Rise of the Fallen...

"Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little feet where you go 'coz it's the little feet behind you that's sure to follow. It's a slow fade when you give yourself away, when black and white turns to gray... people never crumble in a day." Casting Crown's Slow Fade song is so true of a warning to the lives we are living today. We have all been slowly fading into the picture of this fallen world. Last Friday, July 3, my friend and I went to see Transformers 2. I actually had mixed emotions while I sat there in front of the big screen. Let me share to you some of my thoughts on that experience.

I have always loved the Transformers when I was (ahem) a lot younger. Being a little boyish back then, I marveled in front of the TV when Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots transform into the cool robots they are! (I can still hear the Transformers theme song in my head). So, when they started doing the Transformers 2 project in Hollywood, it was in my "going-to-watch" list along with Ice Age 3 (hehe..I'm a child at heart).

The movie, though, was more of a disappointment to me. I was so shocked by how they rated it ONLY at PG-13! That to me would be at least at PG-18! I admired how Hollywood makes them robots come alive and how well they have made them look as if they were really there working with the people. No more obvious strings and sticks to make them move. It's not even that obvious that they were only computer generated. Hollywood has really done a great job in the advancement of their movie effects. Unfortunately, though, that advancement is coupled with the very disappointing decline of morals that somehow made the movie effects unimpressive. 

Transformers 2 was a very sexually connotated movie with such morally declined filth of making fun of a parent who got high on a "pot brownie" they call and I quote "A treat for myself!" Children of all ages were watching that movie and I was so horrified with the idea that they will be exposed to such sugar-coated, humor-sweetened evil portrayed scenes in the movie. My little boy, Ryan, loves the Transformers. He loves the idea of having robots turn into cars and vice versa, and would probably benefit from the lesson of good fighting evil, but I wouldn't want him to watch that movie at all. 

The subtitle "Rise of the Fallen", I believe, is so fit for the movie. Truly, we are so tolerant these days of the evils of this world that we totally allow the actual rise of the "fallen" in our real life through the reel world! Forgive me for speaking out my mind but this is one of my pet peeves... our apathy and tolerance to the very things we despise! The very sensual scenes and languages in the movie were so inappropriate for young audiences that I'm sorry if it would offend you, but parents we should WAKE UP! and be very cautious of the things we allow our kids to be exposed to. The problem with all of us today is that we really don't care anymore. We don't care if our kids would listen to trash on TV or the movies, we don't care if our 5-year olds would watch the little robot humping on the lead actress' leg! (And when did it become entertainment to watch animals do "it"?!) We just laugh about all these things and watch our kids laugh at them! Have we really gone so deep into the pits of immorality that we are no longer affected, concerned and moved by the fact that they are evil and abominable in the eyes of God?! Have we really gone so mad as to allow all this wretchedness become entertainment we enjoy with our kids?! Why do we allow ourselves to become a fan of such evil?! Why do we allow ourselves to have "FUN" with that which promoted filth?! And we call ourselves CHRISTIANS! It's such a shame.

It was so timely for Pastor David Dykes of Green Acres Baptist Church, that I fellowship with here in Tyler, to have talked about waking up in his sermon "Wake up, America!" last Sunday. That is a call for all of us! He said that we all have to wake up to a different world already. 

We ought to be very careful because the days are evil. This is why Paul warns us in Ephesians.

 "Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16)

We ought to examine ourselves if we are really "Christians" as we profess to be because if we enjoy the lust of the world, the darkness that is consuming it, we must have been deceiving ourselves. We ought to look at how we are living our lives because we might have thought we are calling out to a god we have made in our heads on Sundays but when we get to see the real God in the end, He would only tell us to our horrifying surprise "Away from me you evil doers. I never knew you!"

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." (1 John 1:5-6)

Friends, we have to WAKE UP!!!! WAKE UP!!! Because we have fallen asleep and has allowed demons to play with our lives and sugar-coat every filth that they rub on us to make us unholy. We must WAKE UP!!! Because we have instead prepared our children for condemnation that awaits them on Judgment Day! We need to WAKE UP!!! Because we have already been desensitized of the evils of this world. We have allowed ourselves to be conformed to the world and all its wretchedness, and we enjoy every bit of it! We must listen to the very words of God!

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: SEXUAL IMMORALITY, IMPURITY, LUST, EVIL DESIRES AND GREED, WHICH IS IDOLATRY. BECAUSE OF THESE, THE WRATH OF GOD IS COMING. BUT NOW YOU MUST RID YOURSELVES OF ALL SUCH THINGS AS THESE: ANGER RAGE, MALICE, SLANDER, AND FILTHY LANGUAGE FROM YOUR LIPS." (Colossians 3:5-6,8)

Let us then not become complacent in our walk with Christ. We need to gear up for it's a war we wage in every day! For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms! Let us wake up and examine ourselves... are we enjoying the ride that this dark world is placing us in? Or do we feel uncomfortable and take notice that we need to go AGAINST the flow of this world? It's really up to you... But for now, allow me to thank you for allowing me to voice out my radical view on this.

Let us TRANSFORM ourselves then, and be aware that the fallen has risen! We need to wage war! Are you with me?!