Tag Archives: Jesus

The Young Messiah

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There are some movies that had good intentions and just didn’t work so well and others that had poor intentions from the start. This one is the former and the plot just didn’t do it for me. The film had to take a lot of liberties to be a full length feature film, but at the same time I just can’t picture a lot of this happening. Now, I won’t profess to be a super expert on the Bible where I can tell you 100 quotes or have all the families of David memorized, but I do believe that in the Bible it is heavily implied that Jesus lives a very ordinary life as a kid. He didn’t stand out and that’s why we didn’t hear about the great miracles he performed or his status as the Savior until after he had grown up. This film has him performing many miracles and in front of large crowds at the age of 7. (Apparently anyway based on the poster) He even has to run from the authorities because they find out and it becomes a huge debacle. I’m just not sure about this.

One big plot point in the film is that Jesus is initially a seemingly ordinary child and he doesn’t even know about his abilities. Gradually, he starts to gain knowledge of them and at times he personifies his role as the son of God and then he’ll turn back to normal. It’s almost like his body is slowly being taken over or his mind is being awoken from a long sleep and I’m not sure about that either. Granted, there aren’t really any easy answers for this. Did Jesus just take up one day when he was an adult with his full knowledge or had he always known ever since he was a kid? I actually like to think it was the latter personally. I believe that Jesus was essentially a perfect child and that he simply lived a very quiet life. He wouldn’t lie, steal, or make any moral mistakes that many kids make, but at the same time he would learn how to read and write the same as any other person.

After all, God chose to come to Earth as a man in order to live among us and save as many people as possible. I think it’s definitely feasible that as a result, he wouldn’t have immediately brought about his all knowing mind and other abilities that would make him stand out from the start. That’s why I can picture him knowing that he is Jesus Christ and just gradually growing up normally until it was time for him to act in the public sphere. Furthermore, I imagine that he waited to act until it was the perfect time for him to have an influence on as many people as possible. As a child maybe he knew that less people would be more convinced or that it would hurt in the long run. God knows all eventualities so he would ultimately choose the best route.

As I mentioned, I do think it was a nice effort in concept though. Biblical scholars have made a profession out of reading the Bible and trying to find more details that are hard to catch or can only be noticed by cross checking various books in the Bible and even other sources. You can find out a lot of fascinating things online and I’m sure that they would love to learn more about Jesus as a child. I just think that there isn’t much to find because he just wasn’t standing out at the time. Did Jesus have to content with bullies when he was a kid? Maybe. Did he have to revive a boy who was killed by the Devil in an attempt to frame him? That one’s a far greater stretch, but you never know. The point is, the film had to take a lot of liberties to make this a film, but as long as it doesn’t directly contradict the Bible or attempt subtly make Jesus or other individuals look bad, then it’s fine.

Overall, This can still be a good film to check out if you find the premise interesting. I personally prefer to relive parts of the Bible or listen to scholars speculate what may have happened back in the day based on their findings. I just find those more interesting than a film like this one, but it’ll really depend on the individual. At the very least, you can be sure that the writers probably did their homework on how the scenery and surroundings may have looked so that can be fun to see. It is good to see so many Christian films coming out nowadays and hopefully that trend will continue. The God is Not Dead series is certainly still my favorite, but we have had a nice array of titles that span many different genres. Hillsong, Risen, The Young Messiah, God is Not Dead, and many more. There is something for every Christian to check out. Some of the films didn’t go very well at all like Noah, which changes so many things that I even wonder about the intentions. I certainly would not be surprised in the least to see some “Christian” based films that exist only to discredit and confuse Christians rather than spread awareness. Always be prepared for every trick in the book in this day and age. I’m not sure which film is coming next, but I shall be awaiting the next Christian adventure.

Heaven Is For Real

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As Christians we know that truer words have not been spoken. Heaven Is for real and we know this to be an absolute certainty. This film explores an event not too long ago where a kid believed that he went to Heaven during a trying medical situation where he nearly died. This film essentially brings that story to the big screen and while they take some liberties, most of it happens as it did in the real. (“In the real” = Real Life) So…did this happen?

There have been many miracles throughout history. We’ve had many significant ones like David vs Goliath or the 3 men in the burning furnace. Many smaller miracles have happened as well and continue to happen. Think of the many times someone has had cancer or another incurable disease and then for it to vanish. It can even be something as getting delayed in a train for an extra minute so that you get to just miss a big storm. I’m confident that miracles happen each and every day around the world. We simply won’t hear about many of them and some may happen that we don’t even regard as miracles. We don’t always see what effects each event has on us even if it was something that critically changed our lives.

