Dear Friends,
It was I think August of 1988. I was but a young man of forty (Ha) who found
himself working at a Christian company (oy!). They had been witnessing to me
for a year about Christ but I had barely listened. They were, in my mind, the
very same Christians who had killed my Jewish ancestors in the Crusades and
the Inquisition and the Holocaust. I had been a history Professor who taught
on antisemitism and the Holocaust. I had also been a Jewish
professional(Pharisee) in the Phoenix community and they tried to tell me
about Jesus? Yeah right-fat chance! Then in that fateful month of August
eighteen years ago a new controversial movie had opened. It was billed as the
religious epic of the decade. It got four stars from the New York Times,
Newsweek, and Siskel and Ebert. "The Last Temptation of Christ" opened in
Phoenix amidst religious protesters and right wing hecklers. Chuck and Philip
and Paula begged me not to go but I wanted to see this movie for myself. My
live-in girlfriend and I
had to fight through lines of protesters, and had to be searched, and I even
had to pay full price for the tickets. Can you imagine! Me the Jew, always
looking for a bargain. The theater was packed and the audience cheered and
applauded throughout the movie and especially at the end. Did I enjoy it as
well? Amazingly, I did not and wrote a letter to the Arizona Republic which
was published on 8/8/88. I wrote:
"I am not an Evangelical Christian. I believe in the First Amendment
guarantees. I believe in creative expression. All that considered, "The Last
Temptation of Christ" was contemptible. It wasn't even good theater. The
screenplay was weak. The acting was either wooden or hysterical. Willem Defoe
was miscast. He did not have the voice or the temperament for the role of
Jesus (how did I know?)...the temptation at the end of the movie is a complete
fabrication and only served to demean Jesus... The movie has every right to
be shown but anyone with any sense of history, religious sensibility or cinema
should resist this temptation."
I got calls from Christians all over Phoenix thanking me for my letter.
Obviously the Holy spirit was working on my hard heart even though I resisted
it. Nearly two months later, I had a Damascus Road experience, a direct
revelation of Christ through visions and a dream, and got on my knees and
accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Amazing grace!
Now the Christian community is once again faced with another blasphemous work
of the liberal, secular left, "The Davinci Code". Read Ted Baehr's article
below and beware. But remember that God can use what was meant for evil and
use it for His glory. Look at what happened to me eighteeen years ago!
Praise God!
Stephen
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
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'Da Vinci Code': Compromising with evil
By Dr. Ted Baehr
------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49053