Open Your Eyes & Open Your Bibles

Here we go again...another Hollywood movie that is aimed at the "Christian" community. First it was "The Passion of the Christ" then "Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, Witch, Wardrobe" and now it seems the new eye catcher is "End of the Spear".

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding this picture and you will need to use your critical thinking skills as well as your God given discernment before you get drawn into the "it's about God therefore it must be good" mentality that is so prevalent in Christian circles today.

I'm posting an article by Dr. Kevin Bauder and in it he references another article by Jason Janz. The article by Jason Janz is liked to in the Bauder article, you may want to click on it and read it as well.

You may be thinking that Pastor Steve is over reacting ... maybe, however, I believe that we must be like the sons of Issachar in 1 Chronicles 12:32 "...of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do..." As well as the those who lived in Berea of which Luke said "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."

May we understand the times in which we live and search the scriptures daily!

I Remain,
Pastor Steve

No Way!
By: Dr. Kevin Bauder

Jason Janz on www.sharperiron.org has published an article documenting that Every Tribe Enterainment has used a homosexual activist to play Nate Saint in End of the Spear, an about-to-be-released film biography of the famous aviator and missionary martyr. The actor and activist is Chad Allen. This is the same Chad Allen who debated John MacArthur on Larry King Live about the legitimacy of homosexuality, homosexual marriage, and homosexuals getting legal guarantees for the “right” to adopt children.

The director who cast him for the role (knowingly, as Janz clearly demonstrates) is Jim Hanon. In order to put Allen in the movie, Hanon secured the blessing of Nate Saint’s son, Steve Saint, who was also aware of Allen’s homosexual activism. Presumably the executives of Every Tribe Entertainment had to approve this decision.

Who are they? The CEO at Every Tribe Entertainment is Mart Green, who is also the perpetrator of Mardel Christian and Educational Supply, a chain of 21 Christian junk shops. The ETE president and the producer of End of the Spear is Bill Ewing, whose other credits include Charlie’s Angels (how can a Christian not think that Charlie’s Angels is pornographic?).

That's a great group of guys behind this film. If you wonder what this is about, the Every Tribe mission statement makes it clear. “We base our film choices on what we hope to inspire rather than what we hope to sell.” Seems pretty straightforward.

We needed to know what was going on. Attaboy, Jason.

We also need to respond correctly. Jason recommends sending a letter to Every Tribe Entertainment “with meekness,” expressing “deep disappointment” for the company’s “mistake.”

Huh?

I feel a bit as if Jason has run the ball 98 yards, only to be tripped up at the one-yard-line. It was a great run (really great), but I can’t help wishing he’d have gone another step or two.

Granted, we must not overreact. And it would probably be an overreaction to firebomb these men’s houses.

But what they have done is no mistake. It is a calculated strategy.

This is not a private peccadillo. It is a very public scandal.

It is a scandal because it promotes a man who is working hard to advance one of the most shameful and unnatural of human abuses.

It is a scandal because this concession to homosexual activism dishonors the memory of a Christian martyr (who himself would certainly have been scandalized by homosexuality) and ultimately brings reproach upon the name of Christ Himself.

It is a scandal because it panders to the evangelical appetite for amusement, furthering the confused perception that somehow the Christian faith can be turned into a form of entertainment.

It is a scandal because it exploits evangelical naivety and lack of discernment. Every Tribes Entertainment clearly assumes that American Christians can be induced to ignore moral incongruities and to part with their dollars simply because they are offered an amusing spectacle wrapped around a vaguely Christian theme. The production company is trying to huckster money from evangelicals that they should really be getting from NAMBLA.

Meekness? Once we have caught our breath, the only ordinate response is deliberate fury.

If this were a Matthew 18 situation, private pleading would be appropriate. It is not.

If this were a Galatians 2:11 situation, we would withstand these debasers of the faith to their faces because they are to be blamed.

If this were a 1 Corinthians 5 situation, we could simply deliver such ones unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, the “ones” including Messrs. Green, Hannon, Ewing, and (Steve) Saint.

I wonder, however, whether this situation does not fit the parameters of Galatians 1:8-9. Does this kind of confusion actually alter the gospel itself? I am tempted to think that it does—and does it deliberately, “with malice aforethought.” If so, then we know what is required of us.