HOLLYWOOD AND THE CHRISTIAN TEEN
St. Augustine once wrote, "Decency is veiled from sight; indecency is exposed to view. Scenes of evil attract packed audiences; good words scarcely find any listeners. It is as if purity should provoke a blush, and corruption give ground for pride. But where else should this happen but in devils' temples, in the resorts of delusion?" lf you are a student of history, you know that soon after these words were penned the Roman Empire fell. Although the above words were written hundreds of years ago they are still very applicable for the day and age we live in. More than ever we are seeing a deliberate effort on the part of Hollywood to undermine the values that America was founded upon.
Brent Bozell, Jr., of the Media Research Center has repeatedly warned that Hollywood, and the entertainment industry, is the spearhead of the liberal left in the ongoing war against traditional Christian values. He states that the militant Left is very conscious of the power which is associated with Hollywood and the entertainment industry. If we have any doubt about that at all, one only need to look at this past election to see which candidate Hollywood and it's money supported. What other ONE industry can we name that has taken America so far down the road to moral and spiritual bankruptcy. What other industry literally makes its billions of dollars from the promotion of indecency, perversion, and wickedness? Thirty years ago a girl who was an unwed mother was not exalted. It was a reproach to not only her, but also to her family; and this was true even among the unsaved! Today, thanks to Hollywood, marriage is no longer sacred or even desirable in many cases; and woe be it to the person who takes Hollywood to task. A good case in point was former Vice- President Dan Quayle who was literally vilified for days on end for denouncing "single parenting." Let a man such as George Bush run for president, and you have half of Hollywood screaming and threatening to leave the country. One cannot read a paper today without reading about this romantic movie and that "love story". Years ago these movies would have been unthinkable, but today they are box office smashes raking in millions of dollars. What was that St. Augustine said about "scenes of evil attract packed audiences" and "purity provoking a blush"? Hollywood today thinks nothing of promoting nudity, evil over good and yes even the occult. It also mocks anything to do with Bible-believing Fundamentalism.
We could also make mention of the people in the industry who hold themselves up as "moral role models" for the youth of America. Can you name an industry where perversion, drunkenness, divorce, cursing, rebellion to authority, drugs, killing, illicit sex, cannibalism, and anything else the depraved mind can think of is not only promoted but glorified more than in Hollywood? It is an industry that if not dominated by sodomites, is at the very least sympathetic to them and does everything in its power to normalize perversion.
Why all this fuss? Because this is the moral philosophy that our Fundamental Baptist young people are being inoculated with on a daily basis. We labor and sacrifice to raise them up for God and then let them sit at the "devil's temples in the resorts of delusion". And then we wonder why we are losing so many of our children. We wonder why so many choose to pursue the things of the world as opposed to the eternal treasures they would receive in Heaven.
If you think I am going overboard, ask yourself why so many preachers today toy with and get caught up in sexual sins. If they can be affected, how much more our children can be influenced. I believe a lot of parents will answer to God someday because of what they allowed their children to watch. If the Roman Empire fell as a result of its own lusts, debauchery, and spiritual bankruptcy, how much more time do our children and our children's children have in this once great nation because of ours?
Evangelist Bill Behrens