The movie: HOLES reviewed (a look a Gen Y)

HOLES
REVIEW --GEN Y and NARNIA!

Full Hollywood Jesus Holes Review -here

"You are to dig one hole each day, including Saturdays and Sundays. Each hole must be five feet deep, and five feet across in every direction. Your shovel is your measuring stick."

If you're not familiar with the previous paragraph, you don't know Holes -which is right in there with Harry Potter, in terms of Gen Y.

Published in 1998, Louis Sachar's Holes has been awarded both the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award for children's literature. With 2.7 million copies in print (2003), it is outselling most new fiction.

ARE YOU CONNECTED TO GEN Y?
Gen Y is the generation born on or before 1986. The oldest graduates High School this year (2003). So, do ya wanna know if you are connecting to Gen Y? Do you want to know if you are with it? Here's the test: When you hear the word ARMPIT what do you think of?

If the name of a boy was not even a remote thought to you, then you are disconnected. Ask any 7th grader and they will tell you about a certain boy in the book HOLES.

Books that form part of the the holy cannon for Gen Y are the Harry Potter series and Holes. Therefore this movie is very significant!

Gen Y is unique in that they have no knowledge of a time before PCs or CDs! Most believe popcorn has always been popped by microwave. For Baby Boomers (1946-64) microwave ovens, PCs and CDs are all recent, but for Gen Y these items are ancient technologies.

Unfortunately, certain "Christian" groups are ready to throw rocks at what Gen Y considers part of its identity. One Christian reviewer is warning parents to stay away from HOLES due to the curse from a fortune teller and because the word DAMN is said twice in the film. And in terms certain "Christian" attitudes regarding HARRY POTTER, oh my, do I even need to go there. But, let's move on, shall we?

Let's build bridges to Gen Y, rather than throwing rocks at those things that they see as part of their identity. Okay?

When I went to see Holes, the theatre was packed, and mostly with Gen Y. I really had to look for an available seat --this film is exceedingly important.

HOLES IS EXCELLENT
I really liked this film. However, when viewing Holes, keep in mind that this is a fantasy, pure and simple. There is little that could actually happen in real life -again, it is fantasy. Yet at the same time, it is true to the human condition -and that is what makes this a powerful story.

It is a story that has captured the hearts of a generation! A story designed to teach important human values and lessons.

It demonstrates the importance of family.

It underlines the value of friendship.

It teaches that there are consequences to actions, good and bad.

It presents life as not always fair.

It demonstrates how the mere thumb of God is more than any curse. That God's "presence" brings nourishment, living water, and healing.

It teaches that good ultimately overcomes evil.

That evil doers may have a season, but that destiny is tended for the good.

Here is a story of triumphant grace and mercy --over harsh, needless and human laws.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY
It is the goal of Walden Media of turning quality books into great motion pictures. They are the group currently involved in bring C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia to the screen. I must say that I am very excited about the commitment of this company.

If all goes well, they will be releasing all seven Narnia books, one per year, as feature films beginning in 2005. Exciting stuff!

Walden Media released “Ghosts of the Abyss� on April 11th, 2003, with The Walt Disney Company. In this groundbreaking 3D large format film, director James Cameron uses state-of-the-art technology, including revolutionary 3D photography, to journey back to Titanic. Currently in production is a film adaptation of Jules Verne’s “Around The World In Eighty Days,� with Jackie Chan attached to star. The company is making the first live-action film adaptations of C.S. Lewis’s book series The Chronicles of Narnia, beginning with “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe� to be directed by Andrew Adamson (“Shrek�).

In 2001, Walden Media was created by educator Micheal Flaherty and, former president of Miramax Films’ Dimension label, Cary Granat, with backing of billionaire Philip Anschutz (he's the guy that built the fabulous Staples Center).

They represent something good in Hollywood. They are literally filling some of the the Holes in the motion picture industry (pun intended).

As Entertainment Weekly states, "Seems Holes is hollowed ground."

The Lord's Prayer in Hip Hop

THE LORD'S PRAYER IN OLDE ENGLISH TO HIP HOP
--ON CHANGING LANGUAGE

(The following little article comes from Pete Holzman of ICTA, International Center for Technology Assessment, http://www.icta.org/. I thought I would pass it along to you. May it bring a smile to your face)

Are you comfortable with your mature grasp of the English language?

Well, ARE you?!?

Written language has been a reasonably stable foundation of our culture for centuries. Things written in English 400 years ago can still be understood.

But it gets a bit harder when we look at 600 or 1000 year old English... or 2002.

Today's youth are the "Text Generation", growing up with instant messaging on computers and cell phones... they often aren't even aware of using abbreviations and look-alike numbers instead of letters...

So giving all honor to the Author of Life, and with joy that He has such a great sense of humor, please test your English reading skills on the Lord's Prayer through the ages! (Matthew 11:9-13)

1611 King James English

Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen.
Giue us this day our daily bread.
And forgiue us our debts
as we forgiue our debters.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliuer us from euill. Amen.

1384 Middle English

Oure fadir þat art in heuenes, halwid be þi name;
þi reume or kyngdom come to þe.
Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun in heuene.
Geue to vs today oure eche dayes bread.
And forgeue to Vs oure dettis, þat is oure synnys,
as we forgeuen tu oure dettouris,
þat is to men þat han synned in vs.
And lede Vs not into temptacion,
but delyuere Vs from euyl. Amen, so be it.

c. 1000, Old English [See ** for translation]

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum;
Si þin nama gehalgod to becume þin rice gewurþe
ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg
and forgyf us ure gyltas swa
swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge
ac alys us of yfele soþlice.

2002 'leetspeak (with apologies for theological atrocities!)

YO, F4th3R, wh0 0wnz h34\/3n,
j00 r0x0rs! M4y 4|| 0wr b4s3 s0m3d4y Bl0ng t0 j00!
M4y j00 0wn 34rth juss |1|3 j00 0wn h34\/3n.
G1v3 us th1s d4y 0wr w4r3z 'n mp3z thru a ph4t |.
4nd cut us s0m3 sl4ck wh3n w3 4ct lik3 n00b l4m3rz,
juss 4s w3 g1v3 n00bz 4 l34rn1n wh3n th3y r l4m3 2 us.
Plz d0n't l3t us 0wn s0m3 p00r d00d'z b0x3n
wh3n w3'r3 2 p1ss3d Off 2 th1nk 4b0ut wh4t's r1ght 4th wr0ng,
4th 1f j00 c0uld k33p th3 m4n 0ff 0wr b4ckz, w3'd 'pr3c14t3 1t.
F0r j00 0wn 4ll 0wr b0x3n 43v3r 4n 3v3r^#*)@&$NO CARRIER

Too hard? OK, try again without the character substitutions:
(See *** for translation)

Y0, Father, who 0wnz heaven,
j00 r0ck! May all 0ur base someday belong to you!
May j00 0wn earth just like j00 0wn heaven.
Give us this day our warez and mp3z thru a phat pipe.
And cut us some slack when we act like n00b lamerz,
just as we give n00bz a learnin when they r lame 2 us.
Plz don't let us Own sOme pOOr d00d'z boxen
when we're too pissed off 2 think about what's right and wrong,
and if you could keep the man off our backs, we'd appreciate it
For j00 0wn all our b0x3n 4ever and ever, 4m3n.

