Pensees: Every Tribe Entertainment’s Offense

i haven’t had time to scroll through the SI threads, so forgive me if i’m restating the obvious here. am i correct in understanding from several comments in your post here that the primary grievance / reason for the focus on chad allen particularly (as opposed to the lifestyles and agendas of the rest of the cast and crew, which seem to have received little to no attention, although it’s hard to believe they aren’t sinners, as well) is due to allen’s particularly outspoken activism and promotion of a gay lifestyle as normal and right?

has anyone written an open letter to chad allen? i’ve seen a lot of articles and buzz about articles, and i know some private letters have passed between individuals.

are you guys taping the LKL show tonight with mohler and allen?

I just came across two good comments on the film and the issue of Allen’s activism. Challies.com (Hat tip: Joe Fleener) and Steve Camp. Steve Camp actually recommends not viewing the movie and calls for repentance from Steve Saint and ETE.

I agree with your assessment wholeheartedly. Those 5 missionaries were were a precious gift from Christ to his church. I can’t help but feel that we’ve dishonored giver by sullying the memory of the gift.

this was good and helpful to me. you didn’t make me wade through hip-deep arguments of mush, but plowed good and clear trails to truth. thanks for the effort that took.

I have posted this elsewhere but I will again here..

There is absolutely no credibility to a practicing, unrepentant (and proudly so per the cnn transcript) homosexual (or any other blatant and willful sinner) sharing the gospel. This is a perfect example of unequally yoking good(story) with evil(person). If an openly gay person is the front man for Christianity, God help the people whose souls will be lost by the hypocrisy of that message.

The openly gay star of this movie, states and I quote “It is a deep-founded, faith-based belief in God based upon the work that I’ve done growing up as a Catholic boy and then reaching out to Buddhism philosophy, to Hindu philosophy, to Native American beliefs and finally as I got through my course with addiction and alcoholism and finding a higher power that worked for me.”

The God of the Bible I read has no part of Buddhism, Hinduism or American Indian beliefs.

The star of the movie also says and again I quote “I’m a part of a wonderful community church here in Pasadena that has a very different interpretation of those same gospels that they are speaking of. There isn’t just one way to do this, there are a lot of paths”

The God of the Bible I read says “I am the truth and the light, no one comes to the Father but by me”. He also says “narrow is the path that leads to salvation” There is only one way and one path that leads to God. Unfortunately the star of this movie is on the path that leads to hell, not God and this is the person and the movie many churches are promoting on web pages and sermons as a good evangelistic tool.

This gay actor PROUDLY revels in his homosexuality and claims his “god” approves. Rebuke this garbage and do it loudly. The message of the gospel can be rendered ineffective if the messenger himself undermines the message. Hey, I know, how about a movie starring Michael Jackson as a person who runs a child care center and teaches the evils of child molestation!

How many people will be won to Christ by a person who says “do as I say, not as I do”?

Wowee Kazowee. That was awesome! I can’t imagine its being put any better.

The fact that Chad Allen is a gay activist does not change the movie or its message. Chad Allen is free to attempt “bridge-building” between the homosexual community and Christians. No one can stop that. Every Tribe Entertainment and Steve Saint would never support that promotion and would never encourage it, but Chad is an independant agent. The inability to watch a movie with an objective eye for what is actually on the screen will always lead away from the point and the goal. I uderstand the sensitivity of those who want to keep the pristine and holy missionary endeavour of Nate Saint and his five companions preserved. The movie itslef must be the deciding factor that says if the legacy is preserved or not. Chad Allen does not play Chad Allen in the movie. He plays a man of whom the world was not worthy, a man of holiness, a man who would not cease to proclaim the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and a man that was willing to be martyred in order that others might live. There must be a separation between the movie and the external politics relating to it. Yes, it would have been easier if an activist was not chosen to play the role. But the fact that one did does not automatically assume that Every Tribe and Steve Saint has sinned against the Body of Christ. That idea is simply ludicrous, unneccesary, and damaging. ETE made a movie and told a story. Casting directors chose the best available talent. The movie was excellently produced. How is the sin of Chad Allen’s activism thus transferred onto ETE? I completely understand the alarm of many concerned Christians, but casting out accusations of harming the Church is a serious matter. Christ views such sin against his Bride as privy to the greatest of torments. Please, be careful not to jump to conclusions. Let us look at the movie with objective eyes and soft hearts and be eager to tell others what on earth would cause five men to forsake all and die for a group of savage Indians.

With love,

GPA

Does anyone know the musical melody of the Madonna song “Like a Virgin”? Suppose I take that same melody and put Christian words to it. If I were to play you my “new” song, upon hearing the opening melody, are you going to be thinking about my new words of the old melody? How similar to Chad Allen giving a Christian message. Unless he repents of his sin, it is impossible to look past his current spiritual condition and that overshadows any message he might give in ANY “christian” movie he is in.

