My interview with Joe Kovacs

3/4/10 Updated

Here's the published interview with Joe Kovacs (9/17/09). It's a shortened version of what you will hear of the interview in its entirety on my Home Page, following the "Double Update!" Go back there and click on the audio version of the interview to discover more of Joe Kovacs facts about the Bible. You might not be "shocked" but you might be entertained and maybe learn something in the process :).

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn87/shocked-by-the-bible.htm.

I hope you enjoy it. Have a great weekend.~jwa

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My interview with Michael Medved

2/9/10 Updated

I interviewed Michael Medved for the GN in 2005. He was highly intelligent, very articulate, devoted to his family, a knowledgeable advocate for true values and a genuinely nice guy. Let me share that interview with you on the family.

Michael Medved on Media and the Family

by Jerold Aust

The Good News: One of the things that I noticed in your best-selling 1992 book Hollywood vs. America was your analysis of the way movie producers are out of touch with the American public's wants and needs as they relate to movies as entertainment.

Since the writing of that book was based on the prevailing data and statistics of the late '80s and '90s, would you bring us up to date as to Hollywood's ignorance-or willing ignorance-of what the public wants in its movies and television viewing?

Michael Medved: One of the things that has happened since the book came out, and the book played a role in achieving, was the deflation and destruction of the idea that the R rating [restricted: children under 17 not admitted without a parent] was some kind of advantage in marketing a movie. In 1992 there was a great emphasis by studios in releasing as many R-rated titles as they possibly could. Largely that was a response to the kind of movies that directors and producers wanted to make, but it was also based on the idiotic idea that more people embraced R ratings more regularly and more readily than they embraced other more family-friendly ratings. In the book I spent a good deal of time and effort debunking that idea.

There has been a series of studies confirming that research, showing that the R rating is in fact a commercial disadvantage. The result of all of these studies has been a deemphasis on that rating and a higher percentage of PG and PG-13 films. In fact, it has become common, and it never was before, that filmmakers-as part of their contract-have to promise that they will avoid an R rating.

So that's the good news, that there's a spreading recognition that people do not really crave harsh language and graphic sexuality and violence. One of the big surprise hits of the summer of 2001 was a G rated film. In fact, one of the most successful G-rated live-action films ever was The Princess Diaries, which is really a charming film. It's by the maker of Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride, Garry Marshall.

In fact, we've seen a whole tendency of some very well-known directors to release G and PG material, directors who were noted for other material. For instance, David Lynch did quite a lovely film called The Straight Story that was rated G-that's the same David Lynch, the maker of Blue Velvet, rated R. We also had David Mamet, a playwright and filmmaker known for harsh language, release an outstanding G-rated film-really one of the best films of recent years-called The Winslow Boy.

GN: So they can do it?

Click the link for the rest of the story.

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn40/mediafamily.htm.

Have a safe and happy week. If you have a family, love them.~jwa

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Does Father (really) know best?

2/4/10 Updated

I wrote this article in 2006. Here's the intro. Click on the link for the rest of the story :).

Does Father Know Best?

Research shows that children without a father tend to be less settled and more insecure. Now is the time to break that cycle of distant and damaged family relationships wherever they exist. by Jerold Aust

It's not easy being a father these days. Many pressures compete for our time and try to pull us away from that crucial responsibility. Ken Canfield, president of the National Center for Fathering, cites a telling story in his book The Heart of a Father:

"When Don called home from the road one evening, he spoke briefly to his nine-year-old daughter: 'Honey, could you get your mommy on the phone?' He then heard Tasha blurt out, as she set the receiver down on the counter: 'Hey mom, the invisible man is on the phone!'

"In that moment, even before his wife got on the phone, Don went through a transformation. He couldn't laugh it off. He had to face the fact: There's something more important than achieving success at work. It's being a dad" (1996, inside front cover).

Increasingly, more families are struggling to make a go of it without a father present. Being fatherless doesn't necessarily mean losing a father through death or divorce. "In a 1994 survey of more than 1,600 adult men, more than 50 percent said their fathers were emotionally absent for them growing up. That may help explain why in another survey only 34 percent of adult males could say that they considered their fathers to be a role model" (p. 18).

Children want to feel safe and secure in their family. Ideally, children with both parents feel safe as they watch positive interactions between their parents. If children don't hear voices raised in anger, or sarcastic insults between their parents, they inherit the blessings of calmness and security and will likely pass these values to their children.

Parents are role models for their children. Children do what they see their parents do. Thoughtful parents take care to not cripple their children's futures by being immature, selfish role models.

Being an ideal parental role model doesn't come about naturally. Becoming a good father or mother takes attentive work, sensitivity, selflessness and hands-on involvement with children. There are no elevators to parental success; all parents must take the stairs.

The Father Knows Best era on TV (and continue...)