Sources:
1000 [Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 140 [WSCp 11th c.]; edited by Liuzza (1994).]
1384 Wycliffe
1611 King James
2002 SlashDot.org discussion, with further personal edits

** Old English translation:

Father our thou that art in heavens
be thy name hallowed come thy kingdom be-done
thy will on earth as in heavens
our daily bread give us today
and forgive us our sins
as we forgive those-who-have-sinned-against-us
and not lead thou us into temptation
but deliver us from evil. truly.

*** 2002 Leetspeak translation:

Yo - Father who owns heaven,
you rock! May all our bases someday belong to you!
May you own [have super-user access] earth
just like you own heaven.
Give us this day our warez and mp3s [software]
through a fat pipe. [Good internet service]
And cut us some slack when we act like newbie lamers,
just as we give newbies a learning when they are lame to us.
Please don't let us own some poor dude's boxen [computer]
when we're too pissed off to think about
what's right and wrong,
and if you could keep the man off our backs, we'd appreciate it.
For you own all our boxen for ever and ever. amen!

The world is changing indeed!

Scientific Studies on Faith

SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ON PRAYER

I thought I would take this occasion to share some interesting research that has just been released on the power of prayer.

HARVARD AND UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA STUDIES.
For the past 30 years, Harvard scientist Herbert Benson, MD, has conducted scientific studies on prayer. Benson has documented on MRI brain scans the physical changes that take place in the body when someone prays. When combined with recent research from the University of Pennsylvania, what emerges is a picture of complex and documented brain activity. It is truly amazing. (Source: WebMD)

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTHCARE.
�Research focusing on the power of prayer in healing has nearly doubled in the past 10 years,� says David Larson, MD, MSPH, president of the National Institute for Healthcare Research, a private nonprofit agency. Even the NIH -- which "refused to even review a study with the word prayer in it four years ago" -- is now funding one prayer study through its Frontier Medicine Initiative (Source: WebMD).

DUKE UNIVERSITY.
Mitchell Krucoff, MD, a cardiovascular specialist at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. has been studying prayer and spirituality since 1996 -- and practicing it much longer in his patient care. He says, "We're seeing systematic investigations -- clinical research -- as well as position statements from professional societies supporting this research, federal subsidies from the NIH, funding from Congress. All of these studies, all the reports, are remarkably consistent in suggesting the potential measurable health benefit associated with prayer or spiritual interventions." (Source: WebMD)

PRAYER AND SPIRITUALITY:
WHAT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IS REVEALING

PRAYER AND FAITH REDUCES FEAR
Koenig, H.G. (1988): Religion and death anxiety in later life. The Hospice Journal, 4 (1), 3 24, reports, "Subjects very likely to use religious beliefs and prayer during stress were less likely to report anxiety and fear about death than were those not likely to use prayer or religious beliefs."

RELIGIOUS PEOPLE HAVE HEALTHIER LIFE STYLES
(2002). Journal of Religion and Health, 41(3):263-278 reports, "Religious activities and attitudes were inversely related to measures of physical illness severity and functional disability, and were less common among patients with prior psychiatric problems, hospitalizations for depression, drinking problems, and those currently taking psychotropic drugs."

CHURCH ATTENDANCE IMPROVES SURVIVAL
(1999). Does religious attendance prolong survival? A six-year follow-up study of 3,968 older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 54A(7), M370-M376, reports: "Investigators concluded that older adults, particularly women, who attend religious services at least once a week appear to have a survival advantage over those attending services less frequently."

RELIGION DECREASES HOSPITAL VISITS
(1998). Use of hospital services, church attendance, and religious affiliation. Southern Medical Journal, 91, 925-932, reports: "Investigators found an inverse relationship between frequency of religious service attendance and likelihood of hospital admission. Those who attended church weekly or oftener were significantly less likely in the previous year to have been admitted to the hospital, had fewer hospital admissions, and spent fewer days in the hospital than those attending less often; these associations retained their significance after controlling for covariates. Patients unaffiliated with a religious community had significantly longer index hospital stays than those affiliated."

SPIRITUALITY IMPROVES THE IMMUNE FUNCTION
Koenig, H.G., Cohen, H.J., George, L.K., Hays, J.C., Larson, D.B., Blazer, D.G. (1997) reports, "Attendance at religious services, interleukin-6, and other biological indicators of immune function in older adults. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 27, 233-250. These findings suggest that persons who attend church frequently may have more stable immune systems than less frequent attenders, which may help explain why frequent attenders have better physical health outcomes."

THERE ARE SOME NEGATIVE SPIRITUAL ASPECTS ON HEALTH
Journal of Gerontology (Medical Sciences), 55A, M400-M405 reports: "Patients who believed that God was punishing them, had abandoned them, didn't love them, didn't have the power to help, or felt their church had deserted them, experienced 19% to 28% greater mortality during the 2-year period following hospital discharge."

DOCTORS TEND TO BE NON-SPIRITUAL (Why is this?)
(1991). Religious perspectives of doctors, nurses, patients and families: Some interesting differences. Journal of Pastoral Care, 45, 254 267, reports, "Physicians were less likely to attend services weekly (35% of physicians vs. 62% of patients, 59% of families, and 51% of nurses. Physicians were less likely to indicate that religious coping was the most important factor that enabled them to cope with stress (9% of physicians vs. 44% of patients, 56% of families, and 26% of nurses). Physicians were less likely to be affiliated with conservative Protestant religious denominations (2% of physicians vs. 43% of patients and 49% of family members. This difference in perspective on religion between physicians and patients may serve as a block to effective communication in this area."

IMPORTANT BOOK
For those interested in a comprehensive study on how religion effects physical and mental health, I recommend this book:
Handbook of Religion and Health
By Harold G. Koenig, Michael E. McCullough and David B. Larson from Oxford University Press (2001).
This book reviews and discusses 1200 studies on the relationship between religion and a variety of mental and physical health outcomes, including depression and anxiety; heart disease, stroke, and cancer; and health related behaviors such as smoking and substance abuse. The authors examine the positive and negative effects of religion on health throughout the life span, from childhood to old age.

