BEN-HUR 2016 ....#FAST-PACED, #AUTHENTIC, #GRITTY ( MOVIE REVIEW)

THIS REVIEW IS WRITTEN BY A TICKET-PURCHASING MOVIE-GOER

Having anticipated the MGM big studio $100 million production of the Lew Wallace classic "Ben-
hur" all summer, it was quite an experience watching it in 3D on opening weekend at an AMC theater. This comes amid all kinds of doom and gloom estimates from the mainstream entertainment press as to the earning capacity of this remake of the Charlton Heston-powered 1959 classic.

As always, most of us in the evangelical Christian community with our own marketing culture, never pay attention to what the mainline media and its cultural offshoots say. In the past few years, atheists in Hollywood have tried to give us mega-productions like "Noah" and "Exodus", with screenplays written and performed by people who literally hate and do not believe in God. People who read the Bible obviously know when we are being conned. Hence, we do not support that stuff.

This is NOT the case with Ben-hur and therefore, slow beginnings do not necessarily mean box office disasters. Christians have showed that Word of Mouth in the Evangelical community means more than what's in the Hollywood Reporter or Entertainment Tonight, or today or whatever. It has been proven it with Passion of the Christ; Courageous; War Room and God's Not Dead. Therefore, as a ticket-buying viewer,  there is no pressure but objectivity to see if the great Mark Burnett and his producer wife Roma Downey (The Bible; Son of God etc.) did as great a job as hands on Christian producers in the 2016 remake of Ben-hur.

Right off the bat here is what is obvious to people who are immersed in the text, flavor and culture of the Bible:
        - The 2016 Ben-hur (with Jack Huston as Judah Ben-hur) appears on screen in all the color and feel of First century Jerusalem with it's location as a walled city and ancient homes hewed out of a craftsmanship which stands the time better than anything made today.  The producers created authenticity of location (filmed in Italy) so immediate that the viewer is transported into a land we only read about in the Bible and see in those grainy Bible stories late on Sunday nights on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network).
        - Because of the authentic backdrop, costuming and flavoring even down to the marketing of produce in the markets, there is a grittiness which tells me, as a viewer that this is indeed Bible times! We know from Scripture that there were those in the higher ups in Jerusalem, from the princes to the priests, who were more than peaceful and friendly to the occupying brutal Romans. It was from a wealthy princely family like this, from whence the movie's hero Judah Ben-hur comes. The contrast between his happy and well-fed family and the poor majority out there, confused by the Jewish zealots (where Judas the betrayer came from) could not be more evidence of the grit and grime of an occupied, oppressed people.
        - The pace is fast. From the opening scene of  Ben-hur and his Roman, former orphan half-brother Messala to the closing race, the two hours and 15 minutes of movie fly by so quickly, you do not need that $20 caffeinated soda to keep your eyes open! The chariot race is one of the best and most professionally filmed piece of camera work I have ever seen. Seeing it in 3D even makes it more thrilling!

What distinguishes this movie from its 1959 version is that Burnett and Downey had tremendous

influence on the screenplay. We know that Ben-hur is a fictional character created by Lew Wallace, the great Union Civil War General who wrote Ben-hur in1880 while searching for his own faith. What that search led him to was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who is the unspoken backdrop for this entire movie. In the 1959 version, Jesus was off in the background making a cameo appearance. In the 2016 version, He IS there first as a nondescript yet powerful carpenter....then a few more times during the 135 minute movie leading up to the final testimonial by the Morgan Freeman character who recited  2 Timothy 4:7.

While He is not the lead character in this film, Jesus' Words, teaching and influence undergird the entire message. All the talk of love, forgiveness, grace and mercy point to only One Person. The declaration by the Pontius Pilate character, after he observed the peacefully wise Jesus stop the stoning of a man, that "Jesus is more dangerous than all the zealots (combined)" is both priceless and true! Finally the closing scenes where miracles, healing, forgiveness and reconciliation are played out seamlessly, reflect the Savior's Message with simplicity and peace, without becoming soapy.

This may not have the same star quality of say the 1959 Heston epic, but it has more Gospel and Bible in it.  A new Christian-based movie release cannot be judged by its first weekends box offices, because the word takes a few weeks to go through the small groups, church social media and family connections or even little people like me, writing about it, before it has any noticeable impact.

Ben-hur is the story of Prince Judah Ben-hur of Jerusalem, who is unfortunately falsely accused by his adopted half-brother Messala, of treason against Roman in the Jerusalem of Jesus' time. His entire family is ruined as Ben-hur is sentenced to be a galley slave in Roman ship for the rest of his life. Freed during a sea battle with the Greeks, Ben-hur, full of hate and vengeance lands close to Judah's Meditterean coast where he runs into the Morgan Freeman wise old character, Ilderim. Given his skill with horses and Ilderim's ways of the world, knowing how to buy off Romans, Judah Ben-hur gets into the Chariot Race of all film history, which buys his freedom.  As a layman, I still give it Five Stars, for quality writing, acting, casting and cinematography.