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn64/fatherknow.htm.

Have a great weekend. Love your family.~jwa

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World Peace: The Impossible Dream?

1/21/10 Updated

Here's an article I wrote for the GN in 2002. Hope you enjoy it.

World Peace: The Impossible Dream?

by Jerold Aust

A shocking headline on CNN's Web site on June 4 proclaimed: "Doomsday Clock Advances 5 Minutes." The accompanying article stated that "doomsday drew closer Thursday and is now just nine minutes away, according to the keepers of the symbolic Doomsday Clock. [Because of] recent nuclear test explosions in India and Pakistan, the minute hand of the clock—a measure of how close humankind is to destroying itself—was advanced to 11:51 p.m., with midnight representing a worldwide nuclear holocaust."

How close the world came to nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan we may never know. Nor, for that matter, is that particular danger past; it could easily heat up again and perhaps pass the point of no return.

The "wars and rumors of wars" that Jesus Christ foretold (Matthew 24:6) are here. But the peace He promised beyond them seems as elusive as ever.

Mankind has never known lasting world peace, yet peace for mankind is both planned for and guaranteed. But could the horrifying terrorist acts of Sept. 11, the senseless nail-studded suicide bombs that kill grandmothers and grandchildren alike, and the threat of nuclear war between Pakistan and India help signal the coming of a true worldwide peace?

It sounds like an obvious contradiction, but it isn't. Ironically, the worse it gets on the world scene, the closer we are to lasting world peace (Luke 21:29-31). The signs of the times laid out in Jesus' Olivet prophecy (recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21) suggest we're dangerously close to a holocaust. But what does that have to do with lasting peace?

Who defines peace?

Click on the link below for the rest of the story.

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn42/worldpeace.htm.

All the best.~jwa

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The Biblical Map to Jesus Christ's Return

1/08/09 Updated

I wrote this article in the Good News back in September 2007. Hope you enjoy it and that it's helpful to you.

The Biblical Map to Jesus Christ's Return

Maps show the way from where you are to your final destination. The Bible provides the only spiritual map to our ultimate destiny. Doesn’t it make good sense to plan your life's journey by learning how to read the genuine biblical map?

by Jerold Aust

You and I may take ordinary road maps for granted, but the history of mapmaking shows that ancient peoples carefully relied on their relatively primitive maps.

Noted author and professor John Noble Wilford wrote: "Before Europeans reached the Pacific, the Marshall Islanders were making stick charts. Sticks were lashed together with fibers to depict prevailing winds and wave patterns; shells or coral were inserted at the appropriate places to represent islands. When a Tahitian communicated his knowledge of South Pacific geography to Captain Cook by drawing a map, it was clear that he and his people were quite familiar with the map idea.

"Pre-Columbian maps in Mexico indicated roads by lines of footprints. Centuries ago Eskimos carved accurate coastal maps in ivory, the Incas built elaborate relief maps of stone and clay, and early Europeans drew sketch maps on their cave walls" (The Mapmakers, 1981, p. 7).

The map idea (first subtopic)

Click on the link for the rest of the story.

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn72/biblicalmap.htm.

Thanks for visiting this page. All the best to you and yours.~jwa

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King Josiah: God's last appeal for His Southern Kingdom (Judah) to turn back to Him

12/30/09 Updated

I wrote this profiles' article about Josiah in 1999. Hope it benefits you.

Profiles of Faith...

Josiah: A Kingdom Returns to God

by Jerold Aust

The prophet Jeremiah made a remarkable prediction about the kingdom of Judah in the days of King Josiah. Less than a century had passed since the northern kingdom, Israel, with its 10 of the 12 original Israelite tribes, had fallen into captivity. God had used mighty Assyria as an instrument of correction to punish Israel.

Now God turned His focus on the southern kingdom of Judah, where the two remaining Israelite tribes had barely escaped the same fate. God's analysis of the character of Judah was ominous: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, 'Return to Me.' But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it" (Jeremiah 3:6-7).

"Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away [through captivity at the hands of the Assyrian Empire] and [had] given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense ... Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah" (verses 8-11).

Josiah's Early Reign

Click on the link to read the rest of the story.

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn20/profilesfaithjosiah.htm.

Have a great weekend.~jwa

------------------------ Does Armageddon signal the end of the world?

12/17/09 Updated

I wrote the following article about Armageddon in 1997. It's as current today as it was then. Hope you enjoy it. Here's the introduction to that article. Click on the link for the rest of the story. Thanks for visiting my site and this page.

Armageddon: The End of the World?

What is the biblical Armageddon? Does it signal the end of the world? When and where will it take place?

by Jerold Aust

What does the Bible really say about Armageddon? It tells us that the last great battle of man's age will take place in the Middle East. The armies will gather at a place Scripture calls Armageddon. So, not surprisingly, Armageddon has come to portray our worst nightmare: the end of the world.

