The Daily Signal - Why Christians and Conservatives Should Engage Hollywood

Episode Date: August 27, 2021

Joel Pelsue, co-founder and CEO of Arts & Entertainment Ministries, is a champion of quality Christian and conservative movies and TV shows.  About 20 years ago, Pelsue says, he became frustrated with the lack of Christian discipleship within the arts community. As a musician, he knew that many artists were seeking Christian community, but didn't feel accepted by the church.  Pelsue turned his frustration into motivation, and in 2004, he founded Arts & Entertainment Ministries with his wife, Michelle.  “We are based in Los Angeles, and we mentor and disciple Christians who are engaged in [the] video game industry, film, television, writing, fine art, you name it,” he says. “If you're a creative, we're there to disciple you, and mentor you, and encourage you to be salt and light in the mainstream.”  Pelsue joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss why conservatives and Christians should engage in the arts. He also explains how the political left uses movies and television to promote their ideology, and challenges conservatives to consider how they can be a positive influence within the entertainment industry.  We also cover these stories: At least two suicide bomb attacks outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan kill 13 U.S. service members and at least 60 Afghans. Republicans criticize the Biden administration in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Kabul. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, announces a new indoor mask mandate, as well as mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for K-12 teachers and staff, college professors and staff, college students, and health care workers. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get you and your crew to the big shows with Go Transit. Go connects to all the main concert venues like TD Coliseum in Hamilton and Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto. And Go makes it affordable with special e-ticket fares. A one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel across the network on any weekend day or holiday for just $10. And a weekday group pass offers the same weekday travel flexibility from $30 for two people and up to $60 for five. Buy yours at gotransit.com slash tickets. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, August 27th. I'm Kate Trinco.

And I'm Doug Blair. It's an open secret that the entertainment industry and the arts lean heavily to the left. Conservatives and Christians often feel like their values aren't accurately represented in mainstream creative mediums. Joel Pelsu, co-founder and CEO of Arts and Entertainment Ministries, is hoping to change that. He joins the Daily Signal podcast to discuss the need for good Christian and conservative media. And don't forget, if you enjoy this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star reading on Apple Podcasts. And please encourage others to subscribe. And now on to today's top news.

There were at least two suicide bombing attacks targeting the Kabul airport area Thursday. Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, the U.S. Central Command Commander, reported on what happened during a press briefing. Here's what he had to say via the Defense Department. The attack on the Abbey Gate was followed by a number of ISIS gunmen who opened fire on civilians and military forces. At this time, we know that 12 U.S. service members have been killed in the attack, and 15 more service members have been injured. A number of Afghan civilians were also killed and injured in the attack. We are treating some of them aboard H. Kaya. Many other Afghan civilians have been taken out to hospitals in town.

We're still working to calculate the total losses. We just don't know what that is right now. Their loss weighs heavily on us all, and I'll talk a little bit more about that as we go through my prepared remarks. We continue to focus on the protection of our forces and the evacuees as the evacuation continues. Let me be clear, while we're saddened by the loss of life, both U.S. and Afghan, we're continuing to execute the mission. Our mission is to evacuate U.S. citizens, third country nationals, special immigrant visa holders, U.S. embassy staff, and Afghans at risk. McKenzie also said that there are 5,000 evacuees at the Kabul Airport now for evacuation and about 1,000 American citizens left in Afghanistan.

The general says the military is doing everything we can to help those Americans leave. ISIS-K is an offshoot of the Islamic State. USA Today reports, U.S. officials have grown alarmed in recent years about the group's growing strength, savagery and intent on attacking Western targets. ISIS K considers the Taliban, noted for its brutality, to be insufficiently devout in its adherence to Islam. Prominent Republicans criticized the Biden administration in the aftermath of the explosions that rocked Kabul Airport on Thursday. In a Twitter post lambasting the president, House Republican Conference Chair Elise DeFonik wrote, quote, Joe Biden has blood on his hands. The buck stops with the president.

