"Michael Jackson is expected to arrive in Bucharest!" I was told upon arriving in Romania. "That's too bad," I thought. My wife and I had just come from Poland, where we had presented talks on the effects of music. I now wondered how to alert the unsuspecting youth of Romania to the dangers of rock music. They hunger for anything that symbolizes "freedom" and are totally vulnerable to the subtle-but not so innocuous-effects of this powerful American influence.

Thousands flocked to the concert to hear Michael Jackson. Not long after the program began, the media televised pictures of those whose unconscious forms had to be passed overhead-transported by the mob's uplifted hands and arms-to the waiting medical staff for resuscitation. Other fans swayed, twisted, and contorted their bodies in response to the overwhelming pulsating rhythms emanating from the rock star's highly amplified and well-orchestrated band. Still others acted dazed and almost hypnotized. The audience seemed to be caught up in a high state of exhilaration-temporarily abandoning any sense of self restraint, and clamoring for more potent doses of an unseen "drug."

Most people see nothing wrong with a little fun on Halloween. They consider the traditional festivities to be a harmless way for their children to have an evening of "fantasy and fun." But does this standard hold true for Christians? Is dressing up like ghosts, goblins, and witches really "no big deal"? Or is it glorifying and empowering Satan?

By Pastor Doug Batchelor

An Amazing Fact: In the extreme temperatures and near-vacuum of interplanetary space, astronauts need special clothing in order to survive. Their spacesuits supply them with oxygen, keep their bodies at controlled temperatures, remove moisture from the air around them, and monitor their blood pressure and heart rhythm.

When Neil Armstrong went on the Apollo 11 mission that sealed his place in history as the first man to land on the moon, his suit was specially designed to provide a life-sustaining environment during periods of extra vehicular activity or unpressurized spacecraft operation. The custom-fitted spacesuit permitted maximum mobility and was designed to be worn with relative comfort for up to 115 hours outside the spacecraft or for 14 days in an unpressurized mode.

Astronauts must put an enormous amount of trust in their spacesuits. One said it was eerie to realize that while outside the space capsule, there was just one-quarter of an inch between him and eternity. Now that’s important clothing!

I picked up a recent Newsweek magazine to examine its cover. The title on the July 17, 1995, issue read: "Bisexuality. Not straight. Not gay. A new sexual identity emerges." "That does it," I thought to myself. "The devil is attacking every basic truth of nature and Scripture."" It is bad enough for homosexuality to be portrayed by society as a healthy, normal alternate lifestyle; but now the appeal is to lure those who have a natural attraction to the opposite sex into experimenting with the same sex. The article seemed to hint, "Maybe you're a bisexual and you will never know unless you try it!"-as though bisexuals were a more noble breed of humans because they are not limited to one gender or the other but have relations with anybody regardless of gender.

Sadly, if one should dare to speak up (even within some Christian churches!) and say that this is an unnatural deviation of God's design, they take a risk of being scornfully looked upon as unloving, unaccepting, and intolerant. There is a not-so-hidden agenda in the media to normalize sexual perversion.