/bookstore or many other bookstores.He currently lives in Montana with his wife Julie.

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