Participants: Atonte Myers, Ivor Myers
Series Code: BOF
Program Code: BOF000005
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00:15 Welcome to Battles of Faith.
00:17 We are your host Ivor and Atonte Myers. 00:21 Today we are continuing our series on the entertainment 00:24 industry in which we compare it to a black hole. 00:28 Again a black hole is that place in space where no 00:32 light can escape. 00:33 In our last program, behind the scenes we saw how we can 00:38 be changed by beholding the images on the television, 00:42 either for good or for evil. 00:44 So we want to behold those things that will draw us 00:47 closer to God. 00:49 We have an article here and it is entitled Violence, 00:52 Sex Increases In Movies. 00:55 A new Harvard study shows violence, sex and profanity in 00:59 movies increased significantly between 1992 and 93. 01:03 While ratings became more lenient, research by the 01:07 Kids Risk Project at the Harvard School of Public 01:11 Health found a ratings Crete in movies and suggests 01:15 that the Motion Pictures Association of America was 01:18 relaxing standards in rating films. 01:21 The study release suggests that films rated PG and PG-13 01:25 have become more violent, that there was more sexual 01:29 content in PG, PG-13 and R films and more profanity 01:33 was used in films rated PG-13 and R. 01:37 The researchers say the current rating system does 01:40 not adequately describe the content of movies. 01:43 The study also found more violence and animated 01:47 G- rated films than in non-animated films with the same 01:50 rating and emphasize that animation doesn't 01:53 guarantee appropriate content. 01:56 So no longer can parents think that just because it 02:00 is animated movie or cartoon that it is okay. 02:05 Yeah remember we discussed in our last program that the 02:11 enemy uses mediums, or media to distinguish, or rather blur 02:16 that line that distinguishes between good and evil. 02:20 It is not surprising to see that these standards that 02:24 were once set in place to protect children, are now slowly 02:28 lowered and lowered and remember the devil does not 02:32 care how young you are. 02:35 He is going to try to do all that he can to change 02:38 your characters, to change us into his image and into 02:41 his likeness and we see this as one of the ways that 02:44 he is doing it. 02:45 Right, just like we mentioned in other programs with 02:49 Jesus it was all the babies under two, and with Moses 02:53 the same thing, correct? 02:55 He doesn't care how young they are. 02:57 I'm thinking about these people in this entertainment 03:00 industry who make these decisions and say, 03:02 you know what we can allow a little more profanity in 03:05 this children's film or we can elude to this sexual 03:09 thing in the children's films. 03:11 I know they are not coming up with these ideas on their 03:13 own, Satan is whispering a spell, which we talked about 03:17 before, and they are accepting it and making these changes 03:20 because we are allowing our children to watch these things 03:24 and it is changing them because they are able to do these 03:27 things that are harmful for them. 03:28 We want to say this, it may seem as though we are coming 03:32 down really, really hard on the entertainment industry. 03:35 If you have been watching these programs and you are 03:38 seeing our focus in this particular series is dealing 03:41 with the entertainment industry and if you think were coming 03:44 down hard it is because we are coming down hard. 03:47 Atonte: yes we are coming down hard. 03:49 The industry is coming down hard on those who are trying 03:52 to keep their eyes stayed on Christ's. 03:54 It's coming down hard on young people. 03:55 It is literally removing the moral compass, the moral 04:02 standard and they are not afraid to do it. 04:05 You know they are not afraid to get out there and do what 04:08 they believe in and so we believe as Christians we should 04:12 be just as bold. 04:14 The Bible says we should expose the works of darkness. 04:16 We not only want to expose the works of darkness, but we 04:19 also want to show you how to escape from that black hole. 04:24 We have traveled and spoke in many places where when we 04:28 make appeals for young people to come forward. 04:31 They are shaking, they are trembling and we are talking 04:34 about appeals dealing with the entertainment industry. 04:37 Dealing with giving up those things they know are 04:41 addictive, I'm telling you as I see people literally 04:44 struggle over this, we have I believe appropriately called 04:47 it a black hole because it is difficult, 04:51 especially for young people. 04:54 It is difficult to break that bond because so many of our 05:00 peers are in this black hole as well. 05:02 It seems like something that is normal until the light of 05:06 Jesus Christ comes in and we see the battle plan of Satan 05:10 revealed and we see the battle plans of Jesus Christ 05:13 revealed, and when we see those things our eyes are 05:17 opened and we see how dangerous an attack this is. 05:21 Mostly because it seems so innocent. 