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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, Bold Exhortation
Review: Reverend Wilson is a bold and passionate man of God who is jealous for godliness and purity in his family, church and society. I pray for more heads of household and clergy with his backbone! I agree with the author's basic premises i.e., the necessity of submission to Christ's Lordship in our movie viewing; and that the moral decadence so pervasive in our society (Hollywood included) is the fault of Christians. We have been given a cultural mandate and have retreated from it. I agree that if Christians stopped supporting Hollywood's paganism, it would change overnight. But how much more it would
change if Christians actively worked in film to promote true beauty - God's holiness, majesty, and salvation! I was disappointed that Mr. Wilson seems to endorse the popular evangelical view that things will only get worse.
Hollywood, (like politics or education) will never produce what is godly until Christians apply the Lordship of Christ to
these areas. We need to support churches and Christian organizations that are dedicated to pressing Christ's crown rights into the arts. While I was encouraged deeply by Mr. Wilson's passion for purity in the hearts and minds of the saints,I was disappointed by his constant criticism of the
Schaeffers who just happen to have more of an "engagement view". (See chapter 4) I would have been more encouraged had there been more optimism about the future of the arts as Christians fulfill the cultural mandate in this area. As Christians we have more than just a responsiblity to watch movies that encourage our sanctification. We need to be proactive in the arts and support those who make movies that spread and celebrate the gospel of our glorious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Then we will see not only high art, but a world where the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Bold Exhortation
Review: Reverend Wilson is a bold and passionate man of God who is jealous for godliness and purity in his family, church and society. I pray for more heads of household and clergy with his backbone! I agree with the author's basic premises i.e., the necessity of submission to Christ's Lordship in our movie viewing; and that the moral decadence so pervasive in our society (Hollywood included) is the fault of Christians. We have been given a cultural mandate and have retreated from it. I agree that if Christians stopped supporting Hollywood's paganism, it would change overnight. But how much more it would
change if Christians actively worked in film to promote true beauty - God's holiness, majesty, and salvation! I was disappointed that Mr. Wilson seems to endorse the popular evangelical view that things will only get worse.
Hollywood, (like politics or education) will never produce what is godly until Christians apply the Lordship of Christ to
these areas. We need to support churches and Christian organizations that are dedicated to pressing Christ's crown rights into the arts. While I was encouraged deeply by Mr. Wilson's passion for purity in the hearts and minds of the saints,I was disappointed by his constant criticism of the
Schaeffers who just happen to have more of an "engagement view". (See chapter 4) I would have been more encouraged had there been more optimism about the future of the arts as Christians fulfill the cultural mandate in this area. As Christians we have more than just a responsiblity to watch movies that encourage our sanctification. We need to be proactive in the arts and support those who make movies that spread and celebrate the gospel of our glorious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Then we will see not only high art, but a world where the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Rating: 
Summary: Rage against the machine!!
Review: The media is not a gray area as many Christians want to believe. There is a verse in 1 John which calls us to "not love the world". This book beckons us in a definite way to heed this call. There are in fact standards that need to be maintained. We are willing though, to compromise those standards and dig through the filth of most of the entertainment industry to find the one grain of truth. As the author, Wayne Wilson says, "Christian groups lavish praise on and even hand out awards to films that give any kind of approving nod to Christian beliefs, even if the film grossly violates any sense of decency in telling the story. That's how pitiful we have become. We are dogs begging crumbs of acceptance from the wrong table. I don't believe we need to be quite so desperate for the praise of the world that we forsake our Master's standards..." (pg 281)
Another reviewer wrote that the author wrote too much about Franky Schaeffer. There are two chapters where Pastor Wilson does write quite a bit about and against Schaeffer (son of Francis). This is because Shaeffer comes from the "anything goes if you can toss a 'redeeming' feature into the story somewhere" point of view(pg 250). Many Christians have this view. But what would Christ say? "Question: what do you think Jesus would say on the set of ___ ___ when the director tells the actors to disrobe? My guess is He would not say: 'It has a moral theme ladies, really.' I doubt He would compliment the director for his 'unblinking' portrayal of real life." (pg 224)
He also uses the movie the Titanic a lot as an example. This is because it was the most popular movie at the time that this book was written. He breaks it down and shows why a follower of Christ should not see this movie. Many Christians did and did not see anything wrong with it. There were movies that we used to watch that we thought were ok because we thought we could "handle" it. But we realized that our thinking was all wrong. We should not say, "that doesn't bother me" but "should this bother me?" Does it bother God?
You would think Mr. Wilson is just "cursing the darkness" and he is on one hand. But at the same time he is not against all movie watching. Neither is he just for poorly made "Christian" movies. He is all for good quality movies as long as they do not offend the One we say we love more than those films .
