With Halloween nearly upon us, we may want to take some time to prepare—not necessarily by getting bags of candy for kids showing up at our doors dressed as serial killers, as a certain local store in my area shows them. We may want to prepare in another, better sort of way: spiritually.
We might prepare by praying against the influence of our soul’s enemy, he who would take us and our neighbors to hell, right along with him, if he had any chance to do so. That would be an interesting premise for a horror film, now, would it not be? Actually it already is.
We may also prepare by educating ourselves on what the enemy has in mind for anyone who would pay attention to him. For that, we can examine a film that helps to arm the people of God with just that sort of information.
Reversing the Trend
In a previous blog post, I had discussed the importance of parable. This is a means to visual story-telling; it’s a way of not telling the message but instead telling a story that contains the message. It’s a message within a message.
Jesus understood the power of the parable. He knew the message was in the metaphor and could be decoded by anyone willing to dig for it. The message was for those with ears to hear (Matthew 11:15)—or, as with the parable, those who had eyes to see, since the parable is about visual story-telling, not expository teaching.
As also discussed previously, Christian film-makers have apparently forgotten the tried-and-true parable method of messaging. Instead, these movie producers and their studios seem to turn out unimaginative, even sanctimonious, films that only preach to the choir and can’t reach the lost, since the lost—especially the atheists—are often demonized rather than respected, and the message is right there on the surface. Such producers have forgotten that we want to reach the lost, not assault them.
Christian film-makers tend to blatantly lay things out. There’s no message beneath the surface narrative. There is no subtlety; there’s only sermonizing. There is no parable.
Unlike with the parable, in this sort of film, the message need not be searched out; it doesn’t take any digging to find it. Instead, the message hits the viewer in the face. And this is why viewers often run from this approach.
Movie viewers appreciate nuance and will run the other way when hammered with a message—even if it’s a good one and even if they agree with the message. As Jesus understood, regarding anything that is searched for, it will be more valued once it is discovered, than if were just delivered to someone who isn’t looking for it.
This was the purpose of the Pearl of Great Price parable—to say that excellence, beauty, and especially the Kingdom of God are worth searching out. And it also applies to the moral of a story, particularly if it is an excellent, beautiful message rooted in kingdom principles.
Who can blame movie-goers for turning away from films that beat them over the head? Those that have offended in this manner include Believe Entertainment’s God’s Not Dead, produced in 2014, and its sequel, 2016’s God’s Not Dead 2, as well as some of the Kendrick Brothers’ films.
But there is hope for these production companies and producers. They seem to be catching on.
Demonic Motivations
In 2023, Believe Entertainment appears to have caught on. Visual story telling isn’t dead, after all—even in Christian movies.
The film Nefarious has reversed the studio’s trend of non-visual narrative. At least to an extent.
While a degree of visual narrative has been injected into this movie, there is yet within it much of the preachiness that the studio is famous for. And, as with their previous works, the self-righteous dogmatism that comes out is again aimed at the atheist.
Yet, while these things are true, what had been a negative—in terms of the studio’s past productions—has been turned into a positive. Nefarious pulls this off because, in this film, the sanctimonious moralizing comes from a more appropriate source: a rebellious, sanctimonious spirit. Believe has produced what may be considered the world’s first Christian horror film.
Who might be more sanctimonious than a fallen angel? So, the preachiness, in this case, is actually quite fitting, as it comes from a heart of haughty conceit.
Not that a moralizing demon is necessarily a positive. But the entity portrayed in this film, through truckloads of exposition (more on that in a minute), reveals to his opponent what his progressive worldview won’t tell him. It delivers lots of truth, for the purpose of selling a lie.
As with the enemy in any scenario, the truth is never for truth’s sake. It’s always to stack the deck, as he builds a deceptive narrative with the truth, for the sake of corrupting the reader of his prose.
The film’s demonic revelations include the motivation behind the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). That is, the angels fell so they could be set free from what they perceived to be the tyranny of God, his alleged slavery of the demon and those like him.
They also fell from their devotion to God so that they might obtain revenge. They had been a part of God’s divine council but rebelled and were expelled, to be replaced with mankind.
They sought vengeance on God for giving to man what had been theirs: the opportunity to rule the cosmos and the earth. They would obtain their retribution by taking out their rage on those whom God loved and died for: mankind.
The film’s demonic entity also reveals the means by which demonic forces influence or take over someone’s life: it’s never all at once; it’s always incrementally. We’re even given a clue as to what is at the root of abortion. It’s nothing but simple self-centeredness.
No Longer Ignorant
Nefarious makes ample use of what has already been mentioned, here—something that, in literary circles, is called exposition. Wikipedia describes this as “the insertion of background information within a story or narrative.” In this film, the exposition comes from an inmate on the Oklahoma State Prison’s death row, a serial killer. Or, more properly, it comes from the entity within the inmate.
The story in which the exposition occurs is one where an atheist psychiatrist is commissioned by the Oklahoma governor’s office to determine whether this inmate is sane, and therefore competent enough to be executed. Otherwise, he would be declared insane, by virtue of his claim to now be a demon.
