What you see on the screen plays second fiddle to the message a movie puts forth.

Gay Cowboys And Other Hollywood Philosophies. What you see is what you get is not all you get. So, what else do you get?

The whole country is talking about the film Brokeback Mountain and it has created no small stir. On a Sunday morning TV editorial Charles Osgood pointed out that Hollywood is not tying to put forth a gay liberal agenda but rather are interested only in the bottom line – money. Although not inferred, it sounded like capturing the minds of adults or poisoning the minds of our youth was merely an incidental that happened on the way to the bank.

For over thirty years I have warned that it is not just what we see on films that can influence us. Each film has a philosophy attached to it whether it was intended or not. Sex, violence and profanity are blaringly obvious but subtle philosophies are not. Today the philosophies are becoming more blatant and are far less subtle. The race for box office cash is not all that fuels this raw open ended kind of expression in the film industry.

The mention of any kind of control (even self control) is met with cries of violated first amendment rights and the old freedom of expression hype. It may seem a bit over used but remains true nevertheless that Hollywood has never bothered to discern the difference between freedom and license.

A recent poll discovered that only one out of a thousand Americans knows all of the rights our constitution provides for them. On average the poll said that most people can name only one of our constitutional rights. Contrasted with that fact, it was discovered that the same people could name three or more of the characters in the TV animated sitcom, “The Simpsons.” The bottom line says that movie makers know what their rights are but the movie viewing public either doesn’t have a clue or they just don’t care.

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Anyone who thinks TV and Movies don’t influence our society has to be living in another country. Yet even that is not true. Another poll recently discovered that one of the reasons that almost every major country in the world hates Americans is because of the film industry. All they know about America is what they see in the movies. Immorality, frivolous romance, rebellion, crime, gay cowboys and general mayhem is all they see. Any country trying to keep order and develop would naturally reject this kind of example and that is exactly what they do.

Could we get Hollywood’s attention on this, not so far but maybe we could catch them on the way to the bank and let them know. It is estimated that Americans will spend fifteen years on average of their entire lives watching TV and Movies. Perhaps it is not reasonable to think John Q television watching public is going to take any time out of their fifteen years to grab a few Hollywood producers on their way to the bank. Maybe they could protest a bit during the commercials which comprise about five of the fifteen years of their TV and movie watching lives.

Actors and others in the film industry are paid huge sums of money to do and say things most Americans don’t believe should ever be seen or uttered. Are they showing us our mind, or is art coaxing life rather than imitating it. I suppose when actors or thespians are offered small fortunes to behave and talk badly they must think they are living right. They too probably laugh all the way to the bank. Most Americans don’t act like actors but Hollywood can afford to make them act anyway they choose.

It all seems Ok if the end (the trip to the bank) seems to justify the means. Some Americans are a bit sick of Hollywood suggesting how to live instead of depicting how they actually live. The Bible isn’t sick of anything but has a lot to say about how sick human behavior can become. Perhaps it is best said by the bible regardless of whether Hollywood is listening or not. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12

Rev Michael Bresciani ……

Rev. Michael Bresciani is the author of two Christian books and the writer of hundreds of articles both online and in print.

Is the Da Vinci code cracked – or just the people who believe it?

Research for this article was easy because of all the hype about Dan Brown’s new movie about the Da Vinci code. The question is simple. How can an educated public anywhere in the world take this novel or the movie it spawned seriously? I have found a few answers and some of them come from the bible itself which the Da Vinci code obviously does not take very seriously. There are those who would insist that if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck it still may not be a duck but even this crowd could hardly deny that it at least sounds quacky.