We don’t expect to see events like in the olden days where God would physically speak to crowds and perform incredible feats. It’s a different time and once we get past the New Testament and Jesus went back to Heaven after the resurrection; it is now a time of Faith. Would faith be as important if we were shown proof of God’s existence so openly? In his own way, he shows us this each and every day, but our faith is very important. We choose to believe in God whether we see proof of this or not. It’s just like how many people don’t believe in him because they don’t think that he exists. Free Will is granted to us and we choose whether to believe in him or not.

Coming back to the question…do I believe that this boy went to Heaven and came back? It’s certainly possible, but I am highly skeptical and I would be inclined to say no. Unfortunately, we live in a very difficult world and there are billions of people on it. Just as many live for the Lord and to spread his glory other live to tarnish his reputation and to take people away from this path. There are many people who claim to have heard directly from God and speak of many fantastic occurrences. While I have no doubt that some are true, the majority of them are probably not. I personally find events like this one harder to believe once they do get into the spotlight like this. It just seems all too easy and like it’s a way for us to renew our faith in the Lord. That may be a noble intention, but if the story is fabricated towards that goal then it is not worth it. There is always the chance that the kid truly believes that he went to Heaven and that he truly did, but there’s no way to know for certain.

I pride myself on being an optimist most of the time, but I can also be a very skeptical person. It’s tough to balance these two things out as I typically assume the worst when any situation occurs. Sometimes my hunches are correct like with The Interview and how that situation blew up quickly, but it’s always good to tackle a situation with bright thoughts. Expecting the worst can just lead to you not enjoying things as much as you should be. So, I want to believe that he really did go to Heaven, but I have a hard time believing it.

There are so many things that could have happened. He could have really gone to Heaven; He could have made the whole thing up; He could have had a dream; His parents could have made up the story and had the kid play along and he won’t change the story now; etc. The possibilities are endless. This line of questioning also arises in part from the fact that he is just a kid. He was quite young in the film and I forgot what age he was in real life when this happened, but he was certainly still a child. He grew up in a Christian home where his father was the Pastor. He had probably heard many fantastic things as he grew up and I’m sure that he was familiar with the Bible. He may have thought up the whole thing to impress his parents and he may even have forgotten that he made it up.

Ultimately, it does no good to go in circles about this forever. I’ve just been the type to never believe what I hear or see at face value without a lot of extra deliberation on my part. We all have our reasons for why we believe in God. Whether it be a connection that we feel in our hearts or an appreciation at everything that God has created, we know that he is real. No Big Bang created everything and life hasn’t just been in existence forever. So, you do not need any fantastic miracles or events to convince you of his existence. As long as you sincerely believe in your heart the words of the Bible and give your heart over to God, then you’ll be okay. You’ll be much more than okay! If you believe that this happened then that’s wonderful and if you don’t, then you’re still doing great. This is a story that has clearly given many people a lot of happiness and has strengthened many people’s beliefs so I still wouldn’t go around shooting it down. I can never say one way or the other whether it happened for not so maybe it’s just time that I started having more of a bright outlook on it. The last thing that you want to do is to discourage another person in their walk of faith so you just need to stay true to your belief in God and just take things from there. This is a formula that shall never fail you.

Debating whether or not this event actually happened certainly took up most of this article so I shall be brief on the rest. I still don’t care for the main protagonist to be a child as I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, but he’s not a bad character. I think the film went a little far when he told his parents to pay back the hospital and then a big gust of wind hit the house. I get that symbolic scenes are important, but that was probably stretching the sensationalism a bit. He’s still a good character and that scene is a good example of what a moral individual he is. The parents are pretty good even if there is one scene that comes out of nowhere. They just suddenly explode and have a big fight. I guess their tensions had been rising, but it still felt out of character for them. Not to mention that they were in a tight spot so breaking a pair of dishes is not in their best interest.

Their fellow church goers did not look good though. They really didn’t handle the situation well. I don’t place the whole blame on them as I think the father should get some of it, but I would give them most of it. They certainly did not act as you would expect a Christian too. The pastor had a very tough time and they didn’t make it any easier. They were practically glaring at him as he went on the pulpit and none of them gave him any words of encouragement. A simple quote or two from the Bible or some sign that they were on his side would have been nice, but they ran to the option to fire him.

