Your Child and the New Age Chapter 7 Movies and the Power of Suggestion

Home  Contents

---

In 1977, a youth pastor took our thirteen-year-old son Todd to see Grease. You probably remember it - a movie written for the '70s to highlight the '50s. The next evening my husband and I went to see it. I was shocked to think that a trusted church leader had brought junior high boys to a movie that modeled promiscuity and applauded a heroine who turned from morality to permissiveness.

"Don't worry," said the youth leader a few days later. "I taught them how to evaluate the movie. It can't hurt them."

Can't it? What about the exposure to pictures that are stored in the brain? What about the memories of a process that makes morality seem narrow-minded, cold, and judgmental, and makes evil seem kind and good? What about the manipulation that occurs when youngsters identify with the hero and participate emotionally with the good and bad choices of the characters?

Sensual pictures, mystical visions, and tempting suggestions don't immunize their viewers against wrongs. Rather, they desensitize the conscience and stir a craving for more. Stored in the brain, the enticing stimuli continue to influence the mind whether we recognize it or not.

Discussing the pictures afterward can't erase those stored images. Glimpses of immoral activities, identification with characters who oppose God, and memories of the apparent triumph of evil… these become building blocks in a child’s value system.

"The chroniclers and even the advertisers have noticed a growing and apparently insatiable popular appetite for mystery and self-transcendence. In early 1987 alone, an exponential growth has generated a fresh momentum, an acceleration in the rate of acceleration. (Marilyn Ferguson in The Aquarian Conspiracy)

 

When I saw Grease, I too felt the pull of the world’s value system. First I silently cheered the sweet, innocent girl who stood firm in what she believed. But the growing tension between the hero's unsatisfied sexual desires and the heroine's moral stand kindled a desire for a resolution. In the end, the heroine donned black, sexy, skintight wrappings - the symbol of her choice to discard the values that "deprived" the one she loved. While disgusted with her foolish decision and destructive modeling, I found myself sharing the audience's relief for what seemed to be the only comfortable solution to the problem.

Did my values change? No. But for a moment I was tempted to view God’s wise standards as archaic and the world's ways as more appropriate to our times.

Do you see the danger? Can you identify with the struggle? Then ponder the dangerous conflict our children face. Most of their values have not been tested and affirmed, proven and practiced as have yours and mine. They don't yet have the knowledge needed to discern error. Yet they face an incredible onslaught of counterfeit messages.

The Minds Behind the Movies

The Star Wars epics put America in touch with "the force." Their thrilling cosmic power struggle mesmerized millions, inspiring dreams of connecting with the same power system. Few bothered to examine the source of that "force."

The appealing images and visions of contemporary movies bombard our children, making them doubt God and seek "better" ways to power-living. Many young people create an imaginary world that seems more real and exciting than true reality. Quick to believe that nothing is impossible for man, viewers grasp for illusive dreams of space conquests, time travel, promiscuity without consequences, and connection with higher beings.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda employs the "good side" of the force to raise Luke Skywalker's spaceship out of the swamp, showing his spellbound audience that man can accomplish anything he wants through faith in the "god of forces" (Daniel 11:38, KJV).

"The mentality and worldview of people today are shaped more by imagery and attitudes from movies and TV than by values of religious and cultural tradition. The rise and development of the so-called 'New Age Movement' is evidence of that fact." (Spiritual Counterfeits Project, Berkeley, California)

 

Visions and values taught in movies are not accountable to truth and reality. They are accepted, not on the basis of reason but because they excite the emotions, challenge the imagination, entice human nature, and manipulate minds.

The mind-set behind the media shows up in three studies by the research team of Lichter and Rothman. The column "News Media" represents views of the elite who influence major newspaper, magazine, and television news reporting. "TV Elite" represents those who write, select, and control television entertainment. "Movie" represents Hollywood's successful moviemakers.¹

In The Home Invaders, Donald Wildmon warns:

These studies confirm the fact that the vast majority of leaders of both the national news media and the entertainment media are overtly hostile to the Christian faith...