Sources used in this newsletter:
WebMD and http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org//

The Corrupting Power of Jesus on Pop Music

GOOD NEWS -GOD IS AT WORK IN THE CULTURE

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE MEANING OF MUSIC

Amazing Grace is Number One -Why?
Jesus has Thoroughly and Totally Polluted Music Culture
Grammy Award Winning Music Contains Messages About God

AMAZING GRACE #1

Here is some refreshing news about the culture in which we live! It so often seems like we live in a God forsaken world.

What does Anne Murray have in common with Janis Joplin?
What is the connection between Jimmy Hendrix and Pat Boone?
What do the Grateful Dead have in common with the Bill Gather Vocal Band?
How does the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band connect with Lawrence Welk?
What do the Allman Brothers have in common with Andrew Lloyd Webber?
What does Elvis Presley have in common with Elmer Bernstein?
What connects Whitney Houston, Jeff Beck, and Glen Campbell?
How do Rod Stewart and the Rev. Billy Graham Choir connect?

Answer: They all recorded "Amazing Grace."

I was in a Bar and Grill the other night with a friend. There was live music. The music selections were crowd pleasing and irreligious. Everyone was drinking and moving to the music. Then, from out of no where, the band started to play Amazing Grace and the room was instantly quiet and reverent. It was amazing. For a moment in time the bar was transformed into a holy place.

In the aftermath of 9/11 America honored the precious human lives that were taken from us. In an incredible memorial service in New York a nation paused in awe and profound silence as Amazing Grace was played with bag pipes. The power behind Amazing Grace is unparalleled.

The list of films that have used Amazing Grace is near endless. Perhaps the most famous is Brave Heart, with its use of the bagpipes. The use of bagpipes playing Amazing Grace is now a universal standard of epic proportions.

Amazing Grace is the most honored and recorded song of all time. Amazon.com lists some 2000 currently available recordings of Amazing Grace. Nothing else comes remotely close.

It crosses all lines -from classical to country -from rock to traditional folk. It is permanently ingrained in the culture. No other song has enjoyed such diverse rendering.

Artists who have recorded it include Boys ll Men, Dave Matthews Band, Whitney Houston, Jerry Garcia & David Grisman, Tori Amos, Faith Evans, Twila Paris, Krystal, Glen Campbell, LeAnn Rimes, Janis Joplin, Shirley Caesar, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Paul Simon, Elvis Presley, Randy Travis, Arlo Guthrie, 101 Strings Orchestra, Chet Atkins, Seven Nations, Phil Driscoll, The Von Trapp Children, Victor Wooten, Jimmy Hendrix, Blind Boys of Alabama, Jordanaires, Meadowlark Lemon, Ani DiFranco, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, Drop Kick Murphy, Aretha Franklin, Christy Lane, Conway Twitty, Andy Williams, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Boots Randolph, Judy Collins, Mahalia Jackson, Batmobile, Vicky Philips, Blind Willie McTell, Sonny James, Lou Rawls, Pete Seeger, Esteban, Elvis Presley, Dropkick Murphys, Charlie Rich, Charlotte Church, Crazy Cat George, Johnny Cash, Original Drifters, Pat Boone, Mickey Gilley, Anne Murray, Chet Atkins, Joan Baez, Tommy Smith, Jim Nabors, Jim Hendricks, Al Green, Shanon, Loretta Lynn, B.J. Thomas, Charlie Daniels Band, Ike & Tina Turner, Cherry Bomb Club, Pras -Ghetto Supastar, Mantovani, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Patti Page, The Neville Brothers, Arlo Guthrie, Fats Domino, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Herbie Mann, Chet Atkins, Cincinnati Pops, Robert Shaw Festival Singers, George Gershwin, Elmer Bernstein, Voices of Watts, The Beat Daddys, Leadbelly, Andrew Lloyd Webber, The David Rose Orchestra, Lawrence Welk, K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Ray Stevens, The Weavers, The Lemonheads, Ray Price, Gatlin Brothers, Tsa'Ne Dose, Glenn Yarbrough, Scott Fitzgerald, Rod Stewart, Glenn Miller, Cecelia, Oak Ridge Boys, Mantovani. The list goes on and on.

Even though there are some very disturbing trends within our culture, it is good to know that God's Amazing Grace is very much alive and doing well!

QUESTION: Why do you think Amazing Grace become the most honored and performed song of all time?

JESUS HAS POLLUTED MUSIC CULTURE

The Amazing Grace phenomena brings up an interesting question. What has "polluted" culture more? The goodness of God or the evil of Satan?

Perhaps saying "Jesus has polluted culture" is not the best way to state what I want to say. But, it makes the point.

The problem: So many Christians are afraid of the world around them. In fact, some preachers and religious teachers are encouraging their people to avoid the world around them. It is polluted they say. Avoiding the world keeps you pure. Don't watch movies or listen to pop music they warn. Locked doors and monk-like personal isolationism are being presented as the apex of holiness. They say this is what godliness is. I say "Rubbish."

Actually, when good people avoid the world around them, the world becomes less good.

There is evil in the world, for sure. But, instead of thinking that the world has been corrupted by evil without hope, I like to think of the world as corrupter by Jesus with good reason for hope.

I once wrote in a HJ Newsletter that we are to be salt and light in the world around us and a young woman e-mailed me to ask where I got such an ungodly idea. Well, I get such ungodly ideas as that from Jesus Christ -the greatest "corrupter" of all time.

How corrupting is Jesus on Culture? I did a song title search of all currently available recordings with the name "Jesus" in them. The results was a mind blowing 17,057! From "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach to "Jesus Rocks Me" by Loretta Lynn. No other name in the title of songs comes anywhere close (Consider Lucifer at 174). Jesus has thoroughly and totally polluted music culture -for the good.

Surprising Results. Just for the record (pun intended), here are the number of occurrences of other some key words found currently available songs
Lucifer = 174
Satan = 732
Demon = 951
Drugs = 1081
Darkness = 1797
Hate = 2828
Sad = 2924
Sex = 3142
Hell = 4112
Devil = 5356
Death = 7473
Mary (the most common name) = 8348
Happy = 9890
Heaven = 11,955
Light = 15,044
Angel = 15,866
God = 18,855
Life = 28,889
Love = 32,000+
Heart = 32,000+

All too often the "bad things" get all the attention. Evil seems to get center stage attention. Perhaps it is time to take a second look. Popular music, even in the midst of its profanity and glorification of destructive life styles, is searching for that relationship that all humans hunger for in the depths of their souls. There is goodness and Amazing Grace at work.