05:24 He is not exaggerating when he said shaking, 05:28 he has literally made appeals and young people 05:31 are literally shaking because they want to make 05:34 the right decision. 05:36 They are feeling convicted by the spirit to let these 05:39 things go, but Satan is right there trying to trap 05:43 them and keep them. 05:44 There is a severe battle, it is a great controversy going 05:47 on right there in their chair. 05:50 This is why these programs are so important, 05:52 and it is important that we pray for young people and 05:56 pray that they will have the strength to cling on to 06:00 Jesus who can give them the victory. 06:02 Again Atonte, when I was in the entertainment industry 06:06 as a hip-hop artist, we made appearances on many programs, 06:09 but one program in particular, which is why we need this 06:13 program Moved by the Spirit. 06:15 One program we appeared on was a program called, 06:17 Soul Train. 06:19 Soul Train and many people know what that program is. 06:24 It is a program like the mountaintop experience for the 06:28 entertainment industry. 06:30 When you made it to Soul Train, you were official! 06:32 Atonte: right, right. 06:34 A group appeared on Soul Train and we were so excited 06:37 about it, and after the Lord came in and delivered me 06:41 from the black hole, I began to realize that there was 06:45 more significance, spiritual significance to the name 06:48 of that program The Soul Train. 06:52 There was more significance to that name than 06:54 I had a first realized. 06:56 I happened to find something after I became a Christian 06:59 in one of my favorite books, Early Writings, 07:02 dealing with a soul train. 07:05 I would like to take the time just read it. 07:07 It says here. 07:14 She is speaking here about spiritualism. 08:07 Then it goes on to say they are all going with lightning 08:10 speed to perdition. 08:12 Atonte when I first read this statement I was under the 08:16 impression that maybe Harry Potter was going to become 08:20 really, really popular and everybody was going to be 08:23 reading Harry Potter. 08:24 I wondered, how is it that it seemed like the whole 08:28 world could be on the soul train. 08:30 This train heading for perdition and it was not until 08:33 I began to see behind the scenes the battle 08:38 plans of the enemy. 08:39 As I was beginning to see how he was using the 08:43 entertainment industry that I began to see how it is 08:46 possible for almost the entire world. 08:49 You know if you go to Japan today you are going to find 08:53 hip hoppers, in fact you have a statistic and I don't 08:58 know if you have it readily available. 09:00 Well I do have statistics on the top of my head. 09:04 It says that 75% of those who listen to hip-hop music 09:09 are non-African Americans. 09:13 I'll have to repeat that, some people might think I made 09:15 a mistake. Ivor: No! 09:17 There was a time, 15, 20 years ago it was almost purely 09:22 African-American, but now it has actually reversed. 09:27 Now more people that listen to hip-hop are 09:30 non-African-Americans. 09:32 That's right I was talking to a girl friend doing a 09:35 little research for these programs, because I knew we 09:37 would be coming in talking about these things and 09:40 really we are not a part of the hip-hop world anymore. 09:44 So we don't really know what's going on. 09:45 However, she let me know that hip-hop has crossed over 09:51 all racial barriers. 09:53 Every nationality is into hip-hop and there are still 09:58 rock groups out there, but they are not nearly as big. 10:01 She says is a matter of fact, the rock groups are joining 10:05 some of the bigger hip-hop groups to make some 10:07 songs together, just keep their names out there. 10:10 Because every nationality is into hip-hop music. 10:14 So we cannot no longer say that hip-hop is for 10:18 the young African-American children because truly every 10:22 body is listening to hip-hop. 10:24 The article even goes to say that it has entered into 10:27 the board rooms of America because most of the 10:30 commercials use hip-hop music to sell their products. 10:32 Like Sprite, Coca-Cola, they had the hip-hop beat behind 10:36 it, they can't put any other little hokey dokey song 10:39 behind it and still sell their product. 10:41 So hip-hop has taken over to say the least. 10:44 Right, and we are not just talking hip-hop art itself. 10:47 We are talking again about movies, music and all forms 10:51 of entertainment as a form of spiritualism has taken 10:55 over and we can see how the whole world is on board 10:59 this soul train. 11:00 You know trains move people, that's what they do. 11:03 The purpose of a train is to move a person from 11:06 one location to another. 11:08 So when I think about the name of that program Soul Train, 11:10 I think about behind the scenes of that picture, 11:14 that concept of a soul train my heart trembles. 