Some Bible scholars claim that Armageddon is predicted to terminate society as we know it. More-detailed speculations speak of it as a battle of cataclysmic proportions, possibly a nuclear war that will annihilate mankind. Even Ronald Reagan, the former U.S. president, spoke of Armageddon in such terms. That Armageddon is named in the Bible (Revelation 16:16) and that it serves as the prelude to "the battle of that great day of God Almighty" (verse 14) deserves our concern and attention. The meaning of Armageddon

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn12/armageddon.htm.

Enjoy the weekend and Sabbath.~jwa

The Greatest Addiction of All

12/10/09 Updated

I guess every writer of magazine articles has a special preference toward one or more articles. Among my favorites is this one. To me the theme is highly important to a Christian and those who want to be. Hope you like it :).

The Greatest Addiction of All

Most people know about common addictions to drugs and alcohol. These are difficult enough to face and manage. But the one addiction that is greater than all others is unrecognized by most people. Thankfully, it can be overcome.

by Jerold Aust

"I can't get in trouble. I'm a celebrity," boasted Lindsay Lohan on the night she was arrested for driving under the influence with a suspended license and carrying cocaine (Los Angeles Daily News, Aug. 5, 2007, p. 1).

The newspaper article cited here is a sad commentary on the imperious actions of some famous personalities who sometimes do what they want simply because they can.

Interestingly, the article's headline asks, "Have We Lost Our Way?" It assumes that we once knew the right way to live and have merely strayed from it. But it assumes wrong. Drugs and alcohol impair good judgment. Yet a greater addiction, more widespread than any other, distorts true values—and most don't realize that they have it.

Research into addiction (click on the link to read the rest of the story).

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn73/addiction.htm.

Have a great weekend.~jwa

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Was Christ born on Christmas Day?

12/06/09 Updated

I wrote this Christmas article for The Good News Magazine in December 2002. Here's the intro. Click on the link for the rest of the story.

Was Christ Born on Christmas Day?

Do you observe Christmas because you think it's Christ's birthday? Was He born on or anytime near Dec. 25? If Jesus lived on earth today, would He celebrate Christmas at all?

by Jerold Aust

We should sit up and take notice of remarks from a popular American comedian and actor, Drew Carey. At a White House correspondents' dinner on May 5, Mr. Carey directed his comments to the president and vice president and their wives, several military and civilian dignitaries and a host of Hollywood entertainers:

"I can't watch the news lately," he said. "It gets too depressing. What I do now is turn the news off, get out my Bible and turn to the book of Revelation. I start just checking things off ... Got it, got it, need it, got it, need it ... Red dragon, seven horns, 10 crowns, got it.

"Yeah, I read the Bible a lot, you know. It's just crazy [the way] we celebrate holidays in the United States. I found out just recently there are so many religious holidays we celebrate here in this country that have nothing to do with the Bible at all. Real famous holidays, like Christmas. Christmas has nothing to do with the Bible.

"The birth of Jesus is in the Bible, but not Christmas. The tree is not in the Bible, you know. Gifts—that's not there either. There's no place where it says, '"Celebrate my birthday," says Jesus.' It's a pagan holiday that the Romans invented that we just do. But everywhere you go, I'm telling you, I've seen this so many times, you see a nativity scene and there's baby Jesus, the manger, sheep, shepherds, Mary, Joseph and Santa Claus right in the middle. Who's he? Mary's [birthing] coach? Santa Claus has nothing to do with anything."

Drew Carey actually brought up a serious side of Christmas: that history exposes the holiday as nothing more than a pagan observance dressed up in Christian garb.

Does the question of whether Christmas is biblical or not make any difference? What must Jesus Christ think about the feel-good, commercially driven season that supposedly honors Him?

Christmas before Christ?

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn43/bornchristmas.htm.

Have a great week.~jwa

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Christmas Before Christ?

12/04/09 Updated

Here's the lead to my Good News article on Christmas before Christ. Click on the link for the rest of the story :).

Christmas Before Christ? The Surprising Story

Most people know the Bible doesn't mention - much less sanctify - Christmas. Does it make any difference as long as it's intended to honor God and bring families together?

by Jerold Aust

Several months ago the popular American comedic actor Drew Carey was interviewed on an equally popular television talk show, The View. Mr. Carey surprised the audience when he addressed the value of telling children the truth about Santa Claus.

"I don't think you should tell kids that there is a Santa Claus," he said. "That's the first lie you tell your children." Instead, "tell kids that Santa's a character we made up to celebrate a time of the season." Otherwise "when kids get to be 5 ... they realize their parents have been lying to them their whole life."

Earlier in the year the Arts & Entertainment cable television channel aired a program about Christmas titled Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas. The promo for this program read:

"People all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th. But why is the Savior's nativity marked by gift- giving, and was He really born on that day? And just where did the Christmas tree come from?

