My media indulgence knows some bounds. No horror flicks for me. Nope. (Not even Nope.) When a particular horror movie tried to interject itself into my world, I took severe steps.

If you prefer audio, here was my message from the pulpit:

Here is the typed-out version:

“Do not give the devil a foothold.” -Ephesians 4:27

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless seeds of evil rather, expose them.” -Ephesians 5:10

Back in March I was watching trailers online as I often do, when I came across one for a new movie I had never heard of.

It started with sports and moved into toxic masculinity.  Greed.  Fame.  Then I started to see where it was going, and I didn’t like it.  Please don’t show blood sacrifices.  And they did.  Please don’t show horns.  And they did.  Please don’t show pentagrams.  And they did.  All the worst occult garbage that I go out of my way to avoid, they were shoving in my face. 

I am a proponent of freedom of speech.  If you don’t have freedom of speech then you can’t have freedom of religion.  I’m Quaker.  My ancestors moved here to worship how they felt led to.  I support freedom of religion and freedom of speech.  Which means that sometimes you get offended.  That’s part of the deal.

I have shown stupid movies.  Dumb movies, violent movies, boring movies, Movies that were really just ads drawn out over two hours.  Fine. 

This was different.  This was evil.  This didn’t need to be seen by anyone.  I didn’t care how redemptive the storyline might have been in the end.  (Horror films tend to not end well for anyone.  Often, they wrap up with the promise that this could all happen again, to others, and it might even get worse.)  Nothing depicted in this movie was going to be well with my soul.

I had images going through my head that I never wanted to see again.  Horns and beasts and demons and …unpleasantness.  I called up my boss early in the morning and told her that this was evil and harmful to the soul and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

Two concerns:  I am not in charge of my boss’s movie selections.  God put her in authority over me. Our movie slate is her call, not mine. Second, I signed an agreement that I would not speak out against the institution that I work for.  I want to honor my coworkers’ efforts and also let my yes be yes and my no be no.

At the same time, there was a part of me that felt like I should take the hit.  That I was secure in the knowledge that Jesus would take care of me.  That Jesus is more powerful than any movie.  That I could suffer a little whereas those that didn’t share my beliefs would have been more vulnerable.  But we are told to focus on the good.  To have no part in evil. 

The writer, Brant Hansen, uses the metaphor that if someone delivers a radioactive package to your desk, you’re allowed to decline receivership.  It’s okay to say that you do not have the tools or the expertise to handle toxic matters.  That you can give those things to God and have no part of them.  I had no desire to see a single frame of that movie.  Siding with goodness and pureness was going to be much better for my mental health and wellbeing.

My first notion was that, if we did get the movie, I would have to quit.  A definitive action.  Then I would really have no part of it.  But I still think I do some good at the job.  That others can benefit from having me around.  That one more Christian in the workplace is a good thing.  I preferred not to cut bait just yet.

I pondered taking a vacation while the movie was showing.  If it was going to be on screen, then I would not be there.  That did not feel like enough.  I would still be benefitting from anyone who bought a ticket.  My wages would be paid by something that I didn’t want to support.

That’s when I decided to take an unpaid leave.  I checked with my boss.  I checked with a gal from HR.  I wanted my pay to have a noticeable gap.  If it played the usual one-week slot, then I would go eight days without any income.  If, God forbid, it did well and had reason to stick around, then I would stay out and unpaid until it left.  The higher-ups were fine with that decision. 

Leading up to the movie, I staged my own quiet rebellion.  Typically I let my coworkers know what is on the way.  I kept silent on this one.  Normally I help list the showtimes on a ticketing website.  I told my boss that I for this move, I wouldn’t.  And I put myself in charge of movie posters. 

This is where I took out my anger, my frustration, my wrath.  In my defense, I did warn my boss that she would have to get to the mailroom first if she wanted the posters saved.  Really, though, my theater is still a family establishment.  There was no way I was going to let kids get their eyeballs on those.

I destroyed whatever I could.  I always had some sort of barrier between me and them.  I’d use cardboard, gloves, paper towels; whatever was on hand to keep myself from directly touching that crap.  And I treated them like crap.  I flushed stuff down the toilet.  I spat on them.  I took them out to the dumpster, stomped on them, and I consigned them to the smelly and rotting pieces of garbage where crap like that belongs.

I don’t recommend cursing things.  I still want the people involved in the making of the movie to be blessed.  I want them to know that they are loved and that God cares about them.  I care about the people.  The movie itself- that I cursed to hell multiple times. 

Despite my wishes, we had the movie.  I stayed off the entertainment websites so I wouldn’t see any articles about it.  When new versions of the trailer showed up on my screen, I was quick to report them as abusive and harmful.  I took my eight days off without pay.  I visited family.  I stayed away from that thing.  I want to believe that others did too.  Eighty-seven percent of critics didn’t like it.  But the movie still got made by a major studio.  Some people liked it.  Those are things that I don’t understand.

Here’s the thing about movies:  The worst thing that can happen to a movie is for it to be met with silence.  I mentioned my protest to two or three people at work.  I didn’t rage against it online.  Because controversy can drive sales.  And I wanted that movie to be ignored.  I wrote an e-mail to the distributor, telling them that I appreciated them, that I supported free speech, but asking them to make better, kinder, less abusive movies in the future. 

I came in early the day of my return, set to delete every last trace of the movie.  Out of love, the movie files, the trailers, all had been erased.  (It usually takes several days for us to purge old files.  It was definitely done for my behalf.  My coworkers go out of their way to warn me not to watch content they know will upset me.)  The only thing they missed were two files with the poster image on them.  I erased them, muttered, “damn you to hell, you piece of crap,” and went back to my life without that thing lurking in my workspace.

“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.” -Philippians 4:8

God is always going to win.  God is always going to be more powerful than anything.  We don’t need to give our time to what is evil.  Not when God has infinite good for us.