February 27, 1998 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The movie Titanic cost $200 million to make and is one of the most popular movies of all time. In fact, its popularity is uncanny. In its first two months it grossed revenues of $376 million in the United States and more than $700 million worldwide. It was the top movie draw for months. After only a few weeks it became the top money maker of all time. (The next three are Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.)

In spite of the fact that "Titanic" is rated PG-13 for its profanity and obscenity (nearly 40 instances, by one count), violence, nudity, vulgarity, and sex, doubtless many Christians from (allegedly) good churches have rushed out to see this trashy fairy tale. A missionary told recently of a pastor of a fundamental Baptist church who, with his wife, defended their attendance to see this wicked movie. The pastor's wife argued that there is very little objectional about the movie and that its "good" made it redeemable. Sadly, this type of misguided, carnal leadership is becoming commonplace among fundamental Baptist churches.

The following article by Ronald Stelzer is reprinted from the Christian News, Feb. 23, 1998 (3277 Boeuf Lutheran Rd., New Haven, MO 63068-2213). This article reminds us that the nudity and cursing and violence and foolishness are not the only things that are wrong with most Hollywood movies. The philosophy is invariably anti-biblical. Hollywood has always hated the Word of God. It has always pushed the moral envelope and has taken every opportunity to make Bible-believing Christians look like fools or worse.

Pastors, are you warning your flock about these wicked influences? Are you giving specific information about various popular movies to warn your people to stay away from these things? Your people are being bombarded with advertisements and reviews and personal testimonies of friends about how "wonderful" the various popular PG-, PG-13-, and R-rated movies are. Hollywood movies and television programs are two of the most powerful influences in modern society. If people are not continually reminded of the evil of these things, they will gradually be worn down and will be sucked into the downward spiral of moral callousness. The Bible warns that fleshly lusts "war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11). These powerful temptations must be continually resisted with the truth. It is not a battle we win once and then forget. Like the battle against carnal and demonic music, the battle against fleshly movie and television entertainment is something that must be fought repeatedly. I do not understand pastors who rarely or never speak of these matters. Either they themselves are watching things they should not be watching, or they are afraid to speak PLAINLY against things which is popular among their key people, or they simply don’t care about sin in people’s lives. In either case, they are poor shepherds.

Parents, are you allowing your children to be influenced by the demonic spirits which are behind Hollywood’s fascinating entertainment? I have been in many, many Christian homes in which the children and young people are allowed to sit in front of the television and watch basically whatever comes on. Some even allow their young people to have their own television sets. That is incredible stupidity on the part of the parents. Do not be deceived. The god of this world is in control of these things, and his desires toward your family are not good.

Even in the best Bible-believing churches in America many families are losing their children to the world. Does this happen by accident? Of course not. It happens through worldliness, hypocrisy, and spiritual carelessness. May God wake us up before it is too late. Hundreds of thousands of young people who could be entering the Lord’s majestic service and who could be making an impact for the cause of Christ around the world in this short life are instead going the way of self and the vanities of this world.

Now to Stelzer’s review of the movie "Titanic."

TITANIC OR SATANIC?
By Pastor Ronald Stelzer

The blockbuster movie "Titanic" is a masterpiece of Satanic craftsmanship. Ostensibly about the huge luxury liner that hit an iceberg and sunk in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic in April of 1912, it is in fact a subtle assault on the law of God and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The historical event serves as a backdrop for a totally fictitious story PROMOTING SELFISH AUTONOMY AND THE GOD OF ROMANTIC FEELINGS. Early in the movie the hero is established--a boy barely passed adolescence who very ingeniously, unselfishly, and courageously saves the life of the damsel in distress who is about to take a suicidal leap into the ocean because she doesn’t want to marry a fianc’ she she doesn’t love. This girl eventually survived the sinking ship, lived to a ripe old age and sentimentally retells the story how this boy "saved her in every way a girl can be saved."

His brand of salvation was leading her to ignore, despise and reject her parents, cast aside all clothes, morals, and sexual inhibitions; lie, cheat and betray her fianc", an, and in general let whatever romantic feelings she has or yearns for be the sole guide for her life.

This is a mockery of the Fourth Commandment: Honor thy father and thy mother. The picture drawn of the girl’s mother is negative in the extreme, whereas the boy hero is an orphan who has no parental influence or positive relationship with any older person. The subtle message to the moviegoer is that parental authority is tyrannical, parental guidance is unnecessary, and this yoke must be overthrown if one is to find true happiness, freedom and salvation.

The Seventh Commandment along with all sexual boundaries are out--replaced by the hero’s sole moral compass: "Don’t think … just feel it." Shedding one’s morals and clothing is a salvation experience according to the movie.

Also denigrated is the Eighth Commandment with its command against stealing and its implicit encouragement to honest labor and financial responsibility. The hero uses gambling to achieve his dreams. Neither he nor the girl he "saves" has any experience or appreciation for labor. Feeding the typical theme of class warfare, all who had money were portrayed as superficial and evil. The hero’s preferred occupation was painting nude models wherever he could find them. In the end the sentimental old woman, living in luxury, accepts a free helicopter ride from someone who has spent enormous time, effort, and money to find a diamond amidst the wreckage of the Titanic. After telling her story she privately tosses the diamond she has concealed all along into the ocean, an offering to her savior whose remains lie in the ocean’s depths.

THIS MOVIE IS A THREE-HOUR SERMON WHOSE THEME IS SIN HAS NO CONSEQUENCES. There is a totally unrealistic lack of awareness of what happens in real life to people who have no job, no care about family, and no sexual restraint. Such folks can typically expect to live a life marked by poverty, disease, squalor, woundedness, and failure. But Hollywood hides all the consequences as it lures you into its godless beliefs and value system--just like Satan.

Today in America surveys tell us that 82% of teens have had sexual relations by the age of 19. More than 600,000 teenage girls get pregnant each year, of which 90% are unmarried and 50% get abortions. Sexually transmitted diseases are epidemic and often incurable. Many wind up presenting their wedding partner with an incurable disease and psychological baggage that vitiates a joyful, fulfilling sex life in marriage.

Early in Genesis we are introduced to the serpent, Satan himself, who is "more subtle" than any of God’s creatures. "Subtle" comes from a Latin word originally meaning slender, fine, delicate--qualities that attract, not repulse. The word comes to mean "artfully clever, highly skilled in craftsmanship" and so evolves to mean "difficult to distinguish, deceptive, manipulative, treacherous, insidious, enticing but harmful, poisonous, and destructive, having a gradual and cumulative effect."

Satan is subtle. He disguises himself as an angel of light whose lies and temptations are very seductively attractive and reasonable, but deadly. If Satan would always appear with scowl, horns, and a pitchfork with full disclosure of the consequences of sin, we should not be fooled. Instead, he comes subtle, like "Titanic." That’s Satanic.