Christians – Avoid "A Joyful Noise" All Together

Movie Warning

Christians – Avoid “A Joyful Noise” All Together

My mom and I go to the movies once a month. I’m an only child and that’s our time together. She will pick a movie and call me to find out when I am available to go. Then I will drive to her house (about 9 miles) and we will go to lunch at her favorite restaurant (Donny’s) then to North DeKalb Mall, where she will usually buy me a pair of pants or suit before we go into the movie. That’s been our routine virtually since I’ve been back from camp Fed.

This month was no different, Saturday, February 11th we went to Donny’s then to the Burlington Coat Factory in North DeKalb Mall, where she bought me a beautiful royal blue suit. By the way, she hates the way I dress. She says I dress too plain and “dumpy”. We are opposites in many ways. She likes bright colored clothes and I like black, brown, navy and gray. Maybe it’s the business woman in me. Anyway, after getting the suit we waltzed into the movie, “A Joyful Noise”.

The movie is full of Hollywood’s “A” list stars; including Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Kirk Franklin and Kris Kristofferson. However, it was the worse display of carnal Christianity that I have seen dished out of Hollywood in decades!

First of all, Queen Latifah’s character (Queen is purported to be a homosexual) is the profane stalwart of the movie after the death of Kris Kristofferson’s character. The setting is a church choir trying to win a championship in a singing competition. There is fornication among the church members, profanity littered throughout the movie, and encouragement of teen sexuality.

For example, an obese, black female choir member ends up in bed with an older Asian male choir member. During the night he dies, and as the female is crying at the funeral the pastor is comforting her because she only had a short time with the male, not rebuking her because of their fornication.

In another scene, the Queen Latifah character has a cursing match with her sixteen-year-old daughter, who is having a relationship with the Dolly Parton character’s grandson, as Dolly’s character encourages this “teen love”. The songs they practice and use to win the competitions are Michael Jackson and Sly And The Family Stone songs. To top it all off, the movie is set in small-town Georgia of all places – the buckle of the Bible Belt!

I walked out of the movie feeling sick because I knew that millions of people would come see this movie and think that this type of carnal Christianity is normal and acceptable. I grieved for all the people that received affirmation and comfort from these cursing, fornicating, backbiting not even luke warm Christians.

I wondered if Hollywood knew what they had done, and then I remembered, they are part of the master plan of the enemy. Bread and Circuses! If you don’t know what that term means please look it up. I was reminded of the poem by Wilber Rees, which I learned long ago while listening to Focus On The Family, so I will repeat it below:

Three Dollars Worth of God

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,
but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man
or pick beats with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

-Wilbur Rees