A $4 million faith-based movie made largely by 400 volunteers from the homeschooling community is hoping to open April 6 on as many as 1,100 screens, far more than needed to set a record for the largest on-demand theatrical opening.
The film, called Beyond the Mask and starring John Rhys-Davies, is a faith-based action-adventure movie. It’s set in Colonial America and, while fiction, includes some historical facts and figures, like the signing of the Declaration of Independence and scenes involving the likes of Benjamin Franklin. It was the historical aspect that drew Rhys-Davies to the project.
“I love history, and there’s a lot of shared history that America and Britain have,” said the Welsh actor. “It’s an exciting story with wonderful historical elements.”
The plot involves a mercenary for the British East India Company — which producer Aaron Burns calls “the first too-big-to-fail multinational company to get special favors from the government” — who is on the run and trying to rehabilitate his reputation after having been double-crossed. Rhys-Davies plays the heavy in the film, and he clearly has an affinity for America’s earliest heroes.
“Ben Franklin is one of the most fortuitously happy of men,” he said while in New Zealand filming The Shannara Chronicles, an upcoming fantasy series from MTV. “Franklin is thoughtful and well-read, and his contemporaries are the most stimulating bunch of young Englishmen ever to have left the British Isles. Those Founding Fathers of yours — you think of Pericles in Athens. Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Washington — they are an extraordinary class of very great men who can get on with each other and change the world.” (Read more from “John Rhys-Davies’ Faith-Based Film Aims to Top ‘Theater-on-Demand’ Release Record” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-28 03:30:562015-03-28 03:30:56“Beyond the Mask” Faith-Based Film Set to Smash All Records, Largest “Theater-on-Demand” Release in History
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is financing the creation of a system for the “automatic detection” of cyberbullying.
The project was awarded this month to Rutgers University, which has received $117,102 so far. The real-time, automatic detection of hurtful online speech is necessary, according to the NSF grant, because cyberbullying is a “critical social problem.” The grant said 40 percent of American teenagers have reported being cyberbullied.
“This project aims to define new approaches for automatic detection of cyberbullying by integrating the relevant research in social sciences and computer science,” the grant said.
The project will involve searching for keywords and studying the relationships between teenagers who send and receive mean online messages.
“Specifically, this research will advance the state of the art in cyberbullying detection beyond textual analysis by also giving due attention to the social relationships in which these bullying messages are exchanged,” the grant said. (Read more from “Feds Spend over $100,000 to Autodetect Cyberbullying” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-28 03:25:242015-03-28 03:25:24Where is this in the Constitution?! Feds Spend over $100,000 to Autodetect Cyberbullying
American Idol contestant Kimberly Henderson hasn’t let three rejections from the show’s auditions break her spirit, but a recent story she shared on her Facebook page has gained her more respect from Christians than a win on the show ever could.
“Two years ago today I was sitting in an abortion clinic thinking not having Vaida was best for me,” Henderson wrote about her now-two-year-old daughter. “Well this date is forever burned in my brain. … I think that is God’s way of showing me that HIS plan is and will always be greater and bigger than anything and everything I’ve ever known”. . .
In the post, Kimberly shares another message she originally wrote on the day that she decided not to have the abortion. She describes being upset at her boyfriend at the time for cheating on her, and she made up her mind that she wouldn’t have his child.
But a string of events happened on her way to the abortion clinic that worked toward convincing Kimberly that God was trying to speak to her. Her other daughter was sick so she had to find a sitter last-minute, she got lost, and then her car broke down for 15 minutes, making her late for her appointment. But ultimately, it was a card that fell out of her purse as she searched for her driver’s license that changed her mind once and for all.
The card was given to her by a Christian couple and on the back was a powerful Bible verse: “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10. (Read more from “American Idol Contestant Kimberly Henderson Tells Touching Story of Abortion and How God Changed Her Mind at the Last Minute [+video]” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-28 03:24:052015-03-28 03:24:05American Idol Contestant Kimberly Henderson Tells Touching Story of Abortion and How God Changed Her Mind at the Last Minute [+video]
By Ben Johnson. Kansas will become the first state in the country to ban a procedure in which unborn children are dismembered in the womb, [when] Gov. Sam Brownback signs a bill that recently passed the state legislature.
The state House passed a ban on dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortions, called dismemberment abortions in common parlance, by 98-26 on Wednesday.
The Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, which had already passed the state Senate in February 31-9, now heads to Gov. Brownback’s desk.
Brownback, a staunch defender of life, is expected to sign the act into law.
“Because of the Kansas legislature’s strong pro-life convictions, unborn children in the state will be protected from brutal dismemberment abortions,” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, which has made banning dismemberment abortions a national legislative focus. (Read more from “Guess Which State Protects and Values Life and Which One is Expanding the Culture of Death” HERE)
New York State Assembly Passes Dangerous Expansion of Abortion in the Third Trimester
By National Right to Life News Today. Today in a vote of 94-49 the New York State Assembly approved passage of AB 6221, the extreme stand-alone 10th point from the previously packaged 10-point Women’s Equality Act, which would expand third-trimester abortions and allow non-doctors to perform abortions.
Since 2013, abortion advocates had held the Women’s Equality Act hostage to this single dangerous bill, refusing to break the 10-point bill up. This session, however, the will of the voters was finally heard, and the stand-alone bills have been considered.
“Expanding cruel and brutal third-trimester abortions has long been a goal of the anti-life lobby who never met an abortion they didn’t like,” said Lori Kehoe, New York State Right to Life executive director. “With no regard for the fully developed unborn baby who is violently dismembered, or otherwise killed, the New York State Assembly once again put the abortion lobby above New York State women and their children.” (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-27 03:33:092015-03-27 03:33:09Guess Which State is Increasing Protections for Life and Which One is Expanding the Culture of Death
California will alter its 8-year-old ban preventing all registered sex offenders from living near schools or parks, state officials announced Thursday, instead imposing the restriction only on pedophiles and others whose sex crimes involved children.
The state corrections department said it is changing its policy in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that found the blanket prohibition unconstitutional. The high court ruled this month that restrictions imposed by California voters in 2006 go too far to limit where sex offenders can live.
Parole agents can still force sex offenders to live more than 2,000 feet from schools and parks where children gather, as required by the ballot measure commonly known as Jessica’s Law. But they will have to make the decision for individual cases.
The March 2 ruling applied only to registered sex-offender parolees in San Diego County, but prison officials will apply the ruling statewide. Some local governments outside San Diego County also have begun repealing their local residency restrictions in response to the high court’s ruling. (Read more from “California Loosens Sex Offender Residency Restrictions” HERE)
What started as a way to put a smile on a 5-year-old’s face has become an international phenomenon beyond his mom’s wildest dreams.
Seth, who was born without an immune system, has a big smile, an even bigger personality and a simple message: Wear yellow [today] on March 27 to show him support.
Seth’s disorder, called severe combined immunodeficiency, is also known as the “bubble baby” disease because children like Seth must live in extremely clean environments.
Leanne (occasionally joined by Seth’s dad, Nik) has been keeping supporters updated on Seth’s condition through her blog. He is due for another bone marrow transplant in about five weeks, she said, when he’s well enough. His first transplant in 2010 was unsuccessful.
She’s thankful for the supportive responses her blog has gotten, she said. (Read more from “Why Everyone is Wearing Yellow Today for This Little Boy [+video]” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-27 03:29:422015-03-27 03:29:42Why Everyone is Wearing Yellow Today for This Little Boy [+video]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is spending nearly $150,000 to test a “mindful eating intervention” on third graders in California.
A grant awarded earlier this month outlined the project that will use the methods of a Zen teacher to try to fight childhood obesity and turn kids into “change agents” to teach others how to eat healthily.
The project, entitled, “Foodie U: The Impact of a Pilot Mindful Eating Intervention on Food Behaviors Among Children and Families,” will focus on low-income Hispanic children.
“The elementary school age is a crucial period for developing life-long dietary habits while parents still significantly influence their food intake,” the grant said. “A school-based mindful eating intervention with parent involvement may positively influence children’s food behaviors.”
Mindfulness is a New Age meditation technique that traces its origins from Buddhism. People engaging in mindfulness are encouraged to focus on the present moment “non-judgmentally.” A 60 Minutes segment on mindfulness showed Anderson Cooper using the practice by eating in silence very slowly, focusing on every bite. (Read more from “Feds Spend $149,890 on ‘Mindful Eating Intervention’ for Third Graders” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-26 03:49:272015-03-26 03:49:27Feds Spend $149,890 on “Mindful Eating Intervention” for Third Graders
A controversial Indiana bill that could protect business owners who don’t want to provide services for same-sex couples moved closer to law on Monday, after passage by the state’s House.
Senate Bill 101, known as the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” was approved by the Republican-controlled House by 63-31. A version was previously passed by the Republican-controlled Senate, and Republican Governor Mike Pence said he will sign it.
“The legislation, SB 101, is about respecting and reassuring Hoosiers that their religious freedoms are intact,” Pence said in a statement. The bill will now go back to the Senate and if that chamber concurs with the House version, it will go to Pence for being signed into law.
Supporters of the law say it will keep government entities from forcing business owners – such as bakeries and florists who don’t want to provide services to gay couples – from acting in ways contrary to strongly held religious beliefs. Gay marriage became legal in Indiana last year following an appellate court ruling. (Read more from “Indiana House Passes Controversial ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill” HERE)
The harmful effects of smoking during pregnancy may be reflected in the facial movements of mothers’ unborn babies, new research has suggested.
