The Lesson Here

In several previous posts, I have spent a lot of time and energy exposing a lot of the spiritual beliefs and practices within one genre of television--sci-fi--that are either directly opposed to Christianity or, at the very least, worthy of serious concern. So what, right? I mean, television is television, we all know it rots the brain, and well, really, what's a Christian supposed to do, get rid of the TV altogether? That might not be such a bad idea, but I have an even better one for you. Want to hear it? It's simple:

Make BETTER television.

Come on, ladies and gentlemen, the world, the flesh, and the devil have been schooling us in the broadcast media--ESPECIALLY film and television--for at least 4 decades now. When is someone in the Christian community going to wake up and get it in his or her thick skull that WE can use the same medium to broadcast a message of peace, love, and hope to the multitudes of the world? There is no excuse--NO excuse--for Christian programming to be limited to essentially 3 or 4 never-seen networks on basic cable (50% of which don't even play dramas, comedies, or anything REMOTELY akin to what most people find entertaining on television). We are the salt of the world, right? Why, then, are WE not producing the best shows, the best entertainment, using the best actors and the best production teams available? Why are we letting the world, the flesh, and the devil produce all the good television, all the good films, all the good dramas, all the good comedies? Why are we letting the world, the flesh, and the devil use all the good actors, all the good production teams? Come on, man, where's the get up and go within the Christian community here? Are we really so ASHAMED of Jesus that we won't pony up the dough it would take to put together a really world-class TV network or film studio? Come on, where's your loyalty, folks?

I would like just one--just ONE--Christian denomination to put serious money into a film studio.

I would like just one--just ONE--Christian assembly to start putting together a REAL acting school.

I would like just one--just ONE--Christian businessman (or businesswoman) to start a real, live TV network designed to ENTERTAIN audiences.

Christians did it with the book industry and the music industry. Why can't we get it together even a little bit in order to create a first-order FILM industry? Or do we really think that allowing the great teacher of two generations--television and film--to be dominated by messages of hate and selfishness is what the world really needs?

Feeling the heat, reader? I hope you are--because if you're a Christian, you have a DUTY to make sure that your children--and my children--and ALL of God's children--have something to watch that is better than the offerings of this world. Do you REALLY want the next generation--YOUR kids--to view Christianity as a weak, old religion whose day was long gone centuries ago? Do you REALLY want the next generation to get tuned in and turned on to vampires, witchcraft, and paganism--and tuned OUT to Jesus Christ? If so, you'd better check yourself and see if you've really got a heart beating inside of that chest, because everything I've ever learned about my Savior tells me that His heart BURNS for every lost man, woman, and child on this Earth. If you can't bring yourself to support--in a real way--even ONE good Christian television show or ONE good Christian film, you had better not bother with "friendship evangelism" or talking to random people on the street about Jesus, because television is the PRINCIPLE VEHICLE FOR WINNING SOULS--for Heaven or Hell--in ANY Western nation, ESPECIALLY the United States. If you don't realize that, then you are BLIND to the ONE WAY we can GUARANTEE that the lost will be saved in mass numbers within the United States.

Ladies and gentlemen, revival ain't coming to America because of some anointed preacher or cool musician or street witnessing team. There are plenty of people who DO come to Christ via church services and Christian music and street witnessing teams, but there'll be a whole lot more who will come to Christ if we were to get it together enough to consistently provide the best television and the best films that our money and our talents can provide. Ladies and gentlemen, there are millions of Christians out there who are in the middle income and upper middle income bracket, and you're telling me that not even ONE of them can offer up some real, hard-earned money to get GOOD Christian movies and TV shows on the air? Come on! Is the Christian community really so concerned about mortgages and car payments and family vacations that it can't even bring itself to care about God's command to reach the lost? Where's your heart, people?

Here's a challenge I want to leave you with: Two guys--one a semi-known Christian speaker, the other a completely UNknown Christian author--put together a book which I think that both of them would agree is not exactly John Steinbeck or Ernest Hemingway. This book was not even expected to sell very many copies, and I'm sure that it must have appeared, at times, to be a monumental waste of both men's efforts. However, to their astonishment, it not only became a bestseller but also one of the two or three books (other than the Bible) that most people in the United States have come to associate with the Christian subculture. I'm talking, of course, of the Left Behind series, authored by LaHaye and Jenkins.

My challenge to you is this: Do whatever you can to make sure these books get made as movies. I'm not talking about CHEAP movies. I'm talking about GOOD movies. I'm sick and tired of logging onto message boards and seeing Christians harrumphing about the Left Behind series (and the Left Behind movies). You know who you are, man. You're the people I see saying things like "I don't think the authors were biblical when they made this plot point/statement" or "really, I don't think people are interested in that end times garbage anymore" or "how ridiculous that some of you people actually believe in cheesy miracles." Well, maybe the book series DOESN'T line up with your view of Christianity, and maybe it ISN'T the kind of entertainment fare you like, and maybe it DOES present a cheesy view of God . . . but frankly, my brother or sister, I'm a lot more concerned that Jesus gets preached AT ALL in movies and film than that everything the producers say agrees with my pitifully limited, uninformed, and utterly impoverished perspective on God and His Kingdom. Man, you're really telling me that you're more worried that a brother or sister in Christ produces a film that appeases your view of God than that hordes of lost people are producing films that destroy the hearts, minds, and souls of an entire generation? Where are your priorities? Where's YOUR soul?

Someone out there needs to take the challenge. Someone out there needs to put together a team, invest a few million dollars, do whatever it takes to get these movie adaptations made. Time is wasting, my brothers and sisters, and if we can't even get this little 12 book series on the big (or small) screen, then it is not only an embarassment to us but a slap in the face to the God we serve.