Show your faith - Stand together

His Word Lives and is a part of each and every one of us.

If you are a beliver and know that we need God now more than ever and the love of Jesus Christ to come to the aid of our hurting country, then show others. Do not be afraid to wear your faith and show others that you are a follower of Christ and a saved child of God!

Let your outside reflect what you feel on the inside with these beautiful items of inspiration. Let your light shine and show your love for the Lord, you may find that there are more of us than you think.

All designs are original and unique and many to choose from! See them all at Living in the Word and choose the original design that is right for you!

 

 

Caught in the NET: Our Father who art in Heaven

Caught in the NET: Our Father who art in Heaven

Our Father who art in Heaven

Greater is He who lives in you, than he who lives in the world; or in the White House!

Make no mistake about it!

Jesus sits on the throne and He is watching the evil and the madness that is going on. He knows that a satanic illness has gotten a grip on our once blessed America and that the people have been blinded by a charismatic and false prophet, promising gifts and security to a lost and childlike population who only want to be led by him and depend on him for their very existence. America is being led down a very dark and dangerous path, mindlessly following with adolescent admiration. As the days grow darker and darker and the danger nearer and nearer the mindless shouts of joy will turn to cries of despair. By then it will be too late to turn back; if it's not already. And there will be those who will continue to proclaim the righteousness of the prophet while our beloved America is only a memory as it lay in ashes. Some will see that things have gone too far and want to undo the now realized wrongs that have put us on this road, but it will be impossible. For we have been led down this road most willingly by the fanatical worship of those looking to have someone do for them instead of doing for themselves and those with a guilt as big as Texas wanting to pacify themselves. Those who do try to restore the republic will only be demonized by the prophet and his minions while the final burning remnants of America flicker and fade out. There is no turning back on this road to destruction, for it will be devastating and complete. The prophet and his euphoric willing legions will have succeeded, but at what? The victory will be bittersweet as there will be nothing left. Those who have been doing all the giving will be no longer and those who have been doing all the taking will have no one left to take from so they will turn on the prophet. He may still have his stable of sycophants in the media and the like but they will have exhausted their supply of decent people to demonize by this time. This once great experiment of ours will be no more and the ones who led us down this dark and destructive road will have to face themselves and have no one left to put the blame on for their misguided idolatry.  They will turn on themselves like a pack of wild rabid Hyena’s.

God has blessed this country from the beginning and we have done alright, all things considered, but we have turned our backs and said we don’t need you anymore; we have someone else to take your place. If you think God is not watching, you are fooling yourself just like all those who are now leading our great country down that dark, dark, perilous road. Without God we will surely pay a dire consequence and everything we have fought for and died for will be lost to the pages of history. If we willingly follow this wolf in sheep’s clothing we will surely end up as dinner on his plate. Make no mistake about it. Jesus sits on the throne, He sees us, he is not happy with us but he loves us and he is coming back for us. The only question is; will we be ready and willing to go with Him or will we follow the hysterical masses of the false deity down the road to our own demise?

It may be too late for America, but it is never too late to turn to Jesus!

Our God is Alive

     Our Lord Jesus Christ is alive and lives in all of us and lives through each one of us. God is the breath that lives in each of us. He gave us the first breath of life and He lives in us through every breath we take!
     As we live and breathe, God is alive in us. Our very life is a testament to the living God. He is the great I AM and the Holy Spirit, alive in us, who longs to remain in us and live through us.
     Our life is not about who we are but about serving God and the life that He has for us. The Alpha and the Omega, He always was and He will always be. We are here only for a time, to realize God’s purpose for our life, accept the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and spread the good news of the great love God has for the world.
     So great is His love that He sent his only begotten son to die for us and shed his blood, that our sins could be forgiven. All that is required of us is to repent, believe and receive the gift of God’s perfect love for us. Then with unyielding faith, follow the Lord and love one another as God loves us.
     We are to exalt Him and honor Him, for God is the creator; the giver of life, our salvation, our strength, He is our heavenly father who loves us and will never forsake us.
     We should not limit ourselves with the things of the world. If He is in us and we are in Him, through our faith, with God all things are possible. If you believe in the power of God, He will be with you always and nothing is impossible with God.
     Turn to Jesus Christ and fix your eyes upon Him and receive the grace and forgiveness that only the precious blood of our Lord can give. Only the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ can cleanse us and bring us to the Father.
     Come to the Lord and receive the gift that our Father has given us. We need only to turn to Him and believe to receive this precious gift. For it is only by acknowledging Jesus Christ as the son of the living God and asking him to come into your heart that true salvation can be achieved; the promise of a new life with Christ, the old life fallen away.

