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Pray for our media.

“Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.” (Luke 11:34)

Tens of thousands of dedicated Christians recently gathered in Kansas City for the “One Thing” annual conference. Mike Bickle, the pioneer of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) hosting the event, opened the gathering with a challenge from Mathew 24 and exhorted us to be extremely discerning in these turbulent times.

Do you know the primary sign that Jesus gave in this chapter concerning the time prior to His return? He made reference to it four times.

Deception

If ever there was a time when we needed to sharpen our skills of discernment it’s now. Accurate information and biblically informed analysis is desperately needed today. God’s end-time revelation is for the “mature, for those who through practice have powers of discernment that are trained to distinguish good from evil” (Heb.5:14).

With demonic activity intensifying alongside blatant dishonesty in the media, we must learn to discern as well as prepare our children and local churches in this critical task. It is precisely why the Bullseye Challenge initiative was launched and commended by national leaders as a video/book resource.

Propagandizing the People

In his book, How Do You Kill 11 Million People? Andy Andrews urged readers to be careful students who seek accurate facts to avoid dangerous deceptions like those perpetrated under Nazism. Even the majority of churches in Germany were horribly misled because of their failure to discern what was happening.

A current example in our culture is the blind acceptance of recreational marijuana. The push for marijuana legalization is accelerating similar to the push for gay marriage only a few years ago.

With our current drug epidemic, one would think more people would be heightened in their awareness of this issue as well as extremely careful not to exacerbate the situation. Yet marijuana advocates are propagandizing millions into the acceptance of cannabis as harmless fun. Corinne Gasper, whose 22-year-old daughter was killed by a driver high on marijuana, is one of scores not seduced by the subterfuge.

The liberal media is complicit in the advocacy of “weed” today. On New Year’s Eve, CNN featured gay hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, yucking it up with anchor Randi Kaye about “toking up.”

The giddy, gloating and possibly “high” anchor Ms. Kaye, exchanged a marijuana joint with young people in Denver, Colorado, as if it were merely a Diet Coke. If parents and young people fail to discern what’s being foisted on us, then the naive are deceived. “Hey, that’s coo l… looks like fun … we oughta’ try it!”

Manipulated by Movies

Americans love movies. Whether going to the cineplex or scrolling through an array of hundreds of available films on cable or Netflix, we must be careful in our selections and discerning with the content. As parents, we have a God-given responsibility to know the substance of a film in advance, plus instruct impressionable children if there are errors or values promoted contrary to God’s will.

My wife and I just shared a date viewing The Darkest Hour, portraying the courageous exploits of Winston Churchill combating Nazism. Historian John Lukacs stated that Churchill “… saved Britain and Europe and Western Civilization.” Be alert, though, because one scene erroneously depicts him as uncertain of the direction to take and needing to poll citizens on a subway before deciding what to do. This is blatantly false because Winston was a man of steely conviction who never wavered in his resolve to stop Hitler.

The film I, Tonya portrays an abused, profane, rage-filled aspiring Olympic skater who pursued a gold medal in the early ’90s. What is false in this expletive-laced film is Hollywood’s attempt to sympathetically present her as a somewhat victimized woman who unfortunately got mixed up with the wrong crowd and subsequently fell short in her quest.

The truth is, Tonya Harding was out of control and squandered her opportunities because she made deliberate choices to get involved with low-lifers who discussed killing her nemesis. She agreed in sending death-threats. They followed her advice as to where the lady trained, then stalked and struck her on the knees to eliminate her as a competitor. Tonya eventually pled guilty to the felony of conspiracy to obstruct prosecution.

The film, The Post, with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep portrays them as champions at The Washington Post publishing top-secret Pentagon papers revealing U.S. government lies about the Vietnam War. What is blatantly false is piling on President Nixon as a sinister villain, when in actuality he sought legal recourse to prevent publishing sensitive confidential information that would harm our diplomatic standing as we tried to extricate America from an unpopular war. He tried to protect Democrats LBJ and JFK, whom the papers revealed as misleading the masses.

Leftist liberals do this deceitful distortion of history and revisionism all the time, especially in their attempts to undermine and disparage the president. Look at the just-released, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House where author Michael Wolff admits in the beginning that several sources were lying and sharing things “baldly untrue.”

Remember Al Gore’s award-winning An Inconvenient Truth lying to us about apocalyptic global warming and 10 predictions that never occurred or Michael Moore’s propaganda flick on healthcare, Sicko, that presented Cuba as Shangri-La?

Moore’s pseudo-documentary was distributed by Harvey Weinstein’s company and critics like Kurt Loder said, “He presented cherry-picked facts, manipulated interviews and unsubstantiated assertions” while Richard Wolf stated, “Sicko uses omission, exaggerations and cinematic sleight-of-hand.”

Why Do They Do It?