Question: Why do you think Jesus is the most honored name in today's music?

Question: Why do people fail to see goodness (grace) in the world?
Or, do you disagree with me about goodness?


2002 GRAMMY AWARD WINNING MUSIC
CONTAINS MESSAGES ABOUT GOD'S AMAZING GRACE

I must admit to being stunned by the fact that "O Brother, Where Art Thou" was given the Grammy Award for "Album of the year" and it also won Best Compilation Soundtrack. Have you heard some of the songs on that album? Some of the lyrics include:

As I went down in the river to pray
Studin about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord show me the way
— — —
Keep on the sunny side of life (The Hollywood Jesus theme song)
Let us trust in our Savior always
He will keep us everyone in his car
— — —
When I die Hallelujah by and by
I'll fly away
When the shadows of this life have gone
I'll fly away...
To a land where joys will never end...
— — —
It's a Highway to heaven
I'll be somewhere workin for my Lord...
If He calls me I will answer...
— — —
Oh, you have got to ask the Lord's forgiveness
No one else can ask him for you...
You have got to go to the Lord
No one can go for you...
— — —
Oh bear my longin heart to him
Who bled and died for me
Whose blood now cleanses from all sin
And gives me victory

And if this isn't enough U2 was awarded Record of the Year, Best Rock Album and Best Pop Performance. Their CD was All That You Leave Behind. On the cover of that album is a photo of the rock group U2 at the airport. One an overhead airport sign group member Bono wrote over it J33-3. Which is a Bible reference to Jeremiah 33:3: "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known."

And the Lyrics in this U2 album is some of the most Christ centered music I have heard in years. Consider the following:

Heaven on earth
We need it now...
Jesus could you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line

I must admit, I am blown away. Contrary to the common perception God is at work in the pop music scene! It is simply Amazing Grace!

Question: What is your take on pop music?

THE MEANING OF GOOD FRIDAY, EASTER AND AMAZING GRACE

As a matter of fact, we should not be surprised to learn that God is at work in pop culture. Consider these words of Celtic spiritual leader George McLeod:

"I simply argue that the Cross should be raised at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles; but on a cross between two thieves; on the towns’ garbage heap; at a crossroad, so cosmopolitan they had to write his title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek... at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died. And that is what He died about. That is where church-men ought to be and what churchmen ought to be about."

Good Friday and Easter are a reminder that God corrupts darkness and lights the world. The Easter season reminds us of how God works within the garbage of our culture to get at the garbage in our souls. To free us and make us whole.

Jesus said of his crucifixion on that garbage heap, "And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me." -John 12:32.

This means the world is not all doom and gloom as some would tell us.

This means God is working in the world/culture. God is greater than the evil one -greater than death -greater than darkness. It means everyone is precious to God. Everyone has value. God's very image is in everyone. All of creation bears God's signature.

This means: go into the world and experience the goodness of God which is everywhere. The culture pounds with the very heart and story of God. So shout it from the mountain top:

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see....

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

Major Decline in Church Attendance

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS -WORLDWIDE REVIVAL!
BAD NEWS: US CHURCH ATTENDANCE IS IN MAJOR DECLINE!
CURIOUS NEWS: SPIRITUALITY IS INCREASING!
THE AGE OF CHURCH-IANITY IS OVER!
SOMETHING NEW IS DAWNING!

<>FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS -WORLDWIDE REVIVAL
God says, "Look at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." --Habakkuk 1:5

AMAZING GROWTH: It took 18 centuries for dedicated believers to grow from 0 percent of the world's population to 2.5 percent in 1990, only 70 years years to grow from 2.5 to 5 percent in 1970, and in just the last 30 years to grow from 5 to 11.2 percent of the world's population. Now for the first time in history, there is one believer for every nine people worldwide who aren't believers. (Down load Adobe Acrobat pdf pie chart, download Adobe Acrobat pdf line chart)

Dr. Ralph Winter of the US Center for World Mission reports, "God's promise to bless all the 'families of the earth,' first given to Abraham 4,000 years ago, is becoming a reality at a pace 'you would not believe.' Although some may dispute some of the details, the overall trend is indisputable. Biblical faith is growing and spreading to the ends of the earth as never before in history.

"One of every ten people on the planet is of the Bible- reading, Bible-believing stream of Christianity. The number of believers in what used to be "mission fields" now surpasses the number of believers in the countries from which missionaries were originally sent. In fact, more missionaries are now sent from non- Western churches than from the traditional mission- sending bases in the West. The Protestant growth rate in Latin America is well over three times the biological growth rate. Protestants in China grew from about one million to over 80 million believers in less than 50 years, with most of that growth occurring in just the last few decades. In the 1980s, Nepal was still a staunch Hindu kingdom with only a small persecuted church. Today there are hundreds of thousands of believers and churches have been started within each of the more than 100 distinct people groups."

(DOWN LOAD THE FULL REPORT HERE
In Microsoft Word format from the US Center for World Mission)

AND YET -In the midst of this unprecedented world wide growth America's church attendance is in major decline.
Read on...

BAD NEWS: CHURCH ATTENDANCE IS IN DECLINE

Americans almost all say religion matters, yet more people than ever are opting out. Not just out of the pews. Out from under a theological roof altogether.

In 2001, more than 29.4 million Americans said they had no religion - more than double the number in 1990, and more than Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians all added up - according to the American Religious Identification Survey 2001 (ARIS).

People with no religion now account for 14% of the nation, up from 8% in 1990 when The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, authors of the ARIS, conducted its first survey of religion in 1990.

Today the range stretches from 3% with no religion in North Dakota to 25% in Washington State. For them, Sundays are just another Saturday.

(DOWNLOAD THE FULL 46 PAGE ARIS REPORT HERE
The City University of New York's American Religious Survey -Adobe Acrobat pdf format)

Os Guinness at the Lausanne II in Manila stated, "Secularists, or people with no religious commitment, now form the second largest bloc in the world, second only to Christianity and catching up fast..."

AND YET -In the midst of falling Church attendance we are experiencing the increasing interest in spirituality.
Read on...

CURIOUS NEWS: SPIRITUALITY IS GROWING!

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll in January 2002 shows a shift away from religious identity: 50% of Americans call themselves religious, down from 54% in December 1999. But an additional 33% call themselves "spiritual but not religious," up from 30%, and about one in 10 say they are neither.

The majority of Americans, 81% according to ARIS, still do claim a religion. They represent a counterargument to the theory that the more developed a country - in education, occupations, science and technology - the more its people move away from religion, says Ronald Inglehart, who heads the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan in a USA Today interview.

