FSTDT

Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D. #fundie #quack wayoflife.org

Pokémon has supernatural powers. ... And what is the source of this power? It is the pantheistic power of the occult, not the supernatural power of God. I have found two cards that make this very clear (there are likely more). They are Abra and Kadabra. Yes, these are their actual names. "Abrakadabra" (or abracadabra) has been a word long associated with occult magic. ... It is no accident that the two Pokémon called Abra and Kadabra are psychic cards with magical powers.
On the Abra card we read "Using its ability to read minds, it will identify impending danger and teleport to safety." Then there are the occult symbols on Kadabra. He has a pentagram on his forehead, SSS on his chest and he is giving the Satanic salute with his left hand. All of the above have strong occult significance. It is clear from the Bible (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) that we are neither to participate in nor associate with activities related to the occult.
... To be sure it is a game, but a game that does not glorify God! When God says something is wrong, it is wrong regardless of what form it is in. Not only that, but many of the kids who play this game are seduced into believing the principles that the game subtly teaches. ...
...
Listen, kids are carrying around their Pokémon like a magic talisman. Author and researcher Berit Kjos tells of a mom who overheard two boys discussing their little pocket monsters. As the conversation developed one boy said, "I'll just use my psychic powers." It was clear that the so called fantasy world of Pokmon had already conditioned this boys thinking to be receptive to a key occult doctrine - psychic powers!
Pokémon promotes occult values, not biblical values and therefore should be rejected!

David Cloud #fundie wayoflife.org

WHAT IS WRONG WITH “SOFT ROCK”?

One of the reasons why Contemporary Christian Music has gained such rapid influence in churches is that this generation is so completely addicted to rock music. Over the past 50 years, rock music has permeated society in practically every part of the world. It is on the radio and television, in commercials, in stores, at sporting events. Even the mildest form of rock music was shocking to people in the 1950s, but that which was shocking then is old hat today. As rock has gotten ever more violent and vicious, we have become desensitized to the milder forms of it. Many people don’t even recognize soft rock as rock music. When they think of rock, they think of heavy metal or punk or rap or some other kind of very hard rock. The average church member is so accustomed to and even addicted to rock music in his daily life, he craves for it even in church. Thus, practically every pastor today is faced with an ongoing battle if he attempts to hold the line in the area of music.

Many Christians who would not listen to “hard rock” nevertheless fill their minds with “soft rock.” But is soft rock really innocent and proper for a child of God? Is soft rock a godly influence? Following are six warnings against it.

1. THE MESSAGE OF “SOFT ROCK” IS OFTEN AS IMMORAL AS THAT OF HARD ROCK. From its earliest days, free sex has been one of the themes that has permeated all of rock music, soft, hard, pop, metal, punk, you name it. It promotes sensual, lustful relationships that are not grounded in marriage. The “love” that is so often the theme of rock music, is not love at all by God’s standards; it is lust. It is very dangerous to allow one’s mind to dwell on such things. “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints” (Ephesians 5:3).

2. EVEN SOFT ROCK USES SENSUAL “SEXY RHYTHMS” THAT APPEAL TO THE FLESH. Dr. David Elkind, Chairman, Department of Child Study, Tufts University, warned: “There is a great deal of powerful sexual stimulation in the rhythm of rock music.” Certain kinds of rhythms produce certain effects on people. In his history of music in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the homes of rock and roll, author Larry Nager observed that “—the forbidden pleasures of Beale Street had always come wrapped in the PULSING RHYTHMS of the blues” (Larry Nager, Memphis Beat). That part of Beale Street near the river was infamous for its bars, gambling dens, and houses of prostitution. Those are the forbidden pleasures referred to by Nager. It is not happenstance that those wicked activities were accompanied by certain types of rhythms. And those old blues and boogie woogie rhythms were not always loud and boisterous. Like rock music, there was soft blues as well as hard. Famous bluesman Robert Johnson knew that his music had a licentious affect on women. He said, “This sound [the blues] affected most women in a way that I could never understand.” B.B. King, one of the most famous of the bluesmen, made the same observation in his autobiography: “The women reacted with their bodies flowing to a rhythm coming out of my guitar—” (B.B. King, Blues All Around Me). These unsaved blues musicians admit that certain rhythms are sexy. This is a loud warning to those who have ears to hear. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. 5:17).

David Cloud #fundie wayoflife.org

Is the Lord of the Rings harmless fantasy or perhaps even a wholesome Christian allegory? We think not. I read The Hobbit and the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings in 1971 when I was in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. I was not saved at the time, and, in fact, I was very antagonistic to the Christian faith. Had the books contained even a hint of Bible truth, I can assure you that I would not have read them at that particular point in my life. I had forgotten many of the details of the books, so I refreshed my memory recently by going through them again. They are filled with occultic imagery, such as witches, goblins, warlocks, wizards, fairies, and such things; and though these are strongly and unconditionally condemned in the Bible, they are often portrayed as good and desirable by Tolkien. Many of the heroes of the Lord of the Rings, in fact, are wizards and witches. The books were published in inexpensive paperback editions in the late 1960s, and they became very popular with that generation of drug headed hippies.

