Nahum 3:1-4 (NKJV)

Woe to the bloody city!
It is all full of lies and robbery.
Its victim never departs.
The noise of a whip
And the noise of rattling wheels,
Of galloping horses,
Of clattering chariots!
Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear.
There is a multitude of slain,
A great number of bodies,
Countless corpses—
They stumble over the corpses—
Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot,
The mistress of sorceries,
Who sells nations through her harlotries,
And families through her sorceries.

Now Nahum gets specific about Nineveh’s depravity. His description of the physical acts is creepy enough, but what’s behind all the horror is worse. It’s

all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,
   alluring, the mistress of sorceries,
who enslaved nations by her prostitution
   and peoples by her witchcraft.

Calling Nineveh, “the city of blood,” is nothing compared to that.

Movies should show good as good and bad as bad. Unfortunately, the movie industry is more focused on making money. Far too many movies conflate right and wrong.

The best movies teach advanced lessons in the nature of evil and the complexities of fighting it. “A Few Good Men” and “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” are two fine examples.

Scary movies can also rise above their genre by showing the spiritual forces behind the action. Disney made one such movie in 2010. It’s superb, not only for its chilling portrayal of evil but for a grand musical score.

It’s “The Princess and the Frog” and, astonishingly, it’s rated G. I can’t imagine what the ratings people were thinking; demonic characters are all over the place. The bad guy (“The Shadow Man”) is a magician who sings, “I’ve got friends on the other side.” He makes a deal with those “friends” to work great wickedness.

(Spoiler alert!) — In the end, the deal falls through and The Shadow Man is literally sucked into hell.

I highly recommend it, but not for children.

A rating less than PG-13 is head scratching. Anything less than PG is insane.

All the weekly study guides, which include all five devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies