In This Month's Report:
* Editorial - Entertainment as Indoctrination
* March Events - Giant in Central Park
* March Ministry - Impacting the Northeast
* Tips and Resources - Art-Tribe
* Products - Two Great Resources (see link below)
* Partnership - Invest in God's Program for the Northeast of America

We would love to hear from you; please send us your feedback today. Don’t forget the ever-popular 'GOD THOUGHTS' at the end of this report. Enjoy! JB

(Introduction from Jeff Beacham - With the Oscar Awards in March, this timely article concerning the impact of Hollywood's influence on all of us, to one degree or another, is one of the most important I have read in many years. It is a must-read. I would welcome your feedback at info@firepowerint.com.)

Entertainment as Indoctrination... (PatriotPost.US, March 10, 2006)

Ah yes, the Academy Awards gala—that annual confab of Hollywonk glitterati promoting silly hair and partial wardrobes—has come and gone. In it's wake, there is good news and bad news. The good news first: Despite the ignorati, er, glitterati balloting for the best films of the year, the only votes that really mattered were those Americans cast at the box office.

In Hollywood's estimation, the "Best Picture" nominees were Brokeback Mountain (26th), Crash (49th), Munich (64th), Good Night, and Good Luck (89th) and Capote (100th), in order of each movie's box office gross—in other words, America's opinion of these pictures. In all, Hollywood's Fab Five grossed $235,643,912 and averaged $26.3 million in profits. On the other hand, the top five picks according to the rest of America were Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), War of the Worlds, and King Kong. These films grossed $1.41 billion and averaged $125.4 million in profits. In fact, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a film based on one of Christian writer C. S. Lewis's Narnia books, grossed more than all five of the Academy's nominees combined.

Film critic Dr. Marc T. Newman notes, "Instead of fretting over the agenda of Academy Award nominated films... we should pay closer attention to the vote that really counts. The election that gets the attention of studios is the one that occurs at the ticket booth. Eighty percent of this year's Best Picture nominees are rated R, but 90 percent of the top 20 grossing films were rated G, PG, or PG-13. Many of those films opened opportunities to talk about virtues, the darkness of sin, and the importance of family and sacrifice."

Indeed, when asked about top grossing films versus nominated films, Academy spokesperson Ms. Leslie Unger responded, "What we do and how our awards are determined has absolutely nothing to do with how a film does in terms of box office." "I'm proud to be out of touch."—George Clooney. Apparently, George Clooney was right on the money when he declared to his Academy colleagues, "We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while. I think it is probably a good thing... I'm proud to be out of touch."

Fortunately, every once in a while, Hollywood and the rest of America concur on a film. Some major box office hits have been selected by the Academy for Best Picture. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, based on the series by C. S. Lewis's Christian colleague, J. R. R. Tolkien, was a major hit in 2003 and swept the awards, winning all 11 of the categories for which it was nominated. Of course, that is not to suggest that all box office hits are great movies (Titanic) or that all low grossing films are not (The Patriot). Clearly, timing and marketing are major factors in a film's success.

Unfortunately, in a year like the one just passed, in which a major film promotes Hollywood's favorite cause celebre, gender disorientation, a large cadre of Academy members invariably tout that film above all others. This year it was Brokeback Mountain, which, much to the shock and dismay of Hollywood's cultural fascists, lost out to the film, Crash.

So, why Brokeback Mountain? For Hollywood's fashionable elite, promoting heterosexual promiscuity and marital infidelity is passè—those subjects are already prevalent in theater and TV entertainment. Instead, for the past decade, the glitterati have been advocating for the normalization of gender disorientation pathology—the promotion of homosexual relationships as equivalent to those ordained by the laws of nature (not to mention every religion of the world).

Amazingly, Brokeback did not win Best Picture. Joe Solmonese, president of the so-called "Human Rights Campaign," the nation's largest homosexual-advocacy group, said, "I was certainly disappointed, but I would not trade that Oscar for all the positive conversations [about homosexuality] this movie spurred." (Surely no pun intended.) Jennifer Morris, co-director of the San Francisco International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgendered Film Festival, concurred, "That's the best thing about these films.... This really was a groundbreaking year."