To the humanist mind and mentality, all influence of Christian faith must be removed from society. To achieve this end, the humanist feels obligated and duty-bound to use whatever methods available, particularly the media.²

 

Attitude on Social Issues	News Media	TV Elite	Movie
Woman has right to decide on abortion…	90%	97%	96%
Strongly agree homosexuality is wrong…	9	5	7
Strongly agree homosexuals should not teach in public schools…	3	6	4
Strongly agree adultery is wrong…	15	16	13
Government should redistribute income…	-	69	59
Government should reduce income gap…	68	-	-
Government should guarantee jobs…	48	45	38
Structure of society causes alienation…	49	62	62
Institutions need overhaul…	28	43	51

 

Religious Orientation	News Media	TV Elite	Movie
Jewish…	23%	59%	62%
Protestant…	20	25	-
Catholic…	12	12	-
Religion "none"…	50	44	55
Seldom or never attend worship…	86	93	96

 

Attitude Toward TV Entertainment	News Media	TV Elite	Movie
TV should promote social reform…	-	66%	67%
Strongly agree that TV is too critical of traditional values…	-	1	1

Crushing Christianity

You May remember when major movie studios produced biblical spectaculars such as Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments. Back then, movies honored our Christian heritage and God's ministers were portrayed as kind, wise, and faithful. Not anymore. Today, ministers are portrayed as foolish or corrupt. Followers of religion appear wimpy, immature, and out of touch with the real world. While most Americans call themselves Christians, they laugh along with the world at the biased portrayal of the church.

Hollywood not only demeans Christianity, but seems terrified of its influence. Look at the PG rating it gave Billy Graham's movie, The Prodigal. Usually, PG means that a movie contains enough sex, violence, or profanity to warrant a warning to parents. But these three factors were absent in The Prodigal. The real reason for the warning was to protect children against a dangerous religion: "Pre-teenage children should not be exposed to Christianity without their parents' consent."³

The anti-Christian bias, so visible through movies and television, shows an incredible double standard. Other religions apparently are safe and acceptable, but Christianity alone is judged dangerous and must be eliminated. Yet when Christians voice concern about immorality and violence, the angry media cries, "Censors!"

The furor surrounding The Last Temptation of Christ left no doubt about Hollywood's hostility toward Christianity. In choosing a story by Nikos Kazantzakis, it popularized the Greek novelist's philosophy - a contemporary blend of Buddhism, Lenin, Christ, Spinoza, Darwin, and Nietzsche - and gave birth to a mythological Jesus, who like other man-made gods, suits this present time. Like the gods of ancient Greece and Rome, this Jesus portrays the weaknesses of human nature rather than the triumph of spiritual obedience.

To Kazantzakis, God was the sum total of consciousness in the universe, expanding through human evolution. Even back in 1927, he envisioned a union of higher, evolved individuals with paranormal power, who were joined in a superhuman effort to create for themselves a new world.⁴

A student editorial for the Mountain View High School newspaper on October 12, 1988 said: "The controversial film, The Last Temptation of Christ, has been condemned and boycotted by many religious people. Their religious ignorance has made them scorn a movie they probably have not seen. If more of these misguided people watched this movie, they might actually approve of it. The film is powerful, gripping, beautiful, and very much on a human level ....

It's far easier to identify with a confused, fallible, questioning Jesus than to accept the biblical Jesus' challenge to trust God for victory over sin. Discipline, self-denial, and the cross have no place in a society where "humanness" has become a virtue, where Self reigns as God, and where people are evolving into the "world's highest creators."

Angry that Christians would resist Hollywood’s mythmaking, Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association, declared, "[The] only issue is whether ... self-appointed groups can prevent a film from being exhibited to the public or a book from being published...."⁵ In response, columnist Patrick Buchanan asked a question worth our contemplation:

Would Mr. Valenti defend a film titled The Secret Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. that depicted the assassinated civil rights leader as a relentless womanizer - a point of view with more foundation in truth, and surely, less of a profanation than showing Jesus of Nazareth as a lusting wimp?

Of course not.

We live in an age where the ridicule of blacks is forbidden, where anti-Semitism is punishable by political death, but where Christian-bashing is a popular indoor sport, and films mocking Jesus Christ are considered avant-garde...