Researchers at Lancaster and Durham universities said the findings of their pilot study added weight to existing evidence that smoking is harmful to fetuses as they develop in the womb and warranted further investigation.
Professor Brian Francis, of Lancaster University, said: “Technology means we can now see what was previously hidden, revealing how smoking affects the development of the fetus in ways we did not realise. This is yet further evidence of the negative effects of smoking in pregnancy.”
Photo Credit: Lancaster University
Observing 4-d ultrasound scans, the researchers found that fetuses whose mothers were smokers showed a significantly higher rate of mouth movements than the normal declining rate of movements expected in a fetus during pregnancy.
The researchers suggested that the reason for this might be that the fetal central nervous system, which controls movements in general and facial movements in particular did not develop at the same rate and in the same manner as in fetuses of mothers who did not smoke during pregnancy. (Read more from “High-Definition Scans Suggest Effects of Smoking May Be Seen in Unborn Babies” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-25 02:04:562015-03-25 02:04:56High-Definition Scans Suggest Effects of Smoking May Be Seen in Unborn Babies
After Franklin Graham spoke boldly against the shooting of police officers, a group of pastors, theologians and professors are raising red flags . . .
In his Facebook post, Graham said it all boils down to respect for authority—something younger generations tend to be lacking.
“If a police officer tells you to lay down face first with your hands behind your back, you lay down face first with your hands behind your back. It’s as simple as that. Even if you think the police officer is wrong—YOU OBEY,” Graham writes.
But the group who penned the open letter—including Rachel Held Evans; Gail Song Bantum, whose church bought the old Mars Hill Church building; and Efrem Smith, among others—say Graham has sinned against the Christian community at large.
“You have sinned against us, fellow members of the body of Christ. … Your words hurt and influenced thousands. Therefore, we must respond publicly so that those you hurt might know you have received a reply and the hundreds of thousands you influenced might know that following your lead on this issue will break the body of Christ further,” they write [their open letter appears below]. (Read more from “Pastors Rebuke Franklin Graham for ‘Sins’ Against Christian Community” HERE)
We write to you in the spirit of Matthew 18: we aim to reconcile with you. You have sinned against us, fellow members of the body of Christ. While your comments on March 12 were just a Facebook post, your post was shared by more than 83,000 people and liked by nearly 200,000 as of Monday morning, March 14, 2015. Your words hurt and influenced thousands. Therefore, we must respond publicly so that those you hurt might know you have received a reply and the hundreds of thousands you influenced might know that following your lead on this issue will break the body of Christ further.
Frankly, Rev. Graham, your insistence that “Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and everybody else” “Listen up,” was crude, insensitive, and paternalistic. Your comments betrayed the confidence that your brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those of color, have afforded your father’s ministry for decades. Your instructions oversimplified a complex and critical problem facing the nation and minimized the testimonies and wisdom of people of color and experts of every hue, including six police commissioners that served on the president’s task force on policing reform.
In the nadir of your commentary, you tell everyone to “OBEY” any instruction from authorities and suggest that the recent shootings of unarmed citizens “might have been avoided” if the victims had submitted to authority.
And you bluntly insist, “It’s as simple as that.”
It is not that simple. As a leader in the church, you are called to be an ambassador of reconciliation. The fact that you identify a widely acknowledged social injustice as “simple” reveals your lack of empathy and understanding of the depth of sin that some in the body have suffered under the weight of our broken justice system. It also reveals a cavalier disregard for the enduring impacts and outcomes of the legal regimes that enslaved and oppressed people of color, made in the image of God — from Native American genocide and containment, to colonial and antebellum slavery, through Jim Crow and peonage, to our current system of mass incarceration and criminalization.
As your brothers and sisters in Christ, who are also called to lead the body, we are disappointed and grieved by your abuse of the Holy Scriptures. You lifted Hebrews 13:17 out of its biblical context and misappropriated it in a way that encourages believers to acquiesce to an injustice that God hates. That text refers to church leadership, not the secular leadership of Caesar.
Are you also aware that your commentary resonates with the types of misinterpretations and rhetoric echoed by many in the antebellum church? Are you aware that the southern slavocracy validated the systematic subjugation of human beings made in the image of God by instructing these enslaved human beings to “obey their masters because the Bible instructed them to do so?”
Your blanket insistence on obedience in every situation exposes an ignorance of church history. God called Moses to resist and disobey unjust authority. Joseph and Mary were led by the Spirit to seek asylum in Egypt, disobeying the unjust decrees passed down by authority figures in order to ensure the safety of Jesus. And Paul himself resisted authority and ultimately wrote Romans 13 from jail.
