Comments on the Movie Child, Come Back Home: The Secrets Behind Online Games

By Yang Jie

One day when I came home from work, I turned on the computer, and a movie named “Child, Come Back Home!” caught my attention. Seeing this title, I couldn’t help wondering: Where did the child go? Did he lose his way? Did he finally come back home? Driven by curiosity, I clicked on the film. After watching it, I was very shocked and also happy for this child who, after going through ups and downs, finally comes back “home,” safe and sound.

The film “Child, Come Back Home!” tells the story of how an internet-addicted teenager gives up internet addiction and casts off online games because of his faith in God. As the protagonist is obsessed with the internet, he becomes more and more downcast and degenerate. His parents have tried every possible means they could think of, scolding him, beating him, and even sending him to a closed-campus school, but none of them work. Having no choice, they bring him before God. Through attending meetings and reading God’s words, and listening to some brothers and sisters’ experiences and testimonies of kicking internet addiction, the protagonist gradually realizes online games are the methods that Satan adopts to corrupt and harm mankind; afterward, Satan tempts and seduces him many times through people and things, yet after a fierce inner struggle, he eventually gives up the addiction little by little under the guidance of God’s words, breaks away from Satan’s corruption and affliction, and walks on the way home.

In fact, the experience of the protagonist in this movie reflects the situation of internet-addicted teenagers in modern society. Nowadays, gaming addiction has become a social problem that can’t be solved by school or family education. It is no exaggeration to say that teenagers who have gaming addition are just like drug addicts, only thinking of online games in their mind; once stopping playing, they will feel jittery and anxious. It can be said that children’s indulging in online games is tantamount to ruining their bright futures, and that the danger of gaming addiction is no less than that of drugs.

Online gaming corrupts not only the bodies of the young generation, but even more their thoughts and souls. More seriously, it propels some of them toward a life of crime, and even leads to sudden deaths. The tragedies caused by playing online games can be seen everywhere.

On September 9, 2015, a brutal homicide case occurred in Hefei City, China. The murders were two school students, who confessed that they imitated online games and killed the two old people as their first strike; after killing them, they burnt the bodies by alcohol, and left messages at the scene.

On January 2, 2016, a 21-year-old college student in Tsingtao, who kept playing games in an internet cafe all night, suddenly fell due to a heart attack and finally died despite all rescue measures.

According to statistics, in urban China, an estimated 24 million teenagers, or 14.1% of young netizens, have internet addiction; of the non-internet-addicted teenagers, about 12.7% have internet addiction tendencies, and the number is about 18 million.

Another study shows that among American college students, those smartphones obsessives who are addicted to the Internet and social media exhibit similar symptoms to drug and alcohol addiction.

In Germany, there have happened several school shootings, which, according to some experts, may result from the killer’s addiction to violent online games.

From the startling cases above, we can see that there is nothing exaggerated about saying that online gaming is “electronic drugs” in modern times. Besides worrying, do you know what unknown secrets are behind these cases?

Actually, we believers in the Lord all know that, since the archangel Satan was struck into the midair, a spiritual battle has started, in which one side is Satan who does whatever it can to corrupt, tempt, and deceive man, and the other is God who aims to take man back from Satan’s grasp through His management work. Satan’s purpose is to make man more and more corrupted, unable to extricate themselves from sin, lose God’s salvation, and ultimately be punished by God and be destroyed in hell along with it when God’s work of salvation comes to an end. Thus, the Bible says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). And a passage of words in this movie also affected me deeply: **“On earth, all manner of evil spirits are endlessly on the prowl for a place to rest, are ceaselessly searching for the corpses of men to eat up. My people! You must remain inside My care and protection. Never behave dissolutely! Never behave recklessly! Rather, offer up your loyalty in My house, and only with loyalty can you mount a countercharge against the devil’s cunning. Under no circumstances must you behave as in the past, doing one thing before My face and another behind My back—that way you are already beyond redemption. … What Satan needs is precisely a foul and filthy place; the more hopelessly irredeemable, and the more debauched you are, refusing to submit to restraint, the more will unclean spirits avail themselves of any opportunity to infiltrate.”** These words tell us such a fact: Now, it’s already the last days and the battle of the spiritual world is extremely fierce. While God comes to save us humans, Satan does its utmost to corrupt and afflict us. As all kinds of evil spirits are walking among us, waiting for the moment to devour us, the temptation we are facing now is bigger than at any time in the past. Externally it appears that online games are developed and produced by man, but behind them is the black hand of Satan; Satan takes advantage of man’s curiosity and preferences to make them become obsessed with online games, unable to extricate themselves, and slowly lose control of themselves. Fooled by Satan, some people committed suicide by jumping off the building, some suddenly died from superexcitation caused by playing games, and some even are possessed by evil spirits, with their sense becoming ever more abnormal. … Behind each of the tragedies are the secrets that cannot be seen by our naked eyes.

Through this film and the tragedies in our real life, we clearly see a fact: If we want to avoid Satan’s harm and not to be devoured by it, the only way is to come before God, for God is our shelter, and only He can save us from the affliction of Satan. In this movie the protagonist’s overcoming internet addiction is completely God’s deeds, and is a real proof of God’s practical leadership and salvation of man.

So, this movie not merely tells a story of how an internet-addicted teenager gets God’s salvation and finally returns “home,” but also brings a hope to those who are enticed by Satan and on the edge of being devoured. In this evil time when Satan runs riot and prowls everywhere seeking victims to devour, God is worrying about us with an anxious heart, and He is calling upon us: My lost children, come back home!

## See Also

In Search of a Bright Life | Christian Movie “Child, Come Back Home” | God Saved Me From Video Games

Film Review “Child, Come Back Home!” Who Saved the Young Internet Addict?

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A New Life "If I Were Not Saved by God"(Music Video)

Best Christian Family Movie “Where Is My Home” | God Gave Me a Happy Family