Matthew Chapman

Outspoken atheist, and great-great grandson of Charles Darwin (“The Origin of Species“), Matthew Chapman has written and directed a new film called THE LEDGE (Charlie Hunnam, Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler, Terrence Howard). He hopes that it will be the BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for atheists. He says that this movie is an “emotional appeal…for people in the middle of the country questioning what it’s all about” and for people to see atheists in a more positive way.

The film follows an atheist named Gavin who gets to know a married couple, Shana and Joe. After a heated debate about God and faith where Gavin is insulted by Joe’s evangelical Christian and holier-than-thou views, Gavin decides to seduce Joe’s wife. Joe finds out about the affair and gives Gavin an ultimatum: either Gavin kills himself by jumping off a building ledge or Joe will kill his wife. Ideas about where morality really comes from and whether there is an afterlife are explored.

What I find fascinating about this film and its intentions is that it can’t exist without attacking Christianity. By its very nature atheism is a belief in nothing. Which means that it can’t stand on it’s own. It can only stand in opposition to something else. Therefore, a protagonist who fights for this ideal, also believes in nothing. That doesn’t sound very exciting or interesting. But what if this hero could fight against an evil Christian?

Chapman said in a CNN interview: “I’ve traveled a lot in the Midwest and the South and seen a lot of people like Joe, the fundamentalist in the film. And I’ve never seen a portrayal of that kind of a character put in conflict with someone who shares my beliefs, which are that there probably isn’t any God and we need to think about, you know, reality in life in a rational, humane way.”

The problem is that in trying to show people that atheism is good, the film attacks some of those who Chapman is trying to win over. Not only does the atheist hero, Gavin think it’s okay to sleep with a married woman (one on-line reviewer defended this by saying: “no laws were broken”) but the film inaccurately portrays how a true Christian should behave.

Wherever a story is posted about this film, fierce on-line debates about it follow. In reading through them though, it’s clear that the film isn’t winning anyone over except those who already hate Christianity. One supporter of the film defended it by saying: “This is the first Hollywood movie ever with an all-star cast and an atheist hero. I am an atheist and I think it’s great to see a handsome, positively portrayed atheist. … More importantly, I love how Joe, the Christian character, is somewhat likable in the beginning but he slowly becomes more evil as his situation and his religious reasoning bring him closer to tempting decisions, not further from them. In a lot of thrillers, the bad guy has no real reason to be bad, he or she just is. But in this movie, there is a direct connection to the motivations of the bad guy, and it shows very clearly how religious thinking inflates rationalizations.”

Ah… so this is a good movie because it attacks Christianity.

Chapman wrote on the film’s website: “This could be the BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN moment for atheists, our tipping point, when we finally get the attention we deserve.” However, just like his intention to win people over to atheism seems in doubt, it also seems unlikely that THE LEDGE will get the attention Chapman thinks it deserves either.

Despite a strong cast and some publicity surrounding the controversial nature of the film, the film didn’t do well. THE LEDGE was produced for $10 million dollars, was released on July 8th and made about $5 thousand at the box office. Maybe a film actually about nothing would have done better? It worked for “Seinfeld”.

- Blog by André van Heerden, Writer, Director (2012: PROPHECY OR PANIC?, 12 BIGGEST LIES)

Maranatha Film Festival Organizer: Bryan Little

Now I don’t want this to be taken as an endorsement of being unprepared but I have to share a remarkable recent experience.

I was asked to be the key note speaker at the first annual Maranatha Film Festival in Rochester, NY. I checked out the website and saw the line-up of films and speakers and was honored to be asked. So I said yes – this despite the fact that the festival would run right when our fourth child was due to be born. It felt like I had to go.

Malin Soleil van Heerden

As chance would have it our little girl arrived a bit early (Aug. 28th) so by the time I had to head to the festival (5 days later) I was running on very little sleep, had a head full of new baby things, and was not well prepared. This was made worse in that I had enthusiastic festival organizer Bryan Little, choose what topic he wanted me to speak on: “Faith on a Movie Set.”