...

OCCULTISM

Though the aforementioned reviewers would have us believe that Tolkien’s books contain simple allegories of good vs. evil, Tolkien portrays wizards and witches and wizardry as both good and evil. For example, a wizard named Gandalf is portrayed as a good person who convinces Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit to take a journey to recover stolen treasure. The books depict the calling up of the dead to assist the living, which is plainly condemned in the Scriptures. Though not as overtly and sympathetically occultic as the Harry Potter series, Tolkien’s fantasies are unscriptural and present a very dangerous message.

TOLKIEN SAID THE BOOKS ARE NOT CHRISTIAN ALLEGORIES

In his last interview in 1971, Tolkien stated that he did not intend The Lord of the Rings as a Christian allegory and that Christ is not depicted in his fantasy novels. When asked about the efforts of the trilogy’s hero, Frodo, to struggle on and destroy the ring, Tolkien said, “But that seems I suppose more like an allegory of the human race. I’ve always been impressed that we’re here surviving because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds: jungles, volcanoes, wild beasts... they struggle on, almost blindly in a way” (Interview by Dennis Gerrolt; it was first broadcast in January 1971 on BBC Radio 4 program “Now Read On—”). That doesn’t sound like the gospel to me. When Gerrolt asked Tolkien, “Is the book to be considered as an allegory?” the author replied, “No. I dislike allegory whenever I smell it.”

Thus, the author of The Lord of the Rings denied the very thing that some Christians today are claiming, that these fantasies are an allegory of Christ’s victory over the devil.

TOLKIEN SPAWNED DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS

Tolkien’s books created the vast and spiritually dangerous fantasy role-playing games that are so influential today. Dungeons and Dragons, which appeared in the early 1970s, was based on Tolkien’s fantasy novels. One fantasy-game web site makes this interesting observation: “The whole fantasy adventure genre of books came into play when J.R. Tolkien wrote his The Lord of the Rings books. From his vivid imagination and creative thinking he created the fantasy adventure genre. Tolkien probably got his ideas from ancient religions. Peoples of different civilizations were writing epic’s way before Tolkien was even born. They wrote epics about people with superior strength, about gods that punished people and, travels to the underworld. Tolkien is accredited to being the man who started it all but if traced back even further you'll see that he wasn’t the one that created it, just the one that pushed it forth.”

This secular writer better understands what Tolkien’s books are about than the aforementioned Christian publications. Tolkien certainly did get his ideas from pagan religions, and the message promoted in his fantasy books is strictly pagan.

ROCK AND ROLLERS LOVE TOLKIEN

Tolkien has even influenced many rock and rollers. The song “Misty Mountain Hop” by the demonic hard rock group Led Zeppelin was inspired by Tolkien’s writings. Marc Bolan, of the rock group Tyrannasaurus Rex, created a musical and visual style influenced by Tolkien. The heavy metal rock group Iluvatar named themselves after a fictional god from Tolkien’s work The Silmarillion. Others could be mentioned.

The world knows its own; and when the demonic world of fantasy role-playing and the morally filthy world of rock and roll love something, you can be sure it is not godly and it is not the truth.

David Cloud #fundie wayoflife.org

Disney’s animated classics are filled with pagan images and other things strongly denounced by the Scriptures, such as witches and demons, sorcerers and spells, genies and goblins. Like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, the Disney cartoons present the damnable concept that there is good and bad magic. Disney often depicts witches and sorcerers as likable heroes.

The 1940 animated movie Pinocchio depicted a man who brings a puppet to life by wishing upon a star; the puppet is subsequently visited by a Blue Fairy who advises, “Let your conscience be your guide.” The Disney fairy also preaches a works gospel that “the gift of life” is attained by “choosing right from wrong.” The fairy is attractive and likable, but a false gospel is cursed of God (Galatians 1:6-9). The Bible warns that the Devil appears as an angel of light in order to deceive people (2 Cor. 11:14).

Walt Disney did not attend church and though there are churches on practically every main street in America, there are no churches on Main Street in Disneyland in California or Disney World in Florida. Yet Christian parents have allowed Disney’s cartoons and movies to influence their children. Pinsky notes that “few entertainment productions continue to have as profound an impact on young children as [Disney’s] animated features” and “millions of children around the world know from Disney much of what they do about the practical application of right and wrong.”

Some years back the Southern Baptist Convention called for a boycott of Disney, but that boycott was based on newer, more morally edgy Disney productions and ignored the false New Age gospel preached through Disney’s earlier movies, movies that are found in most Southern Baptist homes in the land!

When Disneyland opened in 1954, Time magazine featured Walt Disney on its cover and called him “the poet of the new American humanism.”

Even many of the old Western movies are indecent when weighed by biblical standards. The women typically wear tight, revealing clothing. The likable heroes drink and gamble and are irreligious. Immoral bargirls are portrayed as innocent, good-hearted people, the salt of the earth, while church-going Christians are depicted as weak hypocrites and fools.

