Entertainment, Or Entrapment?

The Bible has much to say concerning the end time, and the conditions that would characterize the last days. Paul told Timothy that perilous, dangerous times would come. But in his description of those dangerous times, he does not mention the expected, such as wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation, and so on. He doesn’t mention physical diseases or pestilences, plagues, or epidemics. He does not mention floods, earthquakes, or other natural disasters that we would consider dangerous. But what he does list is a number of traits and characteristics that would epitomize the world in the last days.

He said, “Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God…” And then notice what I believe to be the danger Paul speaks of: Those that do those things and carry themselves in that way, “will have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” And he exhorts: “From such turn away.”

Listen carefully then to the danger that Paul is warning about. People will be religious without being righteous. They will have principles without having purity. And the danger is that these are both possibilities and probabilities. There was and is no doubt that they would and do exist, but the danger comes at the fact that these things exist within the confines of professed Christianity. Today, everything is legal. Everything is okay, or excusable, or explainable. Nothing is sacred anymore, but has been secularized to the point to where even the Church is having a hard time determining the boundaries of our beliefs.

And if we’re not careful, Christians can find themselves partaking in, and even advocating, practices that promote the secular agenda, and the satanic purposes in this world. We have to remember that every issue is a spiritual issue. That everything we do either promotes godliness and righteousness, or it promotes worldliness and unrighteousness. And in the American culture especially, the booming entertainment industry is a major weapon in the worlds hand that Christians must be on guard against. The most common instrument that the enemy is using in the lives of untold millions, including scores of believers, is television and movies.

Now, I know that some people feel like it is not anyone’s place to tell others what to watch. But there has to be a standard raised. There has to be definite guideline as to what we should watch and what we shouldn’t. And a good place to start would be in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, the list I gave you earlier. If anything we watch promotes any of those traits and characteristics, which sadly would include some Christian programming (proud, boasters, heady, and high-minded), I believe we should absolutely, unquestionably refrain from watching it. There are other passages, like Romans 1, which lists characteristics that we should also consider.

Anyone who has turned on their television recently or has attended a movie can tell you two facts: 1. Americans are increasingly caught up in the entertainment culture. 2. Entertainment is increasingly vile, profane, obscene, and explicit. And I believe that the psalmist had the right idea when he said, “Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken me in thy way.” So, let me mention four things that the present condition of the entertainment industry is doing, and will do, to any and all of those who support it. And then you be the judge: Is it entertainment, or entrapment?

1. It pollutes our children. Isn’t it amazing the great lengths we will go to in order to protect our children from pollutants, yet we ignore the obvious? We will wash vegetables, make sure things are fully cooked, make sure the meat is done - all for the purpose of ensuring the health of our families. But while you’re in the kitchen, and the TV is babysitting your children, you are opening them up to something far more dangerous than any sickness they would suffer from uncooked food.

We’re concerned about where our children go, don’t want them hanging around the wrong crowd, yet we will expose them to programs that promote the very behavior you want them to avoid. We’re concerned about pollution in our rivers and streams, but every time you allow them to watch something that promotes ungodliness, you are exposing them to an ocean of poisonous content, that is ruining the lives of a generation. And what’s worse is that the adults will sit and watch it with them, and even rent or buy the movies, so they can watch it again and again. Is it merely entertainment, or is it gross entrapment?

2. It warps our morals. J. Oswald Sanders wrote: “The mind is the battleground upon which every moral and spiritual battle is fought.” If you think that the programs that you watch, and allow your children or grandchildren to watch, does not affect their beliefs, you had better wake up. The more familiar people become to the twisted morals of secular society, the more acceptable once unacceptable behavior becomes. Homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, and so forth, were once utterly rejected practices. Now, they have been woven in as a common part of the American fabric.