Free Republic

Daniel 2 34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. ....44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of...

Are the Kingdom of God and Heaven the same? The teaching of the kingdom began in the days of John the Baptist, whose ministry was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. These are the prophecies and their fulfillment: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Isa 40:3 KJV) "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the...

The commercial in the video below has a surprise ending. We are led through a very traditional story line about a child who can’t wait for Christmas. But then comes the twist at the end. You may wish to view it before you read any further commentary by me, lest my comments, give the surprise away.As I saw the video I was first reminded of the Scripture which says, It is more blessed to give than to receive. ( Acts 20:34) And also the scripture that says, God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor 9:7)But there is something more than...

The film Kingdom of Heaven shows conflicts between Muslims and Christians in the twelfth century after the Second and before the Third Crusade, and dramatically culminates with the short siege and fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims in 1187. It is an amazing Hollywood version of the period, but it certainly is not factual history. Such misconceptions, nevertheless, have contributed to the situation today in which “the Crusades” have become virtually synonymous with supposed Christian cruelty and intolerance. The Crusades actually were motivated in part by the desire of Christians in the West to help fellow Christians in the East....

(In light of the acceleration of the Leftist agenda here in America.) The phrase, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand,” is the signoff slogan and repetitive theme of the Ignorant Fishermen Blog. Those Americans who follow the game of politics generally miss - especially in the light of today’s global setting - that all things are working to this end. If the leaders of the American political spectrum - Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, President Obama, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Bill and Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Scott Brown, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Dick Cheney, Chris Matthews,...

(In light of the acceleration of the Leftist agenda here in America.) The phrase, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand,” is the signoff slogan and repetitive theme of the Ignorant Fishermen Blog. Those Americans who follow the game of politics generally miss - especially in the light of today’s global setting - that all things are working to this end. If the leaders of the American political spectrum - Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, President Obama, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Bill and Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Scott Brown, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Dick Cheney, Chris Matthews,...

Most of Scripture is concerned with the prophesied Kingdom of God, also called the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew's Gospel. Prophecy and its fulfillment under the Messiah have primary reference to God's sovereignly-chosen people, Israel. The specific Kingdom, called the "Kingdom of His dear Son," "…of His Christ," was not prophesied. God's eternal purpose to save Gentiles in a joint body with Jews was "Hid in God" as a sacred secret ("the mystery") until fulfilled. This mystery was revealed thereafter by the glorified Christ, through Paul's epistles. Alva J. McClain wrote in "The Greatness of the Kingdom," p. 284: "The...

Not quite three weeks after the film's release we can say one thing for sure: the First Crusade was much more successful than Ridley Scott's movie. I was stunned to hear Islamic anti-defamation groups condemn Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven." The Muslims appear much nobler than the Christians in the film, and on the Christian side the only remotely sympathetic characters are at best agnostic. Jonathan Riley-Smith, an expert on the Crusades, described the movie as "rubbish" for just this reason - the film, he says, is "not historically accurate at all" in its depiction of "the Muslims as sophisticated and...

The Kingdom of Self-Hate Kingdom of Heaven is spectacular, silly, historically inaccurate, unwittingly funny, badly scripted, and pretentious. So far, so conventional, you may say: just another Hollywood big-budget yarn a la DeMille and Troy. What makes Ridley Scott's epic about the Crusades different is a political message more insidious than the standard leftist-revisionist pap we've been fed by Tinseltown for decades. That message is that, in a conflict between Christians and Muslims, the former attack, the latter react. The true hero of the movie is Saladin, a wise warrior-king sans peur et sans reproche; its villains, the coarse and...

Kingdom of Heaven: Propaganda or History? by James F. Burke New Republican Archive After the anti-Christian Left was blind-sided by the popularity of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, key influencers in the media complex were eager to promote the release of Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, one finds the loudest praise for the film coming from the pages of the most radical left-wing papers and journals here in the U.S. and, of course, in Europe. Why then is turnout so high here in the U.S.? Viewers hoping for a more positive (or at least less anti-Christian) take on...

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN Let’s say you were setting out to make a parody of contemporary Hollywood’s inability to make a film on any historical subject except through the prism of its own droning self-congratulatory predictable pieties, and let’s say you’d picked as the topic for this parody the Crusades — you remember, long wars back in the day, Muslims vs Christians. What would this parody look like? Well, for a start, this Crusade wouldn’t be between Muslims and Christians, it would be between the ‘fanatics on both sides’ and enlightened progressive types who just want to live together celebrating their...

