Movie Devotions: End Stoning

Jeremiah 9: 20 Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.

It was both brutal and harrowing. I wept buckets of tears and left the movie theater angry. In fact, I was so angry that my teeth were clenched throughout my fifteen minute drive home.

Every woman and every man in this land should see “The Stoning of Soraya M.” Women should see it because of the brutal stoning and gender discrimination that is portrayed. Men should see it because of their wicked use of faith to squash human rights and their weakness in standing up against falsehoods.

The leading actresses in the movie, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Mozhan Marnò deserve Oscars. They are strong and beautiful, resolute and courageous. But because this is a foreign movie and Hollywood is so narcissistic, they won’t even be mentioned. And yet, I honestly have never seen a more powerful movie in my life. It has changed me completely.

The movie doesn’t entertain the audience, it educates them. I don’t know if America is ready for this because we’re becoming so tabloid titillated and paparazzi pampered that we don’t know how to deal with serious global issues anymore.

I want to set up a new online ministry called “End Stoning.” I’ll highlight the verse (John 8 v7) from the Gospel where Jesus says, “Whoever amongst you is sinless, let him cast the first stone.” I’ve even set up a new blog at www.endstoning.wordpress.com. I’ll put information about stonings from around the world and list the contact addresses of politicians and leaders that people can write to in order to end this barbaric, satanic, and inhumane religious practice. If you want to help me, then send me an email to traqair@aol.com.

Go and see the movie. Women are lamenting all around the world because of this horrific occurrence. This is not God’s work, God’s way, nor is it God’s judgment. This is about man’s inhumanity to women. This is the 21^st century. This has to stop.

Prayer: O LORD, let Your Spirit move amongst us so that we can begin the work of removing this scourge from the Earth. Help us to do whatever we can to save people from being stoned to death. Educate and inform us in order that we may rescue and liberate those who live under this diabolical tyranny. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Movie Devotions: The Stoning of Soraya M

Today’s devotion may be alarming to some. Please do not read if you are squeamish.

Isaiah 53: 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

I’m going to a movie this afternoon, but it’s not one that I’m going to enjoy. It’s called “The Stoning of Soraya M.” It’s about a young Iranian woman who was falsely accused of ‘unworthy conduct’ in her village and who ended up being horribly stoned to death, just for being a woman.

I cannot believe that in this 21^st century that women are being stoned to death in Iran. Gays and teenagers are also being killed in their communities by religious fanatics who wrongly believe that God wants these people stoned to death.

About eighteen months ago, I watched a horrifying video which was smuggled out of Iran of two young people being stoned to death. They were semi-entombed in a pit and covered in a white shroud. They were absolutely terrified and their families were desperately trying to protect them. When the mullah gave the word, stones the size of baseballs were harshly thrown against the bodies, faces, and heads of the unfortunate couple. Their agonized screams were drowned out by a fanatical chorus of “Allah akbhar!” (God is great!). The execution took fifteen minutes and when the camera secretly panned over the bodies all that could be seen was blood, guts, and brains.

How long can the United Nations allow this to happen? How long will Western governments dependent upon oil put up with these satanic injustices? How long will liberated women in the West ignore the plight of their sisters in Iran? And how long will Christian churches, whose Savior died a similar agonizing and repulsive death, who also spoke out against the stoning of women, how long will our churches refuse to speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves?

Prayer: Lord God, this world is tarnished by religious monsters and zealous terrorists who commit atrocities in Your Holy Name. Stop allowing them to hide behind the trappings of faith and raise up Your Son’s Church to courageously and boldly speak out against these evils. In Christ’s Holy Name, we pray for the women, the gays, and teenagers of Iran who live in fear of false accusations and satanic executions. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Tron Legacy Movie Clip

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies....

A Few Good Men: Handling the Truth

1 Samuel 3:17 "What was it he said to you?" Eli asked. "Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you."

Did you ever see the movie ‘A Few Good Men?’ it stars Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. It’s a courtroom drama and its gripping climax comes when Tom Cruise is cross examining Nicholson near the end. In a battle of words, Cruise passionately insists that he wants to hear the truth, to which Nicholson aggressively replies: “You can’t handle the truth!”

When old Eli insists that the boy Samuel tells him what God has spoken to him, he wants to hear the truth, no matter what it is. Samuel is reluctant to tell him because it is a prophetic curse upon Eli and his sons. But Eli persists and even curses Samuel with the same fate if he does not tell him what God has said.

I wonder if moments later Eli had wished he hadn’t been given the message. The truth was ruthless and full of judgment upon Eli and his family. Would he have been better off being ignorant of God’s wrathful message?

I try to preach the Gospel from the pulpit on Sunday mornings. Sometimes when I’m looking over a chosen passage, I wish that Jesus hadn’t said what He did. I know that when I start preaching the truth, it is sometimes too much for people in the pews to handle. So I’m left with a dilemma, do I please the people by diluting the Gospel, or do I please Jesus by not mincing His words?