Greater is He that lives in you than he that is in the world!

Obama, Be Our Mama

This, obviously, was written before the election


This election has so much drama
A person could go insane
In whom do we place our trust
Young Obama or the older McCain

Each one tells us about the other
And how they will bring about change
It's enough to make you shout "Oh Brother!
This sounds like more of the same!"

So let's be honest and give serious thought
Just what is it that we all desire?,

Is it working hard to live free
To be all that we can be
And enjoy our days of retire?

It's the same old game from Papa McCain
Tell me who's gonna take care of US?

My! What a Jerk
That's just too much work
And what about my Rights?

We want the security of "We the people"
From our daddy Uncle Sam
We want a country that won’t pass judgment
When we get ourselves in a jam

Only one can do the thing we ask
And it's clear who we must choose
Only one is up for such a task
To take away our blues

Our troubles will be wiped away
As he takes away all our trauma
It's time to let the whole world know
We want Obama to be our mama!

On Getting to Heaven

When The Trumpet Sounds, Where Do You Want To Be?

To enter God’s kingdom, you must be born again. First you must look to Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sins and believe in Him and His love for you and that a transformation will take place. Thus the question, "Have you been born again by the Spirit of God?" If not, the process is very simple.



Today you’re in one of two camps; it all depends on your relationship to Jesus Christ. You can both believe and look in faith to Jesus, who died for you on the cross; or you can continue going on as you are. It’s an amazing thing—to be lost; you don’t have to do anything. Just keep on doing what you’re doing now and you will perish.


But, if you look to the cross and believe in the One who died for your sins, then the free gift of God is yours... The gift of eternal life.


The Bible says:


For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God—Romans 3:23


Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out—Acts 3:19


For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life—John 3:16


If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved—Romans 10:9


If you want a personal relationship with God and the assurance that your sins have been forgiven, here is a suggested prayer...


Father, I come to you, confessing my sin and asking for your forgiveness. I thank you, Lord, for You have promised that if I will confess my sins, You will be faithful to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I want to turn from my sins, and live in a way that will please You. And so I ask for your help, Lord. I ask that you give me the power through your Holy Spirit to live the right way.


I thank you that Jesus Christ died on the cross, paying the price for my sins, and then rose from the dead. I accept Him now as my Savior, my Lord, and my friend.


I also thank You, because You've said that whoever comes to You, You will in no way cast out. Thank you for giving me a new life in Christ. I surrender myself to you. Make me what you want me to be in Jesus' name. Amen.


What Next?
If you have decided to accept Jesus Christ as your savior, you are now born again. Here are a few things that will help you to grow as a Christian...


PRAY—prayer is like a telephone line that goes directly to God. It's important to spend time talking to Him every day, the more the better (Philippians 4:6).


READ THE BIBLE—the Bible is like a love letter from God. The more you read it, the more you'll fall in love with Him (1 Peter 2:2).


FELLOWSHIP—you need to have friends who share your beliefs and who can encourage you. This is why it's so important to find a good, Bible-believing church where you can meet other Christians (Hebrews 10:24-25).


WITNESS TO OTHERS—share your faith in Jesus Christ with others. Pray that the Lord will reveal how you should witness and when (Mark 16:15).


God bless you and pray that you continue to grow closer to the Lord every day!

