In This Issue

• KNOWING THERE IS AN AGENDA

• THE EVERLASTING FIRE

• THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE MORTALITY RATE

• MORE INFORMATION...

KNOWING THERE IS AN AGENDA

[Editor’s Note: The following article is concerned with a move that is currently enjoying a lot of deceptive publicity from the Hollywood crowd because it promotes their homosexual agenda.]

“Getting treasures by a lying tongue is the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death.” Proverbs 21:6 (NKJV)

On the surface, if the headlines are to be believed, the movie “Brokeback Mountain” is the greatest thing in the cinema arts to come out of the industry in 2005. A recent headline grabbed my attention when it read that this immoral cowboy “love story” had topped the charts as the most popular movie.

There has been a huge amount of promotion for this movie – it is “the” movie everybody is talking about for Oscar nominations. And it has already received a number of other Hollywood accolades (including seven Golden Globe awards), making it, I guess, a movie for movie people. And since entertainment news it so popular, Hollywood stands ready to convince you that this is a show that most people will want to go see.

Or is it?

When I saw that, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, the movie had topped the charts, I immediately went to see the numbers. The headline did not match the numbers I had seen a few days earlier. Indeed, for two days – the Tuesday and Wednesday following the seven Golden Globe awards – it did have the highest gross income. At an estimated $735,000, it was about $100,000 higher than the second best movie, Glory Road. It may even have enough momentum to carry it big over the weekend. But here is where, “the rest of the story,” never makes the headlines. [All numbers for this article are taken from www.BoxOfficeMojo.com on January 20, 2006.]

First, the numbers for “Brokeback Mountain” are estimates. Now I do not doubt that the people at BoxOfficeMojo.com know their numbers – they do, especially in this industry – but only one other number was estimated among the 35 movies for the previous three days. Is it fair to say we know the movie topped the charts, when we are basing that on estimated numbers? The other 104 gross income numbers for those three days are all reported numbers – are we really comparing “apples with apples” when we selectively use estimations? Or are we trying to convince a gullible market that they shouldn’t miss this movie? (Checking the numbers a few days later, I found that Glory Road was actually much closer - $50,000 - on Tuesday and Thursday.)

Secondly, as we examine the numbers in a larger context, we find that “Brokeback Mountain” is *not* the popular movie the Hollywood and news industries make it out to be. By comparison, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” opened the exact same weekend (December 9, 2005). The domestic gross income of the latter is over $ 265,000,000 ($586,000,000 world-wide), while Brokeback has grossed under $ 36,000,000 (domestic AND worldwide) – less than one seventh of the domestic market, and less than half that in the world-wide market! Which movie are more people really viewing?

Thirdly, with school nights, work schedules, etc., being what they are, isn’t the Tuesday-Wednesday audience – upon which this headline was generated - drawn from among those who have a strong special interest in the cinema? In my experience (including the movie and theatre crowd in New York City), movies are a traditional weekend event for most people. The people who go to the cinema mid-week are, well, the kind of people who want to see the Golden Globe winners - as opposed to taking in an entertaining-but-non-winning movie (or a high school basketball game). Again, are mid-week gross income numbers a true reflection of what most people are watching? Or do they reflect what a select percentage of people have watched on a given day? Again, a later check revealed that although Brokeback stayed marginally ahead on Thursday, by Friday it had slipped back down to fourth place.

The fact of the matter is, in spite of the hype being given to it by the news and entertainment industries, Brokeback Mountain is really not as popular as they pretend it to be. When the attention-grabbing headlines do not match all of the facts, I get suspicious that there is a reason – an agenda – behind the selective reporting of the facts.

This movie is being slowly released and skillfully promoted to convince everyone that its pro-homosexual message is acceptable and entertaining. Movie promotions feature beautiful cinematography, majestic landscapes, and soft-focus shots of beautiful actors and actresses portraying a “love story” – without even hint of the immoral plot.