of the United States. This horrific national security and humanitarian disaster is solely the result of Joe Biden's weak and incompetent leadership. He is unfit to be commander-in-chief. Other Republicans called on Biden to resign in the face of ongoing issues with evacuation efforts on the ground in Afghanistan. Representative Jody Heiss of Georgia tweeted, Biden admin views abandoned people in Afghanistan as a political nuisance. Maybe looking at them as real people instead of papers to push would produce rescues rather than deaths, it's time for Biden to resign now. The attack also led to renewed calls for an extension to President Biden's August 31st deadline. In an interview with Fox Business, Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona said, we have to reimpose our deadline and our will and our

authority. This administration is not capable of doing that. In a series of tweets Thursday, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, urged President Biden to focus on the U.S. retaking another airport in Afghanistan to help facilitate evacuations. Graham wrote, I have advocated for days that the Ba-Gram Air Base should be reopened as the Kabul airport is very difficult to defend and has been the only evacuation outlet. And the retaking of Bah-Gram would put our military at risk, but I think those involved in the operation would gladly accept that risk, because it would restore our honor as a nation and save lives. On Thursday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, announced a new indoor mask mandate for everyone to or older, regardless of vaccination status, as well as mandatory COVID vaccinations for K-12 teachers and staff, college professors and staff, college students, and health care workers.

Those who are unable or unwilling to be vaccinated will be required to undergo frequent COVID testing to ensure they aren't sick. During a morning press conference, Pritzker blamed unvaccinated people for a surge of delta variant cases in the state. Here's Pritzker via Forbes. The tool to bring an end to the pandemic vaccines is readily available, but your neighbors aren't taking it. Many because they're being misled. And then these health care heroes have to put your own health and their family's lives at risk, having to take care. of people who could have prevented their serious illness with a simple shot. The COVID-19 vaccine has been available to the public for many months. And in that time, we've watched

many of our most vulnerable individuals do what they can to protect themselves and get vaccinated. But unvaccinated workers in the health care system and at nursing homes have driven the majority of the breakthrough hospitalizations that we've seen in Illinois. In fact, protecting elderly and immunocompromised residents who are the first to be hurt when their community isn't safe. Let me say that even more simply. If you're unvaccinated, you're getting the people in your care sick. It's one reason why they'll likely need booster shots and it's why I'm instituting this vaccine requirement. Illinois is one of many states that has introduced more stringent requirements in an attempt to control rising cases.

Governor Philip Murphy, Democrat of New Jersey, instituted a vaccine or testing requirement for all teachers in the state earlier this week, while Democratic Oregon Governor Kate Brown recently introduced an outdoor mask mandate for everyone, regardless of vaccination status. Other states have taken a different approach. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said he will penalize school districts that impose mask mandates on students, while on Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott reissued a statewide ban on vaccine mandates. Stay tuned for Virginia Allen's conversation with Joel Pelsu as they discuss the need for good Christian and conservative media. Americans use firearms to defend themselves between 500,000 and 2 million times every year. God forbid that my mother has ever faced with a scenario where she has to stop a threat to her life. But if she is, I hope politicians protected by professional armed security didn't strip her of the right to use the firearms she can handle most competently. to watch the rest of heritage expert Amy Swearer's testimony on assault weapons before the House Judiciary Committee

head to the Heritage Foundation YouTube channel. There you'll find talks, events, and documentaries, backed with the reputation of the nation's most broadly supported Public Policy Research Institute. Start watching now at heritage.org slash YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe and share. I am so pleased to be joined by Reverend Joel Pelsu. He is the president, CEO, and co-founder of Arts and Entertainment Ministries in Los Angeles, California. And Joel, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much. Great to be with you, Virginia.

So let's just dive right in. Tell me a little bit about your organization, what you all do. Okay, so our organization is Arts and Entertainment Ministries. We are based in Los Angeles, and we mentor and disciple Christians who are engaged in video game industry, film, television, writing, fine art, you name it. If you're creative, we're there to disciple you and mentor you and encourage you to be salt and light in the mainstream. Now, you're a co-founder of the ministry. What's the history? How did you all get started? It's a great question. So the co-founder is a big surprise of my wife. My wife and are both artists. She was a professional actress, actresses,

starting at age 15, both theater and film. I started playing orchestra pits in age 14. So I played clarinet, saxophone, flute, a little other. grew up with that. And we both went to Westmont College in Santa Barbara. And we started leading artists to Christ. And we realized the church at that time really didn't know what to do with people with four earrings and purple hair and tattoos and sitting next to you on the pew, much less. What do they do once they become a Christian, stop making pagan or anti-Christian art? And they want to glorify God, but they don't want to do the Kincaid model or something like that. They want to go in the mainstream. And one of my mentors later told me, sometimes what frustrates you with the church is indicative of your calling. And that's true. It became a drive. I could see beauty in the