According to the World Values Survey (http://wvs.isr.umich.edu/index.html), conducted by sociologists in 65 nations since 1981, "We see (a religious attitude) when we ask how often people spend time thinking about the meaning and purpose of life. We see it in people's attitudes toward the environment and in the growth of a worldview that sees all life as sacred and invests nature with dignity and sacred quality," Inglehart says.

< style="font-family: verdana;">"Contrary to the well-known secularization theory that God is dead and will soon drop off the consciousness map, the USA is a holdout. Spirituality is actually growing in the USA."

I am interested in your views:
WHY IS SPIRITUALITY INCREASING?
WHAT IS GOING ON? -With growing interest in spirituality isn't it curious that the church is in decline?

Read on....

THE AGE OF CHURCH-IANITY IS OVER.
SOMETHING NEW IS DAWNING!

Could it be that God is doing something new?

Is God moving beyond the Church?

Is Church-ianity coming to an end in Western culture? Actually, we already are living in a post-Christian culture.

There are two post-modern prophets that foresaw this coming. They saw the end of Church-ianity as a good thing. They are Søren Kierkegaard and Dietrick Bonhoeffer.

Søren Kierkegaard wrote "Attack On Christendom" in which he celebrated Christendom's decline! He longed for the day when Christians would simply be "followers of Jesus." He felt that "being Christian" merely because one was born in a so-called Christian nation and was even baptized by the church was not good enough. In fact, he saw this as the end of Christianity. "When everybody is a Christian, nobody is a Christian." Such people are only "playing Christianity." Kierkegaard was no lover of Church-ianity. He was, however, a lover of Jesus. He believed that in order to be a follower of Jesus, one needs to take a leap of faith. (His idea of the Leap of Faith was picked up by two recent films: Vanilla Sky and Kate and Leopold)

Dietrick Bonhoeffer, was a true prophet of our day. Like most prophets he was killed for his faith. It was Adolph Hitler and his murderous Nazis who assassinated Bonhoeffer by hanging. Bonhoeffer saw the futility of the modern era and how irrelevant the modern church was. Bonhoeffer welcomed secularization because it was "a clearing of the decks for the God of the Bible." He prophesied of a time when a viable form of Christianity would emerge. "A religionless Christianity." Can you imagine that? A Christianity free of religion. Wow! He saw a time when lovers of Jesus would speak without "religious jargon" and would effectively speak "in a secular fashion about God." Click here to watch a RealVideo of Bonhoeffer talking about his prophetic vision.

Real Spirituality is Not Throwing Rocks

A woman named Marie e-mailed me the other day:

Just skipping around on the net and read some of your messages and the ones others sent you. Good job on keeping your cool with so many people responding in the tones that they did. If one could yell over e-mail, some of them were. It must be a bit discouraging...

Marie is right. Hollywood Jesus does get a lot of flames (hate-filled e-mail comments). Her comment got me to thinking about flames. And it seems to me that some people must measure their spirituality by the rocks that they throw. I checked over the e-mail for the last 5 days and found several examples of rock throwing "spirituality".

Here is one from a Christian:

HOW DARE YOU LET A STUPID WICCA POST A MESSAGE ON YOUR SITE. AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT AS A CHRISTIAN TO STAND UP FOR OUR ETERNAL ENEMIES (wicca, satanists, neo-pagans,ect..... ) IT WOULD BE LIKE A MUSLIM STANDING UP FOR A JEW OR DR DOOM AIDING THE FANTASTIC 4. WHAT MY POINT IS......THE DEVIL IS A LIER AND WOULD DO ANYTHING TO GET YOU TO TRUST IN ONE OF HIS RELIGIONS...NUFF SAID
PS. YOUR SITE IS RETARTED
(editor: No spelling or grammar changes)

And then I get this e-mail message from a Wiccan:

You know I get really p-ssed when people bash my religion. if you haven't, now you know.... to all you 'one god' people calling wiccans, pagens, ect. evil, I have one thing to say to you "bl-w me". people like you give us bad names. If you would just take the time to research tis stuff, you will see that all your little stario-typical belifs are all smashed in to the ground. Go and check your sorces before bashing other religions. If you can actually hold an intellangent conversation on this subject.
(Editor: No spelling or grammar changes)

I am sure neither mature Christians nor Wiccans would consider either letter as a good representation of their belief and practice. Nonetheless, it seems to me that people bashing is becoming more common. And may I say that real spirituality is not throwing rocks at other people who think differently.

Real spirituality is found in "loving one another." Disagreement in respectful discussion is wonderful. "Iron sharpens iron" the scriptures declare. But, disagreement via demeaning and hate filled words is just not cool.

The problem with rock throwing comments is that they tend to be polemic, exaggerated, and therefore untruthful and alienating. Ultimately they come off as foolish and angry. For example, I received this from a Christian named Marilyn in response to Pokemon:

Listen, David Bruce try to be guided by the Holy Spirit. You know the bible says" My people perish for lack of knowledge". Don't be infiltrating the minds of christians with trash. Watch out, for we live under the grace. God has his Holy Spirit ruling right now and it is because of that, that his wrath has not fallen on earth. Be very careful of what your saying and doing. DON'T PLAY WITH GOD YOU"LL REGRET IT. The only thing Disney promotes is PORNOGRAPHY, LESBIANISM. HOMOSEXUALITY AND WITHCRAFT. THAT FACT WILL NEVER CHANGE. IF YOU WOULD TRULY ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT HE WOULD GUIDE YOU AND OPEN YOUR BLIND EYES. (Editor: No spelling or grammar changes)

Exaggerated Flames (hate-filled e-mail comments) can also be racist, and dehumanizing. Here is an example of a misguided Christian who is angry at Hollywood and targets Jewish people.

This site should be called Hollywood Jews since they are the ones who control the movie industry in United States. Names like Eisner, Katzenberg, Speilberg, Geffen, etc. are some of the media moguls of Hollywood...and they are Jewish. What a coincidence ah? Isn't it America the Defender of Democracy, well then why don't you guys make sure that everyone has the right to express themselves. Why is it that one group has to rule what kind of information can be spread and what not? No wonder there's a lack of social sensitivity in your films and an evil portray of racial stereotype. They have the power of information, and nobody can say anything against it.

In terms of rock throwing "spirituality," I like the story of Jesus in John 8:1-11:

...Swarms of people came to (Jesus). He sat down and taught them. The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" "No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."

If "God so loved the world," then so should we!

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Why Protestants dislike Images

WHY PROTESTANTS DISLIKE IMAGES
and the POST CHRISTIAN ERA

Post Modern culture is filled with images. Some think current culture is becoming non-literary and image oriented. Not true. It is the coming together of both word and image. A sign of the time is the merger of AOL Internet (mass communication) with Time/Life Magazines (literary) with Warner Brothers Pictures (visual).