There are a number of topics that I feel comfortable talking about without any preparation – this wasn’t one of them. WHY did I let him choose it?

So I made some notes, did some research and planned to put it all together before I was called to speak. But when I arrived at the festival I found myself getting acquainted with John David Ware (who runs the remarkable 168 Hour Film Project), assistant festival director and producer Tony Baratta, actress Marcy Grams and enjoying some great music from Jeremiah Garcia.

And then suddenly I was called up on to the stage! I had some rough notes and talking points but nothing was cohesive, nothing was rehearsed and it was all still looking for direction.

Thankfully that direction seemed to come from the very topic itself (Having Faith!) and the song just before I was introduced: “Blessed Be Your Name”!

Suddenly the points had a purpose. The anecdotes made sense. The message came naturally as did the words. And incredibly I was learning as I was speaking – right up on stage. Stumbling blocks on current projects suddenly seemed simple to solve; challenges came into perspective and my focus was sharpened. Sometimes when I’m writing screenplays my characters seem to “talk” on their own. This felt like I was one of God’s “characters”.

To those who prayed for me: thank-you! It worked. To God the father: “Praise be your name!”

PS – A big congratulations to Producer Skin Mead whose film “Finding Hope Now” won for best feature film.

I’ve known this person for a long time and he’s very intelligent and well read and a very nice guy. But I have to admit that I was very shocked at such a stilted view of an issue that is clearly much more than just one political party trying to cause problems. A big fact: you can’t keep spending more money than you actually have.

So how did this person get such a lopsided view of the issues at hand? I was then reminded of some clever commentaries by author, screenwriter and social commentator Andrew Klavan (“Empire of Lies”, TRUE CRIME), that showed the power of media spin. Sometimes it’s hard to see when you want to believe that one person is “bad” and therefore all that they do is bad; and that one person is “good” and therefore all that they do is good, but when you can compare the exact same actions and then compare the media’s reactions and public’s perceptions of those actions… the unfair and sometimes dangerous distortions of the truth can be exposed. Check this out – it’s not only informative but funny.

Watch the video

The more serious implication of this isn’t just media bias – but the ability to ignore the truth, no matter what it might be. More and more it seems that the real problems in society aren’t caused by a battle between good and evil (very few people would ever knowingly side with evil) but a battle between truth and lies. Our documentary THE 12 BIGGEST LIES looked at this a great deal. Lies and deception have the power to make something evil look good and good look evil. And often times when these lies are exposed, the truth (and those sharing the truth) become the enemy because no one wants to be caught on the wrong-side.

Herbert Agar wrote: “The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.” It’s why those who call things as they are, are often left alone at dinner parties.

- Blog by André van Heerden, President of Film and TV at Cloud Ten Pictures

So how was it?

Really good. It may sound like a cliché but this movie really will make you laugh and cry and sit on the edge of your seat. I think it will do very well opening weekend: Sept. 30th!

However, when I was watching it I couldn’t help feeling, time and again, that this wasn’t a regular movie. There was something very different about it.

What was it?

Could it be because it was made by a church through mostly volunteers? Well, it looks very professional, I don’t think that was it. Could it be because it was written and directed by brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick – whose full time jobs are as pastors? Actually, the directing is quite good. Could it be that it has a very strong biblical theme? That certainly stands out but I’ve seen many other films with strong themes and messages.

Then it struck me: it was a sense that this movie SHOULDN’T be as effective as it is.

As someone who has worked very hard on producing films and documentaries for a number of years, I know how hard it is to produce something worth seeing. I’ve studied how to do it at University. I’ve read book after book on screenwriting and filmmaking. I’ve reviewed and analyzed great films and directors and mentored under industry professionals. And I’ve even written, directed and produced a number of successful feature films. So I’d like to believe that I know how it’s done.