Bible. God cared about these things, but there was a disconnect in the church. And so in seminary, other places, that was a focus and eventually launched the ministry full time in 2004. Yeah. So that's a big mission to really bite off this idea of, okay, we're going to bring, you know, biblical principles. We're going to bring these truths into media. And I think a lot of people can get behind that. We can say, yes, we want to do that. Practically speaking, though, how do you actually do that? Yeah, it's no small task. Well, one of the core issues we found for the church, when I'm speaking to the church or speaking to artists, is there's a lack of theology. And you can't live out something if you don't have the principles to believe them. And when my wife and I, when I was at seminary, my wife and I would

start a fasting once a week, God show us, where, we're going to live. We're going to live. And we're is in scripture that we're missing and we came across Exodus 31, the first person filled with the spirit in the Bible is Bezalel. And so I went to the seminary library, there's long tables, I pulled out about 12 commentaries. What do they say about this guy? And I found that most of the commentaries basically skipped the verse. And it was crazy because I know in the New Testament the first time you have a particular verb, erosindicative, or people write a hundred-page thesis. And yet here is the first person filled in the spirit of God, people skip it. And then one commentary said, yes, he's filled with the spirit of God, but it's described in such detail the artwork that there's no creativity left for the artist.

And I wanted to throw the commentary across the room, but it was worth a couple hundred bucks. And I was a seminary student. So, but what I saw there so clearly is it is the modernism that has crept into our universities, that it's not a, we're looking for quantitative and qualitative and qualitative statements in theology, and art doesn't work that way. So if you're drilled into that scholastic way of looking, then you just skip the artist because art de facto cannot have that much of an import into our theology. And yet what we discovered is the whole book of Exodus

is God taking people from slavery in Egypt to a covenant relationship with the God who loves them and a third of the book is artwork. And it's incense. And it's the priestly rose. And it's the ark of the covenant with angels wings. it is elaborate, is it extravagant, and is all the senses. There is an incense, there's the anointing oil, the sounds of the animals sacrificing.

God activated all the senses. And so the arts are completely there when God created his own nation, his own culture. And so that was the place we began preaching on and teaching on that really seemed to help artists. Yeah, yeah. It's so fascinating and so, so critical. We're talking with Reverend Joel Pelsusk. He heads the arts and entertainment ministries in Los Angeles. So talk a little bit about the arts culture in Los Angeles and how, you know,

really what we see come out of L.A. impacts the rest of America and the rest of the world. And why for you that was, okay, I want to go there and I want to be a part of a movement of really influencing culture from the heart of where culture is influenced out of. Yes. Great question. And, you know, to clarify me, we wouldn't be there in raising three children if we didn't believe God called us. But we went there knowing, you know, we have talent, we understand artists because we are artists, and wanted to equip them. And it is challenging because the vast majority of people in L.A. are liberal and politically, and it's gotten even more extreme as our country has become more divided. And one of the challenges we see, I remember when we moved there reading article LA Times,

you know, the Writers Guild was founded by socialist and communists who wanted to promote communism through film, through television. And we had come there more to just free Christians to share their faith and how do you communicate their faith in nuanced ways. Not evangelism, not these Christian movies, but in the mainstream because it has the greatest impact. And it's hard. There are many times, you know, actors getting in a TV series.