Media Violence

Critical Thinking

Learning

Effects of Media Violence

Abstract

Violence in media has been with us for centuries; it was very much a part of the media of the times just as it is today. Whereas the Romans may have had their spectacles in the Coliseum we have our slasher movies and video games. The specter of media violence crept up on us while we weren’t paying too much attention. It took its time at first and we got complacent and distracted by other things and before we knew it there it was right in our lap. Now all the parts are in place and the damage is being done and it is unstoppable, like a runaway train. The ones hit hardest by our neglect of this menace are the children and adolescents in our society, but actually it affects every one of us in one way or another. Many young adults and some older live with the effects media violence has left on them and so do many of those who became unwilling victims as a result of media violence. The sights and sounds and results of media violence are with us every day like a monkey on our backs that we just can’t shake. Listen to your local news, the national news and the world news, look at the entertainment section in your newspaper, turn on your radio or tune in to the sights and sounds of the current music videos. You will see evidence of media violence and all its spin-offs right there before you in all its glory, repugnant and in your face.


Generally it is the young people who take the lead when it comes to accessing new media and most parents and adults have no idea what the children are doing on the computer, like internet surfing, or video games or music downloads. This is particularly disturbing, given the results of a 1999 AOL survey that found online activities are emerging as a central facet of family life; and that a majority of parents believe that being online is better for their children than watching television. So now in 2007 thing are not any better, in fact they are worse. As a civilized society we must deal with the problem and stem this abuse of our children and the damage being inflicted to our society as a whole. This paper takes a look at the many faces of media violence, its effects and how it is hurting our children and our entire society.

Introduction

Do children learn to be aggressive or pugnacious by watching violence in movies and on television? Are adults more prone to violent behavior after years of being exposed to it? There are many who think so and research has shown that it is more often true than not. In September of 1999 the Senate Committee on the Judiciary published their report, Children, violence, and the Media: A Report for Parents and Policy Makers. In it they agreed that “violent juvenile crime is on the rise”, they further concluded that “a principal cause of this rise is the violence that permeates the media”. Children and young adults have access to more examples of violence and antisocial behavior than at any time in our nation’s history. At an age when they are the most impressionable, mimicking and learning from everything they see, the youth of today are for the most part left to make their own viewing choices with little or no adult supervision. Many are never taught what is considered proper socially acceptable behavior. Adolescents especially need to be taught the difference between right and wrong and they need strong role models. Too often the adults take no part in their child’s development, they are an absentee parent or they just don’t care. A child’s young mind is fragile and they need affirmation that they are doing the right thing. In the absence of a strong adult role model who do they turn to? Usually each other or the creeps and outcast they see on the TV screen, in video games in movies and on and on. The portrayal of the antisocial rebel is not new; this character has been with us for decades. Columbia University psychology professor A.T. Poffenberger wrote in 1921 that movies “might easily become a training school for anti-Americanism, immorality, and disregard for the law.” If that was true in 1921 it is even more so today. However our “Rebel without a Cause” of today is no longer dominated by the male gender, that role now belongs to females as well. This trend only serves to bolster the callous attitudes of the young males as they try to compete with and impress the young females. This antisocial attitude has now become part of the youth culture; it has actually migrated from the movie and television screens and embedded itself into the very fabric of our society. For many of today’s youth this behavior is not just something they see as entertainment on the screen, but glimpses of reality and lessons to be learned on how to act and respond in social situations. The younger children try to act like their older friends or siblings and seek approval from them, by the time they are young adults most have a seriously distorted and perverted grasp on reality. In fact this type of behavior is their reality so they seek reaffirmation in any way they can. This paper will take a look at the effect violent and antisocial portrayals in multi media, cinema and television has on the youth and eventually the adult in today’s society.

In The Beginning

When a human being comes into the world that baby is totally helpless and depends on the care and guidance of those older and wiser than itself to survive those first few years. As they acquire their senses they pick up signals from their environment and those around them. They learn how to smile when they first see their parents smiling at them. They learn how to make sounds and how to use those sounds to get what they want. In effect they are like little computers and store all the input they can hold. Their little eyes watch and their little ears hear everything. Eventually they learn how to do for themselves, think for themselves and speak. In computer technology there is a saying; “garbage in garbage out”. If you think about it this can also be applied to raising a child, what that child is exposed to and the things they experience will become part of their personality, the one advantage with a computer though is that you can wipe the hard drive clean and start over. This is not so easy to do with a child.

