Quantcast
Published On: Mon, Apr 25th, 2016

Morgan Freeman takes Nat Geo’s ‘Story of God’ towards the ‘Coexist’ movement rather than truth

The National Geographic Channel event series The Story of God with Morgan Freeman continues with a look at “End Times,” stopping at Rome’s Vatican City, Israel’s cavernous valley Qumran, New Orleans’s Industrial Canal and India’s Tibetan Monastery Sarnath.

Book of Revelation photo/ National Geographic

Book of Revelation photo/ National Geographic

When Morgan Freeman walked into Rome’s Biblioteca Casanatense, a library started by the Dominican Order of the Saint Mary above Minerva convent in 1701, he glanced around the impressive two-story display of 400,000 volumes and, for a moment, stood in awe of the glorious spectacle of books. The moment was short lived, however, as Freeman had come to the library on a mission — to explore one of the greatest Christian mysteries of all time, that curious three-digit “mark of the beast” found in the Book of Revelation: 666.

“For me, there’s something particularly fascinating about Christianity’s understanding of the end of the world,” said Freeman. “While other religions certainly have stories and beliefs about ‘The End,’ among Christians, believers seem to be particularly preoccupied with the concept.”

Freeman explores eschatology (“the end of things”) continuing The Story of God, by interviewing a former member of Hizb ut-Tahrir about Islam’s understanding of the end, visiting with victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Dark Knight star attempted to understand some of the Mayan mysteries atop the Temple of the Masks in Guatemala.

“At the time, Revelation was a politically charged book,” said Kim Haines-Eitzen, a professor of ancient Mediterranean religions at Cornell University and a leading specialist on early Christianity during the interview with National Geographic between filming, “and while some early Christians didn’t accept it in their churches, most had a more-than-clear idea of what it was talking about.”

Haines-Eitzen believes the number is a biblical code suggesting that “the beast” in the book of Revelation is referring to Emperor Nero as opposed to some future end-times Antichrist villain.

“Apocalypse isn’t about fear or vengeance or some coming judgment,” Freeman said later. “It’s actually about enlightenment. It’s about seeking the truth, and seeking the truth for the here and now.”

The Story of God took a serious wrong turn with this episode, particularly when including the Katrina fallout, where a couple running a church in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation thanked God for the storm because without it, they wouldn’t have started the church or met the people around them now. This set up Freeman to respond with a smile, “you know, that’s very Buddhist.”

The perspective from Haines-Eitzen was incredibly myopic and did not reflect Christian teaching of eschatology, confining God’s Word to historical perspective and not the cyclic patterns which played out in the Old Testament and were foretold throughout our existence until Christ returns.

Nat Geo normally like to leave the viewer with more questions than answers by this episode on “End Times” left most viewers inclined to question Christians more on Freeman initial query: Why do “believers seem to be particularly preoccupied with the concept” because it’s just weak myth and legend.

Contrary to Freeman’s remarks “Apocalypse isn’t about fear or vengeance or some coming judgment. It’s actually about enlightenment. It’s about seeking the truth, and seeking the truth for the here and now” – the truth is that the Apocalypse is part of the coming JUDGMENT and not about enlightment AT ALL.

Beautifully shot and it’s was great to see exotic locations and individuals, but sadly The Story of God just turned left to become a documentary for the “COEXIST” movement.

The Story of God Morgan Freeman banner

 

On the DISPATCH: Headlines  Local  Opinion

Subscribe to Weekly Newsletter

* indicates required
/ ( mm / dd ) [ALL INFO CONFIDENTIAL]

About the Author

- Writer and Co-Founder of The Global Dispatch, Brandon has been covering news, offering commentary for years, beginning professionally in 2003 on Crazed Fanboy before expanding into other blogs and sites. Appearing on several radio shows, Brandon has hosted Dispatch Radio, written his first novel (The Rise of the Templar) and completed the three years Global University program in Ministerial Studies to be a pastor. To Contact Brandon email [email protected] ATTN: BRANDON

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these html tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

like_us_on_facebook

 

The Global Dispatch Facebook page- click here

Movie News Facebook page - click here

Television News Facebook page - click here

Weird News Facebook page - click here 

DISPATCH RADIO

dispatch_radio

THE BRANDON JONES SHOW

brandon_jones_show-logo

Archives