You sign a contract. You don't know what your character is going to do in three years. And so they're very difficult decisions. And I think the hard thing is so many Christians have looked and said, well, you're going to get soiled or you're going to be compromised. And you will, especially if you're not anchored in deep theology. But we need people there. And every industry has its challenges. And as Christians are everywhere we go, there's going to be things that we screw up on and we need grace on.

but we need to be there. And God transforms cultures through the arts. Then God is going to use Christians and conservatives to transform the world through the arts as well. And we're seeing other industries pop up now, but it's essential that we're in the heart of the mainstream. Yeah. So I've had the privilege of hearing you speak and talk a little bit about socialism and how, you know, these messages are really strategically worked. into media, and I think that's something that, you know, from the outside we're maybe aware of, but as someone who's on the inside, who's, you know, very familiar with the film and media world,

what does maybe the general public not know about the world of media, about the messages that are being pushed, and how far this goes back? I mean, is this, you know, just in the last 10 years, but we've seen a massive agenda, or, you know, is this from the beginning? What really are we up against as people who, you know, want there to be moral and conservative messages that are promoted in media? That's a great question. Yeah, this is much deeper than 10 years ago. Even Ben Stein wrote a book called DeVue from Sunset Boulevard, I think is the title. It's out of print.

But even back when he lived then in L.A., when he was on Ferris Puehler's Day Off famously, he interviewed a bunch of writers, and he realized even back then that, you know, 90% of the writers on TV all came from the same university, with the same worldview. It was pretty much socialist, communist mentality. And so the businessmen were always the bad guys. Even back then in Colombo and all these detective shows, the business owners were the problem.

And the poor were always victim. The police, it was half and half. Ben Shapiro wrote a book, I think, around 2000, did the similar thing. Before people knew who he was, He could say I'm a Harvard student and got this Jewish name and they just spilled their guts to him and repeated the same experiment. So it's been clearly documented. But no, this is going by 50, 60 years of people intently putting in little themes of communism, of socialism, of anti-entrepreneur, anti-small business people.

And I think it was Ben Shapiro even asked one of the head writers for a TV show, what if you made a businessman, an entrepreneur, good? And the guy said, well, that doesn't make any sense. Like it was unthinkable to have a positive view of real capitalism or entrepreneurship. And this is what's stunning is the American public doesn't realize how ingrained this is. And so we need, there are Christians in L.A. There are Christians in the industry. But we need, you know, on a TV show, we need half the writers to be conservative if we're going to make an impact. And so we need more and more people that are willing to.

to do its hard work. And you're going to work with people you disagree with vehemently, but it's a noble task because the influence, we're exploiting these TV shows around the world and little children watching these shows. So it's critical that we're there. We can't give up because it's difficult. We can't give up because it's going to be complicated and hard.

We need to go because this is strategically important. So, Joel, is anyone doing this well? Are there any media companies or specific movies or TV shows that you can point to and say, okay, they've got it, they're doing it professionally, they're promoting a good, solid message that we can get behind. We just need to kind of emulate that and perpetuate it further. That's a great question. So there are people that are doing a good job inside some of the larger studios writing for some of the major productions, but I can't give you their names. but there aren't, I think, some of the real strategic things lately for producing great content have been outside the system, whether it's crowdfunding in the Christian sector like the chosen video series, and they're raising millions of dollars.

That's happening in video games and also in board games. There are other companies like Christian Cinema or others that are producing films. They're just outside the system because they don't want that one unique sexual viewpoint thrust upon their script last minute. and change the whole meaning, or subverting a pro-capitalism, pro-free economy concept where the studios will change the meaning at the last end. So there are some studios outside. I'd be interested to see with Ben Shapiro

and his group produce. They're producing movies and we need more people with savvy to produce movies. Sadly, there have been Christians, wealthy Christians throwing money at some movies and it's sexy to be involved in, you know, I produced a movie, but we need a more savvy, I've consulted for many of these people.

We need more savvy investors to really understand the industry. How do you get a return on the investment? It's still the entertainment business, and you've got to be shrewd. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. So, I mean, as a conservative myself, as a Christian, I think you can look at the entertainment industry,

and it just feels overwhelming. For anyone who has a passion, either to be an actor or to be behind the camera, to produce, and they're, you know, they're kind of weighing like, okay, do I want to wait into this field and, you know, either have to kind of live two separate lives and not really let people know who I truly am, or, you know, I just give up this dream. You know, what is your advice for people who have a passion for this industry, but they are conservative or they are Christian and they're really worried about entering this field? Great question. My wife and our arts and entertainment

an institute that we teach now online, we've done in London and LA. She teaches a whole series on Daniel. And I think the life of Daniel is the ultimate model. You have to come in saying, am I willing to count the cost, bite my tongue several places? You know, because Daniel worked under four kings, three different kingdoms as a number two guy. We don't know all the times he had to say nothing or just advised, you know, let's try a different approach, but he couldn't really share his faiths or couldn't really promote, you know, fearing Elohim. So I think that's one of the models. The other thing we tell people would come in, we have one of our guys, he's been on the board of the Screen Actors Guild, and you've seen him in all kinds of stuff, a working actor.