The truth about the Gospel is this: some people can’t handle it, so they shape it into something that makes them comfortable and spiritually cozy. But they ignore this truth – how cozy is the Cross? How comfortable are the calls that Christ makes to us to repent, challenge our ways, and change our lives? A Gospel that is comfortable makes us all spiritual couch potatoes; Christ’s Gospel, which is awkward and challenging, makes us who God calls us to be.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we’ve let society become our Savior and allowed the world to become the Word. We’ve surrendered our souls to coziness and peacefulness, instead of aligning our spirits to the Gospel and You. We honestly can’t handle the Truth and so we make up our own Way, which leads us to no Life. Forgive us and rebuke us; direct us and renew us. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

A Feast of Easter

The Easter Story, as told through my Christian contemporary art.

High Noon - A Good Friday Devotion

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi,lama sabachthani?" — which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

The first time I ever came across the word “forsake” was when I saw the old black & white western movie, “High Noon.” You’ll remember that it starred Gary Cooper as a US Marshall who single handedly has a gunfight with four gunslingers whoa re out to get their revenge. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, it’s also Gary Cooper’s wedding day and his bride, played by Grace Kelly is thinking about deserting him.

The title song of the movie, sung by Tex Ritter, is called “Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darling,” and it more or less tells the whole story of the picture. It’s a wonderful song and I learned it completely as a child. If I had the time, I could sing to you from start to finish.

So I learned from that movie that the word ‘forsaken’ means to abandon someone in the midst of deep trouble and possibly life threatening circumstances. When I later came across the passage from scripture where Jesus shouts out from the Cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” all that I could think of, was how abandoned Jesus felt by His Father.

It must have been both a terrible and terrifying moment for Jesus. As His life is fading away and the pain is most excruciating, it’s as if the Devil chooses this weak moment to tempt Jesus into believing that the situation is hopeless and that God can no longer bear to watch what is happening. Only the night before, Jesus pleaded with God to take this cup of sacrifice away from Him. He didn’t personally want to go through with it, but eventually Jesus surrendered Himself to God’s will.

As Christ calls out these words, beneath the Cross His beloved Mother is also going through the same agony, second by second, tear by tear, blood drop by blood drop. Jesus’ words must have pierced her heart and I imagine that Mary must also have felt forsaken by God and the promises that Gabriel had given to her before Christ was born. But perhaps she also remembered that another name was given to Jesus – that of Immanuel – which means God is with us. Mary could do nothing for her Son at that time, except to hold on to the promise that God had not forsaken them, but was still in the midst of the suffering.

As each Easter comes and goes, we all experience loss and grief, separation and suffering, pain and anxiety. During those moments, sometimes despair will rend our hearts and bring chaos to our minds. On Good Friday, we recall the suffering of our Savior, the heartbreak of His Mother, and the holy presence of the God who suffers with us. We are not forsaken nor forgotten by God. We are supported, embraced, and completely loved.

Amazing Grace

Hosea 14:4 I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.

Podcast Version here:

Sometimes when I make mean mistakes or selfishly sin, I think that God is deeply disappointed and angry with me. I find it difficult to approach Him with the right contrition and sincerity, so I end up wondering if I will be forgiven. I don’t feel worthy enough to be saved or good enough to be pardoned, and sometimes a darkness overwhelms my soul. It’s a frightening thing to fear God and to think that He will harshly judge me.

And then, just as I need it most, the Spirit leads me to a biblical verse which turns out to be a wonderful promise of God’s grace in action. Even as a pastor, I need to hear God speak to my soul. And He does today through these wonderful words of Hosea. It’s as if God is saying to me: “I will heal your waywardness and love you freely, for my anger has turned away from you.”

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie, ‘Amazing Grace.’ It’s all about William Wilberforce, the great anti-slave trade opponent who gave his life seeking to abolish slavery throughout Britain and her colonies. In one scene from the movie, Wilberforce is seen talking to John Newton, the slave trader turned preacher. Newton is agonizing over his sinful past and despairingly expresses his deep regrets. At one moment, he is almost overwhelmed with his past wickedness. Then he boldly declares: “I know two things – I am a great sinner and that Christ is a Great Savior.”

We all carry burdens of past mistakes and each of us have moments when we feel our guilt before God. But His grace through Jesus Christ is so almighty and complete, that all our sins can be forgiven, our past burdens can be relieved, and our future hopes can be restored. We just need to come to Christ in prayer to receive these wonderful blessings.

Prayer: Father God, we know that we offend, disappoint, and anger You with our sinful ways and selfish choices. We confess to doing stupid things and making serious mistakes. We seek Your mercy and forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice and grace. In His Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.