Communication companies understand the importance of both word and image. The Church needs to understand this as well.

"Where do you want to go today?" The Microsoft Windows Operating System has little icons that take you there. The Microsoft logo is a flying window set in a heavenly blue sky. Of course Bill Gates "borrowed" this idea of visual icons from Macintosh. However, neither Steve Jobs (Macintosh) nor Bill Gates (Microsoft) can claim originality. For centuries the Eastern Orthodox Church has viewed its beautiful venerated picture icons (paintings) as windows to heaven. The parallel between the ancient Pre-Modern and the current Post Modern understanding of nonliterary graphic icons is astonishing.

Right up to the Protestant Reformation, just 500 years ago, visual images where very important to Christianity and to pre-literary culture. Suddenly the literary linear world of the Enlightenment took priority over image (word over image). Protestant Christians saw icons and statues as idolatry (graven images) and destroyed them. The Modern scientific era was born. An era that was defined by the printing press (the "word"). It believed that all knowledge could be reduced to black ink on white paper; That the world's problems could be solved by Modern Scientific methods of linear logic. No need of the "blaspheme" of images, myth, fantasy, and dreams. We renamed the Pre-Modern Culture "the Dark Ages" -we so despised its fairy stories, religion and myth. It was an over reaction, to be sure.

In recent times we have been experiencing a back lash that has brought an end to the Modern Era's scientific linear understanding of the world. We have entered the Post Modern Era (also called the Post Christian Era). The importance of image, fantasy, myth, color, dreams, and story telling are back again. And certain Modern-Era Christians are spitting angry.

There is this idea among non-mystical Protestant Christians that the spiritual and the material are two different very different worlds. One sacred and the other profane. The early Christians though differently. Orthodox belief teaches that the whole of God's creation, material as well as spiritual, is to be redeemed and glorified. On the first Christmas God took a material body, thereby proving that matter can be redeemed. God "deified" matter, making it "spirit bearing." Therefore, though in a different way, paintings of paint and wood (icons) can point to God. Image can proclaim the Word of God.

The unorthodox view of the material universe as non-redeemable is seen in certain Protestant suspicion of the arts -especially true of the Fundamentalists. They are sure that the whole of the material universe is evil and especially Hollywood.

This is why non-mystical Protestant churches have plain walls with few pictures. Overhead projections are generally limited to music lyrics and announcements. In mystical churches such as Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Episcopal (all pre-Modern in origin) there are tons of images and they are comfortable with myth, storytelling, art, dreams, and movies. In fact, Tolkien was Catholic and Lewis was Episcopalian.

I would say that the arts are key communication tools in Post Modern times. The arts are essential. After all, all artistic talent is a gift of God. It just needs to be used for the glory of God. I also believe that even when art doesn't honor God through deliberate human intentions, that it still points to God, due to the fact that all humans bear the image of their creator.

As C.S. Lewis points out, "We must not be nervous about 'parallels' and 'Pagan Christs' they ought to be there -it would be a stumbling block if they weren't. We must welcome them not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative welcome."

I encourage non-mystical Protestant churches to take the leap of faith into the Post-Modern era and explore the value of image, movies, story telling and other non-literary forms of communication.

An Appeal to the Boomer Generation

In regard to the POST CHRISTIAN GENERATION

Douglas Coupland states in his generation defining book, Life Without God, to Generation X "You are the first generation raised without God... (yet) we are all living creatures with strong religious impulses..."

An entire generation, raised by non church going baby boomer parents, feels deep religious impulses. But "where do these impulses flow?" Coupland asks. Where does the current generation go to satisfy its religious impulses? Well, for one, it is not flocking to the churches. The most secular non-religious person today is likely to be a male in their 20s or 30s and single, according to study released this week by the University of New York.

They look to movies like The Matrix (mystical), and TV shows like Friends (fellowship). They are deeply involved in the culture.

I was talking with my Gen X niece the other day. She called her generation "the generation of the divorced." My heart sank as she spoke those words. As a boomer, and I must say we have let our children down. We hold the world's record for divorce. The boomers are the "Me Generation" of self absorption. We divorced ourselves from each other and from God. We pass on no real foundation to the next generation. As a boomer, I feel shame, for I too am divorced and have put my children through much pain. I feel very badly. May God forgive my sins and the sins of my generation.

In reaction to our sins of broken family relationships, we (boomers) have launched churches and movements that "Focus on the Family." We want to become "Promise Keepers" to correct the sins of our past. We rename our churches "Family Worship Centers." The remorse for our sin leads us to a false center --we have become "family centered" instead of Christ centered. And we have regressed to a more traditional Modern Era form of worship masked in a so-called "contemporary" garb.

The Church seems to be hopelessly locked in the past Modern Era devoid of image, fantasy, myth, and story telling. We fail to speak the language of the current Post Modern time. Its not that we don't make an effort to connect. After all, we Boomers wear causal clothes to our Family Worship Centers and sing 70s style folk rock worship choruses which we call "contemporary." We try. But fail.

In fact the Evangelical Boomer Church is losing ground and they are not adding numbers to the Protestant faith which has declined from 60% to 52% since 1990 according to the University of New York study.

I want to make an appeal to the Boomer Generation, which now controls the churches, to open the windows and let some fresh air into the churches. Let the current generation have place and voice. Resonate with current Post Modern culture with all the zeal of a good missionary.

Allow its music.
Allow its speakers.
Allow its language.
Allow its culture.
Allow for its art.
Allow its dress.

Take a leap of faith.
Please.
And let Post Modern culture happen.
And a good things will happen.

What are your thoughts
Do you think churches should change?

JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis are not Satanic

How God is Operating in the Post Modern Era

Why is the magical Harry Potter so popular? What does it mean that it's Presbyterian Christian author has become the first billionare-author in history?

Why is Lord of the Rings, a fairy tale, considered the finest book of the 20th century by literary scholars? What was the shift from just 20 years ago when no scholar would admit to enjoying it?

Why did movie critics give the Lord of the Rings a whooping record high 96% thumbs up rating? And why did this fairy-story set the largest December weekend opening ever?

Why has the highly mythical Star Wars captured the current generation as it has?

Why are Christians generally considered out of the loop?

Welcome to the Post Modern (Post Christian) Era.

So what's happening? I believe the stones are crying out. God is doing something different as the church regresses into silent isolationism, and irrelevance. God is speaking through popular culture to the culture.

I was at a Community Bible Church this past Sunday and someone asked me if The Lord of the Rings movie was a good thing. "It's about wizards isn't it. It sounds so occultish to me," she said.