But movies like COURAGEOUS prove that I, and I’m going to say most other filmmakers, still have a lot to learn.

In the apostle Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians he writes: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” 1 Cor. 1:27

Against almost all odds Sherwood’s highschool football film FACING THE GIANTS made $10 Million at the box office. Their next film, FIREPROOF, made over $33 Million at the box office. These are great numbers for any independent filmmaker – never mind a group of church volunteers and a whole lot of prayer. Most Hollywood analysts and experts would say that it could never happen. Yet it did. And I believe it’s about to happen again.

COURAGEOUS works because it’s full of emotion and heart and it has a theme that people can relate to. I also believe it works because the filmmakers behind it were committed to honoring God with their work. And they did. Go see it opening weekend!

- Blog by André van Heerden, President of Film and TV Production at Cloud Ten Pictures

This coming Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

There is going to be a big memorial organized by the White House. Invited to attend the service and prayer vigil, called “A Call To Compassion” will be: two Buddhist monks, a Muslim imam, a rabbi, a Hindu priest, the Bishop of Washington, the president of the Islamic Society of North America and a Muslim musician.  No evangelical Christians or 9/11 heroes — the surviving firemen and police officers – were invited.

Let’s think back to that tragic event. Does anyone remember where nearly all Americans turned to when they needed hope and comfort and peace? They turned and prayed to Jesus Christ and a Christian God. This makes sense. According to the US governments’ own, CIA WorldFactbook about 75% of Americans are self-described Christians. Of that 26% are evangelical Christians. So WHY were evangelical Christians not invited? And WHY were 3 different Muslim representatives invited when Muslims represent only 0.6% of Americans??

Anyone laughing?

How about at this? The Organization of Islamic Conference has put forth a resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council to censure countries who speak out about Islam. As social commentator and comedian Pat Condell comments: “allowing Islamic countries on to a human rights council is like having a bunch of mafioso on a parole board.”

Anyone can see that Sharia law (Islamic law) contradicts just about every possible sense of what human rights mean. To argue otherwise means you either have to ignore Sharia Law or be so politically correct as to redefine the term human rights so that it makes exceptions for those who don’t recognize them.

So this of course also calls into question as to why Pakistan and Saudi Arabia would be appointed to the United Nations Agency for Women. Both of these countries have horrendous records of abuse and anti-women policies so how could they possibly represent women’s rights in other countries?

It seems that in an effort to appear as open-minded and impartial as possible, the US government and the United Nations is choosing the most inappropriate people possible to represent the feelings and rights of others. I’d like to suggest choosing people who actually have the best-interests of others at heart. But then again, I’ve always been pretty closed-minded.

- Blog by André van Heerden, President of Film and TV Production at Cloud Ten Pictures

Just recently the Republicans and Democrats were able to come to an agreement about raising the US debt ceiling yet again and barely staved-off being unable to pay its bills and having its credit downgraded. There is massive speculation as to what would have happened if this occurred. No one really knows for sure except that it wouldn’t be good.

However, even with this last minute agreement, the US and the world, isn’t out of danger. The same problem of spending more money that what we have and not having enough money to cover what we owe still looms and will only get worse. So how did so many countries get to a place where the amount that they’re earning is so much less than what they’re spending?

Depending on who you’re listening to, there are many possible reasons why this has occurred.

Our recent documentary, THE 12 BIGGEST LIES, tackled the idea that our world is overpopulated. Our current world debt crisis makes it very clear that the world desperately needs more youth and workers – not less.

Frequent documentary interviewee and long-time friend of Cloud Ten Pictures, Jack Kinsella has a cause for the financial crisis that many have tried to ignore. It is unfortunately not some sort of unknown conspiracy but a well-known on-going practice that continues to get public funding.

Sometimes the most obvious answers are also the most painful.

