THE BIBLE IS INSPIRED BY GOD - WHO INSPIRES OUR ENTERTAINMENT?

 If you are a believer in Christ, there is no doubt you believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God.  You understand  the Bible was written by men as they were moved by the Spirit of God and the result is the infallible Word of God.  The Bible tells us Satan is the god of this world, and we agree, but do we ever stop to imagine the ramifications of such a statement?  What exactly does it mean to say Satan is the god of this world?  How far does such an idea reach?  What power or influence over our culture does Satan have if such a thing is true?


     As stated above, we believe and accept  men wrote the Bible, inspired by a force outside themselves.  These men were empowered, by God Himself, to write a book designed to influence His people to live in honor of Him.  If godly men were influenced by God to write His word, why would it be a stretch to believe  unregenerate men would be inspired by a force outside themselves to create something which influences people to live in opposition to God?  After all, did not Jesus, Himself, say, "if you are not for me, you are against me."?  Is it possible  the bulk of our entertainment, movies, music, video games, books and so on, are inspired by an evil force bent on the destruction of society?  

Most movies and television shows depict and promote sinful behavior.  People living together, people sleeping together, homosexual relationships, drunkenness, drug use, lying, cheating stealing, murder, revenge, the list goes on and on.  Popular music is no better, with most themes dealing with elicit sex.  A constant barrage of entertainment depicting behavior the Bible calls sin will undoubtedly influence society into believing  sin is normal behavior.  God's word specifically directs us to avoid the very behavior we are consistently exposed to, day in and day out. 
 1 Peter 4:3  For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 

It would be very difficult to name a sitcom, television drama, or movie which does not normalize a sin named in the list above.  It would be next to impossible to buy a top 40 music CD whose musical themes do not make at least one of the sins listed in the above verse seem trivial, normal or even noble.   

Are we to believe  every script and song writer is purposely out to corrupt society?  This would be very foolish thinking, indeed, but one cannot deny almost all our entertainment contains sinful influences.  Because such behavior is so pervasive in our entertainment culture, to speak out against sins like promiscuity or drunkenness invites derision and accusations of intolerance.  The only logical conclusion is the god of this world is inspiring his people to write according to his will, in order to influence society.  

As a believer, you have the Spirit of God and are able to discern the spirits, if you are willing to submit to God's will in your life.  It will not take long to identify the evil messages that saturate all levels of our entertainment.  When we talk about evil, we think of dark conjurings of demonic spirits or maybe a black mass.  This is part of the great deception brought about by the Satanic inspiration of popular culture. Sins like those listed above are evil and practicing those sins is evil behavior.  This is a very unpopular message, after all, how could an expression of love between to consenting adults be considered evil just because they are not married, right?  Wrong, dead wrong.  God is the definer of evil, not society and certainly not Satan.  

Romans 1:29-32  They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,   slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,  foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.    This passage in Romans is clear, evil takes many forms and those who practice them deserve spiritual death.  One of Satan's number one goals is, arguably, to destroy mankind.  For this reason, Satan will continue to inspire entertainment writers, because these are the scribes of society's influence.  

The next time you turn on the radio and hear a singer tout an extramarital affair or explicit encounter, the next time you turn on your favorite sitcom or television show and see a couple, not married, engaged in sexual activity, the next time you go to the theater and watch a movie that blatantly normalizes that which the Bible calls sin and evil, consider who inspired the creation of such entertainment.  

Entertainment is the number one influencing factor of modern society.  What is our entertainment influencing us towards?  We cannot deny the corrupting nature of modern pop culture, what we can deny is the opportunity for pop culture to influence the church by recognizing the sinfulness of pop culture is inspired by Satan himself.  We are called to a more excellent way.  

Philippians_4:8  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. We cannot think about these things if we are immersed in the evil inspirations of Satan.  

As believers, we need to be choosy when it comes to our entertainment and what we allow to influence us.  When does entertainment become sin?  When it dishonors God and influences our thoughts and behaviors away from God.  To be in the world and not of the world is a difficult charge to follow, but it is a charge that is meant to protect us from the destructive forces of sin.  

Now, go live as Christ... and give the devil hell!