Media expert Dr. Ted Baehr, armed with 70 years of historical evidence, urged theologians from North America and 15 Latin countries gathered at a conference last week that the Church should not hold back from speaking out boldly on controversial contemporary issues.

"Your voice can even influence Hollywood," Dr. Baehr said.

Dr. Baehr’s comments came during the Western Hemisphere Consultation on Theology August 6-9 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, during a speech on the topic, "Redeeming Culture and the Media."

Dr. Baehr is the founder of the Christian Film & Television Commission, a ministry that has been active in Hollywood and the mass media since 1978. The Commission has been publishing and broadcasting MOVIEGUIDE®: A Biblical Guide to Movies and Entertainment since 1985.

"It may look right now as if the Church is suffering from a tremendous state of apostasy, drifting and confusion," Dr. Baehr said, "but, in areas where things look bleakest and darkest, sometimes you can see a tremendous transformation if you are just willing to take a stand and work towards clarifying issues.

"That is exactly what we have seen happening in Hollywood. I remember when I first started working in Hollywood, we had only one movie that was released that had positive Christian content and last year had 135. In fact, we’ve got three Jesus films coming out in the next nine months, including Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion,’ and ‘The Gospel of John.’ So, what we have seen is that, when you are willing to stand up for the faith in love, grace and kindness, you can make a tremendous difference. The Church needs to speak out on issues it cares about and not just retreat into fear and apostasy. If we do that, then Hollywood will sit up and take notice."

Dr. Baehr noted that the same kind of success that the Christian Film & Television Commission™ is having today is similar to the kind of success the Church had between 1933 and 1965 when it took an active role in redeeming the values of Hollywood by promoting such things as the Code of Decency.

"That period, from 1933 to 1965, is known as the Golden Age of Hollywood," Dr. Baehr said, "because the Church let its light shine publicly in the entertainment industry. We’re trying to establish a new Golden Age of Hollywood that will never be darkened again."

The Western Hemisphere Consultation on Theology in Florida, which took place at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and the Airport Ramada Inn in Fort Lauderdale, met to establish a biblical, theological standard of doctrine for the global, Bible believing, Body of Christ in light of the issues confronting the Church in the 21st Century.

This bold project was the first of a series of gatherings put together by the 48-member Steering Committee of the International Church Council Project who believe it is possible and necessary at this point in church history and will be holding similar gatherings in five continents over the next five years.

The Consultation on Theology discussed 20 theological documents which dealt with issues wherein portions of the Church worldwide are consciously or unconsciously teaching anti-biblical or heretical doctrine and thus undermining the theological foundation of the next generation.

"The purpose of this project is to discuss and clarify these issues and, it is hoped, reaffirm the historic, biblical positions on these issues held by the heroes of Church History over the past 2,000 years so the Church can rise out of relativism," said a document issued by the group. In Latin America, for instance, there are large churches led by pastors who may have come to Jesus Christ within the last few years and who have no theological training whatsoever. They mean well, but they are not always teaching sound doctrine.

In an interview, Dr. Baehr said, "It was an extraordinary gathering with some really high-powered intellectuals theologians who want to reach out to the Western Hemisphere to define and clarify some contemporary theological issues. In other words, the Church understood the nature of Christ for the first 300 years but they didn’t codify it until the debates came up, because the Aryans suddenly started going off track. The Church understood the nature of grace for many years, but they didn’t clarify it until the church started promoting works by selling indulgences, and Luther tried to bring it back to orthodoxy. Sometimes long cherished and orthodox theology doesn’t get codified and clarified until you have disputes, conflagrations and apostasy. We live in such an age today and need the Consultation on Theology.

"I was particularly impressed with Joseph Tson from Romania who has created a theology of martyrdom. In prison for years in Communist Romania, he was the first person ever to every write a theology of martyrdom as opposed to a compendium of descriptions of martyrs such as Foxe’s Books of Martyrs.

"What this consultation did was to help the Church get its bearings correct in face of a lot of confusion, like the Episcopal Church in the US electing a homosexual bishop. These and other issues were addressed forcibly. Now, the theological process is going to move into the worldwide church to help people understand the orthodox Biblical position.

"In other words, you get those theological moments in the life of the Church when you have to give people clarity on issues although the orthodox beliefs run deep right back to the founding Apostles and Jesus Christ."

Other speakers included:

(Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times). Wooding is also a syndicated columnist, and was for ten years a commentator on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 40 books, one of which is "Blind Faith" which he co-authored with his 93-year-old mother Anne Wooding, who was a pioneer missionary to the blind of Nigeria in the 1930s. Copies of this book are available from the ASSIST USA office at PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126. His writings are on the ASSIST Website at: www.assistnews.net)