It’s no secret Hollywood has a reputation for producing movies full of sin and anti-biblical values. It’s as if many movie makers feel they have to throw in sexually inappropriate scenes or foul language to make their films appealing to the masses. But that’s a faulty assumption. And thankfully, my good friend and movie expert Ted Baehr tells me that assumption is beginning to break down and, as a result, God is moving in Hollywood in unprecedented ways.
Baehr says Hollywood is beginning to realize they can make good money by creating wholesome movies. This is something Baehr has been trying to communicate to Hollywood influencers for years.
“What we say to them is: ‘Every week there are about 125 million people who go to church, and there are only 25 million people who go to movies,'” he tells me on my “Strang Report” podcast.
So instead of bashing Christians or church in movies, producers are beginning to put more positive references to God, Christianity and church in their films. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean they’re taking all the bad things out, but it does show they’re beginning to realize the value of biblical, family-friendly values.
And not only that, but God is raising up more Christians to produce faith-based films that are only getting better and better. Baehr says he has had the Erwin brothers and the Kendrick brothers at his Movieguide® awards—proof that just because a film is Christian doesn’t mean it’s boring or of poor quality.
“We see that the independent world, which used to be monopolized by that sort of edgy, politically aggressive, deviant-type movie, is now being invaded by good Christian beliefs—and they’re the ones that are doing better at the box office,” Baehr says. “… We can affect Hollywood movies, because it’s a direct vote at the box office.”
It’s wonderful that we’re beginning to see this turnaround. But what caused Hollywood to turn on Christianity so viciously before? Baehr says that when his father—who was an actor who starred in 62 movies and won the Box Office Award—was at the height of his career, people never would have thought to criticize traditional or biblical values.
“In the last couple years, I’ve been shocked at the number of people in Hollywood who have actually been anti-Israel or anti-Jewish faith,” he says. “It reminds me of what Rabbi [Daniel] Lapin once said. If a Jewish person is not studying the Bible, because they’re brilliant, if they look at they Bible, they get deeper and deeper—because the Bible is just an inexhaustible wealth of wisdom. So if they’re not studying the Bible, then they’re liable to go off the deep end, just like Freud did, just like Marx did. They go off in La La Land of being very self-centered and egotistical.”
What sets Judaism and Christianity apart, Baehr says, is that they assign value to human beings. After all, they’re not materialistic religions. They both ascribe to the belief that human beings have souls and are created in the image of God. (Baehr says this is the idea that the recent hit film Boss Baby communicated.)
“If God created us, we have incredible value,” he says. “And if Jesus gave His life for us—God of gods, light of lights, King of kings—gave His life for us, we have double the incredible value. And that means that you have the fulfillment of Christ and the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in your life so you can do His will—not because you’re forced to, but because you love to.”
That’s an entirely different universe than the secular world is in. They can’t comprehend thinking and living that way. But as Christians continue to make wholesome, God-honoring films and as Hollywood continues to increasingly honor biblical values in its movies, we may just see a huge turnaround in this nation.
Listen to my full interview with Baehr to hear what else God is doing in Hollywood!
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