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Gibson's "Passion" Gathers Steam as Advanced Showing Date Unveiled
February 2004
With advanced sales for Gibson's film reaching massive levels, the full extent of the desired effect of "The Passion of the Christ" is becoming apparent. Plans stretch far beyond just releasing a film about the Crucifixion, they lay out full plans for structured sermons, lectures, and classes based around the film. Church goers are subscribing to these in large numbers with entire cinemas booked out by Church groups.
Anyone
who thinks Gibson's film is just another ordinary film needs to definitely
think again.
When was the last time a trailer for an upcoming release was sent to most of the Churches in the US? When was the last time entire auditoriums were booked out by Church groups to view a film? When was the last time a film came coupled with suggested sermons to be delivered after its release?
"The Passion of the Christ", even in its early days, appeared to be far more than met the eye. The Pope himself was given a screening of the film, along with other senior Vatican officials, as well as screening to countless ministers and priests. Another interesting event relating to the film was the phenomenon of the official fan website running a unique initiative. Our article about the film written in December suggested the motives behind asking people to register their interest, along with their zip code, may not be completely for the reasons put forward by the site. It now appears this view has been vindicated.
In December the fans website1 was feverishly canvassing for support from the fans. It was predicted that unless each fan registered their interest upon the website and gave their details, then the chances are that that film would not be shown at all by the cinema. Just over one month on from this we read very different reports in the press regarding the movie, suggesting that interest from it may be higher than the fan site portrays:
"..it seems to be generating the kind of interest that could deliver $25 million to $30 million in the first five days." 2
The film has thrived among Church groups, with more than 20,000 tickets having been pre-ordered by "religious groups eager to see Mel Gibson's new film" as reported by the Australian national daily newspaper, The Nation 3. The paper goes on to report that the film's distributors, have been flooded with:
"requests from various denominations to book out whole movie complexes, hold discussion sessions after screenings, and even place a confessional booth outside a cinema when it opens nationally on Ash Wednesday, February 25."
This
is no ordinary film. People are planning many things around this film,
especially the groups connected to the film's promotion and distribution.
An evangelical organisation known as "Outreach Ministry Inc" has been sending out DVDs containing trailers of the film. This group is also responsible for the official Passion Outreach website. The website shows the depth of the "The Passion of the Christ" project. It is in place to do all the after-film promotion of the Christian message. The website has a clear message for church leaders:
"The Passion of The Christ movie does an excellent job helping people experience what Christ did for them on the cross. But it does not answer the many questions they will leave with. Your church can help answer questions such as: Is Jesus God? Why did Jesus have to die? Is Jesus the only way to God? Is Jesus alive? This web site and the tools available from Outreach, Inc. are designed to help your church reach out by helping those in your community to explore these and other questions."
This learning resource even contains suggested passion-related sermons that can be personalised and used by pastors.
This film is part of a bigger project, a frontal assault on the world with the powerful image of violence, persecution, and supposed death. The outreach website makes this clear. The pastors and ministers of the Church too are realising the potential of this medium and the film:
“The
movie is Biblical, powerful and potentially life-changing. The thing that
I'm most excited about is the opportunity it's going to give those of
us who preach the cross to explain the meaning and message of the cross
to untold millions of people asking questions about our Lord’s death and
why He did what He did. There's no question it is the most hard-hitting
display and demonstration of the crucifixion.” (Baptist Press, Aug 22,
2003) Jack Graham, President, Southern Baptist Convention
The Outreach organisation are pulling out all the stops to deliver their
message to the Church leaders. They have teamed up with the Church Communication
Network to provide a one hour program geared towards training Church leaders
in how best to utilise this film for their purposes. Communication is
being done via a satellite TV broadcast:
"In an exclusive training event on Saturday, February 7 , CCN will provide you the opportunity to mobilize your church for the impact that The Passion can have in your community." 3
There is a massive investment in this film and the whole "Passion of the Christ" project. This is a big roll of the dice by the proponents of orthodox Christianity. The Passion Outreach website describes the film as:
"perhaps the best outreach opportunity in 2000 years."4
Cory Engel, of Harvest Springs Community Church in Great Falls, Mont is one of the people supporting the idea of purchasing bulk tickets for the film and offering them to others for free. The pastor has himself raised $12,000 for this purpose. He is clear that he does not feel he is selling a movie, but instead describes this period marked by the airing of this film as "a window of opportunity."
Where is this film leading people? The path seems to be one that strongly affirms the literal accounts of the Gospels, one that has Jesus dying for the sins of humanity, and one that ultimately separates man from God. The reaffirmation of the Churches message will bring their importance in to view for the people once more. It will serve as their mandate to call for a return to the orthodox ways that Christianity has fought so hard to shake off.
Is the work
of scholars such as Thomas Sheehan, and Bishop Shelby Spong going to be
eradicated by a mass brainwashing of the masses using Gibson's cinematic
talents? This is the way the whole project appears to be going and it
is gathering pace day by day.
For proponents of the Tomb of Jesus website this period also presents an opportunity not to be missed.
An opportunity to offer to the public an alternative view of the life of Jesus the Christ, a chance to publicly analyse the events that took place that fateful day, and a chance to publicly expose what Holger Kersten likes to call "The Jesus Conspiracy".
References
[1] http://www.passion-movie.com
[2] http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-passion7feb07,1,4501307.story?coll=la-home-business
[3] http://www.ccnonline.net/broadcasts/evt_07feb04/index.shtml
[4 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/05/entertainment/main598336.shtml]
Articles of interest:
[A] http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8597077%255E2702,00.html
[B] http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=149862004
[C] http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001851628_csmpassion06.html