This gay actor PROUDLY revels in his homosexuality and claims his “god” approves of his lifestyle. Rebuke this garbage and do it loudly. The message of the gospel in this movie is lost completely by a messenger totally opposed to Scripture. Would you invite an unrepentant, convicted pedophile to lead a youth group at your church? How about inviting an unrepentant, convicted rapist to lead single women at a church bible study? Better still, how about an unrepentant, convicted embezzler to be the treasurer of your church? Why then an unrepentant, flaming homosexual as a messenger for Christ? How weak some people’s discernment has become.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction

Titus 1:9-16 says “9Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. 10For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. 12One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; 14Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. 15Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

People need to open their eyes and obey God’s Word, including a lot of lukewarm so-called Christian leaders that are starting to look more and more like Scribes and Pharisees!

Wake up people

GPA,

At first blush your statement sounds cultured and worldly-wise, maybe even spiritually acute. It is actually none of the above.

You said

The fact that Chad Allen is a gay activist does not change the movie or its message.

Read Matthew 23. Jesus told the listening crowd to listen to what the Pharisees said, but to not do what they did. Then, He began to preach hell-fire and damnation to the hypocrites and vipers (as He called them) because of the utter incongruity of their lives with their message. The LORD of TRUTH commended their message, but condemned in the strongest terms both the messengers and the method. The messenger does matter. Especially if the message is as important as the defenders of ETE’s choice say it is.

If the MESSAGE of the film is as important as you say, then it is equally true that the MESSENGER matters. While there may be wonderful aspects of the message that will/must get through because the a true message is always valid (thus Jesus told the people to obey the Pharisees), it does not for one moment justify the deliberate selection of a person who makes everything he does a platform for a godless message.

Now, you may respond as many do, “but it’s just a movie.” However, you also said,

The movie itslef (sic) must be the deciding factor that says if the legacy is preserved or not.

That’s a pretty important message, don’t you think? IF the movie itself is the deciding factor that says if the legacy is preserved or not, why is it also a platform for a depraved agenda? Why does it say so little about Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ was the First Motive of these men. Yet you say,

ETE made a movie and told a story.

You offer up no Biblical rationale. If it is true that, as you say “Casting directors chose the best available talent,” how does that exculpate ETE? Where is your Biblical evidence that they are mandated to choose the best available actor, even if the best available actor is determined to use everything, even this movie, to promote his evil? The fact is you have no Biblical evidence for anything that you said in your post. I would hesitate before labeling as “ludicrous” the concerns of thousands in the Body of Christ when our concerns (especially mine as stated in my post) are biblically and theologically grounded.

You say, “I completely understand the alarm of many concerned Christians. . .”

Clearly, you don’t.

I didn’t read all these coments so forgive me if this has been said. Are we to hate Chad Allen because he has completely been decieved by the Evil one. How many of us have never been decieved by Satan?We should rejoice that he has a great chance to be exposed to Christianity. There has been a huge seed planted in his life. I prayerfully hope this experience will help Christ eventually reach him. It has also given us as Christians a_chance_to see that Allen needs prayer. One more thing we are told to hate the sin and not the sinner. What made me coment on this page at all was the mention of Chad Allen as evil. Noone is evil except satan and his demons. How would Allen see the love of Christ in that? Please pray for his salvation.

Maria,

The message of ths Gospel is Jesus and His salvation.

To understand that we need a savior, we first must learn what we have done wrong that REQUIRES that we need a savior. Chad seems to have been exposed to the Gospel but he does not admit to his sin. THERE IS NO SALVATION for a person who does not admit his sin. Even if he admits it, there is still one more thing. He must repent of it.

Chad is PROUD to be a sinner and PROUD to proclaim it. God’s word tells us to AVOID people like that. You are right, we are not to hate them. but we are to AVOID them.

Now how can a person like Chad be a messenger of the Gospel? Until he repents, he can’t. If you don’t like that answer, take it up with God because that is God’s standard.

Maria,

One more rebuke of what you said. Where do you get that “noone is evil except satan”???

The BIBLE says in many places that people are evil. One verse that somes to mind is Jeremiah 13:10 whsih says “This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing”

Sounds like Chad to me!

Thank you for having the courage to speak the truth in love ! (and back it with scripture) I spoke up about my feelings on the movie at endofthespear.com in the forums and I got blasted. I would like to share with you a comment that Jesse Saint (son of Steve Saint) said on the thread I posted called, What about Jesus?

” The purpose of this movie was NOT [emphasis mine] to preach the Gospel. It was to tell a true story of changed lives and to provoke people to ask the question, “What really caused the change.”

