At age 61 Sly Stallone is at it again! The movie RAMBO has not met with great critic reviews. Nothing new there! What is amazing that at 61, SS has resurrected the RAMBO character and plays the lead! (Don’t tune me out…just yet…I am going somewhere with this!)
I have read here-and-there and seen a rare TV news media report about genocidal atrocities in various parts of the world. It is difficult living in our protected cocoon of the U.S.A. and fully understand how HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of people throughout the world are being enslaved, tortured, raped, butchered and forgotten! And a large percentage of these atrocities are against CHRISTIANS in those ‘un-civilizations’.
In RWANDA in recent years the estimate is that hundreds of thousands of Christians have been tortured and put to death. Recently some 20 churches were burned in that ethnic cleansing. At least two in which Christian families, moms, dads and children, were herded inside and burned alive.
I admit, I did not fully comprehend the suffering that our Lord endured for me until I saw Mel Gibson’s production “The Passion of The Christ“! It was hard to watch. Theater goers wept openly. Me, too. After that graphic protrayal I had, and still have, an awe and deeper sense of how horrific Jesus’ suffering was for me!
And now, RAMBO has a had a similar effect on me. The scenes were vividly, shockingly, realistic. The language – rough; the violence – graphic; and the scenes -disturbing. I experienced a wide range of emotions by the conclusion of the film. Not unlike my feelings and thoughts after “The Passion”. But this time it was a focus on another place(s) and people I’ve never met and never will this side of Heaven! My heart has been stirred.
Thus is the effect of the celluloid in our lives. The axiom is that “A picture is worth a thousand words”. And amplifying that then perhaps “A moving picture is worth ten-thousand words.” !
I’ve been to other countries. Among them Russia and Nigeria, and though our travels and stay were tenuous at times, the campaigns there were ‘peaceful’. Any threat of harm never seemed present.
In RAMBO the scene is set in modern day BURMA where thousands of the Karen People are being exterminated daily (an actual fact). It is estimated that there has been a population of between four and five million of these ethnic tribal peoples living in the eastern region of Burma. And, about 40% of them are our brothers and sisters in Christ! This genocide follows the “Program to Destroy the Christian Religion” set up by the current dictatorial (and diabolical) Burmese Military Government a few years ago.
The WITNESS organizaation, a leading authority on international Christian persecutions,, affirms in the last 21 years of the genocide in Burma that approximately 1.5 MILLION people have been killed. That would translate to nearly six hundred thousand Christians being slaughtered! That would be approximately 30,000 a year – almost a 600 a week….about a hundred Christians dying daily! Try to put your mind, and heart, around that number which includes men, women, children and babies!
Add to that number the persecutions and murders of Christians in other countries and the death toll becomes too staggering to believe. There are TEN COUNTRIES in which Christians are an ‘endangered species’. And, although we hear, read and see alot about endangered snails, owls, toads, etc., we NEVER see the media getting worked up over THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS BEING SLAUGHTERED EACH WEEK! One Human Rights group reflecting on world genocide estimates that in the last 25 years as many as 50 million people worldwide may have been killed in national terror campaigns against various faith and ethnic groups. And add to that, hundreds of millions are victims of slavery, persecutions, imprisonment and personal atrocities, especially against women and children!
Of those TEN MOST DANGEROUS COUNTRIES FOR CHRISTIANS….Six are Islamic governments, three are Communist governments (No. Korea, China & Laos), one is Buddist. (So much for the ‘peace loving’ monks!)
In NORTH KOREA there are an estimated 200,000 Christians who worship God ‘underground’. And there are purported to be approximately 50,000 Christians in prison being tortured and starved to death for simply worshipping God!!
The SUDAN has had an “unHoly War” for 25 years conducted by the Abrab/Muslim controlled government of northern Sudan, a Jihad, against the black population of the southern region, composed mostly of Christians. It is conservatively estimated that OVER TWO MILLION black Sudanese have been eradicated in the most horrible of ways. It is estimated FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND MAY HAVE STARVED TO DEATH!
RAMBO? It is an ‘over-the-top’, graphic production! Typical RAMBO fare. Rambo goes into Burma to rescue a Christian missionary team from Colorado. Very graphically it shows those (Karen People) who, in their village, have been worshipping God, hearing a sermon about “Jesus Christ”, reading their Bibles, being treated by the medical missionaries – are suddenly and without warning, slaughtered! The visuals are horrific! Not for the squeamish or queasy stomachs. And, the scenes may leave you with a mental, and maybe spiritual, imprint of how troubled our world really is in our seemingly modern, out-of-touch, comfortable age. We really live in a ‘bubble’ above much of the rest of the troubled world.
If you do go see it don’t let the movie’s savage scenes of carnage and slaughter overwhelm you so that you forget…..THIS IS GOING ON SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD ….as you munch your popcorn and sip your beverage in a comfortable theater seat. And then we all go home to a snack in a comfortable house and bed to match. The tragic truth is that for millions of Christians, there is NO RAMBO to the rescue! People just die, daily, horrible deaths for THEIR FAITH!
The CRITICS ‘hate’ RAMBO! Go to any Goggle site and pull up critical reviews. Almost to-the-critic it is slammed! No, it is not an Academy Award quality movie. (It is an intense ‘action flick’.) It is not going to be nominated for any favorable award! Not from Hollywood.
And, especially, not with CHRISTIANS being portrayed as ministering to the forgotten people of the world and in the name of “Jesus Christ”, willing to die for their beliefs! Not the Hollywood you and I’ve come to know and to …….well, hardly love – anymore!
In the critics’ reviews, I believe, “RAMBO” is much like “THE BUCKET LIST“, exclude the violence and the X-rated expletives. “Bucket List” is a good movie that depicts how those without faith in God face death is contrasted with those with faith. And it was/is condemned and damned by the majority of critics also. “God” was talked about favorably. “Faith” was a key element in the movie’s theme. And, a family held hands and gave thanks to God for their meal!!! And, they live “happily ever-after”, with Heaven on the other side of the horizon.
ARRRGGGGHHH!!! It’s more than Hollywood and the critics can stand!
RAMBO is different in that those who do such things….pray, give thanks, worship, talk about their faith ….are slaughtered! Oh well, so much for the rest of the world. Where are we going to eat after the movie?
And, sleep well tonight………………much of the Christian ‘world’ isn’t!
Maybe we add them to our “pray for these, too“, list.
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