Fascinating, Delusive, and Dangerous
by John Angel James

1 John chapter 2, verses 15 and 16
Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

I do not hesitate for a moment to pronounce the theatre to be one of the broadest avenues which lead to destruction. Fascinating, no doubt it is, but on that account the more delusive and the more dangerous.

Let a young man once acquire a taste for this kind of entertainment, and yield himself up to its gratification, and he is in imminent danger of becoming a lost character, rushing upon his eternal ruin. All the evils that can waste his property, corrupt his morals, blast his reputation, impair his health, embitter his life, and destroy his soul, lurk in the confines of the theatre.

Vice, in every form, lives and moves, and has its being there. Myriads have cursed the hour when they first exposed themselves to the contamination of the theatre. From that fatal evening they date their downfall.

Take warning, then, and have nothing to do with the theatre. Avoid it as one of the main avenues to the broad road that leads to destruction. The danger is greater than I can describe.

The doors of the theatre are as the jaws of the devouring lion. Therefore, come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.