The Loss of Innocence

According to researcher George Gerbner, “Never was a culture so filled with full-color images of violence as ours is now.” Gerbner’s Cultural Indicators project, which has monitored TV violence since 1968, estimates that the average American child views more than 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television during the elementary school years. A 1992 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the typical American child will witness 40,000 on-screen murders by the age of eighteen. This tidal wave of violence can overwhelm a child’s senses and be very upsetting emotionally. This is not to say however that all children will become more aggressive as a result. Those with a strong role model and a good moral compass have a much better chance of understanding that this type of behavior is not acceptable. On the other hand there may be some adolescents who because of parental abuse or similar factors may be more prone to violent behavior in spite of being exposed to so much media violence. In any case it stands to reason that young minds should not be exposed to this type of stimuli. It can corrupt their growing process and have dire consequences in their mental development. Media violence has not just increased in quantity; it has become much more graphic, more sexual and more sadistic. Some children may have a much more difficult time dealing with all these images and become very disturbed and confused. When a child reaches eleven they are becoming more sexually aware as well and images and dialog of a twisted or sadistic sexual nature can severely affect their development and give then a much skewed idea of how males and females communicate. Judith A. Reisman, president of the Institute for Media Education states that “for at least two decades, experts have warned that television, movies, music and other entertainment media are desensitizing young people to violence and death.” She warns “murder, rape and physical assault are common fare in movies and award winning television drama and some popular music genres have taken to glorifying sex, violence, murder and even suicide.” Is it not the responsibility of the adults in our society to protect the children? Instead through apathy and neglect their childhood is being defiled and stunted with an overexposure of violent and anti social so called “entertainment”. After being exposed to such a continual onslaught of violent and negative messages what will happen to our nation’s youth when they reach adulthood? Sadly we are seeing some of the results now; school shootings, children killing their parents and other family members, no fear or respect for authority and a cold callous attitude toward others in society.

A Downward Spiral

The National Committee on the causes and prevention of violence reported in 1969 that “violence in the media has a negative effect on children. Violent films encourage violent forms of behavior and promote violence in daily life as being acceptable.” What is meant by "negative effects" of children's behavior? William Bennett in his book “The Index of Cultural Indicators” offers us this; "In 1991, children under the age of ten committed more than 1000 acts of aggravated assault and 81 cases of forcible rape. Juveniles 12 and under committed ...murder, robbery, larceny-theft, and forcible rape.”


We all know these crimes are wrong, but when you realize that children committed these crimes a flag should go up. There is something very wrong in our society; we are allowing the minds of our children to be poisoned and leading them down a path of self destruction. You may find it hard to believe that simply viewing a movie could be so detrimental, but we are not talking about just one movie. These children are watching hundred of movies, and then there are the videos, TV shows, video games and more. There is indeed strong evidence of specific reenactments of scenarios from movies. Undeniable evidence "...comes in the configuration of corpses, mutilated by disturbed teenagers to resemble victims in slasher movies..."(Violence in America, Bender&Leone 163). If these movies are affecting our children so negatively, wouldn't it be easy to just not allow children to see "violent" movies? This seems to be a simple solution, but it’s not that simple for many reasons. To begin with, mainstream movies eventually end up on commercial television or on the cable channels where they can be seen unedited and most of these movies are extremely violent, containing graphic sex scenes, obscene language, and of course violent deaths. Once again I refer to the book by William Bennett where he gives us this list of the approximate number of deaths recorded in five popular movies:

Movie Death Count

Die Hard 2 - 264 Robocop 2 - 74

Rambo 3 - 106 Total Recall – 74

The Wild Bunch – 89

This is just five out of how many?

