Out of This World.

There is a fictional series based on the book of Revelations in the Bible. The series is called Left Behind. Apparently there are seven books, and there have been three movies. The writer of the series is currently having a dispute with the producers of the movies, so the forth one has not come out yet, but that's not the purpose of this post.

As I said before, the movies are based on the book of Revelations, which chronicles the Armageddon and the second coming of Christ. Here's the best part : The third movie, Left Behind : World At War was shown on AXN. Uncensored. I'm serious.

When I first saw the advertisements for the movie on AXN, I thought it would be an action packed show, with lots of action. When I finally got around to seeing it, I wasn't disappointed, until I got to the point where a number of protagonists were having a Christian marriage in a run-down church, reciting verses from the Bible more times than I have seen on national television in my entire life.

I thought they were using it just as a front, or as a storytelling tool, but as every time religion is used as a storytelling tool, the results are not pretty, I begun to be unimpressed. I just kept watching to find out what the movie producers' intentions were, but then it turned out they were trying to evangelise after all. Who uses verses of the Bible so generously and tries to convert the President of the United Sates if the use of religion is only as a storytelling tool?

But the most impressive part was that the Censorship Board missed the whole load of it. Why? This movie was designed to evangelise, and evangelising to Muslims in the country is banned. Needless to say, everyone with ASTRO has AXN and at least half those people are Muslims. Looks like the once mighty Censorship Board is either getting sloppy or the message was just so out of this world they could not get a hold of it.

Going back to the movie, (Warning : Spoilers ahead) it chronicles the arrival of the antichrist, who tried ( with respect to the movie) to overtake the world. The US president, UK Prime Minister and Egypt President, realising what he was up to, decided to overthrow him. However, their plan failed as the antichrist managed to get hold of their plans and attack them first. Thus, chaos erupts and World War 3 starts.

At the same time it also chronicles the lives of two newly wed couples, one elderly and one not so elderly, the groom of the elderly one being the father of the bride of the younger one. Then, the members of the underground churches start falling ill. The bride of the younger couple goes to help the sick, but ends up ill as well. The preacher who wedded them is ill as well.

Meanwhile, the President of the US manages to track down the groom of the younger couple, and starts to confer with him. The President then finds out that the people are getting sick due to Bibles poisoned with a toxin before being shipped out. The groom has a hard time deciding whether to stay or help his wife, and decides to pray to figure out which decision to make. He then decides to stay. The older couple then go to see their dying daughter.

The groom of the younger bride then goes to see the President, evangelise to him, and convert him. The President then decides to blow apart the antichrist's base of operations, and at the same time, the rest of the family find out that red wine was the cure to the toxin in the Bibles, but not before the preacher succumbed to the disease.

Obviously, certain events and characters were not included in this synopsis of the movie, but you get the general picture. Few movies show the evangelising of people, or of praying in groups or of the usage of Holy Communion more vividly, or more accurately than this movie.

Speaking of Holy Communion, on the surface, in the movie it is used to heal people who are infected with the toxin. In real life, it represents the blood of Chirist, which washes away all the sins of the world. So there is probably more to this movie than just what's on the surface.

Watching the movie was an out of this world experience. Why? How many movies do you see that portray Christianity in a good light? Or which take excerpts form the Bible and use them accurately? Or slip under the Censorship Board's noses when it clearly breaks all the rules they have set? Few, but I know that if I am requested to suggest a movie for evangelistic purposes, I know one which will go down well with the audience.