This is a book about changing the standards that we have come up with via our own deceitful heart, and forming standards that come from God's word. "The heart is deceitful above all things..... " (Jer. 17:9). It's so easy to love the world. You are thought of as a legalistic fundamentalist pietistic if you do not. Aren't we as Christians called to be different? Instead of loving ourselves and the things of the world we love Christ who bought us at a price. We will be different and look odd if we begin to evaluate movies and television with a standard that God has set forth for us in his Word. It is not easy to follow Christ. That he why He says we need to "take up our cross and follow Him." He also tells us that we will be persecuted if we choose to follow Him and if that means looking weird because we don't watch the same movies as everyone else then so be it. This book clearly and accurately helps us redefine a standard that comes straight from the Bible. It's time to reevaluate our hearts and our love for the media. Thank Mr. Wilson for standing up for truth and for helping us to think more clearly on this very important issue.
Rating:
Summary: Rage against the machine!!
Review: The media is not a gray area as many Christians want to believe. There is a verse in 1 John which calls us to "not love the world". This book beckons us in a definite way to heed this call. There are in fact standards that need to be maintained. We are willing though, to compromise those standards and dig through the filth of most of the entertainment industry to find the one grain of truth. As the author, Wayne Wilson says, "Christian groups lavish praise on and even hand out awards to films that give any kind of approving nod to Christian beliefs, even if the film grossly violates any sense of decency in telling the story. That's how pitiful we have become. We are dogs begging crumbs of acceptance from the wrong table. I don't believe we need to be quite so desperate for the praise of the world that we forsake our Master's standards..." (pg 281)
Another reviewer wrote that the author wrote too much about Franky Schaeffer. There are two chapters where Pastor Wilson does write quite a bit about and against Schaeffer (son of Francis). This is because Shaeffer comes from the "anything goes if you can toss a 'redeeming' feature into the story somewhere" point of view(pg 250). Many Christians have this view. But what would Christ say? "Question: what do you think Jesus would say on the set of ___ ___ when the director tells the actors to disrobe? My guess is He would not say: 'It has a moral theme ladies, really.' I doubt He would compliment the director for his 'unblinking' portrayal of real life." (pg 224)
He also uses the movie the Titanic a lot as an example. This is because it was the most popular movie at the time that this book was written. He breaks it down and shows why a follower of Christ should not see this movie. Many Christians did and did not see anything wrong with it. There were movies that we used to watch that we thought were ok because we thought we could "handle" it. But we realized that our thinking was all wrong. We should not say, "that doesn't bother me" but "should this bother me?" Does it bother God?
You would think Mr. Wilson is just "cursing the darkness" and he is on one hand. But at the same time he is not against all movie watching. Neither is he just for poorly made "Christian" movies. He is all for good quality movies as long as they do not offend the One we say we love more than those films .
This is a book about changing the standards that we have come up with via our own deceitful heart, and forming standards that come from God's word. "The heart is deceitful above all things..... " (Jer. 17:9). It's so easy to love the world. You are thought of as a legalistic fundamentalist pietistic if you do not. Aren't we as Christians called to be different? Instead of loving ourselves and the things of the world we love Christ who bought us at a price. We will be different and look odd if we begin to evaluate movies and television with a standard that God has set forth for us in his Word. It is not easy to follow Christ. That he why He says we need to "take up our cross and follow Him." He also tells us that we will be persecuted if we choose to follow Him and if that means looking weird because we don't watch the same movies as everyone else then so be it. This book clearly and accurately helps us redefine a standard that comes straight from the Bible. It's time to reevaluate our hearts and our love for the media. Thank Mr. Wilson for standing up for truth and for helping us to think more clearly on this very important issue.
Rating: 
Summary: Manipulative propoganda.
Review: This book is faulty at its best. Besides the fact that it is speaking on a gray area of the Bible as if the author's opinion was fact, (requirements for "sound, wholesome entertainment" are not found in the Bible) it is one-sided. Avoid at all costs. It's books like this that make the general public think we as Christians have gone off the deep end. But on the other hand, if you had a lot of fun burning books from the "Harry Potter" series, this is a book for you!
Rating:
Summary: Manipulative propoganda.
Review: This book is faulty at its best. Besides the fact that it is speaking on a gray area of the Bible as if the author's opinion was fact, (requirements for "sound, wholesome entertainment" are not found in the Bible) it is one-sided. Avoid at all costs. It's books like this that make the general public think we as Christians have gone off the deep end. But on the other hand, if you had a lot of fun burning books from the "Harry Potter" series, this is a book for you!
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