- Blog by André van Heerden, President of Film and TV Production at Cloud Ten Pictures

When Chickens Come Home to Roost. .. By Jack Kinsella of The Omega Letter

A report in USA Today opened with the curiously-worded statement that US federal government’s financial condition “deteriorated rapidly” last year. One wonders how much room exists between “rapid deterioration” and “collapse.”

USA Today conducted its own audit of the federal government to see how it matched up with the numbers the government is telling us.  Social spending commitments are called unfunded liabilities and the government doesn’t include them in calculating government debt.

“Corporations would be required to count these new liabilities when they are taken on — and report a big loss to shareholders. Unlike businesses, however, Congress postpones recording spending commitments until it writes a check.”

It is because of similar “congressional bookkeeping” that most of Enron’s top executives either have or will die in federal prison.  But not only does the government “cook the books” they cheerfully admit it.

Almost every financial news program, when discussing government bookkeeping, presents two sets of numbers; “here’s our debt, and here’s our debt with unfunded liabilities included.”

We hear it so often that I don’t think it registers anymore what is actually being said because we’ve gotten so used to hearing it.

“On this page is our true debt, but over here is a smaller, more soothing number. Look over here. .  . look over here . . . look over here. . .

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!  I am the great and powerful Oz!”

USA Today’s audit of our actual debt is $61.6 trillion dollars.  I needed a figure to contrast that against so you can see it for what it is.  So I looked up the world’s Gross Domestic Product to use as a benchmark. It is $54.5 trillion dollars!

You know how when you were a kid you used to dream you had all the money in the world?  Well, in a way, your dream has come true – that’s almost how much you’re on the hook for.

The unfunded liabilities part of the debt is Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other entitlements that will soon be upside-down.   That’s because our demographics are upside-down.

“Between 2010 and 2050, Europe’s population will actually decline,” says Carl Haub, senior demographer at the non-profit Population Reference Bureau. “In most developed countries, raising the birth rate is a national priority.”

The worry is less about size than population imbalance: More elderly people who need social support but fewer young people who work and help a nation’s economy thrive.

“That’s the critical issue,” Haub says. “There will be an unprecedented number of people who will be the old old. That’s more people to be cared for but fewer people to fill jobs.”

I read through the article several times looking for an explanation for the population imbalance.  Although they danced all around it, they never even mentioned the most obvious reason why there aren’t enough workers to sustain America’s unfunded liabilities.

The USA is facing a wave of elderly as the oldest of 77 million Baby Boomers turn 65 this year, but a robust birth rate bolstered by high immigration is offsetting the impact.”

The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $527,000 per household. That’s more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt. It reflects the challenge as the number of retirees soars over the next 20 years and seniors try to collect on those spending promises.

“The (federal) debt only tells us what the government owes to the public. It doesn’t take into account what’s owed to seniors, veterans and retired employees,” says accountant Sheila Weinberg, founder of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, a Chicago-based group that advocates better financial reporting. “Without accurate accounting, we can’t make good decisions.”

Seldom does anybody even try to explore why the numbers are upside down.  In the event anyone does take a stab at it, they blame systemic waste or unanticipated longevity (darned seniors!) or they note (in passing) that there are fewer workers per retiree than was anticipated back in 1933 — but that’s where the explanation trails off. . .

I did some digging and found some statistics that they might find helpful in figuring out cause and effect.  The average American male is 36.8 years old. The average American female is 38.1.

That’s kind of old, really. In the Middle East and North Africa, the median age is around thirty.

The median age in Islamic countries like Jordan and Saudi Arabia is around twenty, in the Catholic countries of Latin America, around 25.

America is up there with Canada and European countries like the UK, Norway, France, the Ukraine and Russia, all between 36 and 39.

The countries with the oldest average populations include Germany, Japan and Italy.

Hmmm. Since the median age in the West is the late thirties, let’s set the WayBack Machine to thirty-eight years ago and see if we can find a clue and perhaps nail it.

