Discerning Between Good and Evil

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/  about items such as Vampire books. This follows this post about an opium farming valley.  For a free magazine subscription or to get this book for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.

Discerning Between Good and Evil


A commentary by Darris McNeely



I am learning to discern between good and evil. Are you?



No, I am not a rabid book-burning, narrow-minded fundamentalist.



But I am learning to discern between good and evil. Are you?



The March/April issue of World News and Prophecy contains my article, "Twilight on the Land." The Stephenie Meyer books of vampire teen romance have captivated millions of readers. Reader comments on the article are coming in, and there are mixed reactions, which is what I expected.



One writer comments in appreciation: "Thank you so much for your article on Twilight in World News and Prophecy . Several of my Christian friends are reading these books and are excited about the movies. One friend in particular is against Harry Potter and The Golden Compass, but she embraces these vampire novels. I have had discussions with my daughter about the danger that resides within these kinds of stories after she had heard about the supposed coolness of Meyer's books.



"I am relieved to see someone on the same page as me when it comes to this topic. While I was reading your article, my head kept nodding in agreement. It certainly is a 'subtle deception' with a presentation of good trying to win out over evil. Reading these kinds of stories invites unwanted beings into your life."



Not everyone agrees with my point of view. Another reader says: "I read the article Darris McNeely wrote in reaction to the movie and book Twilight. I was very disappointed with his approach... I think the approach should have been that there is a mix of good and evil—like in most movies and books today. The job of God's people is to discern between these things... Encourage their ability to discern as they take in popular culture..."



Exactly! You and I are to learn to discern between good and evil as we are bombarded with all the elements of our popular culture. The subtlety of evil in today's world is such that we begin to see it as something acceptable to allow into our minds and lives.



You must remember we are in a spiritual war for our minds and lives! We see only the physical and miss the spiritual dimension of this struggle. "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:11-12 [11] Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

[12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.





See All...).



I said in my article that in my youth I would watch occult-type movies. Over the years I have moved away from that form of entertainment. I am not into burning books or censorship. I believe in the freedom of the individual to choose his or her reading and entertainment. I also believe that God expects us to choose life, not death—to choose what is good and righteous in all areas of our life.



Read the article "Twilight in the Land." Ask yourself how good a job you are doing in raising the spiritual standards of your life. Your peace of mind and quality of life is important. Then write and let me know what you think about the subject.



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Those of you who use the social media tool Facebook will want to join our World News and Prophecy page. Through this you can follow the blog we use to comment on topical news each day. It is a growing site for us and one we continue to develop. The March/April issue of World News and Prophecy is also posted online. Keep up with us on these sites and as always...



Keep watching.

Weekend Box Office: “Water for Elephants”

Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/  reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post some of the movies from last week and  THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed!  This all  follows this post about guidelines to chosing good movies to watch yourself!




Weekend Box Office: “Water for Elephants”

By Debbie Schlussel



There’s a lot of hype surrounding the highly stylized “Water for Elephants,” set in the 1930s and debuting in theaters today. Don’t believe it. It’s basically a two-hour animal rights commercial mixed with a very stale chick flick, lacking any spark. On top of that, this movie is just a violent waste of time set in a traveling circus with cool old-time fashions. It’s long, slow, boring, and entirely predictable. There is absolutely no magic or chemistry between the two romantic leads, Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. Witherspoon may be cute–and in this movie, she is very pretty–but this flick solidified it for me: she’s over-rated as an actress and not very good at the job. Her performance was flat.







The only thing I got out of this movie was learning that Christoph Waltz can only play one role: cold, calculating, violent, cruel Nazi killer. He’s taken his famous Nazi role from “Inglourious Basterds” (read my review) and transferred it into his German immigrant circus owner role. Heil Big Top. Instead of beating Jews, though, Waltz is beating elephants. Get it?–Animals are persecuted like Jews. Of course, that’s absurd, but that’s essentially what the filmmakers must want you to think since they cast him in the “Nazi” circus animal abuser role. The guy is a one-note act. But PETA (or as we call it on this site, PUTAh–People for the Unethical Treatment of Animals and humans) must be orgasmic over this movie.







The story: an old man (Hal Holbrook, the only character you really like and care about in the movie–other than the elephant, and he’s only in the opening and closing scenes, as the less likeable Pattinson plays him as a younger man for most of the movie) wanders around the entrance of a modern-day circus, where the circus operators confuse him for a senile man who has missed the bus back to the old folks home. While waiting for them to call his caretakers, he sees a picture of the traveling circus operation, Benzini Brothers, for which he used to work.



The man is Jacob Jankowski , whose parents were Polish immigrants in 1931, during the Depression. They put him through veterinary school at Cornell, but as he’s taking his final exams, they die in an accident, and he loses everything. He gets a job with a traveling circus, where he works as an ad hoc veterinarian and falls in love with the wife (Witherspoon) of the evil circus owner (Waltz). The owner beats animals and kills his performers by throwing them head first off the traveling circus train, when he cannot afford to pay them. Much of the movie surrounds an elephant act, which is a successful circus attraction.



Young, strapping guy rescues beautiful woman from her evil, abusive husband. You’ve seen this story a million times before, and the only difference here is the setting and costumes. There’s nothing new or interesting here, and it’s not even particularly well told. Not even close.



I’m surprised the movie is PG-13, because it isn’t for kids, even with parents. The movie is very violent and there are lots of beatings and killings, in addition to lots of four-letter words. In the second scene of the movie, Pattinson talks about his experience in veterinary school as “shoving my hand up so many cows’ a–es.” Yup, you stay classy Hollywood.



I wish I could say this was mildly entertaining, but it wasn’t. I struggled to stay awake. It was like watching paint dry, and Witherspoon’s absolutely stunning old school haute couture clothing wasn’t enough to keep me interested (and I love that vintage stuff). Her character wasn’t that likeable either. Just kinda selfish.



Like I said, this one is slow, dull, boring and a commercial for the anti-circus, animal rights crowd that really does see circus owners as top Nazi generals. Perspective, morons. Perspective. I was gonna give this film one-and-a-half tofurkeys, but instead, I give it . . .



ONE-AND-A-HALF MARXES