END OF THE SPEAR--A MOVIE REVIEW


Beyond the Gates of Splendor is the story of Nate Saint and four other missionaries who were killed by members of the Waodani tribe in the jungle of Ecuado on the Amazon Basin on January 8, 1956. This movie is based on that story.

I wasn't sure what I would see when watching this movie, though I had read some background a few months ago on a website. It is a heart-wrenching story that shows that we can not judge someone for their actions and if we truly understand God's ways must not judge them at all but forgive them and point them to Christ on the Cross and then Christ in the Grave and finally Christ is risen.

The movie centers itself on Nate Saint and family. His son Steve is the one telling the story of how his father and four other missionaries were trying to break the barriers with a tribe in Ecuador known as the Waodani. This tribe was very egalitarian in nature and was at war with their own people. Each tribe would go off killing the members of another tribe. There was never more than two generations alive at any time. These missionaries landed on a strip one day and were approached by some of the Waodani (Auca) tribe. There was no understand of language by the other tribe but things seemed to go well. The Waodani went back into the woods and the next day they came back and attacked the missionaries and killed them all. Just as Nate Saint lay dying with a spear in his midsection he looked up at the warrior who had speared him and uttered a phrase his son told him just before he left. Boo-ah Bee-ah awoomba. Which in Waodani means "I want to be your friend".

I don't know if this was part of the true story or not because this movie is only based on the book "Beyond the Gates of Splendor". But the look in the warriors face after Nate said this was very telling.

The rest of the movie is about how the wives of the missionaries went into the jungle and lived with the Waodani and instead of getting revenge they forgave these natives and taught them about Waegongi (God). The final scenes involve Steve and Mincayani who take a boat down the river to an island and while there Mincayani digs up the plane of Nate Saint and reveals in his native tongue that he was the one who speared Steve's dad Nate. Mincayani took the spear and with the sharp end pointing at him gave it to Steve. Steve who seemed to be enraged told Mincayani that it was not he that took his father's life, but that his father gave his life for Mincayani and his people. It was at this scene that I lost it. Because it is just like Jesus who did not lose his life by the Romans and Jewish leaders, but gave it of His own will by the devine will of His Father in heaven for all of us.

This is how we should go about being missionaries to those we witness to. Be willing to give your life as Christ gave his to share the Gospel in the only way that some can possibly understand the nature of God's word through death.

I encourage you to check out this movie. There is no denomination mentioned in this story which I think is good because it is not about Lutheran truth or Methodist truth or Baptist truth or Catholic truth. This is about God's truth.

There is one caveat, though I think it a small one, but still one that should be explained. The characters of Nate Saint and his son Steve as an adult are played by Actor Chad Allen. Allen was a child actor in many sitcoms and shows in the 80s and who came out of the closet as a gay man. He is an advocate for gay rights especially marriage. When he was cast for the parts the information about his being gay was not known to the director Mart Green or Steve Saint. There is a couple of articles on this at this site: http://www.sharperiron.org/showthread.php?t=2349.

As you will read there was much speculation as to whether to let Chad Allen go or to keep him on as the homosexual lifestyle was not congruent with either Steve Saint or his father Nate.
In the end of course, Chad did play the parts as he was hired to do. I think Chad Allen did a remarkable job and who knows except God and Chad what impact playing these parts had on Chad's life. He certainly knows that they were uncomfortable with his lifestyle choice, but he is a professional actor and it did not come through in his portrayal of these parts.

I am anxious to get the documentary on this story as well as read the book. Missionary life is intriguing to me as I hope someday soon to be one.

I think that we should continue to pray that whatever seed the Lord planted in Chad Allen becomes very fruitful in his life and reveals to him who Jesus Christ really is and what he did for Chad as well as all of us sinners.

MEN IN THE CHURCH

Tonight my men's bible study will begin a study titled MEN IN THE CHURCH. It is put out by Concordia Publishing House. I am looking forward to this study as I am hoping to show that God meant for men to be the leaders in the church as well as the Spiritual leaders in the home.

I will be posting my thoughts here in the weeks to come of what this study has helped me to learn or has either changed my views or solified my present view. I do not expect comments, but will welcome them.