In modern times, Christian brothers and sisters abided by Paul’s command to the persecuted Roman church. They presented their bodies as living sacrifices. They refused to conform to the oppressive patterns of this world. Rather, they were transformed by the renewing of their minds. (Romans 12:1-2) Throughout the Jim Crow South, in El Salvador, and in the townships and cities of South Africa Jesus followers disobeyed civil authority as an act of obedience to God — the ultimate authority, the Lord, who loves and demands justice (Psalm 146:5-9, Isaiah 58, Isaiah 61, Micah 4:1-5, all the prophets, Luke 4:16-21, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 25:31-46, Galatians 3:27-28). Likewise, Christians who marched in Ferguson, Mo., New York City, and Madison, Wis., follow in the holy footsteps of their faithful predecessors.
As one who understands human depravity, your statement demonstrates a profound disregard for the impact of sinful individuals when given power to craft systems and structures that govern millions. The outcome is oppression and impoverishment — in a word, injustice.
Finally, if you insist on blind obedience, then you must also insist that officers of the justice system obey the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right of all to equal protection under the law. Yet, reports confirm unconscious racial biases in policing, booking, sentencing, and in return produce racially disparate outcomes within our broken justice system.
Likewise, you must also call on officers to honor their sworn duty to protect and serve without partiality. The Federal Bureau of Investigations director, James B. Comey, acknowledges that law enforcement has fallen short of this mandate : “First, all of us in law enforcement must be honest enough to acknowledge that much of our history is not pretty. At many points in American history, law enforcement enforced the status quo, a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups.”
Let us be clear: We love, support, and pray for our police officers. We understand that many are doing an excellent job under extremely trying circumstances. We also understand that many officers are burdened by systems that routinely mete out inequitable racialized outcomes.
For the past nine months, many of your fellow Christian clergy have been engaged in sorrowful lament, prayerful protest, spirit-led conversations, and careful scriptural study to discern a Godly response to these inequitable racialized outcomes within America’s justice system. We have wrestled with God like Jacob, begging God to bless us with peace in our streets and justice in our courts.
Rev. Graham, as our brother in Christ and as a leader in the church, we forgive you and we pray that one day you will recognize and understand the enduring legacy of the institution of race in our nation.
Now is the time for you to humbly listen to the cries of lamentation rising nationwide. We do not expect you to be an expert in racial issues, police brutality, or even the many factors that go in to our complicated and unjust criminal system. We do, however, expect you to follow the example of leaders and followers of Jesus throughout the scriptures and modern history. We expect you to seek wise counsel and guidance first from those who bear the weight of the injustice and second from other experts in the field.
Ultimately, we invite you to join us in the ongoing work of the ministry of reconciliation.
In Jesus,
Onleilove Alston
Executive Director
Faith in New York
Dr. Brian Bantum
Associate Professor of Theology
Seattle Pacific University
Rev. Leroy Barber
Global Executive Director, Word Made Flesh
Chair of the Board, Christian Community Development Association
Rev. Phil Bowling Dyer
National Director, Black Campus Ministries
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Austin Channing Brown
Resident Director and Multicultural Liaison
Calvin College
Dr. Mae Elise Cannon
Author, Social Justice Handbook and Just Spirituality
Co-author, Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith
Dr. Christena Cleveland
Associate Professor of Reconciliation Studies
Bethel University
Rev. Dr. Orlando Crespo
Latino Leadership Circle
Board Member, National Latino Evangelical Coalition
Rev. Léonce B. Crump Jr.
Lead Pastor
Renovation Church
Dr. Curtiss Paul DeYoung
Executive Director
Community Renewal Society
Rachel Held Evans
Author, Blogger, Advocate
Rev. Dominique Gilliard
Executive Pastor
New Hope Covenant Church in Oakland, CA
Josh Harper
National Director for Urban Programs
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship
Lisa Sharon Harper
Chief Church Engagement Officer
Sojourners
Dr. Troy Jackson
Director, The AMOS Project
Co-author, Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith
Micky ScottBey Jones
Director of Training and Program Development
Transform Network
Kathy Khang
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship
Steve Knight
Co-founder
Transform Network
Rev. Michael McBride
Pastor
The Way Christian Center in Berkeley, CA
Jimmy McGee
CEO and President
The Impact Movement
Rev. Soong-Chan Rah
Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism
North Park Theological Seminary
Rev. Alexia Salvatierra
Coordinator of Welcoming Congregations Network
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Dr. Andrea Smith
Board Member
North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies
Rev. Efrem Smith
President and CEO
World Impact
Rev. Gail Song Bantum
Executive Pastor
Quest Church
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-24 03:58:042015-03-24 03:58:04Leftist Pastors Rebuke Franklin Graham for ‘Sins’ Against Christian Community [+video]
A $4 million faith-based movie made largely by 400 volunteers from the homeschooling community is hoping to open April 6 on as many as 1,100 screens, far more than needed to set a record for the largest on-demand theatrical opening.
