The Apostate Church - by Paul Proctor

IMAGINE (PART II)
UNDERESTIMATING GOD

By: Paul Proctor

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

"The Siege", a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington, Annette Bening and Bruce Willis has recently been in rotation on the USA Network. As many of you know it's not only about Islamic terrorism coming to New York City but more importantly it is about America's military being used against its own citizens under martial law. By executive order the Commander in Chief essentially suspends the Constitution in the name of "peace and safety" which of course leads to anything BUT peace and safety.

The first time I saw the trailer back in 1998 at a local theater, I was cautiously excited that John Q. Public might actually get a fictional demonstration of government abuse in action under a declared state of national emergency. I say "cautiously excited" because although I was elated that important constitutional issues would likely be raised before the popcorn-munching masses, my euphoria was guarded by a nagging concern that Hollywood might (yet again) use the power of imagery to deceive with leftist propaganda, biased conjecture and a lot of half-truths. (Being experts at it and all) On the other hand, with the unsettling threat of Y2K looming ahead, I thought an accurate and honest portrayal of martial law in America might prove to be both timely and informative. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be such a great flick, nor were the constitutional issues really dealt with beyond the obvious military aspects, (surprise-surprise) but it's wide release did get many normally preoccupied and apathetic consumers to talk openly about things that were once considered unsuitable for public discourse. The fact that such a controversial topic had even been allowed into the mainstream AT ALL by "the powers that be" was itself a coup. (Pardon the pun) But, then maybe the purpose of the production wasn't to entertainingly address anything of substance but to simply remind us of their presence, strength and resolve.

Seeing footage of the World Trade Center towering over New York City's skyline in various movies and television programs shot before September 11th serves, I think, as an eerie reminder that what we often CALL reality is little more than a passing illusion. But then, this is the "Age of Illusion", where men and women religiously invest their brief and fleeting lives in mirages of materialism and the sensual gratification of their carnal containers. (ref. Ecclesiastes)

What really struck me though about watching "The Siege" on TV the other night, (post 9-11), was how much Hollywood had underestimated evil's potential. We thought we had really experienced the fear, fury and trauma of terrorism when we flinched in our theater seats as Agent Hubbard (Denzel Washington) was thrown to the pavement by the blast of an exploding bus. But after witnessing TWO AIR BUSSES fly into the World Trade Center on live television and collapse the Twin Towers onto 3000 people over several city blocks, I must admit that little replay of "The Siege" left me yawning.

Chuck Missler, a renown Bible scholar and commentator who graduated from the Naval Academy with a masters in engineering and more than a working knowledge of applied mathematics teaches that our post Garden of Eden, three dimensional world, is really only the tip of life's iceberg. In a quantum physics article he wrote entitled: "The Boundaries of Reality" he says this about our universe:

"The ancient Hebrew scholar Nachmonides, writing in the 12th century, concluded from his studies of the text of Genesis that the universe has ten dimensions: that four are knowable and six are beyond our knowing...Particle physicists today have also concluded that we live in ten dimensions. Three spatial dimensions and time are directly discernible and measurable...Some physicists believe that there may be as many as 26 dimensions."

So, the next time you sit down to casually watch a replay of "The Siege", I hope you'll consider this:

If the smoking rubble at "ground zero" more accurately represents the evil of fallen man and his capacity to hate than even Hollywood can imagine, how much more have our own imaginations underestimated the love of God and all He has endured to redeem us?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

You see...the human imagination is not some vast and unexplored frontier without boundary or limitation as many humanists and intellectuals would have you believe. Rather, it is a small dark prison where angry and arrogant men boast of their freedom from the Light. (John 8:12)

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9)

Paul Proctor, a rural resident of the Volunteer state and seasoned veteran of the country music industry, retired from showbiz in the late 1990's to dedicate himself to addressing important social issues from a distinctly biblical perspective. Paul Proctor is a writer for the American Reformation Project and a regular columnist for Ether Zone.

Paul can be reached by email at watchman@usa.com