True Lies Exposed

A nationally recognized speaker from Ohio is exposing the lies that secular media perpetrates on our children.
by Kristen Halter

	Phil Chalmers isn't afraid to confront the issues and helps families do the same.

Amish based Aurora native Phil Chalmers knows something about true lies. An expert on violence in the media, he recently appeared on the Montel Williams show, and on shock jock Howard Stern's radio program. "Today's media is lying to your students about sex, drugs, alcohol, violence and suicide," according to www.truelies.org, Mr. Chalmers' website. "We address these issues using the very same media that students are plugged into, and tell them the truth."

The edgy, high-tech True Lies Youth Talks seminars and videos have been seen by over a million people. "We work with a lot of large ministries," says Mr. Chalmers. "We just finished the Acquire the Fire tour with Ron Luce and Rebecca St. James." He and his team of twenty-five speakers appear throughout the country at youth conferences, high schools, colleges, churches, and DARE conferences. "Our main goal is to speak to teenagers and parents. We educate parents and we challenge teens with their media habits."

Mr. Chalmers has been reaching youth across the United States for over eighteen years. "I lived a pretty crazy lifestyle growing up," he says, and after becoming a Christian at age eighteen, in 1983, "a couple years later I started speaking on music. Somebody had given me a tape of the old music seminars where they burn records and run records backwards, and all that. And I was into pretty bad music so it kinda' hit me pretty hard." Mr. Chalmers obtained national exposure when he started speaking with Youth for Christ and the Salvation Army. The Four Lies page of the True Lies website provides graphic details of the perversities. Rapper "Eminem sings about slitting his mother's throat." Pop group "N'Sync sings about phone sex to children, and Slipknot brags about slitting people's throat(s). Teen movies, cable channels and the Internet feature themes of every type of illicit sex possible. And don't trust the web filters. "They only block out thirty to fifty percent of porn."

"Most parents have no idea," what their teens are exposed to, he says. "What they all say to me is, 'Well, you know, I listened to that music when I was growing up.' And I tell them, 'you know what, it ain't the same as when you were growing up. You know? You played Pac-Man, they play Grand Theft Auto," Play Station's most violent and most sold video game ever. "They come out of my show with their jaws hanging down, you know, like freaking out. But that's good, they thank me, they kind of thank me for the wake-up call. So, yeah, parents are clueless."

What can concerned parents do? Mr. Chalmers recommends Plugged In Magazine, from Focus on the Family. The media awareness magazine is "the best money they'll ever spend." There's also a parent's section on the True Lies website, and "if they have any questions they can email me, they can call our office."

"The big thing too, is there's lots of alternatives. That's a big thing that we do. You have to promote the alternatives, and there's a big list of bands on our site."

"To parents and adults I would say, 'Hey, you know, if you think your kids aren't into this, you're wrong, okay? This is your kids, it's church kids, it's Christian kids. It's your kids that are looking at porn, watching these movies, listening to this music. So I'm saying to you, don't ever think it's not you or your kids. I talk to these kids every day. I speak at Christian schools all the time. They raise their hands and they're all seeing this stuff. So, I think we just need to get our head out of the sand and know that it's happening. And parents need to protect their families, protect their children."

"My vision would be to have every person see our seminar, our live show, or watch our videos," says Mr. Chalmers. "We're not going to turn the industry around, that's not going to happen. But we're just gonna' try to change one kid at a time, educate one parent at a time."

Phil Chalmers can be reached at 330.852.9612, or www.truelies.org.

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