This is the year 2011. Minus 38 years equals the year 1973. That would be the place to begin looking.  In 1973. 1973 was the year that the Supreme Court handed down its Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.

Funny that nobody ever draws a connection between the population imbalance and legalized abortion.

Well, funny isn’t exactly the right word.

Assessment:

According to statistics furnished by the US National Right to Life between 1973 and 2010 America has aborted at least fifty-two million, eight thousand, six hundred sixty-five potential American workers.

That is the minimalist estimate – the abortion industry’s ‘second set of books.’ In reporting its statistics, NRL notes that;

“CDC researchers have admitted it probably undercounts the total number of abortions because reporting laws vary from state to state and some abortionists probably do not report or under-report the abortions they perform.”

That is why there are “more people to be cared for and fewer people to fill their jobs” as Captain Obvious over at the Population Reference Bureau helpfully explained to theUSA Today reporter.

Add in the children that they will never have and it is no stretch to conclude that the American population is short about one hundred million workers that should be somewhere between graduating from college and those in their working prime right now.

Note the countries marked in blue on the attached map and compare them to the countries with the oldest average populations listed above.  But the map isn’t a map denoting the oldest populations.  It is a map of those nations where abortion is legal on demand.

Although unintended, it is also a map of the countries whose economies are the most upside down. (Australia, where abortion is heavily restricted by state, has not coincidentally largely avoided the global financial crisis.)

The arguments favoring abortion are specious. The argument most often used is actually the weakest;  “When does life begin? At what point does a fetus become a human being?”

I am not quite sure which I find the more amazing — that anybody would ask the question or that anybody else would have trouble answering it.

Q. At what point in the gestation process does a fetus become a human being?  A. At that point in the process when it can’t become anything else except a human being.

See? It’s not even a real question.  It’s just a word game, and not a particularly clever one, at that.

There is no point from the moment of fertilization forward where abortion is not the taking of a human life. I find it no coincidence that the Bible addresses the progressive liberal agenda, point by point, as the seven things God hates the most.  That’s because God is the one ‘thing’ that liberals hate the most.

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)

America has too many grandparents and not enough grandchildren.  This is not that complicated. (Not even for liberals — that’s why they avoid the topic like it was a church).

To paraphrase the president’s spiritual mentor, Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s economic troubles are the direct result of thirty-eight years’ worth of liberal America’s domination of the domestic agenda. America’s chickens have come home to roost.

You can tell from all the guano emanating from Washington.

For those who know me, they know that I like debating. It really doesn’t matter what the topic is, I enjoy a good discussion and enjoy testing theories and learning new things.

It’s probably one of the reasons that I enjoy working on our documentaries.

However for there to be a good discussion, you need to know where people stand. If you’re debating with someone and they keep changing their position or suddenly contradict themselves or don’t really care about the topic, it becomes somewhat pointless.

I have worked with many Christian actors on our feature films and had many wonderful discussions with them. Kirk Cameron shares a common interest and passion for the topic of Creation that I do. Mr. T is as humble and polite a guy that you will ever meet. But some of my most enjoyable conversations came from Judd Nelson (BREAKFAST CLUB, DECEIVED) who disagreed with me on most topics. What I loved about Judd was that he didn’t hide who he was and never pretended to be something that he wasn’t.

I don’t think that I’m alone in this feeling. It’s comforting to know where someone is coming from – even if they’re not “on your side”.

I have found that sometimes when I’m trying to ease into a topic or get a sensitive interview or trying to help someone without sounding judgmental, I try to avoid mentioning that I’m a Christian. It seems to me that this may hurt my cause and make things more difficult. However, time and again that approach has proven to be faulty and causes more problems than avoids them.

Conversely most times that I’ve let people know that I’m a Christian and that this is why I believe certain things, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the reaction and I accomplish much more than I ever thought I would.

It is within this context that I read with sadness that the long-standing organization of “Campus Crusade for Christ” was changing its name to “CRU”. I was a member of “Campus Crusade for Athletes” at Carleton University and really admired those who ran it for their loving and straight-forward approach.