(All photos and trailer credits: GOOGLE, YouTube)

RAY COMFORT'S NOAH, THE MOVIE....& SEA SAND DISCOVERED IN MIDDLE OF MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS

Popular (and sometimes controversial) Evangelist Ray Comfort has done it again! Hot on the heels of his life-changing (and popular to millions of viewers) Pro-life movie "180" and the even more controversial "Evolution vs God", Ray and his Living Waters ministry has gotten out in front of the upcoming multi-million dollar Paramount "Biblical Epic" Noah movie- NOAH AND THE LAST DAYS.

Using his now trademark modus operandi of releasing fast moving and unique docu-interview movies which are released FREE and directly to YouTube with videos financed by supporters as evangelism tools, Ray Comfort has not only filled in the glaring gaping holes left open by the Russell Crowe NOAH movie, but given the TRUE lesson of the Flood.

After viewing the just released movie (soon to be out free on YouTube), it is clear that Ray has now become the True Voice of One Crying in America. The prophetic proclamations are evident as these modern days are even more corrupt and evil than those in the Days of Noah.  There is absolutely no difference between the depraved state of mankind from over 2500 years ago as recorded in Genesis 6, and the perversion predicted in Romans 1:18-32 (click here to read).

Genesis 6:5-8 carries the basis of the LORD destroying the earth with the Flood  5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

We are living in days where it is so horrible that everyone does what is right in his/her own eyes. Ray Comfort has listed 10 signs which every believer should be on the alert for, in such days as we have now, to avoid sin and reach the lost. This is basically the message which the massively expensive Hollywood version of Noah misses. These ten signs are:

1. Love of money (2 Pet 2:1-3)
2. Wars, earthquakes, famines (Matt 24:7)
3. Moon will turn blood red (Acts 2:20)
4. Blaspheming God's name will be common place (2 Tim 3:1-2)
5. Increase of acceptance of homosexuality (Lk 17:28-30)
6. Religious hypocrisy will be prevalent (2 Tim 3:5)
7. People will deny God as Creator (2 Pet 3:3, 5-6)
8. Fear of the future (Lk 21:26)
9. Scoffers will mock the end times saying warnings have always been, but nothing's happened (2 Pet 3:3-4)
10. People won't take the end times prophecies seriously (Matt 24:37-39)**

Everyone of these ten prophetic proceeds unashamedly in 21st Century America, where even people inside the church are committing some of these same atrocities against the Holiness of God. Each of the ten Biblical prophesies stand on their own and came alive when Ray interviewed (on camera) ordinary Americans. These people exhibit such a lack of biblical influence, knowledge and discernment, that they are living examples of each of those ten points/bible-based prophesies of these last days.

While the interviews are bad enough, the most stunning segment of Comfort's NOAH THE

MOVIE, was the interview with Professor of Geology and Oceanography, Rich Behl of California State University-Long Beach. Professor Behl argument against the Flood was so disjointed, wrong and just plain stupid that it will leave you scratching your head when you see it! He is the living example of the the Lord s word that says in 1 Corinthians 1:27 "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong."

A couple of years ago, during a visit to Starved Rock State Park in Northern Illinois, something caught my eyes in a ravine about 100 plus feet ABOVE sea level that threw me, a man who has seen a fair share of different types of beaches. There was SEA SAND everywhere in certain parts of Starved Rock! It was clean, perfect, down to the nitty gritty sea sand. It was high up in a  ravine halfway up the mountain. It was down at the bottom of deep gorges, which had layers that genuine HONEST scientists and geologists would see was carved completely out by a flood. I spoke to two local man, who said that years ago, the local native Americans told of a BIG FLOOD which caused a shift in a lot of things on Starved Rock!! (SEE PHOTOS ATTACHED HERE)

It was almost as if...and it was indeed, the Lord confirming to a man who is not a scientist

or a seminary trained preacher, that He had been there and His flood took the sands off a regular beach and dumped it in mountains and gorges in the middle of a landlocked state of a huge continent! Only my God, the God in Whom I put my trust and Faith, can do this sign and wonder! Doubters and unbelievers abound in these last days, but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. This stunning discovery in Starved Rock by a nobody like me and Ray Comfort's love for the Truth with Noah the Movie are but two small examples of the depth and width and scope of the Love of Almighty God, the Creator of the Heavens and the earth.

HERE IS THE WEBSITE FOR NOAH AND THE LAST DAYS, PRODUCED BY LIVING WATERS. IT CAN BE PURCHASED AS A DOWNLOAD RIGHT NOW.    

                                                                                CREDITS:

Photos of sea sand shot with telephone camera.

**Additional information from The Christian Post