Entertainment is the most effective means of ideological indoctrinating. On that note, here is the bad news: entertainment is the subtlest and most effective means of ideological indoctrinating. It creates a psychological opening through which cultural messages bypass the intellectual filters that arrest most input for critical analysis. Because the context for these messages is "entertainment," they get a free pass into the mind's cultural context, where they compete, at a subconscious level, with established ethical and moral standards.

Those at greatest risk for this form of indoctrination are adults, whose behavior is strongly characterized by their emotions (you know who you are), and all children. If emotive adults are not constantly vigilant about screening ethical and moral messages from TV, theater, music, books, magazines, infotainment programs, etc.—and deliberate about evaluating that communication—they risk having these messages not only encroach upon, but, over time, actually displace the source code for wholesome values.

Adults notwithstanding, this point cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Children, who do not have the sturdy character foundation that only time and good parenting can provide, are at very high risk of indoctrination through entertainment media. The only means of avoiding such indoctrination in children and highly emotive adults is to avoid exposure to entertainment media with harmful messages.

Of course, for emotive adults and older children, the purposeful vetting of challenging entertainment messages with the deliberate objective of intellectualizing them—in effect, shuttering the emotional window into the subconscious—is a useful means of strengthening one's filter on such messages. Many entertainment consumers don't filter critically what they see, hear and read.

At the Academy podium last Sunday, one of the glitterlings professed, "Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it." Unfortunately, far too many entertainment consumers lack the ability to filter critically what they see, hear and read. For them, no hammer is necessary. http://patriotpost.us  #

City Action Coalition Hosts Ministry Legal/Financial Review and Legislative Briefing in Brooklyn, Wednesday, March 1st - Tom Bruno is a specialist in tax-exempt organizations. He has served as counsel at the Christian Broadcasting Network and traveled extensively, holding seminars and ministering on the necessity for ministers and their ministries to be fully prepared for the future wars of the church in the days ahead. At this seminar, Tom challenged the leaders present by asking, "Are your church or ministry corporate minutes, resolutions and officers, directors or trustees fully compliant with the state and federal regulations?" He then gave advice on how to set up biblically based by-laws that comply with both God's law and the law of man.

Then followed a Legislative Briefing with "Rev." Duane Motley, who is the leading Christian lobbyist in New York state. He has been the effective voice of the church to the state and cities for almost 25 years. "Rev." Duane outlined what he believes are the current hot issues: no-fault divorce in NY, the Covenant Marriage Bill, school taxes, stem cell research, eminent domain (which could put a 'for sale' sign on every church in the US), the Marriage Amendment Act, and emergency contraception.

Children of the City, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Banquet - The world famous 'Tavern on the Green Restaurant' in Central Park, NYC, hosted this year's annual Children of the City Banquet. Founded in 1981, COC has been reaching thousands of inner-city children and youth, providing them with hope, guidance, and resources to break the cycle of poverty and its effects. Guests this year included Senator Marten Golden, Brooklyn Borough President, Mary Markowitz, David Tyree of the New York Giants and singer, Yamira.

New 'Barn' for Souls in Toms River, NJ - My good friend, Pastor Nestor Arellano of Jesus is Lord Fellowship, Toms River, NJ, was finally able to dedicate his new church building on Saturday, March 4th, after several years of planning, building and frustration.

Present to help him celebrate were many other pastors and leaders including State A/G Presbyter, Carl Colletti, East Central Presbyter, Ken Jasko, and myself. Toms River mayor, Paul Brush presented Pastor Nestor with a special certificate of dedication from the local council. The celebration was helped along by the church worship team, followed by lunch at a local restaurant for all those present. Jesus is Lord Fellowship has a wonderful mixture of Philippino, black, white and Hispanic in its congregation.