11:18 I see that truly many, many people are on board of the 11:24 enemies soul train. 11:25 Now I want to take a look at Colossians chapter 1 and 11:28 we invite you again to get your Bibles out. 11:31 Colossians 1:23 and find a statement here and I will ask 11:36 Atonte to read that. 11:52 Okay Paul here is encouraging us to be stable in the 11:57 faith, he is saying don't be moved away. 12:00 He's not telling us to be literally or physically moved 12:04 away from the gospel, he's talking about emotionally, 12:08 spiritually, do not be moved away from your love for 12:12 Jesus Christ, do not be moved away the truth of God's 12:16 word, be stable, he says stand still in God's truth. 12:20 Now let's look at a word here on our screen. 12:23 It is a simple word, the word simply is move. 12:26 What does move mean? Move means to stir. 12:30 Real simple, to stir. 12:33 So when someone says I was moved by that presentation. 12:38 I was moved to go to this or go do that. 12:40 They are talking about they were emotionally stirred. 12:43 Paul here saying, do not be moved emotionally 12:47 from the gospel. 12:49 So we understand that the enemy of the soul train has 12:53 one purpose, and one purpose only. 12:55 It is too what? Move us from the gospel of Jesus Christ. 12:59 To move us from our love for Jesus Christ. 13:03 When you think about the word emotion, let's put this 13:07 word up there. 13:08 Emotion, the word emotion you notice there's the letter 13:12 E. and the word motion. 13:15 The word emotion means the same thing as move. 13:18 It means to stir or to be stirred. 13:21 So again we see here that one of the most effective ways 13:25 the enemy of God can move us emotionally away from 13:29 Jesus Christ is through the entertainment industry. 13:34 Atonte: and through movies, right? Because it gets our 13:38 emotions, or any television program, 13:41 because our emotions are up and down and all around and 13:44 all over the place. 13:46 Now think about that Atonte, you just said the word 13:48 movies, who wants to take a wild guess why they are 13:50 called movies? 13:52 They move us, for the most part, away from God. 13:57 You know you said a little earlier, when someone goes 14:02 to the movies or sits down before that screen and watch 14:06 this movie, what is happening during that 14:09 two-hour program? 14:12 Your emotions are literally being moved, or I should say 14:16 spiritually being moved, for two hours. 14:19 You're happy with some good is happening, 14:22 and you are sad when something bad happens. 14:25 You are angry when this thing happens and your emotions 14:30 are literally being played with during 14:32 that two-hour period. 14:34 And you have no control over it. 14:36 You have no control over it, you have this moving of the 14:38 emotions, up and down up and down all across the board. 14:42 Anger, sad, happy, joy, all these things in two hours. 14:45 Do you know what that does to our emotions? 14:48 When the movie is over what do you think happens 14:49 to our emotions? 14:50 They have been trained to be quick and jump all over 14:57 the place, we get out and get easily irritated, 15:00 easily agitated, we're happy one minute and mad 15:03 the next minute. 15:05 Joyful one moment and the next moment we are sad. 15:09 We find that we are losing control of our emotions. 15:12 We are driving down the road, especially in California, 15:15 there is a new disease called "road rage". 15:19 Where did that ever come from? 15:20 People are getting angry at the drop of a dime and their 15:24 emotions are becoming unstable. 15:27 I believe a lot of this has to do with the movies moving 15:32 the emotions and taking away the barriers like we said, that 15:37 allow us to be stable, to be focused upon God and focused 15:41 upon His word. 15:43 Again this is another form of sorcery, medicating the mind 15:46 so that it cannot, not only will not but cannot 15:49 follow the law of God. 15:52 You know that is an interesting point that you made about 15:55 the emotions as being so used to being happy one moment 15:58 then we're irritated then were angry and we see that 16:01 happening in our homes between married couples. 16:05 With mothers or fathers and their children. 16:08 Many times I can see it in the store, mothers can't 16:12 control themselves they are flying off the handle so 16:16 irritated with their children they're not even thinking 16:19 they are in a public place and they are flying off the 16:22 handle with their children because they are so used to 16:25 their emotions going from A to Z in one second. 16:30 And your A-Z just reminded me about another new disease 16:34 that has been recently diagnosed in the last couple years 16:38 and it is called ADD. 16:41 I am not an expert to say what exactly that is all about 16:44 but one thing I do know is that the devil is after our 16:48 attention span and that is why he is doing all these 16:51 things by flashing lights and music and all these things 16:55 before our minds so he can lessen our attention span. 16:59 I think there is a spiritual disease that many people 17:03 are unaware of and I call its sadd, SADD. 17:08 Spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder. 17:12 Meaning that it becomes more and more difficult for us to 17:15 focus on spiritual things. 