"Take an enchanting journey through the history of the world's favorite holiday to learn the origins of some of the Western world's most enduring traditions. Trace the emergence of Christmas from pagan festivals like the Roman Saturnalia, which celebrated the winter solstice."

These two programs addressed the fact that Santa Claus is fictitious and that Christmas and its trappings emanate from pagan Roman festivals. By no means are these the only sources of information about the background of Santa Claus and Christmas.

Is there more to these ancient traditions and practices than meets the eye? And, more important, does it make any difference whether we continue them?

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn31/christmas.htm.

Enjoy your Sabbath and weekend.~jwa

------------------------------ Put Christ back in Christmas?

11/29/09 Updated

I noticed a bumper sticker that read, "Put Christ back in Christmas." I realized that the person meant well and that he or she felt that Christmas has become too commercialized and that Christmas would be better observed by focusing on Christ. That's a commendable thought.

Still I always think, "You can't put Christ back into a holiday that He was never in." Christ never kept Christmas. He never taught it; He couldn't teach it. For Christ to be our Savior, He had to remain holy and true to God the Father and to their commandments.

Christmas is in fact the Mass for Christ, which is to say, to take the Eucharist. The Catholic Church wanted to convert the heathen parishoners and found that during late December, the "new converts" continued to keep the MidWinter Festival, which comes from the heathenistic religion. If you don't believe this, read the Catholic Encyclopedia on the subject of festivals. Check out Hislop's Two Babylons (if you can find a copy) on the subject of Christmas. Read Fraser's works on "The Golden Bough (the mistletoe)." You will find that Christmas is the brand that the Catholic Church put on the MidWinter Festival, together with the taking of the Eucharist, so to Christianize the pagan converts.

Times have changed and now some people, who keep Christmas, want to get away from the commercialism and "get back to Christ." Hence, "Put Christ back in Christmas."

God said, "Don't follow the way of the heathen." God is not pleased that human beings follow non-Christian traditions and He will one day change all this, once Christ is sent to this earth (Zech. 14; Heb. 8).

Have a great week.~jwa

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Thanksgiving: A Timeless Lesson

11/27/09 Updated

Let me share with you an article I wrote for the Good News back in 1997.

Thanksgiving: A Timeless Lesson

Are we aware of the true source of blessings and wealth?

by Jerold Aust

The Yoruba people of West Africa have an old saying: "However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source." But, we may ask, have the people of the United States forgotten the source of their blessings?

The United States observes the national holiday of Thanksgiving, dedicated to remembering the many blessings America enjoys: hills and plains filled with mineral riches; fertile soil that grows endless crops of grain; waters teeming with fish; pastures feeding millions of head of livestock; forests for building homes, schools, hospitals and industrial complexes; two long borders on oceans providing transportation, food and natural barriers for defense.

There is more, of course. But, when we ask ourselves how we have been blessed, another question should come to mind: How grateful are we for these blessings? And, perhaps more crucial, do we remember the real source of these blessings?

Although Thanksgiving Day is an American institution, any country derives the benefits from following the biblical principle of always being thankful to God for His bountiful blessings.

Click on the following link for the rest of the story.

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn13/thanksgiving.htm.

Have a great weekend and Sabbath. We hope you had a great Thanksgiving Day.~jwa

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The Magnetic Pull of Christmas

11/23/09 Updated

I wrote this for the November-December 2007 GN issue.

What's Behind the Magnetic Pull of the Christmas Season?

Millions observe Christmas because it's a feel-good time with holiday music filling the air, brightly decorated trees, Santa Claus for the children and family togetherness. But does the Christmas season have a strong, commercially motivated magnetic pull that goes unnoticed by most?

by Jerold Aust

Justin and Dena were married shortly before Christmas. They had grown up in families that celebrated the Christmas holidays. This was a special time for them with thoughts of falling snow, a glowing fireplace, holiday songs and colorful gifts placed around the well-decorated tree. The winter holiday season was exciting and alluring, as it is to millions.

They badly wanted to invite their families for a sumptuous Christmas Day dinner and the traditional exchanging of gifts. Everything seemed to work out all right except they were short of money to pay for the obligatory gifts. So they went shopping armed with their credit cards.

As they shopped around from store to store, the atmosphere of the music, colorful gifts and inviting decorations lured them into spending much more than they could reasonably afford.

Then in late January, the bills started coming in. They had precious little money set aside to pay them. They struggled to keep enough food on the table, pay the house rent and make the car payment. They realized too late they had succumbed to all the Christmas advertising—ending up with a painful financial hangover.

Could this story also describe your circumstances?

Click on the link for the rest of the story.

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn73/christmas.htm.

Have a great week.~jwa

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