A violent, "Christian" computer game?

LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces
 

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Produced by Game Stop

LEFT BEHIND: "...a real-time strategy game of apocalyptic proportions based upon the bestselling Left Behind book series, created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. In this new genre, you’ll join the ultimate fight of good against evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers....

"Gamers will command more than 30 unit types, each developed with unique attributes and special abilities. Players will have the opportunity to compete in multiple environments created identically from the streets of New York City. New perspectives not commonly seen in real-time strategy games show off the high-level detail of 3D graphic models developed to enhance real-time strategy command, control and visual experiences.


KILLING FOR THE KINGDOM - JUST FUN & GAMES

By Paul Proctor  -  May 2006

When a reader of mine first sent me the link to a controversial article about an upcoming new "Christian" video game for teens called, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," he prefaced it with: "You won't believe this one." After reading it, I responded back with: "You're right…"

I thought it was just a page from one of those sacred satire sites. You know the ones I'm talking about, with their outrageous headlines and shocking reports on quirky church stuff that we all get now and then from fun-loving friends and family -- and have ourselves been fooled by at least once.

I actually had to reread the piece to see that it was indeed a legitimate product being prepared for sale through the mega church market by a company called Left Behind Games. On their website, under Board of Advisors, a man named Mark Carver is listed as "the Executive Director for Purpose Driven, the leadership/church growth training arm of [Rick Warren's] Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California." Surprised? Me neither…

According to the article's author, the video game involves post-rapture Christians in New York City battling the antichrist's "Global Community Peacekeepers" for world domination in an adventurous attempt to either convert them to Christ or kill them using an assortment of high-tech weaponry. That's right - "kill them…"

Newsweek calls it a "high-caliber shoot-'em-up," giving the end times enthusiast a generous helping of cutting-edge cyber-carnage and Christianized chaos -- just the kind of choreographed crises that draw crowds and sell things, which is precisely what many pastors are looking for these days to raise revenues and reel in those "unchurched" customers - "for the Kingdom," of course; a very spiritual endeavor, you understand. If you've been out of the loop lately, this is some of that new evangelism that's all the rage.

Its part of a celebrated strategy reinvented reverends embraced sometime ago called "being relevant to the culture." The message doesn't change, they insist, just the methods....

Seems though I recall Jesus telling his disciples, before sending them out to "heal" and "preach the Kingdom," (that's "heal and preach," not kill and conquer) to not even carry with them a second coat, much less an assault rifle.

But then nobody's actually getting killed here, are they? It's just make-believe murder and mayhem - you know, simulated sin. Harmless, right? How come the church doesn't apply that same Laodicean logic to say, pornography?....

It does, however, give the rest of us a little peak at the delusional dreams of Dominionists -- some of whom proudly proclaim that they are going to take back this country and world FOR Jesus, as if He needed their arrogant agenda and unchecked adrenaline to do so, in spite of what the scriptures say about the last days, the apostasy and this world "passing away."

One has to wonder if computer games like this aren't really just training videos and simulators designed by ecclesiastically embedded enemies of Christ, in the tradition of Judas, to undermine the Gospel and seduce its more naive and narcissistic players into pursuing their passions rather than yielding to the Word of God; providing a purpose driven pretext for recreational rebellion; a sanctimonious sanctioning of sin and sadism for the supposed salvation of seekers under the gratuitous guise of "meeting their felt needs"....

From what I can ascertain, they're just taking pragmatism to the next level here, that's all; which is precisely what unrepentant sin always does. But, hey - it's just harmless entertainment, right? Why take it so seriously? It's pretend, for crying out loud! Nobody's actually going to get hurt here; and if you object, then - well, you obviously have no real compassion for or interest in reaching young people for Christ, now do you?

Think it's all just fun and games?

Tell that to the folks out in Littleton Colorado where violent video gamers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold trained religiously at home on their computer screens in preparation for that infamous massacre of Christians and others at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999 -- an event that led to an entire string of similar shootings in schools and churches across the country.


You can find the entire article at http://www.newswithviews.com/PaulProctor/proctor94.htm


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