I have heard this before. So, I told her that J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of LOTR, was the one who introduced C.S. Lewis to Jesus Christ.

She then asked who C.S. Lewis was.

I said, "He wrote The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." I explained a little bit about the story. She interrupted me and said, "A Christian isn't suppose to write about witches and magic? It's like Harry Potter. It is very wrong. Children could become curious about satanic things".

And I knew there was no way to go forward in the conversation.

This story represents the struggle going on in the Christian world. The culture has changed and the Church is finding it difficult to change with it. The Modern Era has crashed. And the Post Modern Era has dawned. And it looks for truth and meaning in Fairy Tales, Myths, Fantasy and Art. Consider these ten top grossing films:
1. Titanic
2. Star Wars
3. Star Wars Episode I
4. E.T.
5. Jurassic Park
6. Forest Gump
7. The Lion King
8. Star Wars Episode VI
9. Independence Day
10. Sixth Sense

They are mostly mythical, fairy stories and fantasy. And people are eating them up. All of them have parallels found in the Bible. God is speaking to this culture through its mythical movies.

Among those people who claim to have no religion, 78% agree that "God performs miracles" (University of New York study). Somehow God is speaking and breaking through. These are exciting times.

Geoffrey Hill in Illuminating Shadows notes:
"As ironic modern worshippers we congregate at the cinematic temple. We pay our votive offering at the box office. We buy ritual corn. We hush in reverent anticipation as the lights go down and the celluloid magic begins. Throughout the filmic narrative we identify with the hero. Vilify the antihero. We vicariously exult in the victories of the drama. And we are spiritually inspired by the moral of the story, all while believing we are modern techno-people, devoid of religion. Yet the depth and intensity of our participation reveal a religious fervor that is not much different from that of religious zealots.

C.S. Lewis said, "I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual truth sustenance from myth they did not believe than from the religion they professed.

Jesus said the fields are ready for harvest and Tolkien and Lewis have given us an example to follow.

What are your thoughts
Do you think JRR Tolkien and Lewis were on target writing about magic, wizardry and mysticism?

Tolkien: Merry Eucatastrophe

MERRY CHRISTMAS
or in the words of J.R.R. TOLKIEN
MERRY "EUCATASTROPHE"

Welcome to the dawning of a new age.
Welcome to the season when "Myth becomes Truth"
J.R.R. Tolkien looked forward to Christmas with joy!
For him it was a time of Fantasy and happy endings.
He coined a word for Christmas --EUCATASTROPHE!
The "sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth"
with the ultimate "happy ending."

He believed that the birth of Christ was the EUCATASTROPHE (happy ending) of human history.

He believed that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the EUCATASTROPHE (happy ending) of the incarnation (Christmas).

C.S. Lewis joins in and says that
"The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens — at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by debatable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to an historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under Pontius Pilate."
This is the meaning of Christmas.

Tolkien and Lewis anticipated the Post Modern Era.
They sensed the culmination of the Enlightenment,
the end of the Age of Reason, the doom of the Modern Era.
They understood that the Modern Scientific Age was limited.

The meaning of life could not be found in a scientific approach.
Rather, truth was best expressed in Fairy Tales and Myth.
Christmas was magic.
Christmas is "mystical" like a "fairy-story" said Tolkien.
Indeed so, and merry EUCATASTROPHE to you all.

What are your thoughts?
Do you think Christian faith should be couched in myth as CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien do?

The Harry Potter Dilemma

THE HARRY POTTER DILEMMA

Chris Utley wrote me an email:

When are you gonna discuss Harry Potter? The holy-rollers are up in arms over this movie. My wife ...and I were watching John Hagee last night and he was talking about how children are gonna get "infected" by the spirit of witchcraft if they go see the movie. Needless to say, I was nauseated. not because of what they were saying...but because of what they were implying...

So okay! I will comment on Harry Potter. In deed, some Christians are up in arms about Harry Potter. They feel that the movie will entice children towards witchcraft, new age, and Satanism. Most Christians, I think, see Harry Potter as a fictitious story with no realistic satanic overtones. Some believe, as I do, Harry Potter can have positive values that are in concert with the teachings of Jesus.

Jen sees this positive value, she wrote me the following email:

I am sure that Tolkien's (Lord of the Rings) work will come under fire as has Harry Potter but I believe in this case that the story is what you take away from it. I have read the Hobbit and the Trilogy at least 7 or 8 times now and every time I have learned more from it. Although Tolkien himself may not have been a Christian, there are Christian values that are still presented to readers in his story. This is important. Unlike Harry Potter, which I have read and enjoyed, albeit with some reservations regarding witchcraft and the violent end of one of Harry's schoolmates, the Trilogy invokes the use of magic yes but in such a way that it is magic that is guided by providence throughout the stories. In this way it seems to me that there is almost a suggestion of divine intervention at times.

I have thought a lot about a response to the Harry Potter dilemma recently. Interestingly I have also been doing a study of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith. I think the Orthodox Church has some good light that can be shed on this issue.

The Orthodox Church teaches that God's word is not limited to just the Holy Bible. "Scripture gives many examples of the Holy Spirit using sources outside the Bible to convey God's Word. Here are a few: Jude 14, 15 is a citation from the apocryphal book of Ethiopic Enouch, and Acts 17:28 is taken from Greek poetry. Titus 1:12 is Epimenides (the work of a Cretan false teacher and 'self-styled prophet), and in I Corinthians 2:9 Paul quotes the Ascension of Isaiah, a Jewish apocryphal writing.... What does this mean? ...I would suggest ...The Word of God is the word of God because the Spirit of God has spoken it. And His Word cannot be contained by any book." -Jordan Bajis, Common Ground: An introduction to Eastern Christianity.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0937032816/hollywoodjesus

Point: God can speak through Henry Potter just as he did through the Cretan false prophet teacher of old.

A premise that I have based Hollywood Jesus on is that God can and does speak through popular stories, movies, novels and music. I agree with the Eastern Church so very much. Also, Evangelical missionologist Don Richardson in his book "Eternity in Their Hearts" makes the point how native stories in various non Judeo-Christian cultures have curious connections to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Reviews of this book summarize his points: "The basic premise is that God, in His mercy, has permitted every culture in the world to retain a portion of the truth." And, "Who were the Magi who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus, and how did they know that a Messiah was coming? Who was Melchizedek, the contemporary of Abraham who was a priest of the one high God? Who was the Greek prophet who Paul recognized as having spoken God's words to the Greek people? How did a King in South America before the coming of the Europeans recognize that there was only one true God? ...God is the One God of all the earth. He has made himself known to all people in some fashion. He has prepared the way for the message of Christ. When Paul approached an altar to The Unknown God in Athens, he declared that God to be the one true God."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0830709258/hollywoodjesus

Point: Harry Potter can be used to point to the positive truths. This is the approach I would suggest, rather than making Harry Potter part of a Witch Hunt.

