A Prayer for the Mass Media

NATIONALLY BROADCAST CONCERT OF PRAYER FOR THE MASS MEDIA OF ENTERTAINMENT

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Ted Baehr, the publisher of Movieguide®: A Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment, gave this prayer at NATIONALLY BROADCAST CONCERT OF PRAYER which was broadcast around the world on television, on radio and on the Internet Thursday, May 4, 2000.

Lord, we humbly come to you today to pray for the entertainment industry.

We are stripped of all pretension, knowing the power of your Word on our lives, but we’ve neglected to recognize the power of other words-words in movies, television pro­grams, video games, and on the Internet-words that have incited children to violence, to lust, or to greed.

We have refused to take responsibility, in spite of your admonitions, regarding what we have allowed our eyes to see and our ears to hear.

And, many leaders in the mass media have not taken responsibility for what they have communicated.

Lord, we pray for the most powerful person in the entertainment industry: the 14-year-­old-boy. We recognize that in America there are 77 million children who are turning into teenagers (1 1/2 million more children than the baby boom generation). Many have not been taught the way they should go. In fact, we have allowed the culture to tell them that they cannot talk about God, while we have filled them with perverse and heinous images. We have removed the 10 Commandments from schools and allowed the media to teach our children the mantra, “Give me more!” Just as Germany, the birthplace of the Reforma­tion, listened to a sociopath who declared that “God is dead,” we have allowed our media to deny you and to contribute to raising a pagan generation.

Lord, we are all complicit so we pray that parents will awaken from their sinful slumber and heed the admonition to be protective of their children, and to be careful what those precious little eyes see.

Lord, we pray that our government will stand firm for decency and morality.

Lord, we pray for all the ministries to the entertainment industry: the watchdog groups, the fellowship groups, the evangelism ministries, the Christian colleges, and our advocacy group: The Christian Film and Television Commission.

Lord, we pray for the entertainment industry executives and the talent, because you told us in Matthew 18:6 that for anyone who leads one of these little ones astray, it will be worse than if a millstone was tied around their neck and they were dropped in the deepest sea. Many will pass into the world beyond and find that they wear the millstones of all those they led astray tied around their necks.

Please forgive them for they know not what they do and bring revival to the entertain­ment industry, the press, the newspapers, the Internet, the television producers, and movie people who make millions of dollars from the ill-gotten fruits of immorality, perversion, violence, and corruption.

Pour out your Spirit on us. Have mercy on us Oh, Lord. Give us wisdom, knowledge and understanding so that we can do your will and please you in all things. Redeem our families and children. Please bring repentance, revival, renewal, and reformation to our lives in Jesus Name.