The Exorcism of Emily Rose, 1

Whoa! If you want to jump-start your brain into thinking about the theology of certain spiritual things, go see this movie! There’s plenty in there to wrap your mind around and plenty to wrestle with for a long while! I’ve got a lot to say about this movie, so this is part 1 of my first real serial blog. At the moment I’m thinking four parts, but that may change. Today’s subject is "fear."

I must give you a warning- this movie is scary in a few places. In fact, it’s scary in every place they deal with the demonic outside of the courtroom (let’s face it, this is a movie and they know how to produce scary film effects). I had to keep praying and fighting against the fear that tried to rise up within me throughout the movie. And as we all know (from previous blogs), fear is the enemy’s greatest tool. I like to say: "Fear is the door of the enemy."

We mustn’t take fear lightly. Scripture is replete with admonitions to "fear not." You think God might have put those in there for a reason? I do. It’s because God knows how fear can open the door for The Enemy to get into our lives and wreak all kinds of havoc. So that means we should be very careful about putting ourselves in situations that we know will cause fear in us- such as scary movies.

Normally, I draw the line at movies that are intended to produce fear in the viewers (horror and slasher types, etc). That doesn’t include the odd "loud noise" effect or momentary jump. It does include an "intentionally prolonged effect of fear" where it is grown in us and designed to keep us in its grip. This kind of fear is what I’m talking about when I say it opens doors in our lives for The Enemy to walk through.

Understand that "roller-coaster fear" or the thrill of sports is not what I’m talking about. That’s more about excitement as opposed to making us afraid of something. The thrill and excitement of rock climbing or hang gliding produces a completely different effect in us than does a ghost or skeleton.

I went to this movie intentionally, because exorcism (deliverance, inner healing, etc) is one of my spiritual gifts. I wanted to see how accurately the producers dealt with the subject (I know people will be asking me about it). I knew there would be moments designed to cause intentional fear and if they were being accurate, there would also be situations where The Enemy would want us to fear him. He is certainly not above using such a film to plant seeds of fear in people who don’t know our true authority in Jesus.

So I used the tactics taught in "Fear No Evil," the book by Brad Jersak (picture to the right) to keep fear from gaining a foothold in my soul. They worked- except for the occasional "loud noise" moment!

If you choose to go to this movie, I encourage you to be prepared to fight off the fear of The Enemy. If you can do this, the message of the movie will make you think no matter what you believe about the demonic.