"Sensitivity" is supposed to have become the mark of the man of decency in modem American life. So we are told. A "sensitive" man does not repeat ethnic jokes; he does not abide insults to any minority…

Christians, however, America's unfashionable majority, may be mocked, their preachers may be parodied in books and on film; their faith may be portrayed as superstitious folly. And secular society, invoking the First Amendment, will rush to the defense of the defamers, not the defamed.

The battle over "The Last Temptation" is one more skirmish in the century's struggle over whose values, whose beliefs shall be exalted in American culture, and whose may be derided and disparaged.⁶

Bad is Good

By banishing Christian truth and values from the screen, Satan has cleared the way for counterfeit messages. Without God’s standard, anything goes. The world watches as Hollywood presents good as bad, morality as boring, and evil as delightful. The three main thrusts we saw in education - counterfeit religion, counterfeit values, and a counterfeit world system illuminate movie screens across our nation.

· First, a new religious system is replacing Christianity - primarily a mixture of humanism, hedonism, hinduism, and occultism. Whether the beautiful or the ugly side of evil, it testifies to the respectability that cloaks the New Age movement.

In the mythological setting of Willow, which is threaded with biblical allusions, occult wonders, and macho prowess, George Lucas tells a new set of youngsters a familiar message: the force is with you. Now garbed in ancient sorcery rather than space-age light sabers, the cosmic force shines through ugly trolls, pretty pixies, good as well as evil witches, and a courageous dwarf called Willow. Notice the messianic thrust: "A baby girl is born whom the prophets declare will be the savior of the land, and evil Queen Bavmorda vows to destroy the child. She's discovered like Moses, in the bulrushes on the banks of a river by Willow Ufgood, a tiny Newlyn and aspiring sorcerer..."⁷

This spiritual medley accomplishes two of Satan's purposes. By identification with occult symbols and cultural myths, it weakens the Christian message. And the same association veils the counterfeit in an aura of traditional credibility.

· Second, you can’t miss the counterfeit values. Violence, immorality, profanity, and lawlessness (lying, cheating, disrespect toward authority) are standard fare - even in children's movies. For example, Who Framed Roqer Rabbit? which could have been a delightful family movie, was tainted with sexist humor, sadistic violence, and vulgar comments. And Ferris Bueller's Day Off shows our hero lying to his parents and deceiving his teachers so disarmingly that you want to forget the wrongs and admire his wit.

· Third, the globalist's vision of a transformed world takes many forms. Man wields psychic forces, races through time, crushes the boundaries of death, and connects with evolved extraterrestrials. Impossibilities become realities; for nothing is impossible to the imagination. Field of Dreams, Star Trek, and Ghostbusters all show transcendent powers that put real life to shame.

Notice how the mythological story, Dark Crystal, illustrates Hindu-based global oneness: The movie begins with a look at two dying species: the kind Mystics and evil Skeksis. Long ago, "in the age of oneness," when the radiant Crystal transmitted harmony to everyone, the two were joined. But damage to the Crystal divided good and evil into two opposing forces. The damage can only be reversed, if, the moment three suns align, the crystal's missing chip is replaced. There is no time to lose, for the three suns have almost reached alignment.

As in the computer game by the same name, Jen, the crystal's chosen healer, overcomes all obstacles with the help of astrology, mystical chanting, telepathy, clairvoyance, and other psychic tricks. Finally, just before the three suns are aligned, he drops the chip into place. The crystal lights up, energy flows, good and evil merge into one, and harmony returns to the land. The parting message from the perfected beings: ". . . we all are part of each other. Now we leave you the Crystal of Truth. Make your world in its light."

This pantheistic/new age message grows more disturbing when we remember that Jim Henson, who wrote, directed, and produced this movie, is also the mind behind the "Muppets" - the popular stars of Sesame Street as well as of three popular video movies.

The chart in this chapter reveals the hidden purpose behind the immoral messages and occult visions: social reform. Hollywood, like the educational establishment and media elites, has caught Satan's vision: Absolve people who turn against God, and justify an alluring lifestyle of sensual pleasure, spiritual misadventure, and readiness for a new permissive kind of world.