In terms of how exposition works within the film, its purpose is to expose the enemy of our souls. As it does so, it verges on what literary nerds call information dumping.
This literary device is what Wikipedia considers to be “a large drop of information by the author to provide background they deem necessary to continue the plot.” Though, in this case, the dump isn’t about the plot; here, the plot is just a vehicle for the information dump, itself.
While the online encyclopedia considers info-dumping to be ill-advised, the film can be forgiven for its usage, as this device is employed as an end in itself. The idea is to turn the tables on that approach, to permit the enemy to expose himself, so that we would no longer be “ignorant of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11, NASB). There’s nothing wrong with that.
The Invisible Rebel
Nefarious is a film worth watching because Believe Entertainment seems to have gotten this one right. More importantly, the film offers a peek into the mind of he who wants to destroy the people of God and, more generally, all of mankind.
The film tells its viewers that the enemy knows man was made in God’s image, and that image is quite upsetting to him. It’s upsetting to the point of bitterness, to the point of rage—because he hates that imprint, the image of God, the sign that he believes belongs to him and not mankind.
As I explain in the initial chapters of Gender Confusion, a known enemy is a more easily defeated enemy—and Satan is no exception. To know him is to hurt him, and if we don’t understand that we need to be on offense, not defense, we’ll only be as the current leader of the free world: reactive, not proactive. We’ll be the ones getting hurt, not our souls’ enemy.
The film hopes to tell us that if we can understand the places from which our enemy would launch his attacks, we can be armed with the truth that defeats him. The blood of the crucified lamb has defeated our enemy, but this adversary still lurks about “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). If we know where he is lurking, we can defend ourselves and our loved ones.
The enemy, as the film shows, derisively laughs at mankind and man’s futile attempts to confront him, when not armed with the truth and when not covered by the Lamb’s blood. He is correct, on this account, which is why he primarily targets those who are not so armed and not so covered.
The lamb, for his part, sits and laughs at the enemy of his people, holding him in derision (Psalm 2:4). The lamb laughs, for he knows that the enemy thinks he is strong, though he is truly weak, and the lamb encourages us to do the same—to take the enemy just seriously enough to understand him while not being worried about him, to even laugh at his foolish antics.
We may laugh at the enemy, along with our God, and we should—for we know the enemy is defeated. It’s a done deal.
Where Is Hell?
The film’s peek inside the enemy’s head exposes what Satan’s plan, from the very beginning, had been. This exposition tells us the truth about his plan to deceive us into following his lies.
The demon in the film is named Nefarious; the protagonist is the eponymous character. His name not only means evil, but a specific sort of evil: something contrary to divine law.
His name reflects an act of spiritual rebellion, even rebellion, itself, for that is what he personifies. Nefarious is a divine rebel, which makes his name quite appropriate for a demon.
When asked if hell ought to be considered a state of mind or an actual place, Nefarious did not hesitate to respond. He answered with the following:
It's both. Which is painfully obvious to anyone who's ever been there. For years without measure, that's all there ever was: heaven and hell, armed enemy camps in complete opposition.
That is, until you were created. My master immediately understood the long-term implication. Instead of forgiving us, the enemy was going to allow you to fill our vacant places in His realm. Your creation was nothing but a slap in our face.
But my master also understood that if he could make man disobey, then his fate would mirror ours. And you didn't disappoint.
Then came the tares among the wheat. In that moment, spirit became matter, flesh became a vessel, self-will and self-seeking begat a lusting after sin and impurity. And man, created to be king over nature, became its slave, a master, conquered and fettered.
And sin brought him and his descendants to us, and we began our forever mission to destroy you. He made you in His image, but we remade you in ours.
Now, at this point, we must ask: Is any of this true? Is it trustworthy? The answer will take, to borrow a term, some exposition.
Stay tuned for the conclusion our story, the review of Nefarious. The answer may surprise you.
As Kevin mentioned, " a known enemy is a more easily defeated enemy" is a concept that I've never considered until now. I simply thought to avoid the devil and why would I want to know him? But not knowing him will cause for us to easily fall into his traps.
Today, I was reminded via google of an event six years ago. Photos popped up of a halloween trunk o treat event, my grandson was seven years old dressed in a King Arthur's costume and I drove him there to participate, in my ignorance, it was innocent fun since he wasn't dressed in a gory costume, and we weren't knocking on doors.
Just as I did, many Christians fall into this trap! Churches started offering trunk o treats on their parking lots, so I took my grandson for a couple of years. Eventually I learned how the enemy was deceiving me, the adult, thus leading my grandson astray, therefore, I ceased from taking him to churches trunk o treats and explained my reasons to him.
My grandson is now thirteen years old, once again he asked me this week; " Why you don't like hollowing?" Taking in consideration his autism, I explained my reasons in the hope that he'll understand and not participate in halloween moving forward.
The film Nefarious, depicted vivid insight as to how Satan deceives by using our weaknesses, selfishness, naiveness and many other aspects of our lives to fall pray before we even know what hits us.
Kevin, thank you for teaching us how to defeat the devil with your skillful past experience in intel and Biblical knowledge.
PS. I don't care to be grammatical correct capitalizing the H in halloween. :-)