To date, the numbers for “Brokeback Mountain,” (No. 1,337 in total gross domestic income) place it at about the same level as Jeepers Creepers 2 (No. 1,262); it may soon pass Jaws 3-D (No. 969). It may even eventually make it up the earnings list into the Daddy Day Care range (No. 300), garner mega-amounts of ‘critical acclaim’ and become immensely more popular as the distributor tries to have it shown in more theatres. But none of this will happen without a lot of hype to promote it and its pro-homosexual agenda.

Don’t be misled by breathtaking promotions or headlines that tell only part of the story. No amount of Hollywood hype should make us want to give up our eternal reward for the fleeting pleasures of sin (Heb. 11:25), even if we are ‘only watching’ on a movie screen. Nor should we be discouraged into thinking that everyone else approves of such matters. Those who practice sexual immorality will be deemed worthy of God’s punishment (Romans 1:28-32).

So will those who approve.

- Edward Smith

THE EVERLASTING FIRE

Fire in the domestic realm is beneficial. By it we cook our meals and warm ourselves. Fire also destroys our possessions and our lives. Fire can inflict intense pain upon the human body, disfigure it and destroy it. One has only to go to the burn center in Galveston, Texas, to witness the horrible results of fire on flesh.

God frequently used fire to punish the disobedient. He rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen. 19:24. He brought hail mingled with fire upon the Egyptians, Ex. 9:23. By fire, God destroyed 250 men who were in rebellion, Num. 16:35. God sent fire upon Nadab and Abihu to devour them because they acted without His authority, Lev. 10:2. Someday the heavens will be dissolved by fire and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, 2 Pet. 3:12.

I have observed flaming fire consuming industrial buildings and felt the scorching heat two blocks away. I have seen huge furnaces in which fire generated incredibly high temperatures. In both instances I thought, “This must be, in a small measure, what hell is like.”

People fear fire, and respect it. Yell “fire!” in a crowded room and people panic and rush madly for the exits. In their hysteria some have crushed others to death fleeing from the searching and searing flames bent on engulfing them. Here we have a paradox: while people will flee from fire, millions are racing toward the fire of hell – actually inviting it.

Hell is a place of fire. The Scriptures describe hell as a “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14); “furnace of fire” (Matt. 13:42); and “hell fire” (Matt. 18:9). It is into this fire that the ungodly will be cast. How terribly frightening to contemplate being thrown into a lake consumed by fire, or into a suffocating, searing furnace of fire. This is just a hint of what the fire of hell will be like.

Whatever the nature of that fire, God used the word that would best describe hell. If it is a metaphor it is a “likeness or similarity set forth as reality.” The punishment of fire is far worse than anything we have seen, heard, or imagined.

Fire produces pain. Those who go to hell will be tormented by fire. Jesus said, “There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:42). The rich man died and was buried, “and being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame…’” (Luke 16:23-24).

The nature of this fire is “everlasting.” Jesus will ultimately say to those on His left hand, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). Jude describes it as “eternal” (Jude 7).

Jesus warns us that if we place our members at the disposal of sinful desires we shall be cast into hell fire, “where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. For everyone shall be salted by fire” (Mark 9:48-49). There are two destructive forces: the worm and fire. Both suggest to us the permanence of retribution. The word dieth not, therefore the gnawing anguish never ceases. Those in hell are “salted with fire” (preserved); therefore, the results remain constant. “The smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night” (Rev. 14:11). Just think, to be in constant agony forever, with no hope of escaping the horrors of hell. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11).

- Harold Fite

THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE MORTALITY RATE

Our safety-conscious society is dying. Despite planning, precautions, gadgetry, medicines, nutrition, and safety seminars, our environment remains a dangerous place. In fact, the mortality rate today is as high as it has ever been:

THE CURRENT MORTALITY RATE IS 100%

Whatever you eat, however you drive, whatever safety devices you use, you are ultimately leaving this life to face your Maker in judgment. In judgment, you are safe only if you have been saved from your sin. Neither seat belt nor condom can save from sin. There is, after all, no such thing as “safe sin.” Jesus came to provide the way of salvation from sin. In light of the current mortality rate, we need Him today as much as ever.

– J. Princeton Simons, Expounding Truth, Dec. 10, 1992

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