Loving Evil

An advertisement for the movie The Unholy said it well:. "Evil has never been so irresistible ... or so deadly."

We might add, "or so prevalent." As the '80s come to a close, evil - that dark, ugly face of the occult that hides behind the beautiful, enticing masks of the New Age - now shows its ugly countenance everywhere. Children are learning to love its scary, grotesque faces.

A study by the International Coalition Against Violent Entertainment (ICAVE) found that two-thirds of U.S. movies were rated violent, and half of those had themes of horror, satanism, or the occult. The most common motive for the slaughter, horror, and violence was vengeance. Viewers learned that rampant destruction and killing is okay if it avenges a despicable offense.⁸

Notice how horror movies have changed with the times. In Halloween 4: 7he Return of Michael Myers, Michael evolves beyond a mere homicidal maniac. Reflecting today's fascination with human potential and supernatural power, he now appears with supernatural strength, while his fellow actors exhibit cartoon-like qualities such as falling off roofs without injury.

Did you see Gremlins some years ago? Promoted as a children's movie, it turned into a nightmare. Yet kids loved it. Typical of the New Age, the movie softened hearts with the bright, happy side of evil: a lovable and intelligent little Mugway called Gismo. But happiness turned to horror when Gismo's evil offsprings became an army of ugly, lizard-like, demonic gremlins who destroyed everything in their path.

A scene where the vicious gremlins pushed against a door - their horny claws and red, cruel eyes peeping out from the crack until Billy, the hero, pushed the door shut - brought back memories from my own life.

In my third year as a Christian, I knew little about "pulling down" demonic strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) and freeing the oppressed. But I had pondered the triumphs of Jesus and His disciples over demonic forces. I longed to know the secret of victory both in my own life and in the more intense struggles that seemed to crush others.

One day a church leader asked me to counsel a young, depressed mother. Trusting that God's wisdom would be sufficient in my weakness, I accepted. A few days later, Sue and I spent seven hours together seeking and applying God's answers for her guilt, anger, and confusion. When she finally went home, Sue was radiant.

But I heard terror in her voice when she called late that night. Her spiritual battle exceeded anything I had imagined. God flashed one question into my mind which I asked her, "Sue, have you been involved in the occult?"

Her answer raised goose pimples on my arms. "Yes," she sobbed, "I worshiped Satan for three years.... The name they gave me is the name I gave my daughter......"

I heard myself telling Sue to return the next week. We needed to pray together for release from the demonic bondage and oppression. I didn’t know how, but trusted

God would show me. I knew He had promised conquering power for battling evil in His name.

The next day, God miraculously trained me for warfare through the timely phone call of a stranger. And three days later, on the day He scheduled, He set Sue free. But the battle wasn’t completely over. Through Luke 11:24, God reminded me to be on guard, lest the "evil spirits" return.

Sue promptly began to memorize, meditate, and keep her mind filled with Scriptures, for she might be tested very soon.

Indeed, she was. Eight days after God freed her, she experienced an onslaught of incredible terror. That night Sue and I battled against the demonic forces that claimed a territory no longer theirs. The images she described to me were identical to the demonic gremlins pushing against the door in the movie.

"Horrible, ugly demons are pressing on my mind," she cried. "I'm trying to shut the door, but I can't. Their hideous eyes are staring at me.... I can't get away from those eyes.... Help me!"

After a twenty-hour battle, Sue shut the door for good - by faith - and the demons departed. During the following year, as Sue fed on a daily diet of biblical truth, God completed her healing. She joined a neighborhood Bible study and later became one of the leaders. God is faithful! He can set free anyone who turns to Him in faith and obedience!

We need to ask ourselves and our children: "Do we want to be entertained by the ghastly, demonic creatures so prevalent in movies, on television, in toys, and comic books? Can God’s children delight in the symbols of darkness and still enjoy God's presence and protection? I believe not. Listen to His warning in Psalm 97:10: "Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for He guards the lives of His faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked." And remember, God has something far better in store for those who say no to evil in order to follow Him.