SATAN IS AFTER OUR CHILDREN

This article presents techniques that are currently being used by Satan to corrupt the minds of our children, and also others who engage in the activities presented. This article focuses on MTV, on entertainment programming for school-aged children aged 5 to 10 during after-school and Saturday morning hours, and on the dangers of many of the popular video games that are available for children to play. The portion dealing with MTV is based primarily on data obtained from a news article by Michael Foust entitled: Study: MTV content more offensive than that of broadcast TV

A significant study was released February 1, 2005, by the Parents Television Council. It found that MTV has considerably more sexual content and foul language than its counterparts on primetime broadcast television (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc).

The Parent Television Council's study was based on MTV programming between March 20 and March 27, 2004. Much of it included MTV's spring break coverage. The study was dubbed: "MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids with Sex, Drugs and Alcohol."

The study surveyed 171 hours of MTV programming. The researchers found that the cable channel has an average of nine sexual scenes per hour and 8.9 "un-bleeped" uses of foul language per hour. In addition MTV programming also had 18.3 bleeped profanities an hour, the study found.

By comparison, the 10 o'clock (Eastern) hour on the broadcast networks has 5.8 sexual scenes per hour and 6.5 uses of foul language per hour. That hour, the final one of the primetime lineup, usually has more adult-themed programming—meaning that round-the-clock MTV programming is more offensive than broadcast TV's "adult hour."

In the entire 171-hour study, the Parents Television Council documented 1,548 sexual scenes, containing 3,056 depictions of sex or forms of nudity and 2,881 verbal sexual references. They found 1,518 uses of unedited foul language and 3,127 bleeped profanities, and 1,068 violent incidences.

According to Nielsen Media Research, MTV is watched by 73 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls ages 12 to 19, the study said.

Do your children or grandchildren watch MTV? The percentages cited above suggest that there is a high probability that they may. Should anyone be watching MTV? Without doubt, NO!!

There is no way that the watching and listening to MTV programming can have anything but a degrading effect on the viewer. What goes into the mind will have an impact on the mind and eventually the behavior.

Can anyone doubt that the viewing of and listening to television affects behavior? Why do companies spend millions and billions of dollars on television advertising? Because they KNOW that their advertising influences behavior. Imagine the impact that a constant barrage of the filth and smut that is presented on MTV has on the developing minds of young people.

The mind of a young person is a precious thing. Parents have a God-given responsibility to see that what enters the minds of their children is wholesome and good. Someone has correctly stated: "When your children are raised on TV, they're not your children anymore. They belong to MTV, they belong to anti-family forces."

The next section of this article is based on a recently released study by the Parents Television Council entitled: “Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: A Content Analysis of Children’s Television” as reported by Joanne Brokaw in an article entitled: “Study on violence and children’s programming comes in time for Turn off TV week”.

According to the study, which looked at 443.5 hours of entertainment programming for school-aged children aged 5 to 10 during after-school and Saturday morning hours, “there is more violence on children’s entertainment programming than on adult-oriented television.”

The study examined the programs of eight broadcast or expanded cable networks: ABC, Fox, NBC, WB, ABC Family, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

The Cartoon Network had the highest total number of violent incidents, although the ABC Family Channel had more violence-per-program, with 318 instances of violence (only 11 of which could be considered “cartoon” violence, like an anvil dropping on Wile E. Coyote’s head) for an average of 10.96 violent incidents per episode.

The Disney Channel had the least-violent children’s programming, 0.95 incidents per episode, while the WB had the highest levels of offensive language, verbal abuse, sexual content and offensive/excretory references.

Overall, the study revealed 3,488 incidents of violence, or an average of 7.86 instances per hour. Take out the cartoon violence and there were still 2,794 instances of violence, an average of 6.30 instances per hour.

To put this figure in perspective, the Parents Television Council cited its special report, “TV Bloodbath: Violence on Prime Time Network TV,” noting that “in 2002 the six broadcast networks combined averaged only 4.71 instances of violence per hour of prime time programming.”

Is it any wonder that there is so much reported violence among pre-teens and teens? Do you have children or grandchildren aged 5 to 10? Do you allow (encourage) them to watch television after school and on Saturdays? Do you know what they are watching? Do you care what they are watching?

Some parents may think to avoid the evils of television they may allow their children to play video games. The remainder of this article focuses on the dangers of many of the popular video games that are available for children to play.

The organization, Parents Action for Children, reveals some rather disturbing facts:

On average, children devote 6.5 hours a day to media use.