But he tells people, he mentors people coming in young actors, says, how long are you going to give it? And these young women and men come in, all give it 18 months, three years. And he says, then just don't call his civil career. Just have fun, explore L.A. and go home. home and do a few background gigs because, as I say, it takes eight years to become an overnight success. This is the long haul. You've got to come here and it's expensive to live in Los Angeles. So go to a church, find roommates, find a support network, get plugged in because that's necessity. You need that support, but you've got to say, I'm going to be here eight, 10 years. And craft being excellent is a given. If you don't want to work hard at the craft, don't come. You've got to be the best.

like Steve Martin said, be so good, they can't say no. You need to be that excellent and be on time and all those kinds of things and really work to be creative about how you approach the industry, how hard you hustle, all those things everyone else is doing, and stay true to your faith in the process. And if you come, come to us and we'll disciple you and mentor you, how to be shrewd, because Jesus said, be innocent as doves, and shrewd as serpents.

And that's something Christians need to understand better. How do you be shrewd? Be wise. Be smart about how he approached things. Be a good negotiator. Get a good attorney who's going to put the right clauses in your contracts so you don't get surprised with a nude scene or something else in season three that you didn't want to do. Get the right attorneys. All those little things are so important. So if someone is listening to this and they're thinking, you know, I've had this dream to go to L.A. and pursue this, they can contact you all and you all will kind of help just at least give them some tools for, okay, this is maybe some first steps. you want to take for how, you know, as a conservative, as a Christian, what not, you can enter the space and kind of know what you're getting into. Yes, and we have a network of other ministries that we connect with that we can refer them to for some of those dynamics. But yeah, if they contact us, we can start training them right away and give them resources.

Now we have online courses. But yeah, our heart is to equip those people. How do you be salt and light? He's very difficult but strategic places. And the good news is he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. God is, if he calls you, he will give you the strength. He will give you the wisdom. He will give you that steel spine that you need like Esther in those difficult positions

where maybe beauty got you in the door, but now you've got to do something risky. And so go in that confidence, but be wise. Yeah, contact us, arts and entertainment ministries. Go to our website and we would love to help you. Final question. What exactly is on the line here? If we don't really engage in this entertainment space, and if we just kind of step back and don't put a stake in the ground here, what happens?

You know, then we'll get more of what we've already gotten. I mean, it becomes a retreatist mentality, and we become a Christian ghetto. We seed everything, and we will pull back to living in a Christian ghetto, and we will give the entire culture over. But the problem is, it's not a ghetto where we can build high enough wall, to keep them out. They will still keep pumping content through our iPads, through our iPhones, through our headphones, to all of our children. There's nowhere you can go and just say, I'm free from this, unless you completely unplug. We have to engage, and not just for our own

children, for the world. These TV shows, these films, they're going to China, they're going to India, they're going to third world countries, they're going to us all the way across the world. They love America, they love American media. And so if we don't engage, we're retracting our voice and saying, we don't think it's important to be salt and light to the rest of the world through this media that everyone is consuming. Great, Joel, thank you. Tell us again your website, how individuals can get involved and how they can support the work that you're doing. Great. Yeah, so our website is www.a, like arts, hyphen E like entertainment, hyphen M, as in ministries.org. So a dash e.m.org. You can go there. We have a YouTube channel. We have blogs. We have online courses.

And you can email us there. And we would love to help you. If you want to support our work, there's a place to donate on that page. And you can help artists be equipped to be salt and light and be shrewd as serpents and make a difference for the kingdom, for conservative values, and for the gospel. Great. Joel, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time. Thank you so much, Virginia. And that'll do it for today's episode.

Thanks so much for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find The Daily Signal Podcasts on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and please encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you all on Monday. The Daily Signal Podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Virginia Allen and Kate Trinko, sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, please visitdailysignal.com.