The bible says that in the last days that people will not endure or allow sound teaching or admonition from the bible or just about any other source, 2 Timothy 4:3. It says people would rather scour the earth looking for teachers who will scratch their itching exactly the way they want to be scratched. Of course Dan Brown has repeatedly said that after all it is only a novel and is not meant to be a history or an immutable heretofore un-acknowledged truth. Against that claim I can remember the night I watched two of TV’s most prominent movie reviewers discuss all that we the public have learned from various movies over the past forty years. Let’s get real. Whether Dan Brown insists that his novel was meant to be didactic or not, it will teach the weak minded and those hungry for any new thing that’s hot off the secular media buffet.

Who would dare argue with three hundred million copies sold? Who has not noticed the great foul perched and proud sitting atop the New York Times bestseller list? I for one believe that all this acclaim still wouldn’t be reason enough for some people not to actually look at and compare Brown’s imaginative roll through an Alice in Wonderland style theology and come to the obvious conclusion that trash by any other name is after all… trash.

Opening scenes of The Da Vinci Code are weird and bloody as the curator of the world famous Louvre in Paris is killed by obsessed Opus Dei monk named Silas. It seems Silas is carrying on in the Monty Python tradition of finding the elusive “Holy Grail” But now the grail has changed from being merely the cup from which Christ and his apostles drank from at the last supper to something far more human. The grail is now the truth kept secret for centuries that the blood of Christ is kept in a bloodline created by his marriage to Mary Magdalene and their offspring. Modern secularism it seems will stop at nothing to remove deity from Jesus Christ including passing it on to Mary Magdalene. For those in the western society who have been drifting beyond just standing in awe of the feminine mystique it seems but a small step to move up to the deification of a women. We should not be surprised if new churches start springing up where Magdalene is the new and highest deity.

The movie conveys itself with a full range of characters psychotic, obsessed, possessed, mislead and misinformed but eventually winds up back in the Louvre where nothing at all is positively resolved. New York Times reviewers have said that Brown’s research was above question. Yet his historical errors are lavishly sprinkled throughout the movie with such profusion that if they were salt that serving of meat would be wholly inedible. One example is the inference that upwards of five million women were burned as witches during the inquisition. When does exaggeration pass the line from benign error to the malevolent? Brown’s research and implied conclusions are at least as good as those used to find the answers to who actually killed Brer Rabbit but not much more.

More blatant are the errors that seem borne out of a lapse in common sense. Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Last Supper fifteen hundred years after Christ walked the earth and gave his life to ransom the sinful. Neither Da Vinci nor anyone else seemed to think that the effeminate person to the right of Jesus in the Last Supper was anyone other than the Apostle John. Yes, he is depicted in a somewhat feminine manner which is typical of all renaissance art and especially that of Leonardo Da Vinci. Brown interprets Da Vinci for us and ascribes to him some exclusive secret knowledge about who the person on the right really is. It is alleged that Da Vinci was homosexual. Let’s reason here, would a homosexual man really paint a woman into the picture or an effeminate man? As if insulting the Apostle John weren’t enough Brown goes on to insult Mary Magdalene but why stop there. While he’s at it why not throw in a grand slam against the Savior of the world. Where did Da Vinci and or Brown get this secret knowledge about Christ? In simple language they didn’t get it anywhere. It comes rather from the fertile minds of the modern secularists who will stop at nothing to insult, defame and un-deify the most dignified human being to ever set foot on this old ball we call the planet earth.

Da Vinci often referred to himself as “omo sanza lettere” or “man without a formal education.” Now the worshippers of science have raised the status of their revered high priest of empiricism close to that of apostle of science with notions of a secret knowledge that could only be derived from something slightly above genius. Sounds pretty much like revelation to me but no, this novel and this movie are no revelation.

The best description of this movie I have heard to date is that it is “Harry Potter for adults.” But I think it should be taken step further to warn those less versed and perhaps a bit weaker in heart. Brown begins his Novel with statements about the truth regarding the actual existence of the documents purported to have come from the Opus Dei and other sources. No need to argue here. The documents may exist but does the truth exist in the documents? Mein Kamph truly exists but not much useful truth exists in it.

