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Hollywood's Best Try...
Written by: Terry Dashner
Faith Fellowship Church…PO Box 1586…Broken Arrow, OK 74013…918-451-0270…Terry Dashner, Pastor
Jesus still walks among men and women. And He wants to walk with you.
The name of Jesus is still all powerful. Jesus—there is no other name greater.
Are you aware that you serve a living Savior and not a book, doctrine, rule, or a creed. Since the movie, The Passion of the Christ, I’ve become even more aware of the power behind the story of Jesus’ suffering. Not long after the showing of the movie in America, I read a report of a murderer in Texas who lived with a guilty conscience. He murdered his pregnant girlfriend and had somehow evaded suspicion by the police; however, after watching the film he was so moved that he sought spiritual guidance immediately. The Passion film was so powerful that it brought conviction to his heart, and afterwards he turned himself over to the police. Jesus is still all powerful.
Now let me share something else with you. The New York Times reported (May 6, 2004, in a story by Sharon Waxman) that MGM was screening a film titled, “Saved!” Hollywood’s “big shots” who told Mel Gibson he was crazy for making a movie about Jesus, were themselves wanting to capitalize on a religious film. But, then again, Hollywood is twisted and misguided. To think they could match or surpass the success of Gibson’s film is preposterous. According to Cal Thomas, “’Saved!’—which opened May 28, 2004, in selected cities—staring Mandy Moore and Macaulay Culkin, whose character is confined to a wheelchair…are siblings and attend a Maryland Christian high school where ‘Jesus loves you’ is a mantra—and an order. A giant cutout of Jesus dominates the campus. Pastor Skip, played by Martin Donovan, is the school’s spiritual leader, described as handsome and hip. Here’s where it really gets good. Jena Malone plays a teenager who gets pregnant while attempting to cure her boyfriend of his homosexuality. Her mother is a widow played by Mary-Louise Parker. She is ‘trying to be right with God but has an affair with Pastor Skip.’”
I think you get the idea. Hollywood can never make a good story right. And why do they always portray the people of God as perverts and shallow who mock the very purity of Jesus Christ? When Christ comes to live in the heart of a man or woman, the man or woman is changed. A true believer wants what Christ wants for him—a clean and willing vessel, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb to love God and his neighbor. Christians have their faults. We are human and hammered constantly by the wicked one. We fall. But Christians don’t want to stay fallen. Christians do not want to live in darkness. We want to live in the Light of God and bless others with the love of Jesus Christ.
Hollywood makes films about the lurid passions of men, knowing that many Americans have an appetite for such perversion. Mel Gibson made a film about the Passion of Christ. Christ was the center of his story, and men of all persuasions flocked to it. What made it work? This—it magnified the very person that changed the world. And that person, Jesus, is still drawing men and women from around the world to receive his sacrificial love. Hollywood gave us “Saved!” and it bombed. Mel Gibson took a risk and displayed, graphically, the suffering of Jesus. The film is still showing around the world, and people are still coming to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord. The story of Jesus has always had an impact on the world whether in word, testimony, sermon, or film. And the story of Jesus will still be changing lives when Hollywood is nothing more then a fading memory.
That, my friend is the power of Jesus’ name!
Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is soon coming (imminent), and coming soon (at hand).
Pastor T.dash
About the Author
Pastors Faith Fellowship Church in Broken Arrow, Ok.
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