Zeus was considered a demon by certain early Christians. They protested Zeus, destroying his images and statues. They burned books about Zeus and warned others to avoid Zeus. There are Christians today who want to do the same thing to Harry Potter images, books and movies and for the same reasons. Yet the Apostle Paul approach's to Zeus was very different.

Standing before the Council in Athens, Paul said. "...For in him we live and move and exist. As one of your own poets says, ‘We are his offspring.’" --Acts 17:28 New Living Translation

This verse includes a fourth line of a quatrain attributed to Epimenidus the Cretan ("For in him we live and move and exist") and a fifth line of the Phanianomena of Aratus ("In every direction we all have to do with Zeus: for we are also his offspring").

Point: So the approach Paul used was to use Zeus, and not trash Zeus. However I fear there will be too many Christians will participate in a Harry Potter/Zeus Witch Hunt.

Beerta summons up the problem and the solution in her email:

David, you made me smile. Thank you for your positive outlook. YES let's focus on the good, and refuse to be caught up in the witch hunt. In the last two weeks my nine year old has been crying in bed on three separate occasions, because of Christian's fear tactics. The first was 'if you are afraid to die, you are going to hell'. The second was 'Halloween is Satan's birthday'. Last but not least Bionicles (Lego toy) bring evil spirits into the house. Is there some grand prize for the person who dreams up the latest scare? The positive of this is that my son told me and I could speak with him about our God who allows us function and even enjoy (imagine that) this world without fear. Fear not for I am with you! So, yes the world will come to an end SOMETIME, but hey do I have to live in fear? No way, live on in the spirit of Philippians 4:8! cheers

Thank you Beerta. You are a wonderful parent and an insightful person of God. And, oh my gosh, Legos? Good grief.

SELLING SATAN

Christian investigative reporters Mike Hertenstein and Jon Trott in their book "Selling Satan : The Tragic History of Mike Warnke" state, "The parallels between the Salem Witchcraft Trials, McCarthyism and the 'contagious hysteria' of the satanic panic in the 1980s are disturbing. The role of evangelical Christians and their own media in fanning the flames is even more so. Witch-hunts have never rid the world of evil..." (pg 401)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0940895072/hollywoodjesus

In the book Hertenstein and Trott recount the story of Mike Warnke who made millions of dollars a year from speaking engagements claiming to be a converted Satanic Priest. It seems that Christians just loved to hear how Satanist were taking over the youth of America; How satanic teens were sacrificing human babies in every city in America. As it turned out, Mike Warnke was a fraud and the satanic sacrifices were bogus.

But Christians bought into the story. It makes me wonder

Statement: Harry Potter will not advance the cause of Satanists. Harry Potter will not increase the ranks of so-called wizards and witches. But Harry Potter bashing will make ministries like John Hagee richer, just as bogus Satanism made Mike Warnke a millionaire. Harry Potter is a fictious work just like Zeus was.

Use Harry Potter for the glory of God, just like Paul used Zeus for the glory of God. God speaks through everything in creation just as the Bible says:

For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. -Romans 1:19-20 New Living Translation.

Please, let's end the Witch Hunts!
No more --Y2K nonsense!
No more --God judged American by killing people at the WTC.
No more --So called Satanic plots killing babies.
No more --Boomer Hal Lindsay type "the end of America has begun."
No more --Making million by Selling Satan Mike Warnke types.
No more --Harry Potter witch hunting hysteria

Please!
Let's end the insanity.
Enough already.

In term of Harry Potter or any other fairy tale, consider the words the classic rock group ABBA:

If you see the wonder of the fairy tale
You can take the future
Even if you fail
I believe in Angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in Angels
When I know the time is right for me.
I crossed the stream I had a Dream
A fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness...
I believe in Angels
Something good in everything I see

Warmly David Bruce

The Thomas Kinkade Dilemma

THE THOMAS KINKADE DILEMMA
"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

For those of you who may not know, Thomas Kinkade is a very popular Christian painter. Reproductions of his work fill Christian bookstores in the form of calendars, prints, Bible covers, greeting cards, etc. He is a very generous man who donates some of his fortune to worthwhile charities. He is a wonderful human being, husband and father with a fantastic talent. What follows is not an attack on this precious soul, rather a critique of the meaning of his art and its astonishing popularity among Christians.

I know I will get angry mail on this. But here goes.

Kinkade's paintings represent the problem with Christian art in the postmodern era. Most of his paintings are of isolated family cottages with gorgeously lit windows filled with light coming from within the home. He is called the painter of lights. Most of his paintings are devoid of people. On those rare occasions, when he does depict people, they are usually from some by gone era -the so-called good old days. All his paintings are pleasant, and peaceful, yet devoid of any kind of conflict or connection to the real world. This pleasant non conflict style is why the Evangelical Christian community has not produced one single world-class painter in the 20th century. Not one. And, there are none on the horizon.

Have we raised the home and family to the level of idolatry? This kind of art suggests that the home is the light of the world. The remoteness of these family cottages suggests the disconnection of the Christian family with the world. The absence of people and conflict suggest withdrawal from a lost and hurting world. In fact these cottages are surrounded by absolute beauty -flowers, and gorgeous landscapes -far removed from other people and neighbors. Is the family really the light of the world? Should the family be so disconnected from the world? Should Christians surround themselves with such purity?

There is also current an obsession with the all things Victorian. There is even a longing for the so-called family-centered 1950s. Christians seem to be escaping to fantasy worlds the really never existed. Historical amnesia has set in.

If you are a Christian who connects to the postmodern world you will get grief. It seems to me that the greatest value among certain Christians these days is to at stay home and away from the world. Surround yourself with flowers, Victorian knickknacks, pleasant print art, and attend Family worship centers. See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. I got this email the other day that really connects with what I am trying to say:

David,
I totally agree with your assessment of the Christian and film. I am an aspiring filmmaker and avid film buff. I always feel guilty when talking about the genius of Evil Dead or Transporting. So many young Christians are told that an R rating makes a film ungodly, and not suitable for our eyes. It drives me crazy. The other day I was telling my friend I wanted to see Moulin Rouge, his girlfriend starts making a comment about the women being scantily clad and thus I should not watch such a film. It made me so mad, that she could be so closed-minded. Of course she never goes to the theater, watches on videos.

Also when I tell people I want to make films, they all bring up examples like Prince of Egypt, Bibleman or Left Behind. I just want to shake them and say no, I want to make good films. I want to make films that n