The one reason why I don’t put all the blame on them is that the Pastor didn’t do a great job either. The fact that his kid may have went to Heaven shook his faith to the core and he wasn’t sure whether he should believe in God anymore or not. It may have been best to have taken a little more time off from the pulpit then instead of just going up there and admitting that he’s not sure of his faith. As I mentioned, one thing you never want to do is to shake another person’s faith in God. That’s an absolute no no! It was a small church though and I was surprised that nobody was willing to talk with him about that. I’ve been to many Churches in the past and there is almost always at least one person who is very vocal throughout the message and would have had no qualms about debating with him or simply talking about the situation calmly. There was none of that here as the audience was just completely quiet or just adding to his troubles.

Overall, Heaven is For Real is a pretty uplifting movie. It actually gets pretty sad during certain parts, but you can look forward to it getting happy again by the end. Especially if you are familiar with what happened in real life. It is certainly awesome to think about Heaven, what it’s like and how it’ll be to live there for eternity. Just talking about Heaven would likely take up a whole other article so I won’t go into that here, but I believe that it will literally be perfect. Whether it will look different to each individual or whether it has a single look doesn’t matter. What matters is that we will be going there someday and we can wish for nothing better. Whenever you are in a tough spot or just need some encouragement, just think of where you will be going. This life is just a small drop compared to the eternal life that awaits us there. Meeting God will be an event like no other and it’ll make every hardship and pain that you’ve ever experienced worth it! This is a pretty good film to check out for Christmas and while I am at it I also recommend God Is Not Dead. Both of these films are very uplifting and nothing beats checking out a Christian film in time for Christmas, one of the greatest events in history! (The Birth vs The Resurrection vs The Rapture vs The Day you got saved, you can certainly make an argument for any one of these days being the greatest. Naturally, the latter would just be the greatest for you, but boy did that day change your life!)

The Little Drummer Boy

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The Little Drummer Boy is a short from the 1960’s so it’s pretty old by today’s standards. Luckily, we know that old films can be pretty great (Godzilla, Several Hitchcock films, Superman, etc) and this one gives us a good message to take home for Christmas. Now’s the time to watch this one and it’s a pretty emotional story with some good themes inside.

A little kid begins to hate all humans when his parents are destroyed in a sudden attack by bandits or a hostile nation. He escapes with three of the farm animals and his final gift from his parents..his drum. The animals can feel the love that eminates from the drum and the kid when he plays it and they begin to dance. Unfortunately, this attracts the wrong crowd and the little drummer boy is kidnapped given a deal. He will perform in front of three kings and then he will be set free with half of the money. The kid reluctantly agrees and he gets ready to perform.

This title is only about 20-25 minutes so the plot is pretty continuous and hard to describe without spoiling other parts of the film so that’s as close as I can get to explaining it. One of the cool things about this film is that it’s a Christian Christmas film. It takes place during the birth of Jesus Christ and now you can probably guess who the three kings are. The film does a good job of developing the main story and then connecting it with the virgin birth. We only see Jesus for an instant at the end, but he is definitely portrayed flawlessly. His dominion over all is never in question and there had been a dicey scene earlier involving an animal injury, but let’s just say that it is taken care of.

I was glad to see that since animal violence is the last thing that any of us want to see in this film or in any title for that matter. There is a small scene where a donkey doesn’t make it early on, but luckily they quickly take us away from that scene and it wasn’t a violent death by other wolves or something like that. The drummer boy is accompanied by two corrupt vagabonds for most of the film and they actually get a happy ending for themselves. We can assume that it probably didn’t last, but they are temporarily rich. Maybe they were nicer than they let on. They definitely knew how to earn money quickly, but it’s going to be difficult without the drummer boy’s magical music.

The animation used seems to be a stop motion of sorts with figures. I naturally can’t say that it looks bad since this is the 60’s although I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it puts most current shows to shame. It works for the story and I wouldn’t call it a negative. The main character is the drummer boy and I will admit that he’s not the greatest of main characters. I still don’t really care for children playing the lead role in any film, but he is a nice individual and he learns a valuable lesson by the end. He just wants what’s best for his animals and he’s a nice friend to have.

Overall, this is a pretty good story to watch on Christmas. It’s a pretty cheerful film by the end even if it is very somber during the beginning. Most importantly, it’s a Christmas film that reminds us of why we celebrate on December 25th. The birth of Christ is what started this festive day and we always need to keep in mind that this is the true reason for such a day. Obtaining presents and hanging out with the family are two very fun parts of Christmas, but the day is still about Christ first and foremost. Once again, I definitely recommend watching this title for Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!