One pastor told me that he has had the custom, from time to time, of asking his sons if they find anything offensive in the home. One year he took two of his sons fishing and asked that question, and they immediately brought up a certain John Wayne movie that had put improper images in their minds.

The Andy Griffith Show is one of the most wholesome shows that has ever been produced for television, at least the early black and white programs. It teaches some basic moral lessons and presents wholesome marriage relationships. But consider the worldview. One reader who responded to our survey wrote,

“Not too long ago I realized that even the so called moral programming I watched as a child (such as Little House on the Prairie, Andy Griffin, etc.) portrayed a good life without salvation. Never once did I ever hear the Gospel and it was assumed that everyone went to Heaven.”

We must not forget that moralism is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, that people don’t go to heaven because they are “good.” Even “Otis,” the town drunk, was depicted as a really nice guy who would doubtless go to heaven if such a place existed. Andy certainly never quoted 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that says drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

If we ever watch such things, we must carefully educate the children about the error that is taught by the program’s worldview. Parents need to discuss these things openly and effectively and not allow the entertainment fare to do the educating. They must train the children how to analyze such things biblically so as not to be deceived by the wiles of the devil.

Anonymous Fundie #fundie wayoflife.org

The Tragedy and Consequences of Divorce.

A Christian friend who has been examining his ancestry recently told us about the fearful consequences of a divorce which occurred in his family just a few generations ago. I asked him to write this down anonymously, and the following is the sad account:

"My great grandparents on my grandmother's side had four children--one boy and three girls. My great grandparents were godly people who loved the Lord, and left the Presbyterian church in Kansas around the turn of the century because of worldliness and apostasy. All four of their children married, and all four of them made a profession of faith between the ages of 9 and 11. One daughter had no children. Another daughter married in Red Lodge, Montana, in 1905. They had two daughters, one of whom never married, and then they divorced in Yakima in 1922. This was the first divorce ever heard of or recorded in the family, and when this divorce occurred it was reported that one of her sisters was heard sobbing and crying over this tragedy. In 1925 she married again. To this day, from this union, there have been twelve divorces, eleven children born out of wedlock, one homosexual, and out of approximately 56 descendants, maybe three have graduated from college, none have been in full time Christian work, and many have lived lives that are not honoring to the Lord. In contrast to this sad tale, consider the son of my great grandfather. He attended Bible school and was a missionary to China for almost 20 years, had two children, one of whom died as an infant, and the other child had two children. The third daughter of my great grandfather married and had five of their own children, and adopted two more. Of the son and the last daughter who did have children there has not been one single divorce; they have all graduated from college; there are no homosexuals; no children were born out of wedlock; and all claim to be born again and are involved in some church."

Anonymous Fundie #sexist wayoflife.org

“In your opinion, which of the following items of female dress cause a real potential for lust?”

* short skirts
* tight skirts
* slit skirts
* long skirts with slits to the knees
* sleeveless blouses
* low cut blouses and dresses
* tight blouses
* sheer blouses
* T-shirts
* V-neck dresses
* form-fitting jeans
* looser-fitting pants
* shorts
* one piece bathing suits

“If such things draw the attention of normal, godly, Christian men, by definition they are immodest, no matter what the women think.”

[The whole survey is very, er, revealing...]

Anonymous Fundie #fundie wayoflife.org

“I am a red blooded, fully functional, American man, who desires to have his thoughts and words be acceptable to God. I have been happily married for 28 years. THE BIBLICAL ISSUE OF MODESTY IS BEST UNDERSTOOD BY AN UNDERSTANDING OF DEFRAUDING. No one should take any action whereby he causes desires to be raised in another that cannot be righteously satisfied. ...

That our society drenches every inch of media in sexually explicit advertising is a source of much temptation, sadness and concern for this man. Facing that sort of issue with Christian sisters in a church setting is most grievous. I believe the phrase ‘long, loose and lots of it’ should be the motto of Christian women’s apparel. ...

Before knowing her husband, my bride had no idea of how men think, or how easily stimulated they are. I hope my candor may be of some value to Christian sisters who are trying to live holy lives. I try to tell young ladies that I can influence for good, that the kind of fish you catch depends on what you bait your hook with, and where you cast your line. If you can’t catch a man in church with a modest dress on, you don’t want him anyway!”

n/a #fundie wayoflife.org

I believe home schooling is by far the best way to educate children, and that is the way that our own children were educated, but within some home schooling circles today there is widespread neglect toward and misunderstanding of the New Testament church. For example, on my last preaching trip to Australia I met some godly families in one of the churches. The children play various musical instruments; they have a wide variety of interests and talents; they have serious goals in life; they are getting a wonderful education; they are separated from the wicked things of the world. There is nothing wrong with any of this, of course. It is a great blessing to see close and godly families in this wicked age. The problem is with the emphasis and balance. These families do not place the church and the Great Commission in a Scriptural priority. They attend services only once on Sunday, forsaking the other services for “family time,” in direct contradiction to Acts 2:42 and Hebrews 10:25. They brazenly neglected the special services that the church was hosting and thus gained no benefit from the visiting preacher/missionary. Their lives could have been changed and challenged by that preaching, but other things were more important to them.