Professor Malamuth, chairman of communications studies at the University of California and Professor Edward Donnerstein, a psychologist at the Center for Communications Research at the University of Wisconsin, have both conducted studies that suggest viewers of media violence are detrimentally affected. Many psychologists also agree that as more violence is viewed, children will be more accepting of violence, and therefore more desensitized and more likely to become violent themselves. Dr. Eron and Huesman of the University of Illinois did a 22 year study of violent behavior due to "a diet of violent entertainment." The quarter of the children with the heaviest exposure to violence in 1960 at ages nine and ten were found to be convicted of criminal offences during their adult lives 150% more often than the quarter of children with the smallest exposure to violent entertainment. This is very compelling evidence that something is happening which deserves further attention. This trend toward violence and just plain psychotic behavior is not waning, if anything it is more prevalent and it’s only going to get worse. As we have learned there are obvious negative effects on children and young adults who view violent films etc., varying from petty theft to murder and rape

A Culture of Violence

Violent, sadistic, evil, it’s all there , bullets exploding from people’s chests in slow motion, dead bodies lying in pools of blood, sexual abuse, all this and more is thriving and doing quite well in the pop culture of today. Actually it is more of a subculture and many parents are not aware of it. Millions of viewers worldwide, many of them children, watch World Wrestling Entertainment where female wrestlers try to tear out each other’s hair and rip off each other’s clothing. Even comic books depict gruesome bloody scenes of graphic violence. Computer games have become the favorite pastime for thousands of today’s youth, and thanks to improved technology they are more realistic and vicious than ever. One entire genre of games is called “first person shooters” and encourages the player to dismember monsters and slay people. And a top-selling video game, Grand Theft Auto, is programmed so players can beat prostitutes to death with baseball bats after having sex with them. Another is called “Postal” in which the goal is to slaughter innocent bystanders, including cheerleaders who moan for mercy. “They’re incredibly violent, and they’re the most popular games on PC’s right now,” says Mike Davila, editorial director of Game Week, a trade magazine. “The object is to kill people - you see chunks of the body flying in different directions.” This is just an example of some of the games young children and teens are playing, does this seem normal? Is this the kind of entertainment these children should be spending their leisure time with?

And the Band Played On

Another sub culture favorite which is exclusive to mostly the younger generation is the music they listen to. This is nothing new; music has always been a cause of concern for parents and adults who don’t understand the behavior and lyrics of the songs. However as bad as the music back 50 years ago may have been considered to be, it was never as dangerous and obscene as some of the music of today. Today along with the music we also have music videos and they can be watched 24 hours a day. Together music and their videos are pushing into new and increasingly violent territory. A song by Jordan Knight, formally of New Kids on the Block, a seemingly harmless enough name for a group, released a solo album in 1999. In it is a song advocating date rape. How many parents know their children are listening to this? Another self proclaimed artist calls himself Eminem, his real name is Marshall Mathers. This extremely popular rap artist is often very violent and on the fringes of civilized society. For instance his lyrics include many examples of violence and hatred against women, His song Kim graphically depicts him murdering his wife; and Kill You describes how he plans to rape and murder his mother. He must be connecting with someone because Eminem continues to be a commercial success, winning more than one Grammy award and he is not the only one by any means. Other artist like Dr Dre and Limp Bizkit are doing the same thing. Exceptionally violent lyrics have made their way into the mainstream of the music industry and show no signs of going away any time soon. What has happened to these young people to make them want to include such violent and misogynistic lyrics in their music? Even Madonna’s 2002 music video What It Feels Like For a Girl contained such graphic violence that MTV refused to air it more than once. What did these people experience growing up and what do they see in the culture of today’s youth to make them want to produce such a vile form of entertainment. Why are so many children and young adults hooked on this type of music and their videos? What is the need or void in their life that makes this music satisfying to them?

Recent Research

Recent research is exploring the effect of new media on the behavior of children. Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman of Iowa State University reviewed dozens of studies of video gamers. In 2001, they reported that children and young people, who play violent video games, even for short periods, are more likely to behave aggressively in the real world; and that both aggressive and non-aggressive children are negatively affected by playing.


