Key Bible Verse: These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away (Isaiah 29:13). Bonus Reading: 1 John 2:15-17; 24-27

A dozen years ago, Bob Briner wrote in Roaring Lambs about his experience trying to get a New Year's Eve concert on the air. The concert featured several Christian stars, many of whom were also popular in the secular market. Although he had 20 years of experience in program distribution, he couldn't get one network to air the program. Briner commented, "The main over-the-air networks do not believe that Christians in America are an identifiable, reliable audience. Their view is that Christians protest against bad programs but watch them anyway."

If the lambs of today are letting themselves be shepherded into the TV industry's neat and tidy little demographic categories with everyone else, is it any wonder that popular culture is rapidly sliding into the sewer? What has happened to our mission to challenge cultural assumptions from a Christian point of view? We tend to blur the old line between "in the world" and "of the world" until it's almost unrecognizable, and we've stopped pushing the media to produce something better, instead trying to make the best of what's already there—or worse yet, thoroughly enjoying it.

—Gina Dalfonzo in BreakPoint WorldView

My Response: To what extent are the network assumptions justified judging by my Christian friends?

Thought to Apply: Why should people pay good money to go out and see bad films when they can stay home and see bad television for nothing? —SAMUEL GOLDWYN (film producer)

Adapted from BreakPoint WorldView (12/02) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, when I relax, it's easy to let my guard down. Please keep me spiritually vigilant all the time.

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