Should Christians watch Paranormal Activity 3?
The goal is Christ. The goal is not morality. The goal is not being good. The goal is not trying hard. The goal is not to be a pastor. The goal is not to ever cuss again. The goal is Christ.
17Ā So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.Ā 18Ā They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.Ā 19Ā Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.Ā 20Ā That, however, is not the way of life you learnedĀ 21Ā when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.Ā 22Ā You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;23Ā to be made new in the attitude of your minds;Ā 24Ā and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
When you read this what do you see? What do you hear Jesus saying? Jesus is the main character of the entire bible. What do you hear him say? (Read it again if you need to)
What I hear Jesus saying is the life I lived before, the way I spoke before, the way it thought before should change when I know Jesus.
Recently a movie came out in theatres that most of the youth I know flocked to. The movie is called Paranormal Activity.
Without even seeing the movie I can tell you the synopsis: evil invisible entities meddling and torturing the minds and bodies of people.
Ā Should a Christ follower view this?
What amazes me most is that the Christian will do so much to not smoke, drink, cuss or have sex but they will pay money to sit for 2 hours and watch a movie dedicate to demonic activity.
Take a close look at verse 19; have you lost all sensitivity in the area of what you watch that you canāt even see how harmful it is to your life? Have you become so calloused, so hardened in your deceit that you actually view that without the conviction of the Holy Spirit?
Have you been so influenced by the devil that you have convinced yourself that these types of movies or even television shows are acceptable in the eyes of God? If so, let me help you, youāre wrong.
You might as well just declare, āIām open to you influencing my mind and life today Satan.ā
Wake up young person. Wake up.
Pastor John Piper said these wise words in a blog, āWhatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us.ā
The devil wants you to burn for eternity in Hell. He wants to deceive you, did you not know? Do you believe the things Jesus tells you in his word?
Ephesians 5:8 & 11
āFor you were onceĀ darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of lightā¦have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but ratherĀ exposeĀ them.ā
2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplateĀ the Lordās glory, are beingĀ transformed into his imagewith ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but beĀ transformed by the renewing of your mind.Ā Then you will be able to test and approve what Godās will isāhis good, pleasing and perfect will.
How can a person who declares to love Christ watch something as evil as that? How could they watch something that is literally against God in every way?
Itās because you have been deceived, take a step back and see where and what you have surrendered to the devil and not to Jesus. Does your Sunday and Wednesday belong to Christ but what you watch belong to the devil?
In everything, ask yourself this question:
Does this draw me closer to Jesus, or does this draw me away?
If this is the type of Christian life you are going to live, how could you ever be effective for spreading the gospel of Jesus? What chance do you have to stand in front of someone and declare His name if you actively and so openly pursue the devil?
Go home, get on your knees and ask for forgiveness and rid this poison from your life.
Ā C.S. Lewis said this about demons and the devil:
āThere are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.ā
I leave you with the words of Christ.
John 3:19-20
19Ā This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.Ā 20Ā Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
