God’s Not Dead, and unfortunately neither is the Fifty Shades franchise.

Usually commercials are an opportunity to get excited about new movies soon to come out, and eat half of the popcorn before the movie has even begun. I recently went to the movie theatre to see Forever My Girl. By the end of the commercials, I was practically in tears. The song I Can Only Imagine played, as the trailer for the story behind the song showed before my eyes. I can already tell it will be a must see. The movie looks beautiful and powerful.

Then the commercial for the third God’s Not Dead movie comes on and looked amazing. Let that sink in. God’s Not Dead one and two did well enough for the industry to make a third. That is incredible. As we left the movie there were lit up coming soon posters for Samson, and of course, the new Fifty Shades movie. The movie is called Fifty Shades Freed. To me, the title isn’t very fitting. Being freed from something means escaping, letting go, not being captive. By the commercial alone, you can tell none of that applies to the movie. The evil, grotesque scenes that play in the commercial imply captivity to me. They demonstrate a soul given over to something other than God. The contrast between the upcoming Christian movies and having previously seen the ad for Fifty Shades really struck me. God’s Not Dead 3 promises overcoming, facing, and winning battles. I Can Only Imagine will be a powerful movie about a father and son overcoming brokenness, and demonstrate how the powerful song was written. And of course the story of Samson. He overcame also. Even though he died in the end of the story, he was set free from his captivity. The three movies show light, restoration, and freedom.

The handcuffs alone from the Fifty Shades movie commercial disqualifies the movie from accurately representing freedom. I watched two Christian movie commercials and saw an ad for another one when I left, right after seeing a sleazy poster for a disgusting movie that has done well enough to also have a sequel. It can be frustrating and discouraging to see so many trashy, disturbing, and completely gross movies come out. You just want to see a decent movie, and yet so many are coming out that are repulsive. However, where there is darkness, the light shines brighter. The Christian movies coming soon stand out against the filth of Fifty Shades.

Satan may think that he has won Hollywood and all of its viewers with the grotesque Fifty Shades series, but he hasn’t won. And he won’t. The only way that so many Christian movies can come out is because there is a market for them. People are going to the theatres to see those movies, buying tickets, tweeting, and posting about those movies. It can’t stop. We as Christians need to keep supporting those movies so Hollywood can see just how important they are, and how much they are wanted. Amid so much darkness in the world, light is breaking through. It is our job, our duty, to keep those Christian movies in the theaters. When you go to the box office you have a choice, darkness or light. Your money is what will help these movies survive or die. It would be amazing if one day the majority in the box office is the Christian movies, not the evil ones. It can happen. So let’s get to it. God isn’t dead, but let’s see what we can do about Fifty Shades.