Pax Christi
Scott Strohkirch a.k.a. Spalatin

This past week I helped my two little girls celebrate their birthdays. My oldest turned nine-years old on January 15th and my youngest turned six on January 11th. My oldest of course has her birthday on Martin Luther King Jr day. Granted he is a very celebrated man in this country because he led the way in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and was martyred allegedy by James Earl Ray. Ray admitted to the killing at first, but later retracted his confession saying he was "duped" into it by some other people.

I don't wish to take away from the celebration of this day by many black people or minorities, but it isn't a holiday that I celebrate. Mostly because I am not black. Don't get me wrong I support those who celebrate the holiday because it is important that we don't discriminate against people because of race in this country. But I don't take the day off from work for it or go to any civil rights rallies or anything like that. I would rather celebrate my daughters' birthdays because they is more important to me as far as anything that has happened in my life to date. They mean much more to me than anything in this world.

I respect those who fight for what they believe in and when they win they should celebrate. However, is the fight for civil rights complete in this country? I am not totally convinced. I believe that when we stop looking at the color of one's skin completely we will have won. In many ways we are still so far off from victory. Even those in the Civil Rights movement would agree. We have won some important battles but the war rages onward.

Martin Luther strived for more Christian Freedom and that was the struggle he fought from Wittenburg to Augsburg.

Let Freedom Ring

This next Sunday I begin teaching my first Sunday School class as a solo teacher. My class will comprise about 6 7th and 8th graders. Now these are the kids who have begun confirmation classes this past fall on Wednesday nights. I realize that I will have some input as to what these kids learn about Jesus and God. I will also be able to share with them the importance of the Lutheran Confessions in their lives.

When I was going through confirmation some 30 years ago I vaguely remember going through the 10 commandments from Luther's Small Catechism. The Pastor and teacher of my confirmation class had typed up a study sheet for us so that we could learn them as well as some key bible verses that we needed to know. I am thinking that I will have them get to know their Catechism booklet a little more. It will be a good review for them when they get to their final year. By the way, catechesis is not just a 2 or 3 year program that the church sets up to graduate children. Catechism is a life-long learning experience that starts out with the parents teaching their children about God, Jesus and the word. Parents should teach their children about Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar at a young age.

When I went through "confirmation" many of those who went through the class with me left the church afterwards and never returned. They treated it like graduation instead of just another step in understanding their relationship to a loving God. If we don't properly catechize our children they won't stick around afterwards. We need to begin a habit of going to church and sunday school on a regular basis teaching our children that there is no "choice" of going or not going to church. When on vacation we need to find a church to attend so that they will see how serious we need to be to go to church to receive God's blessings.

I hope that these students I have will walk away at the end of this season with a new understanding of what the liturgy is all about as well as a desire to read and get to know the Scriptures and how the Lutheran Confessions is scriptural.

With the help of God will I do this and nothing else.

Pax Christi
Scott

AH CHRISTMAS IS OVER! NOW ONTO THE NEW YEAR.


If you are reading this today you realize that for most of us Christmas is over for the year. My children, like most are at home busily playing with their new toys and watching television during their winter break. My wife is busy cleaning up the mess we made in the house over the past week. This weekend most of the world will celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next. For most Americans it means one last hurrah while watching several college bowl games on TV.

The one custom that I want to write about here is none of the ones mentioned above, but is the custom of New Years resolutions. That is where people resolve to do something to or for themselves that will make their lives hopefully better in the coming year. Some will resolve to lose weight, some will resolve to save more money, other's will resolve to spend more or invest more money. I find the custom to be a rather silly one because most people give up on their resolutions within a few weeks though some have been actually known to make good on their resolution, but most fail and surrender to their old routine.

I have at times joked and said that "I resolve not to make any more resolutions." This one I am pretty good at keeping because it requires no commitment to better my life. Truth is the only one who can make my life better has already done so by dying on a cross about 2000 years ago to pay for my sins. He came to the world and resolved to give his life as a ransom for ours and the neat thing is he accomplished his goal because on the cross he said, "It is finished" Jesus Christ did that for us. Do you know why Jesus was able to keep his resolution? It is because he is the Son of God. No other religion or self-made deity can truly make that claim. When he was asked by what authority he came to do these things He answered "I came by the authority of he who sent me."