17:17 Take for example, we go to the movies and watch some 17:21 program that our emotions are moving all over the place. 17:25 There is all this explosion and drama, you think about 17:29 those words they use to describe movies as they are coming 17:33 out, you've got drama, action, sizzling, 17:36 all those different exciting words. 17:38 You go watch this two-hour movie and then when you get out 17:41 and come back into the real world what happens? 17:44 Everything seems boring. 17:46 Everything seems boring and so you need what? More! 17:50 You need more drama, you need more action and so that 17:54 is why you see these movies, it is really the same thing 17:57 only amplified. 17:59 More explosions, more bombs, more killing, more blood, 18:03 more blood than you have ever seen. 18:05 That is how they do their advertising now. 18:07 It's like a drug, remember we talked about the definition 18:11 of sorcery, pharmacopeia, pharmaceuticals, anything that 18:15 medicates the mind. 18:16 It is a drug that medicates the mind and it is an 18:20 addictive thing. 18:22 So we begin to watch these programs we become more and 18:25 more addicted, now watch what happens Atonte. 18:29 So our attention line has been chopped to pieces by the 18:34 enemy because we have been moved emotionally through the 18:39 movies, then we come to church and there's no what? 18:44 There's no action, no blood. 18:47 No blood, no sizzling, no drama, you know what I mean. 18:54 All of a sudden we begin to lose interest in church. 19:01 Atonte: It's boring. 19:02 It's boring, the devil pulls out his remote control. 19:06 And it's interesting Atonte when you think about that 19:09 word remote control, what does it mean? 19:11 Atonte: to control. Ivor: to control from a distance. 19:14 Ivor: to control from a distance and the devil will 19:17 pull out his remote control and hit the snooze button 19:20 and there you go falling asleep in church. 19:23 Because it is what? Boring! 19:25 The bobbing head syndrome, and not only that but now if 19:30 the sermon is more than half an hour you are in trouble. 19:36 Ha, this is too long, but we could sit before a movie 19:42 for two hours, three hours and be entertained. 19:46 So again we find the enemy strategically setting his plots, 19:51 setting his plan so that we are slowly being moved away 19:56 on the soul train from God. 19:59 Again people will say there is nothing wrong with movies. 20:02 It was just a nice little love story. 20:04 What Satan does is that he builds and builds and builds 20:08 so that when we do get to the word of God it seems so 20:11 boring, but the word of God is not boring at all. 20:14 There is more drama in here, the great controversy is 20:18 one of the most exciting things. 20:20 There is no movie that could even begin to touch the great 20:23 controversy between Jesus and Satan. 20:25 I think of the battle in heaven when Satan was cast out. 20:29 If you could go there in your imagination, or your minds 20:33 eye, and think about what really happened. 20:35 There is no movie that even could dramatize that more than 20:39 what really happened. 20:40 I mean the Bible has those things and they are good things 20:44 for us, it is not things that is destructive to us. 20:47 I think about the current fad in the movie theaters with 20:54 the supernatural superheroes. 20:57 We see it out there, there's Spiderman, there's daredevil, 21:01 there is all the sudden this influx of superheroes for the 21:06 world to look up to. 21:08 Again I believe that when young people, we are talking 21:11 about young people now, 5-6-7-8-9. 21:14 When they are seeing these superheroes who are dressed 21:18 in these pajamas, muscle men that are able to fly and do 21:22 all these things. 21:23 I think one of the things the enemy is doing is he is 21:25 trying to make Jesus Christ look boring. 21:28 Who wants to be like Jesus Christ when you can be like 21:30 Spiderman and climb up the side of buildings? 21:33 That is all foolishness because the ultimate superhero 21:38 is Jesus Christ and the devil wants to block that out 21:43 by providing his own set of superheroes. 21:47 So you have daredevil with his rod and Thor with his 21:51 hammer, and really all these superheroes, 21:54 in fact Superman. 21:56 These superheroes are counterfeits of the genuine 21:59 superhero which is Jesus Christ. 22:01 You may say oh what is the matter with that? 22:03 I remember behind the scene the eye of faith perceives 22:08 things that are not visible to the naked, or the natural 22:12 eye and this is why Christ tells us we wrestle not against 22:16 flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness 22:18 in high places. 22:20 You are so right, especially about young people not 22:24 getting excited about Jesus. 