He also said

“One very big misconception of this story is that one of the reasons that the homicide rate in the tribe dropped by 90% following Rachel, Elizabeth and Dayumae going to Tiwaeno was because most of the tribe accepted Christ. Even now, probably under 10% of the Waodani are Christians. Many of the older Christians are from that Tiwaeno group, but even they did not all accept right away. The Waodani lived in constant fear and hatred. When the other family groups heard that the Gikitaidi had given up their vendettas, the other groups did as well. This was not the power of the gospel, in many cases, but a realization that there was another way to live without the hate and fear”

So if their intent was not about the Gospel and the change in the tribe was NOt by the power of the Gospel, why are so many well meaning Christians arguing in there defence that it was??

I think he unwittingly confirmed our fears about this movie, ETI, and its message. (or lack there of)

I am sad. The story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and the others has been clouded by the choice to use an activist for and from the gay community in a lead role. The body of Christ has been put into a difficult position by this choice because now we are forced to decide whether to see the film and support the decision or not see it because of our struggle with the lifestyle that the lead actor promotes and lives. New Tribes has made a poor decision and should have known better. I am not in the place to tell anyone else what to do but I will not see the film and will let the church I pastor know of my decision. While I believe the Body of Christ should demonstrate the love of Jesus toward everyone including those who are gay, I also believe we must take a stand against that which is plainly condemned in the scripture. It is a difficult thing to do because so often individuals don’t believe we can love them while hating the sin that is destroying them. I will be praying for Chad Allen because he is loved by God and was died for by Jesus. But I cannot abide by the decision to use him in a place of ministry no matter his talent level. 2 Cor 6:14 “What fellowship can light have with darkness?”

Pastor Bixby,

Excellent post, and I appreciate you not calling for a boycott, but causing your readers instead to think. I find it interesting that because we stand against sin, we are labeled as haters. Maria, as far as I know no one on the blog has advocated hating Chad Allen.

As blood bought children of God I believe we should remember 2 things, this is just a friendly reminder after reading all the comments.

1. As Jonathan Edwards resolved, let the sins of others produce deep mourning over the sin in our own lives. Let others faults remind us of our own bents, and let us take heed to stand lest we fall, instead of thinking all the while we are OK. Let us grieve for the sins of others like they were are own, and look towards our own hearts, lest in our fight to defend truth, we find ourselves growing cold and hard in our hearts. A man could go on fighting error till the day he dies, and all the while grow cold and dry towards God in his affections. Do not let your prayer lives deteroriate to a few minutes a day, cry out to God, stay for hours in the closet before you blast error and sin, then , when you are in the right frame, GO BLAST IT!

Having said that, once we make certain that we are right in these areas,

2. We must remember the God of the Bible is just and holy , and not only hates the sin but the Sinner.. ( I believe Carl pointed this out) Remember Romans 9, “Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated. Psalm 5:5 “You Hate all workers of iniquity”
Most people want to go to heaven, they just dont want God to be there when they get there. It is the sinner who wants to practice his sin , continue in it, but still be accepted by a Holy God, that God hates. When God refuses the vegetable sacrifice, the reaction is only anger. We cannot take the Love of God, without the Justice. So we are not given permission to hate people or our enemies, but love them, God retains the right.

I apolagize but I know personally that “End of the Spear” has had an impact on Chad Allen’s life. While shooting the film in Ecuador, he was only surrounded with Christians, who accepted him the way he was, but of course do not agree with what he does. He came back asking questions, but when he went back to his old lifestyle of friends, it became once again a challenge. God loves the sinner, but not the sin. He accepts us right where we are, but doesn’t want to leave us where we are. You see, even if this film where to have reached ONE person for the Lord, say Chad Allen himself, then it would all be worth it and alll of you would have a different attitude. You would all be saying “praise the Lord”. Well, you know it’s almost been a year since the movie released, and, I still hear about people complaining about, instead of praying about it…..Have you ever stopped, to look at your prayer life? How much time do you spend complaining about the circumstance you are facing? How much time do you spend taking it to God in prayer? This is what I believe we should do. Pray. After all, when two or three are gathered in his name, wont he be in the midst. Another note is when the cast was being choosen, there were backups for everyone….except Chad. If he got sick, or something where to of happen, we didn’t have someone to stand in. The reason i know all of this, is because for 3 months I was a temporary person for Every Tribe. I was one of the people who had to reply to all of the hate mail we received from all those who emailed, called, and sent letters. I have a question? What about the fox in Narnia? Has anyone condemed them? The voice of the fox is a gay. God loves us all. He has called us to love our neighbor. What ever we do to our neighbor in turn we are doing to God.