Campus Crusade spokesman andVP Steve Seller told Fox News Radio: “Our name was becoming more and more of a hindrance.”

The CRU website states: “We were not trying to eliminate the word Christ from our name. We were looking for a name that would most effectively serve our mission and help us take the gospel to the world. Our mission has not changed. Cru enables us to have discussions about Christ with people who might initially be turned off by a more overtly Christian name. We believe that our interaction and our communication with the world will be what ultimately honors and glorifies Christ.”

Seller’s goes on to say: “It is a name we intend to give meaning so that when people hear it they know that it’s a caring group of Christians who are passionate about lifting up the name of Jesus.”

Omega Letter writer Jack Kinsella disagrees and writes: “So “Cru” is all about lifting up the Name by calling it a ‘hindrance to its mission’ and dropping it from its title in order to make it more popular.  Calling it ‘Cru’ will tell people it is run by a ‘caring group of Christians’?  Really?  What do they care about?  You’ll never be able to figure it out from their name.”

Cloud Ten Pictures recently revised its logo. We wanted something that looked more current and modern. I understand that Campus Crusade may have wanted to do something like that as well. But when you’ve created a brand that is recognized everywhere and recognized for good things and recognized for goals that you’re continuing to pursue… WHY would you change that? The brand that you’ve created is a good thing. Changing that brand and causing confusion is a bad thing.

People like it when they know where someone stands. So does God: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Rev. 3:15-16 NIV

- Blog by André van Heerden, President of Film and TV at Cloud Ten Pictures

All of the headlines that I read about it on that day and the next and the next declared that he was a Christian fundamentalist. Here’s a sampling: “Norway Terror Suspect Believed to Be Christian Fundamentalist” (Germany) “Police Begin Questioning of Christian Fundamentalist” (Australia) “Oslo Suspects Christian Fundamentalist” (South Africa) and “Norway Attacks Suspect Is ‘Christian Fundamentalist” (Asia). And The New York Times claimed in the first two paragraphs of one story that he was a “gun-loving,” “right-wing,” “fundamentalist Christian,” opposed to “multiculturalism.”

I was appalled and shocked that a Christian could ever commit such an atrocious act. As a Christian myself, I wanted to know why he had done this (against so many teachings of Jesus and the Bible) and looked for evidence of why he was being labelled a Christian. Yet when I was looking I couldn’t anything. I found that he was blond haired and blue eyed and that he was vehemently against Muslim immigration and the Norwegian Labour party but I couldn’t find the connection to him being a follower of Christ.

Turns out that’s because there was none.

In Breivik’s 1500 page manifesto he uses the word “Christian” as a way of saying: “non-Muslim” and raises issues with Christians for their soft-heartedness and says of himself that he is “not an excessively religious man,” and brags that he is “first and foremost a man of logic,” and calls himself “economically liberal” and reveres Darwinism.

If you look for updates on the Norway shootings you won’t see the label “Christian” anymore. But as Craig L. Parshall, Sr. VP and General Counsel for the NRB Today notes, “the damage was already done.” It was an irrelevant title to the story and somehow nearly all the media went along with it.

The same thing occurred with the Oklahoma city bomber, Timothy McVeigh. He too was painted as a right-wing Christian fundamentalist. Instead it turned out that he was a a pot-smoking atheist who said, “Science is my religion.”

What is very telling is how the media purposely avoids any labels when a Muslim is involved in a terrorist act. In the first 7 stories of the NY Times coverage of the Fort Hood shooting by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, they never once mentioned that he was a Muslim. This despite the fact that he shouted “Allah Akbar” as he gunned down his fellow soldiers and had given a lecture where he talked about Islam, and stated that non-believers would be sent to hell, decapitated, set on fire, and have burning oil poured down their throats.

Why is there such an obvious double-standard in the media’s handling of these events? Who stands to gain from such biased and dishonest journalism?