22:26 Him healing people, they should look to Him and get excited 22:32 about that and the things that He did on this earth were no 22:37 easy feat, He was supernaturally connected to God, 22:39 His father and that was the way He was able to do things. 22:43 We could be supernaturally connected to God, our Father, 22:46 and do the same things that Jesus did. 22:48 That should be the exciting force that drives us. 22:52 That's right, that's right. 22:53 You know when we go back to that text Colossians 1:23. 22:57 We look at that word when Paul says be not moved away 23:01 from the Gospel. 23:03 The word there for moved is Manta Kineo. 23:07 That is the Greek word Manta Kineo. 23:11 Forget about the Manta part, think about the Kineo part, 23:14 does that sound familiar in our English language? 23:19 It does, that sounds a lot like the work Kinesis. 23:24 Now what does the word kinesis mean? 23:26 It means to move. 23:29 So Paul here is saying do not allow your emotions to be 23:33 moved away from your love for Jesus Christ. 23:36 The devil will come in any way he can to try to move you 23:40 a way, and Paul says I want you to stand. 23:42 I want you to be stable. 23:44 So that word kinesis or Kinetic has a lot of significance 23:47 in the fact that when the enemy comes in, he wants to do 23:51 exactly that, to move. 23:52 Now I want to look at another work real quick because your 23:54 probably familiar when I say Kinetic or kinesis then 23:57 the word may pop into mind telekinesis. 24:00 So let's look at that on our screen. 24:15 The supposed psychic ability to deform or destroy an object 24:22 without physical force. 24:27 I would suggest that through the movie industry, the enemy 24:33 of souls is able to deform our characters without the use 24:38 of physical force and he is doing just that. 24:42 In fact he would probably blow your mind if I told you 24:46 that the word cinema is derived from the word kinesis. 24:51 They are actually connected? 24:53 Through the cinema the enemy moves the soul from God to 24:59 another place away from God. 25:02 In doing so he destroys, or deforms our characters. 25:06 He actually exercises telekinesis. 25:08 Many of us would never would sit back and say I'm involved in 25:11 telekinesis in any way. 25:13 Telekinesis has no power over me. 25:15 Yet when we sit and allow our characters to be deformed by 25:20 the enemy, he is actually using the power of telekinesis 25:25 destroying our characters without the use 25:28 of physical force. 25:30 The Bible even talks about that in Revelation 12:15. 25:46 Ivor: carried away, now this is a prophetical context 25:49 where it is a historical background we are talking about 25:53 here, but we see that one of the enemies tactics to cause 25:56 the woman, which represents the Church of God. 25:58 In Bible prophecy a woman represents a church. 26:01 One of his tactics is to cause her to be what? 26:03 Carried away, he does it through a flood. 26:06 Right now the enemy is using the same tactic. 26:09 Through the flood of the entertainment industry, through 26:12 the flood of the media, he is causing many people to be 26:15 carried away, to be moved away from God through the industry. 26:21 Again Christ says I, if I be lifted up will draw 26:26 all men unto Me. 26:28 In other words He says I will pull you out of that flood 26:30 that the whole world is going along with. 26:32 I will rescue you from that soul train and redeem your 26:36 soul and make it to the image of God again. 26:41 Again this is what He is calling our young people, our 26:45 old people who are on the soul train, He is saying get off 26:49 Board the soul train right now. 26:50 I am your way of escape, looked to me all ye to the ends 26:54 of the earth, and be ye saved. 26:57 Now I know we are doing another program on this, but it is 27:01 connecting right now that Jesus said if I be lifted up, 27:05 I will draw all men to myself. 27:07 We were talking about how Satan uses the remote control 27:10 in church because everything seems so boring. 27:12 We are bringing in to try to entertain people to keep them 27:18 there, the same things that the world is using. 27:20 Jesus said that if I be lifted up, that is the formula on 27:24 how to keep young people, and how to keep 27:26 your churches full. 27:28 It's amazing Atonte how the enemy is sending the flood 27:30 into churches all across the world. 27:34 The flood of worldliness is coming into the church and we 27:37 are using it as a way to say we've got to keep our young 27:41 people so let's bring in the explosions, the action, 27:45 and all those things, and I'm talking across the 27:50 denominations are becoming more and more like the world. 27:53 That's true, we need to understand more about what it 27:56 means to lift Jesus up instead of trying to turn to the 28:00 world to entertain our kids. 28:02 Well we are almost out of time, but I want you to know 28:06 that our next program is about video games. 28:08 You don't want to miss it and until then God bless. |
Revised 2014-12-17