ANOTHER SHOCKER
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
-by Paul Proctor (June 7, 2006).
When a reader of mine first sent me the link to a controversial
article about an upcoming new "Christian" video game for teens
called, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," he prefaced it with: "You
won't believe this one." After reading it, I responded back with:
"You're right."
I thought it was just a page from one of those sacred satire sites.
You know the ones I'm talking about, with their outrageous
headlines and shocking reports on quirky church stuff that we all
get now and then from fun-loving friends and family; and have
ourselves been fooled by at least once. I actually had to reread
the piece to see that it was indeed a legitimate product being
prepared for sale through the mega church market by a company
called Left Behind Games. On their website, under Board of
Advisors, a man named Mark Carver is listed as "the Executive
Director for Purpose Driven, the leadership/church growth training
arm of [Rick Warren's] Saddleback Church in Lake Forest,
California." Surprised? Me neither.
According to the article's author, the video game involves post-
rapture Christians in New York City battling the antichrist's "Global
Community Peacekeepers" for world domination in an adventurous
attempt to either convert them to Christ or kill them using an
assortment of high-tech weaponry. That's right - "kill them."
Newsweek calls it a "high-caliber shoot-'em-up," giving the end
times enthusiast a generous helping of cutting-edge cyber-carnage
and Christianized chaos; just the kind of choreographed crises
that draw crowds and sell things, which is precisely what many
pastors are looking for these days to raise revenues and reel in
those "unchurched" customers - "for the Kingdom," of course; a
very spiritual endeavor, you understand.
If you've been out of the loop lately, this is some of that new
evangelism that's all the rage. Its part of a celebrated strategy
reinvented reverends embraced sometime ago called "being
relevant to the culture." The message doesn't change, they insist,
just the methods. Oh yeah - nothing new here. Sounds JUST LIKE
the Gospel of Christ, doesn't it? Seems though I recall Jesus
telling his disciples, before sending them out to "heal" and "preach
the Kingdom," (that's "heal and preach," not kill and conquer) to
not even carry with them a second coat, much less an assault rifle.
But then nobody's actually getting killed here, are they? It's just
make-believe murder and mayhem - you know, simulated sin.
Harmless, right? How come the church doesn't apply that same
Laodicean logic to say, pornography? No worries mate! Judging
from the downward spiral of today's mega church morality, I'm sure
it will, soon enough.
My second reaction to this egregious tool of amusement was to
not even waste time writing about it since the fellow who did,
sufficiently covered the Purpose Driven connections and details.
After all, biblically speaking, the ungodly premise of the game is
frankly a no-brainer. I mean if Christians who read or hear about
this disgraceful invention don't see anything wrong with the church
promoting a video game about killing reprobates for Christ or, if
you like, killing Christians for the antichrist, (your choice) there's
really nothing I can add, except maybe a stern rebuke.
It does, however, give the rest of us a little peak at the delusional
dreams of Dominionists; some of whom proudly proclaim that they
are going to take back this country and world FOR Jesus, as if He
needed their arrogant agenda and unchecked adrenaline to do so,
in spite of what the scriptures say about the last days, the
apostasy and this world "passing away."
Some of its unofficial leaders are apparently more discrete about
their Latter Rain aspirations than others, preferring to operate "in
stealth," as if they were politically passive and apocalyptically
apathetic. Either way, it is this kind of feelings-led, experience-
driven, earth-centered worldview that results from believing in the
power of the flesh and the ambitions of men.
"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man,
and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the
LORD." - Jeremiah 17:5 One has to wonder if computer games
like this aren't really just training videos and simulators designed
by ecclesiastically embedded enemies of Christ, in the tradition of
Judas, to undermine the Gospel and seduce its more naive and
narcissistic players into pursuing their passions rather than
yielding to the Word of God; providing a purpose driven pretext for
recreational rebellion; a sanctimonious sanctioning of sin and
sadism for the supposed salvation of seekers under the gratuitous
guise of "meeting their felt needs;" one more clever contraption of
compromise, confusion and complicity intended to lure and hold a
carnal Christian's attention and keep them coming back for more
so as to casually coerce them into a new crusade of global
zealotry; another "end justifies the means" vision and ministry
brought to you by the smiling faces of the ever-clever church
growth movement.
>From what I can ascertain, they're just taking pragmatism to the
next level here, that's all; which is precisely what unrepentant sin
always does. But, hey - it's just harmless entertainment, right?
Why take it so seriously? It's pretend, for crying out loud! Nobody's
actually going to get hurt here; and if you object, then - well, you
obviously have no real compassion for or interest in reaching young
people for Christ, now do you? Think it's all just fun and games?
Tell that to the folks out in Littleton Colorado where violent video
gamers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold trained religiously at home
on their computer screens in preparation for that infamous
massacre of Christians and others at Columbine High School on
April 20th, 1999; an event that led to an entire string of similar
shootings in schools and churches across the country.
It should also be noted that gun-grabbing, gospel-hating liberals
will surely have a field day with this soon-to-be wildly popular
church toy when our war-weary, post-Bush, red-state, religious-
republican era comes to a calamitous close in a couple of years,
if not sooner; and proudly proclaiming oneself to be a bible-
believing Christian is no longer fashionable.
In my estimation, the inevitable faith-based backlash of all this,
brought on by the high-toned hypocrisy of a cavalier "Conservatism,"
will be not only historic; but ultimately, just as vicious and
vindictive as this video game coming to an emerging church near
you. And who'll be on the receiving end of that humbling
counterattack? I assure you it won't be anyone from the Hillary
Clinton For President campaign. "The time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." - John 16:2b
See two related websites below:
http://www.leftbehindgames.com/
http://www.politicalcortex.com/print/2006/6/1/84749/37309
© 2006 Paul Proctor - All Rights Reserved.
Paul Proctor website- http://www.NewsWithViews.com
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