Swiftly Entertained – Swiftly Destroyed

By: Steve Huston

Whether it’s pornographic images written in print, photos in magazines or on screens, Superbowl half-time shows, so-called catalogs, or indecency in television/radio shows, store displays, PRIDE events, and the like, the American Decency Association has sounded the Biblical warning to “…set no wicked thing before mine eyes…” (Ps. 101:3)

Yet when it comes to entertainment, there are millions of church-goers who do not set a guard against their eye, ear, and mouth gates; they take no caution for themselves or the children they are responsible for to “Keep (protect, guard, treasure) thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23-27). Beyond that, when a warning is given, many of these church-goers attack the “watchman on the wall,” often without giving the warning any objective thought from a Biblical standpoint.

What keeps us from seeing the dangers which often come with entertainment? Sometimes it’s because “it’s just entertainment;” it’s not meant to be taken seriously. Often there are aspects of it that appeal to our fleshly nature. With music, the danger at the door often comes “dressed” in an enjoyable beat or particularly loved genre. With television and movies, its accompanied with the “friends” of laughter and plots we especially enjoy.

There are a great many other reasons we could mention, but let’s stop here and consider the statement and question that Shane Pruitt, the National Next Gen director for the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, asked regarding Taylor Swift’s music. However, let’s apply his words to all areas of entertainment that we feed ourselves with.

“I’m definitely not the minister or parent that has the ‘no secular music’ stance. Also, I fully realize unbelievers are going to act like unbelievers. HOWEVER, there is a difference between being secular and being ANTI-CHRISTIAN.” Pruitt went on to ask, “As Christians, who are filled with the Spirit, should we be entertained by, sing with, and expose our kids to lyrics that aren’t just different than what you believe, but are actually mocking what you believe?” (The Christian Post)

Perhaps what we don’t realize, to the extent that we should, is that children and adults are being discipled in the ways to think and live by their music, movie, television idols and social media influencers. As people would once gather around Jesus’ feet to be discipled by the things He said, so people today are sitting down to various forms of entertainment, unaware that they are even being discipled in the way they should go.

Kirk Cameron nails it on Instagram: “This billionaire popstar in heels is crowned the voice of a generation. What do you get when a billionaire popstar releases an album with provocative artwork, lyrics that mock God, glorify rebellion, and celebrate explicit sin? You get the most powerful sermon that America’s youth will hear this year. She mocks God in her lyrics. She normalizes sin. She glorifies lust and rebellion as if this was womanly empowerment. Her songs are not just music. This is discipleship.

“She doesn’t have any kids of her own, but raising kids is hard. Why get into all that when she can just disciple your kids and train them up in the way that she would like for them to go?”

In the Christian Post article cited above, there were many others who spoke into Taylor Swift’s music. “Former Boyzone star Shane Lynch accused Swift of engaging in demonic practices and satanic rituals during her sold-out shows and warned of the damaging effects such music has on children…

“‘Music attaches to your emotions,’ Lynch added, ‘It has a connection to your spirit and how you feel. That’s why I’ve stopped listening to those types of music myself because it doesn’t suit my spirit.’”

It’s not just the music industry that “disciples” us, either. In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ, warned that the demonic realm influences mass entertainment which, “without us even realizing it, open us up to the occult, open us up to immoral activity.”

If one thinks that they’re safe from such influences, believing that this only happens when watching horror flicks, think again. Strobel states: “And let’s say he [Satan] encourages them [Hollywood] to create films and television shows that are funny and that are creative and they’re fun, but there’s an underlying message to them, that there’s a normalization of immoral activity.”

Let’s face it, if we can be convinced to laugh at something, regardless of how desperately wicked it may be, we will often no longer take that thing quite so seriously. One could easily come up with a list of comedy shows/movies that have normalized sin by getting our culture to laugh at it – things that many, even within the church, wouldn’t even consider to be sin, today.

Whether it’s the books we read, the music we listen to, the movies/shows we watch, or even the friends and social media we interact with, we need to exercise greater care over what we are feeding on or being discipled by. How swiftly we are entertained without soberminded discretion, entertainment that can lead swiftly to destruction.

Would you freely open your door to a rapist or a murderer? Even if one felt compelled from righteous compassion to do so, it would not be done without desperate vigilance; we have a responsibility to those within the house. Yet, how often do we allow spiritual rapists and murderers to enter the door of our mind and spirit through music, movies, other means of entertainment, social media, phones, school curriculum and anti-God teaching, friendships, and family members? Ought we not to exercise an even more desperate and violent vigilance regarding our souls and those souls entrusted to our care?

How do these entertainments we choose match up with “Holiness unto the Lord” as compared to “loving the things of this world”?

Let us be worthy watchmen, while putting our trust in the Lord. (Psalm 127:1)

When choosing our entertainment, might we consciously consider these verses:

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Col. 3:8)

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

While writing this article, I kept thinking of Paul Harvey’s If I Were the Devil.

 

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