In 2003, Craig Anderson and Iowa State University colleague Nicholas Carnagey and Janie Eubanks of the Texas Department of Human Services reported that violent music lyrics increased aggressive thoughts and hostile feelings among 500 college students. They concluded, "There are now good theoretical and empirical reasons to expect effects of music lyrics on aggressive behavior to be similar to the well-studied effects of exposure to TV and movie violence and the more recent research efforts on violent video games."


In 1999, Professors Joanne Cantor and K. Harrison studied 138 university students; they found that memories of frightening media images continued to disturb a significant number of participants years later. Over 90 per cent reported they continued to experience fright effects from images they viewed as children, ranging from sleep disturbances to unwavering avoidance of certain situations.

The Business of Media Violence

If it is true that money talks then the media entertainment industry has plenty to say and it definitely is going to be heard.


These figures are a bit outdated; however they should still provide a good idea of the income this industry produces and the trend in growth for the future. In 2001, people around the world spent US$14 billion going to the movies. The U.S. domestic box office alone hit US$9 billion, that’s a 75 per cent increase from 1991 and let’s not forget about the huge revenues from home video, DVD sales, rentals and spin-off merchandise. But as much as that sounds even these profits are dwarfed by the music industry, the largest global media sector. In 2000, sales reached US$37 billion, with music consumption high among young audiences everywhere. Video games are not far behind: global sales for 2002 were anticipated to be US$31 billion.

Marketing Violence to Young People

Children and young people represent a huge market, due to both their own spending power and their influence on family spending decisions. No one knows this better than the communications industries. In September 2000, a Federal Trade Commission report revealed what many suspected: U.S. media corporations were routinely ignoring their own rating restrictions and actively marketing violent entertainment to children and teens. In fact, the study showed that 80 percent of R-rated movies, 70 percent of restricted video games, and 100 percent of music with "explicit content" warning labels were being marketed to kids under 17.

Conclusion

So you can see with statistics like that the media entertainment industry is not about to change anytime soon if ever. Let someone else deal with the social problems, we will keep on doing what we’re doing. Making the low budget, high action, gratuitous violent entertainment and of course lots of money.


Everyone knows there has always been violence in movies in many forms, be it a film about taming the Wild West, a biblical story or a good murder mystery. Sometimes the violence was necessary and contributed to the plot, but it was almost never gratuitous violence for the sake of shocking the audience. Even the classic horror movie of old left out the real gory and bloody scenes, leaving that to your own imagination. Today films and other forms of media go right for the jugular, nothing is left to the imagination, and it is all laid out right before your eyes. With digital computer generated special effects and over the top plots or no plots and realistic sound effects, they hit you over the head with their graphic depictions of sadistic, unspeakable depraved violence. It strikes me sort of odd that the entertainment industry will always speak right up and fight for truth, justice and the American way when it will benefit them but something like the psychological effects their art is having on the youth of America is not their concern. Everywhere you look, everywhere you go this pop subculture phenomenon will be lurking either in the shadows or right in your face. This is a problem we will never be rid of and we will have to learn to live with. The best we can do is to try to understand what is happening to our children, try to limit their exposure to such violent material and help them deal with the damage they will suffer after years of exposure. It will take an all out effort to end it but that would be impossible in an open society such as ours. One thing is for sure, the entertainment industry will never do anything about it. Oh sure, they may throw some money at it in a false gesture of concern and compassion but at the same time they are not going to kill that goose that is laying all those golden eggs.

References

Freedman, J. (2002) Media Violence and its Effect on Aggression. University of Toronto Press
Gerdes, L. Book Editor, (2004) Media Violence: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press, Thomson Gale
Media Awareness Network.(7/10/2007) Research on the Effects of Media Violence
www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence
Media Awareness Network. (7/10/2007)The Business of Media Violence
www.mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/violence/business_media_violence
Media Awareness Network. (7/10/2007)Violence in Media Entertainment
www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/violence_entertainment
The Effects of Media’s Violence on the Behavior of Children
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/Film/film_violence.html
Torr, J. Book Editor, (2001) Violence in the Media: Current Controversies. Greenhaven Press