Social commentator Ann Coulter notes in her book Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America, “the liberal rule is: Any criminal act committed by a white man with a gun is a right-wing, Christian conspiracy, whereas any criminal act committed by a nonwhite is the government violating someone’s civil liberties.”

I’m a Christian so I’ll admit that I have biased views. I’m however not wishing that journalists shared my biases, I just wish that more of them had a bias for the truth.

- Blog by André van Heerden, President of Film and TV Production at Cloud Ten Pictures

In doing research for, and in producing our newest documentary 2012: PROPHECY OR PANIC? I came across news that Campos Construction (a company that has built over 1,500 McDonald’s restaurants) is building high-end “Noah’s Ark Survival Shelters” by 2012. This includes the development of a self sustaining survival shelter community on 80 acres of property located almost 7,000 feet above sea level in Alamosa County in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

Is this timing significant? CEO of Campo Construction, Joe Campo says: “No one responsible is saying that it is the end of the world,” referring to the so-called Mayan 2012 “doomsday” calendar. “But there is alarming evidence that most of us may be living on borrowed time.” Whether “doom and gloom” predictions are coming from ancient prophecies, or the US debt crisis, or global catastrophes, the idea that the future is uncertain and possibly tumultuous seems to be growing. Just recently NASA warned the public about the present Solar Maximum, which peaks in 2012 and 2013 and could knock out America’s power grid as well as satellites, affecting communications, transportation, food and banking. In a cover story titled “Weather Panic,” Newsweek magazine reported that “in the world of climate change, freak storms are the new normal.”

There is also growing evidence to suggest that an incoming planet or comet capable of causing destruction on a global scale may possibly be headed towards Earth. NASA has announced that Comet Elenin will arrive here next October, but insists that it is much too small to cause any physical damage. Many of those that we interviewed for our documentary said that whether there’s any real basis to these findings or not, people are all getting the sense that maybe I should prepare for something big.

Campo went on to say: “Clearly the recent Japanese tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown was merely the tip of the iceberg. The truth is that rapidly moving earth changes could wipe out the majority of us unless we are prepared to deal quickly with anything that Mother Nature happens to throw our way.”

He goes on to promote the cutting-edge benefits of his shelters. Campo certainly stands to profit from those who decide to prepare by purchasing his shelters. Depending on the number of people to be accommodated, a personal shelter unit will sell from between $72,000 to $300,000 apiece. Campo says that they have many orders already from across the country. Russia is supposed to be developing their own shelters to be ready by the year 2012 as well.

Campo goes on to say: “I’m on a mission to help as many people as I can to Be Prepared!”

Being prepared is a wonderful thing. When I direct or produce our films, I try to be prepared for just about any problem that could arise. But the one thing that I never want to do is panic. Or to spend money on problems that may not exist, or may not be worth it. In all situations you want to find the best plan. Since the Bible has been 100% accurate in its past predictions, I’m going to rely on it for future predictions as well.

And from those predictions it tells me that the first and most important step to being prepared for the future is accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Phew! That was a lot cheaper then spending $300K.

- Blog by André van Heerden, President of Film and TV Production at Cloud Ten Pictures

I’m sure that many of you have received the supposed Andy Rooney “rant” about political correctness and other things. As acerbically entertaining as the rant is, it wasn’t said by Rooney on 60 Minutes – or anywhere else. He’s denied any connection to it.

So when I recently received an email of another similarly themed blog from an actor on the popular CSI program, I thought that it might be false too. It just seemed to make too much sense and shared what I think a huge majority of people are feeling these days – especially as politicians continue to pose and preen for cameras about the US debt ceiling crisis.

I was very pleasantly surprised when the blog turned-out to be accurate – although the author wasn’t the actor. It was Robert A. Hall. He is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate. He blogs at www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com

He blogs about being tired. Me too Robert! Me too.

I’m Tired