Children are spending more time using "new media" like computers, the Internet and video games, without cutting back on time spent with "old" media, such as TV, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Two-thirds of 8 to 18 year olds say they have TVs in their rooms; half have video game players; 54 percent have a VCR or DVD player and 20 percent have a computer with Internet access.

A letter rating appears on the bottom front of each video game box. A brief description alerting buyers of the game's contents is printed on the back. About half are found suitable for "everyone" over the age of six and receive an "E" rating. A third are tagged "T" for teens, 13 and up. Only 12 percent are rated "M" for mature players 17 or older. Hardly any games are meant for "Early Childhood (EC)." Very few are Adults Only, which most stores don't even stock. A new rating was introduced this year, E-10+ for children 10 and older.

But a Harvard University study last year of teen-rated games found the ratings can be erratic and unreliable. Almost half of the games contained violence, sexual themes, profanity, substance abuse or gambling not mentioned on the box. The researchers also found more violence in the T-rated "Enter The Matrix" video game than in the two R-rated Matrix movies.

"Children spend more time on media than they do in school," says Kimberley Thompson, who directs Harvard's Kids Risk Project. "We think there should be clearer [rating] standards …clear definitions," she said.

One of the most popular games available to teenagers has been Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game has sold more than 35 million copies, with worldwide sales approaching $2 billion. Concerned parents might find the following review by Commonsensemedia.org interesting:

Sexual Content
The game contains everything from idle come-ons and sexual encounters, to pimping and strip clubs. Partial/near nudity.

Violence
Gang warfare, beatings, drive-by shootings, killing of innocent bystanders, bloody and grotesque deaths.

Language
You're unlikely to find a video game that uses the (most foul language) more liberally. Consistent, repeated use of profanity in almost all scenes.

Social Behavior
Gangster lifestyle is central to GTA: SA's storyline, so violence, misogyny, and mayhem are all rewarded.

Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco
Unapologetic drug use.

Educational Value
None.

On March 6, 2005, on CBS 60 Minutes the following segment was featured: Can A Video Game Lead To Murder?

Can a violent video game called Grand Theft Auto be responsible for an 18-year-old, Devin Moore, murdering three people? After his capture, Moore is reported to have told police, "Life is like a video game. Everybody’s got to die sometime.” Steve Strickland is suing the video game industry after a teenager killed his brother.

It was reported on July 21, 2005, that the rating on the Grand Theft Video game had been changed to Adults-Only after there were reports that graphic sexual content could be unlocked in the game by following instructions widely available on the Internet.

Do we seriously believe that changing the rating will greatly reduce the availability of such an immoral video? Why would any right-thinking adults, much less concerned parents, allow their children to have access to such? Does your child or grandchild have access to this video—or similar videos? What are they learning? What is exposure to such ‘trash’ doing to the minds of our youth?

There is evidence that repeated exposure to violent video games has more of an impact on the mind of a teenager than it does on the mind of an adult. The brain of a teenager is different from the adult brain. One authority states that the impulse control center of the brain, the part of the brain that enables us to think ahead, consider consequences, manage urges -- that's the part of the brain right behind our forehead called the prefrontal cortex--is under construction during the teenage years. In fact, the wiring of that is not completed until the early 20s. He continues by saying that this diminished impulse control becomes heightened in a person who has additional risk factors for criminal behavior. Moore had a profoundly troubled upbringing, bouncing back and forth between a broken home and a handful of foster families.

Am I suggesting that all children who play video games such as Grand Theft Auto will commit murder? No. However, I do assert that there is no redeeming value in such video games. Do our children not have enough to cope with without allowing them to fill their mind with things that are more Satanic in nature than Christ-like in nature? What changes would take place in our children if they spend even a fraction of their time in wholesome activities that resulted in developing their minds to be chaste and pure?

The minds of our children, and all of us, will be filled with something. In a very real sense, all of our actions and behavior are the direct result of what is in our minds. Obviously, if our minds are filled with that which is pure and good we will be much more likely to react in all situations in a civil and Christ-like manner. Also, we will have to expend less effort to control our thoughts and our actions. May each parent do all that is within his/her power to monitor his/her children’s use of television and videos.

What should a concerned parent do? The following are suggested:

(1) Know what your children watch on television.
(2) Reason with them about the dangers of MTV and if necessary, forbid anyone viewing MTV.
(3) Block or prevent some of the stations from viewing by your children.
(4) Cancel cable television.
(5) Install filters on your television.
(6) Spend more time with your children in wholesome character building activities.
(7) Talk to your children about their viewing habits.
(8) Pray for your children regarding their spiritual well-being; in their presence.

By Owen B. Moseley

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