We are living in times foretold in Scripture where “truth has fallen in the street” (Isa. 59:14). Leftist liberals in positions of influence have not unintentionally drifted off course but have deliberately intended to “fundamentally transform” America into a secular, socialistic society; distort our Judeo-Christian heritage and other “undesirable” facts of history; plus, deceive multitudes with a total disregard for absolute truth and biblical morality.

Opposition and persecution of Christians will intensify because we stand in the way of their achieving their agenda. If we are not prepared for this, we will be offended at God and fall away as Jesus taught (Matt. 24:10-12).

In the coming days, I fully expect Hollywood to release a big-budget film depicting the life of former President Barack Obama in the most glowing, flattering way imaginable. For those who “have ears to hear” I offer “10 Reasons Why Barack Obama Was Our Worst President” as a factual rebuttal.

Here’s the Deal: America has been the recipient of an incredible intervention of God’s mercy and many are “wising up” to today’s dishonest media. We long for a third Great Awakening and must continue praying fervently, proclaiming truth winsomely and participating as “salt” and “light” in the political process. Deception seduces multitudes, but developing discernment, declaring the gospel and demonstrating God’s Word can set them free. (By Larry Tomczak,  a cultural commentator of 45 yrs, Intercessors for America board member, best-selling author and a public policy advisor with Liberty Counsel. His new, innovative video/book, BULLSEYE, develops informed influencers in 30 days (see www.bullseyechallenge.com).

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Felicia Penner
January 15, 2018

Lord God, I stand with my Brother Ernie, and i pray for midweek prayer meetings at your Churches here in America to be established and kept, that there would be less talking and more prayer. I lift up the Actors in Hollywood that are Conservative, and most especially those who are Christian, that you would protect their faith, and that the ones who do not know you would know you, Lord. Continue to raise prayer in this land up to the high calling you have given all your believers as intercessors, from the White House to the smallest rural church. Lord have your way with us. In Jesus name, Amen

Ernie Zenone Sr.
January 14, 2018

Long before I found out about your ministry, I have prayed for Hollywood and the media. I have had a long list of actors I pray for by name. Also, for Christians who work in the media and films. I pray for our Lord to convict the lost of sin that they may repent and produce films that honor God and for the media to report news without distorting the facts. We do need more interecessor for America as I often hear other Christians speak of how terrible things are. I then ask: Are you praying about this? I hope any churches who still have midweek prayer meetings will pray for America!

Deborah Lemons
January 14, 2018

1st Q – Who is author of article?
2nd Q – What is source substantiation for some info, e.g. Churchhill and Nixon. I am not disagreeing with statement, would like more into..
3rd Q – What are the 10 reasons? We all have ideas and opinions that could agree, but would like some resource backup.

I mostly agree with this article, what we watch and what we read, what we allow in our homes is an individual/family decision and discernment, but most people do not bother to check. Have not been to a movie in years and will not see any of current ones; maybe some day on TV, for my own discernment. Media/movies always uses partial facts, omission, innuendo, exaggaration, and sleight of hand to portray and enhance their offerings to us; it continually swings more and more left and ideological in order to portray their version/truth of a story or event, not the factual truth.

Felicia Penner
January 12, 2018

Praise you Lord Jesus, Our Father God use this article to wake up your sleeping church. Lord God, I especially needed to hear, and ask that you underline it in our hearts, that persecution is coming to us in America, and that if we are not prepared we will be offended at God. Lord, prepare me, do not let me be offended, do not let any part of me be entitlement minded regarding you, my Sovereign Lord. Father God, draw our hearts to you, help us to have Godly priorities that include listening to you, while reading your word and listening to you in prayer. Heighten our ability to hear your voice and bring sins to light so we can be released from then through repentance. Help us to be your humble obedient children. Raise us up to be discerning Lord. I pray this in Jesus mighty name, Amen

Heather Peterson
January 12, 2018

Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this. I pray that you continue to use your God-given gifts of communication to admonish, instruct and inspire people on how to live as Christians in these difficult days. I have so many friends who think that hiding is the best action to take. They state that Christians should never get involved with politics. This absolves them from responsibility and makes them feel safe. They say: “There is so much fake news right now, who could ever know what is True?” These statements and actions are made from fear not faith. I will continue to pray for our leaders both in the government of our nation and our churches for an awakening to Courageous faith that takes responsibility seriously. I want to do more than just admire Churchill, Wilberforce, Bonhoeffer, and Lila Rose–I want to be like them. Prayer is the place to begin and Intercessors for America is helping me begin. Thank You. May you remain Steadfast and Immovable, always abounding in the work God has given you, knowing that all you do with Jesus is not in vain!!

Jimmy
January 12, 2018

Christians must demand movies and TV must be marked Not only PG or X, but also T for trany & H for homo. All things must be brought to the light.

Noelle
January 12, 2018

Agree, but what are the 10 reasons?

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