Kingdom of Heaven

Hi guys! =) Too all who were concerned...feeling much much better. Feeling GOOD in fact! God has shown me the way out. hee. yup. so cheers!

Watched Kingdom of Heaven this evening with Jem and Zhen. I actually went for my DSTA Medical Checkup at Paragon with Aaron, and ended up meeting Kiat as well! All 3 of us went to Far East after our checkup to meet Zhen and Jem for 'dinner' at Gelares. [It's Tues, so half-priced waffles!].

Well, it was a thought-provoking show to a certain extent. But, viewed through the eyes of grace and, viewed through someone of the Christian faith (and by this I mean those having the 'right' beliefs.), I have a pretty wholesome perspective on the movie.

Firstly, I take it that whatever that was shown in the movie was historically true. There was a Saladin, and perhaps, the Orlando Bloom character who defended Jerusalem. So the Crusades did really happen. Christians vs. Muslims. Both 'religious' entities fighting by the 'will of God'. Killing for Christ. In my opinion, it was more political than anything! Balian [Orlando] thought his sins could be forgiven only if he made the trip down to physical Jerusalem and asked God! and even then, he wasn't even sure he could be forgiven. The priest in his village told him that God has left him. He told him that his wife is condemned to the pits of hell just because she committed suicide. I mean, by what authority, i ask? It showed the perverse nature of Christianity at that time. Where religion was wielded as a political weapon. It just serves to further reinforce the credibility of the bible for Jesus INDEED, he prophesied the coming of all these things when He preached on the signs of the times and the end of the ages on the Mount of Olives.

Matthew 24: 4-8

4And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.

Indeed, we see the priest at Balian's village directing him and condemning him by the supposed authority of God. And it's not even true. For Jesus himself did not EVER condemn. He did not. For there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all[a] these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Exactly. Jesus prophesies the end-times, and what must happen before he comes back for His church. Nation against nation, Kingdom against kingdom. Holy war waged for political purposes. Beginning of sorrows. Sounds familiar? All throughout history with an increase in the 1900s. WW1, WW2, Gulf War, Iraqi freedom... We're in the end times folks, as we watch prophesy being fulfilled. Not to frighten us, just so we're prepared.=)

I like the last part of the show. Where Balian asked Saladin what Jerusalem meant to him.

Galatians 4

21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24which things are symbolic. For these are the[d] two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar-- 25for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children-- 26but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Hebrews 12

22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Interesting. Who does the 'Kingdom of Heaven' really belong to? It has always been in contention. It has always been a tussle between the Jews, Christians and Muslims. But the bible clearly states that Christ's Jerusalem is above. Not physical lands. But spiritual acres of it. Interesting? The people during the Crusades apparently didn't do much reading of their bible. They took whatever they heard, wholesale. Thus the political use of religion. Hmm... food for thought.

God bless guys!