History and Big ScreenFawaz Turki, disinherited@yahoo.comWhen they go to the movies to see a feature dealing with their part of the world, Arabs are predisposed to think the worst: Here we go again, some wretched Hollywood filmmaker is out to besmirch our name, distort our history and degrade our identity. Well, folks, when you stand in line to buy a ticket to “Kingdom of Heaven,” the much anticipated big budget epic about the clash of Islam and Christendom, set between the second and third Crusades in the 12th century, directed by the legendary Ridley Scott (“Gladiator”), don’t be. The film...

Kingdom of Heaven is spectacular, silly, historically inaccurate, unwittingly funny, badly scripted, and pretentious. So far, so conventional, you may say: just another Hollywood big-budget yarn a la DeMille and Troy. What makes Ridley Scott’s epic about the Crusades different is a political message more insidious than the standard leftist-revisionist pap we’ve been fed by Tinseltown for decades. That message is that, in a conflict between Christians and Muslims, the former attack, the latter react. The true hero of the movie is Saladin, a wise warrior-king sans peur et sans reproche; its villains, the coarse and bloodthirsty Knights Templar. The...

Shuffling out of the movie theater last weekend, I emitted a silent scream, frustrated by yet another example of Christianity under assault, the tumescent epic, “Kingdom of Heaven,” a film so utterly contemptuous of Christians and adoring of Muslims that a leading authority on the Crusades branded it “Osama Bin Laden's version of history.” “What insane times we live in,” one film critic notes. “Here we are in the midst of the War on Terror, and all Hollywood can do is continually bash Christianity.” In an industry historically known for coddling communists (the blacklist, Jane Fonda, Stone, Spielberg and others...

If you want to learn something about the Crusades, stay as far away from Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven as you can. There's more historical accuracy in The Lord of the Rings, which took place in a world that never existed. On the other hand, if you just want to see some big medieval battle scenes and eat popcorn while absorbing Scott's obvious message, then this one's for you. Kingdom of Heaven is the story of Christian zealots inciting a war against the innocent Muslims because their bloodthirsty God wants them to kill infidels. Sound like a familiar lament from...

Despite initial controversy surrounding "The Kingdom of Heaven," Ridley Scott's new film about the Crusades, it is getting generally positive reviews from Muslims in the United States and in Arab countries. "It was really nice to go into a movie and feel so dignified, not feeling that you have to be ashamed or anything and feel proud of your history and your heritage," said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Council of American-Islamic Relations, after seeing the film, which opened May 7. Laila al-Qatami of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Center in Washington also walked away happy. "He provided a...

Main April 28, 2005 WHITEWASH: THE CAIR SEAL OF APPROVAL Via LGF, we learn that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has given its seal of approval to Ridley Scott's new Crusader epic, Kingdom of Heaven. Unindicted spokesman for CAIR: "Muslims are shown as dignified & proud people whose lives are based on ethics & morality." Who is CAIR? Founded 1994 by former officials of Islamic Association for Palestine,  Hamas front group. Exec. Director Nihad Awad declared himself Hamas supporter in 1994. Cofounder Omas Ahmad praised suicide bombers & said "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any...

Hollywood worried, "Kingdom" a dud Posted by: McQ on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Sharon Waxman of the NYT tells us that Hollywood is worried about the recent decline of box office sales: Now Hollywood is starting to get worried. The poor box-office performance last weekend of the first major film of the summer, "Kingdom of Heaven," released by 20th Century Fox, made for 11 weeks in a row of declining movie attendance and revenue compared with last year, adding up to the longest slump since 2000 and raising an uncomfortable question: Are people turning away from lackluster movies, or turning...

"As expected, the epic Ridley Scott picture, “Kingdom of Heaven” nabbed the #1 spot for the weekend, opening with $20 million in ticket sales. Though “Kingdom” debuted on top, it was still a disappointing considering it had a $130 million budget. Similar period pieces “Gladiator” and “Troy” both opened with nearly twice the box office ticket sales at similar times of the year. Movie execs were counting on “Kingdom” to spark a slumping box office year, however this weekend turned out to be one of the most disappointing of late. Hollywood big wigs now have their fingers crossed that the...

These days it seems that whenever Hollywood meets history, history gets the squeeze. Last year "King Arthur," "Troy" and "Alexander" were put through the revisionist wringer. Today it's the factually challenged movie "Kingdom of Heaven" whose historical content appears to have been schmushed. "Kingdom of Heaven"'s director Ridley Scott recently took a cue from Cecil B. DeMille and chose the Crusades as the subject of his latest epic. This is the same fellow who brought us "Gladiator" and "Blade Runner," which makes me wonder: How did a talented filmmaker like Scott get stuck with an incoherent script like this? It's...