You can tell how far we’ve come as a society in the last 45 years by looking at Mel Gibson and Glenn Ford. In 1956, Glenn Ford starred in a movie called "Ransom." In 1999, Mel Gibson starred in a remake of the same movie. These movies are a cultural index.
They kidnap Mel Gibson’s son. They hold him for ransom. During the course of the negotiations, Mel Gibson comes to the conclusion that, instead of paying the ransom, he’ll go on television and offer that same ransom money as a reward for the capture of the kidnapper. Mel Gibson will pay no ransom. As he speaks to the television audience, he promises the kidnapper that there will now be no rest for him, now no safe place for him, now no trusting of anyone any more. From now on, he’ll always be on the run, always afraid, and always restless. After the television speech, Mel Gibson goes home. He and his wife have one battle after another, arguing, fighting, and even brawling over what he’s done in risking their son’s life. Much of the plot revolves around the growing pressure and division they feel as their son’s captivity drags on and on. The uncertainty is more than they can bear.
As you watch the movie, you notice nothing amiss. But something is missing; something is wrong, all wrong. The forty-five years have taken their spiritual toll on us, but we don’t know it. The forty-five year old water we swam in was room temperature, then tepid, then warm, then hot, then boiling, but like the frog, we didn’t notice it; we never felt it.
But then we watch Glenn Ford—"Ransom" forty-five years ago. Same essential plot, but now we see what’s missing in Mel’s movie. They kidnap Glenn Ford’s son. He too, decides to offer the ransom as the reward. He goes on television, and it’s then that you begin to see the difference. Then, forty-five years ago when the water was fresher, cooler. As Glenn Ford looks intently into the camera, knowing that the kidnapper is most likely watching, he takes the Bible and says, "I swear to you on this Testament that you will not see a penny of this money", which he too, like Mel has laid out for all to see.
But the difference doesn’t stop there. Glenn Ford has a household butler who is also a friend. The butler tells him, "I’m a deacon in my church and I want you to know that my church is praying for you." Later, as the tensions mount, the butler hugs Glenn Ford and says, "O, Absalom, O, Absalom, O, my son Absalom, would God that I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son." Glenn Ford’s wife lies in bed, telling her husband that she’s prayed and prayed for their son. The movie ends and all’s well, and the butler says the last lines of the movie, "This my son was dead, but is now alive."
In 1956, a deacon and a deacon’s church pray, the father carries a New Testament with him into a television studio, the mother prays, and the deacon quotes from the Bible twice. Neither Mel Gibson nor his ever wife pray. They fight, but they don’t pray. There’s no deacon for Mel; there’s no church for Mel. Wouldn’t one think that if anyone’s son were kidnapped, that, no matter who it was, it would be the "atheist in the foxhole" syndrome. Prayer, any kind of prayer, would be normal in such a situation, but in 1999 we don’t even notice its absence and only do so when it’s thrown up against Glenn Ford in 1956. That’s how far we’ve come—we don’t even notice its absence. Mel Gibson’s version seems "normal," when, in reality, it would be most abnormal.
What to do? It’s one thing to analyze and then complain about the culture "out there." But it doesn’t do any good to be a critic who only recognizes a problem, sits back and says, "We have a problem."
Instead, the church responds. Instead of becoming one more gated community, the Christian response is the one-at-a-time-response. The church makes disciples one at a time. God changes the culture by changing hearts, one heart at a time. At the end of the day, we will not find the solution in placing the "right" people on the Supreme Court, or the "proper" person in the White House. At the end of the day, the day will only be won when God sends either an evangelistic revival complete with making disciples, or He sends His Son. The water is now too hot. The boil roars. We haven’t really noticed.
Dr. Mike Halsey, Pastor
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