We can not do what Jesus did because we are sinners and left to our own devices will fail at things like resolutions almost every time. Oh sure there will be one or two who might accomplish a resolution they made, but was it easy or hard for them? My resolution for this coming new year is to get to know Jesus better through his word and sacrament. That is the means he gave us to empower us with the Holy Spirit. As I get to know Jesus better I am going to share what I know with others and point them to the cross where Jesus has forgiven them for their sins. That is all I can do as the rest is up to the Holy Spirit.

Let Jesus help you with that resolution this coming year. You might find the results to be far more rewarding than ever before.

In the next few days families will be getting together to celebrate Xmas. Oh wait. I shouldn't spell Christmas with an X? Why not? X is the greek letter Chi which is the first letter of Christ.

Todd Wilken on his Sunday show December 18th pointed out in the last minute that the X even looks something like a cross. Jesus died on a cross didn't he? Yes He did.

Anyways as I started out, families including mine will be gathering together to celebrate the birth of Christ. This season like others has brought out the controversies about whether we should say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays". Some department stores have taken to not putting up the words "Merry Christmas" in their stores. Others have stopped the Salvation Army ringers from standing outside ringing for your contributions. For that I say thank you. I never could stand those incessant bell ringers and since I don't agree with the theology of the Salvation Army I don't see the need to give them my change when there are other worthy charitable organizations that help people at this time of year.

Again back to my first thought (Note to self: I must learn how to not digress when I write.)
Families getting together to celebrate Christ's birth. My family doesn't have any real standard traditions that we follow on a yearly basis. Sometimes we go to church and sometimes we don't. The only real thing I would call tradition is which side of the family we celebrate with on which particular day. Christmas Eve is traditionally with my Father's side of the family. My Dad passed away in February 1989 and though we miss his presence the memories we have of the Christmasses with him are still ingrained in my head.

When I got married, my wife and I started a new tradition. We have Christmas with both sides of the family and then we have a time where we have a private Christmas with just us and our children. This has come to mean much to me because it is one that will go into the future of my family when my children are grown and have families of their own they too will begin their own traditions.

I wish all who read this a very Merry Christmas and may the traditions you begin go on to the next generation.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

CHURCH TAKES PURPOSE DRIVEN THEOLOGY TOO FAR.

As I was driving the last couple of miles to my home last night I drove by Mount of Olives Assembly of God church. They have a sign that they use to advertise events coming up. Last night their sign read: "A Purpose Driven Christmas Carol". My first thought was "Why?" Why must Christian churches continue to promote Rick Warren's pop theology to this extreme?

But then I am reminded of a production I attended back in the 1980s produced by the Jesus People and titled "The Gospel According to Scrooge." With all due respect we have in many ways perverted Dicken's classic when we do this, but yet if one really looks at what Dickens was saying it is still bad theology. A man who has given up on such frivolity as Christmas is told by the ghost of his dead partner that he will be visited that night by three spirits that will show him the error of his ways.

Scrooge is first visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past. He visits his boyhood and sees his sister, whom has long passed on to the next world. He visits the first place he ever worked and we see the woman he almost married were it not for his greed. The next Ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Present. The Ghost now takes him to his nephew's home and then to the home of his clerk Bob Cratchit. He sees Tiny Tim and is made aware of the boys ailment. He is also forced to see the conditions in which Bob and his family live.

Finally Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas yet to come and is taken again to see the Cratchits mourning over Tiny Tim's death. He also gets to witness people preparing for his own funeral and finally taken to the cemetary where the Ghost points him to his gravesite. At this point Scrooge is awakened by what seems to have been a dream, but he is now feeling a change in himself and when he realizes that he has not missed Christmas goes off to make right some of the wrongs he has committed including that of his clerk Bob and his family and that of his nephew.

If one were to look at this story from a theological perspective one would see first of all that no where is Christ really mentioned other than that the name of the holiday. Scrooge is given a glimpse inside himself instead of showing him objective signs of the salvation Christ won for him on the cross. Though I don't think that Charles Dickens had in mind to create a story of the Christ it seems interesting to me that Christian's want to do it for him. I wouldn't mind that they do it but at least get the theology correct.

I suppose the next thing we will see is "Purpose Driven Easter Bunny"

Let this purpose driven fad go and get back to Christ and him Crucified.