Christians Don’t Need to be Scared of the Current Crop of Satan Movies

CHRISTIANS DON’T NEED TO BE SCARED OF THE CURRENT CROP OF SATAN MOVIES

“Christians don’t need to be scared of the current crop of Satan movies, but should use them to present the antidote—Jesus Christ,” says Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of MOVIEGUIDE, the respected family guide to movies and entertainment.

Dr. Baehr was referring to a Time magazine article which noted that Hollywood was “rolling out the big stars to work for Satan this season.” Recent and upcoming movies that feature Satan include Palmer’s Pickup (March 1999) starring Robert Carradine; South Park (July 1999); Lost Souls (October 1999) starring Winona Ryder; End of Days (November 1999) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; God, the Devil and Bob (September 1999), in which God is voiced by James Garner and Satan by Jim Cumming; and Little Nicky (in production) starring Adam Sandler.

“Making these movies is another cynical way for Hollywood to make money, and, of course, they are playing to the teenage audience which likes to be scared,” said Baehr, who is also the founder and president of the Christian Film and Television Commission. “Also, Hollywood has always had a few people who have dabbled in the most strange and occult religions, but, by and large, between New York and Los Angeles, there are a lot of people with common sense. There’s a lot of goodness out there.

“When Hollywood entertainment industry executives talk about trends, they usually are referring to the cutting edge kids who go Gothic or attend Marilyn Manson concerts. Of course, we want those kids to be rescued. We don’t want them to be just fodder for the Adversary. But, the good news is that the majority of children and people in the heartland of America want the truth and will not be fodder for this new fad. In fact, this new wave of movies featuring Satan are just going to create more of an opportunity for people of faith and values to articulate the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

An opportunity to share the truth

Baehr said that the current crop of Satan movies provides Christians an opportunity to share the truth of the Gospel with this generation.

“You certainly don’t want to support occultism or new age, which is just occultism with a smiley face attached, but people who are Christians should understand that this opens up a tremendous opportunity for Good News, and the Gospel is the ultimate Good News,” he said.

“Regrettably, little children are going to get scared, but anytime films and programs are made about Satan, it gives us the opportunity to say, ‘You don’t need to be scared. Fear not, because the peace of God is available to you.’”

He went on, “The Church started off by being surrounded by the pagan worshipers of occult deities. Those pagan religions were the really hardcore devil worshippers who practiced child sacrifice and the worst sort of evil. The early Christians brought those mis­guided individuals the Good News that they didn’t need to be trapped by evil.

In response, to whether this is a new low in filmmaking, Dr. Baehr noted, “There are no particularly healthy times for the Christian faith. Christians are always going to be caught up in the drama of what’s happening in the world around us and the need for redemption.

We always have to be there with the answer, with the Good News that answers the prob­lem which each moment and each crisis presents.

“So, the good news about this crisis of the wave of new movies featuring Satan, is that at least it admits that there is a world beyond ours and that everyone needs to have a real Savior. You don’t need just a new technological fix or a sophisticated weapon to get rid of this heinous villain. You need to have a Savior—Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Baehr then said, “According to television critics, the last remaining acceptable villain in Hollywood entertainment is the devil. This means that they have moved beyond political correctness, moved beyond humanism, which doesn’t believe in the supernatural, and are beginning to think seriously about the world in which we live and starting to con­sider things spiritual, including how the Adversary, Satan, is defeated. Of course, the only force that could defeat an adversary of this nature is God, who is Jesus Christ, who de­feated Satan on the cross 2,000 years ago through His death and resurrection.

“There will be the television programs and movies where Satan gets defeated by technology, which is impossible. There will be the TV programs and movies where Satan will not be defeated, which denies the Truth. There will also be the television programs and movies where Satan gets outwitted, which denies his very stature. And, there will be those offerings where he gets defeated by occultism, which is a logical contradiction.”

When asked why these Satan movies are coming out now, Baehr said, “In Hollywood, you’ve got a lot of people who are thinking about the Millennium. Hollywood goes through phases, and one of those phases is entertainment about the end of the world and Arma­geddon. This Hollywood phase corresponds with the cognitive preferences of the new generation of 77 million children who are now in the reflection stage. In this stage, they like to be scared, and so they like Blair Witch movies. They moved from the G-rated Lion King to the PG-13 Nutty Professor, and now they are attracted by the dark and sinister.

“The question is: Is anybody going to be intelligent enough to think of the real answers to the problems that the existence of Satan poses?”

Finally, Dr. Baehr noted that “everything works to create that incredible drama in which we live. The drama is the forces of good—God—against the world, flesh and the devil, which are constantly attempting to keep people from understanding their true nature and from reaching the true, everlasting and eternal hope they have in Jesus Christ.”

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