Almost all the documentation Brown uses for his novel was derived from first century documents and other material not allowed into New Testament Canon. What does that mean? It means he derived the bulk of his material from writings that were labeled as false and spurious in origin. Plain language…not from God. Reviewers say the movie is fast paced and intelligent. I conclude that it needs to move fast so no one will notice the recurring inaccuracies and bumbling historical mistakes that are anything but intelligent.

The movie may provide fodder for the cannons of freshmen academia to incite waves of controversy but beyond that it has no upward levels. I doubt this juvenile presentation of magic and mystery could shake the faith of even a college freshman but it should also be said that those who produce both this book and the movie should be warned.

I will place myself on no platform to judge either the author or the movie producers but rather will leave only a clear warning of the scripture for them to peruse and ponder while we all wait for the final judge who will come and judge us all by the words he has spoken, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. John 12:48 And what words did this judge say concerning making light of his holiness, making fun of his deity, disregarding the purpose of his shed blood as an innocent man. I’ll quote them here and I’ll meet you there where we will all be gathered soon.

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Matthew 12:30-37

Rev Michael Bresciani ……

Rev. Michael Bresciani is the author of two Christian books and the writer of hundreds of articles both online and in print. American Prophet

One of the most amazing claims of The Da Vinci Code is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and she then became the most important of the apostles.

If this is true, then the New Testament cannot be trusted, and its entire inspiration is in question. Did you know that the New Testament clearly predicts what will happen at the end of this age?

It says there will be earthquakes in different parts of the world, increased violence, nation rising against nation, wars, a breakdown of the institution of marriage, famines, increase in vegetarianism, outbreaks of disease, money-hungry preachers deceiving multitudes and slurring the name of Christianity, a general denial of a worldwide flood (despite the scientific evidence), and we are told that skeptics would say that these signs have always been around.

Another major prediction made by the Bible is that the Jews would possess Jerusalem. They obtained it in 1967 after being without a homeland for 2,000 years, bringing into culmination all these ‘signs’ of the times.

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These fulfilled prophecies are undeniable. They prove, beyond doubt, that both the Old and New Testament are the inspired Word of God.

Do you know what the message of the Bible is?

It tells us that God is good by nature, and because of His goodness He will make sure that justice is eventually done. For example, there were more than 150,000 unsolved murders in the U.S. during the last 20 years — however, those unpunished murderers will receive justice by being sent to God’s “prison” — a place called “Hell.”

But God is so good He will also punish rapists, thieves, liars, adulterers, blasphemers, and fornicators (those who have had sex before marriage).

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How will you do on Judgment Day?

Ask yourself a few questions:

Have you ever lied (even once) or stolen (regardless of value)? Have you ever used God’s name in vain, or had sexual thoughts about someone to whom you are not married?

Have you ever hated someone?

The shocking truth is that if you said yes to those questions, on Judgment Day God will see you as a lying thief . . . a blasphemer . . . an adulterer . . . and even a murderer.

Jesus said, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” and Scripture also says that if you hate someone, you are a murderer.

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This is the Bible’s warning — if God gives you justice on Judgment Day, you will end up in Hell.

However, God is rich in mercy, and He made a way for you to be forgiven: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus suffered and died on the cross, taking the punishment for your sins. Then He rose from the dead and defeated death.

If you repent and trust in Jesus, God will forgive you and grant you eternal life.

Pray something like: “Dear God, please forgive my sins (name them). I turn from them and trust Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. In His name I pray. Amen.”

Then read the Bible daily and obey what you read see John 14:21

If you choose to ignore the Bible’s warning, and instead believe the fantasies of The Da Vinci Code, then be aware that you have joined the “Elvis is Alive!” crowd.

You’ve included yourself in the ranks of the wide-eyed and faithful tabloid customers. The choice, however, is yours.

It’s your eternity. So think it through carefully. There’s nothing more important than where you spend eternity.

Thank you for reading this.

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