The Hunger Games and the Bible?

[Steve Myers] Is there a connection between The Hunger Games and the Bible? The Hunger Games of course is a movie out right now based on the series of books that seems to be breaking all of the box office records. It's a compelling movie that has set in an end time theme. It's an apocalyptic government control type of an atmosphere where the story takes place. And some of the connections in this story are surprisingly similar to some of the things that you find in the Bible.

You know, is there going to be a controlling government in the end time? Your Bible says, absolutely. And of course if we look at the culture around us today, can things really continue the way they are? I think that's one of the reasons this idea keeps coming up over and over and over again in entertainment because we know our world is in trouble.  And there's going to come on the scene a government that will control as much as it possibly can in every aspect of your life. Of course that's described in Revelation chapter 13, even the name itself sounds like control. It's called the beast. And it's going to control commerce, it's going to control government, it's going to control jobs, it's going to control everything it possibly can to exert it's authority over you (Revelation 13:1-18)

Now, how are you going to handle that?

Now, in the movie they're challenged with this situation where they've got to survive. Well, how will you survive something like that? This isn't just a game. This is reality that's coming on the horizon. You know, how will you handle that when things are out of your control? Where will you look to? What will you do? How will you stay true to your faith and not just win the game, but survive and have a relationship with God and stay true to your beliefs.

Well, Revelation talks about how that's possible. Right in the very end of the book, the very last page in my Bible—verse 7 of chapter 22 of Revelation says, "Behold, I'm coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book" (Revelation 22:7). And a little later in verse 14 it says, "Blessed are those who do His commandments." It says, "They may have the right to the tree of life and enter through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14) .

When life is challenging around us, when we're faced with something much more serious than just a game, when our life is at stake—our spiritual life—we've got to stay close to God. We've got to keep His commandments. We've got to do His will. We've got to have a relationship that would never separate us from the One who created us. That's a kind of game you don't want to lose. That's a kind of game that we've got to stay in and have our whole heart and our mind into. We do that, we don't have to worry about the beast. We don't have to worry about the governments. We just have to stay close to God and do His will. That's a game that you can win.

For BT Daily, we'll see you next time.