DECEPTION OF A GENERATION (1985)

NOTE: This originally ran on THE VAULT OF BUNCHENESS back in 2010.

I just got my grubby mitts on "Deception of a Generation," an unintentionally hilarious Christian scare show from the mid-1980's, and believe me when I say it simply has to be seen to be believed. It was part of a series of exposés on such threats to good Christian values as rock 'n' roll, marijuana and Dungeons & Dragons, only this time around the focus was on the Satanic influences found in media directed at children, all apparently part of a concerted effort to indoctrinate unwitting kiddies into the ways of sorcery and acceptance of alternative lifestyles.

An installment in the Eagle's Nest Ministries' video series, "Deception of a Generation" is hosted by Gary Greenwald, an earnest Bible-thumper whose outraged conviction is matched only by the sheer lunacy of the claims made by his guest, fellow Christian Phil Phillips, whose hair looks like it was crafted from polystyrene, an aspect that when coupled with his disturbingly childlike face makes him look like a live-action, grownup version of Davey Hansen from the old Christian claymation TV series DAVEY AND GOLIATH.

Phil Phillips: what happened to Davey when Goliath inevitably died.

Phillips recounts that during his ministering God spoke to him and ordered him to go on a fast; this fast went on for some two weeks, and during the course of it Phillips wandered into a toy store and was appalled by the "occultic" items being purveyed to children in the supposedly harmless guise of toys linked to syndicated cartoon shows. Bearing witness to a perceived Apocalypse in Toys "R" Us, Phillips launched wholeheartedly into a crusade to make parents aware that the insidious influence of "new age" and other demonic forces had entered their households via daily cartoon shows, shows he was convinced were intentionally "programming kids to evil," "transforming their minds" and leading children to worship TV characters when they should be worshipping God. This crusade unearthed many points of interest and import that opened my eyes to the following:

• Scooby-Doo cartoons promote the "occultic" and glamorize such things as amulets (as worn by fey magician types voiced by Vincent Price), spell-casting and "dark and evil realms."
• Steven Spielberg's E.T. was actually a Satanic message disguised as a childrens' movie; the message was, apparently, that E.T.'s healing powers and levitation ability were meant to confuse children and make them think Jesus was an alien.
• HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, both the toys and the cartoon show, were designed to place "occultic" objects (the toys) into the hands of youngsters and instruct them in the art of spellcasting and the worship of pagan idols and symbology (how-to lessons being found on the TV series). He-Man's transformative cry of "By the power of Grayskull!" is seen as the first of many incantations children learn and imitate by watching the cartoon, a learned behavior that opens the door to outright witchery and the belief — allegedly stated by a little boy after a Sunday school class — that "God isn't the real master of the universe and that He-Man is more powerful than Jesus."

Gary Greenwald demonstrates the obviously Satanic influence of the Snake Mountain playset, hilariously howling "SKELETOOOOOOR!!!" into the "voice-changing" snake microphone. (I don't know about what you think, but this looks to me like some acidheads poured multi-colored candle wax over a Mousetrap game.)

• The THUNDERCATS series promotes paganism thanks to its protagonists being human/animal hybrids, a la the deities of many ancient religions, as well as being extra-Satanic because of their use of the martial arts, practices rooted in Eastern philosophy. Hero Lion-O also talks to the spirit of his dead father (necromancy). Also, the villain Mum-Ra's name is an undisguised shoutout to Ra, the Egyptian sun god.
• Superman promotes necromancy because he also communicates with his deceased parents (the fact that they're interactive holograms and not actual spirits appears to make no difference).
• THE SMURFS was actually designed to get kids to think that an entirely homosexual community is okay and the reason the Smurfs are all blue is due to them being symbolic representations of the spirits of the dead (read "demonic"), essentially meaning that the Smurf society is in actuality a pack of dead queers. And, contrary to her actual origin, Smurfette was actually a male Smurf transformed into a female, thereby being unnatural as a motherfucker (apparently the state of being three inches tall and bright blue wasn't much of an issue).
• SHE-RA openly promotes witchcraft and spellcasting, as well as her name being an intentional shoutout to Ra, the Egyptian sun god. She also dresses way too seductively to be appropriate for little girls.
• MY LITTLE PONY seems cute and all rainbowy and shit, but it's actually a unicorn, an obvious and quite phallic pagan symbol.
• The DUNGEONS & DRAGONS cartoon actively features Satan himself as a main character (despite the character being named Venger and clearly described as a sorcerer), supported by all manner of demons and evil spirits.
• TRANSFORMERS regularly depicted characters being violently shot and killed (something the show's creators apparently thought they could get away with if the characters were all robots, but apparently not).
• The original STAR WARS trilogy actively promotes paganism and Zen Buddhism, and the Force is actually a demonic power that the Jedi tap into. And, in case you didn't know, STAR WARS is extra-offensive because black-clad bad guy Darth Vader was "intentionally designed to look like Odin," the chief of the Norse gods.

Darth Vader, lapsed Jedi and lord of the Sith...

...and Odin, chief of the Norse gods. The similarities are staggering!

• The SECTAURS toy and cartoon series invoke winged horrors as depicted in the Book of Revelation.
• VOLTRON, specifically the five lions version, is apparently Satanic.

There's a ton more of such info in this fully-loaded hour and a half — including an incredible tale of a family whose son became a balls-out delinquent thanks to getting into Dungeons & Dragons, and when his parents threw his gaming dice into the roaring fireplace the dice reportedly screamed as the evil spirits within them were cleansed by fire — and at the same time that the wild and totally unsubstantiated claims made by Phil Phillips are occasionally laugh-out-loud ridiculous, it's also rather saddening to see both Phillips and Greenwald being thoroughly convinced that this stuff is 100% on the money, sharing these imbecilic beliefs with the general public and consequently coming off like they're both bullmoose insane. I'm absolutely certain that they were both well-intentioned, but, ironically, it's long been said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions and if that's the case these two have much to think about.

That said, this DVD — actually a somewhat ratty VHS tape transfer — was worth every cent I paid for it, and could cause death-by-laughter if the person or persons watching it are stoned/drunk enough, so TRUST YER BUNCHE and proceed with caution.