One, Mel Gibson and Icon Productions will make a great deal of money. Those distributors who surrendered to pressure from Jewish organizations and passed on Passion will be kicking themselves, while Newmarket Films will laugh all the way to the bank. Theater owners are going to love this film.
Two, Passion will become famous as the most serious and substantive Biblical
movie ever made. It will be one of the most talked-about entertainment
events in history; it is currently on the cover of Newsweek and Vanity Fair.
My third prediction is that the faith of millions of Christians will become
more fervent as Passion uplifts and inspires them. Passion will propel vast numbers of unreligious Americans to embrace Christianity. The movie will one day be seen as a harbinger of America's third great religious reawakening.
Those Jewish organizations that have squandered both time and money futilely
protesting Passion, ostensibly in order to prevent pogroms in Pittsburgh,
can hardly be proud of their performance. They failed at everything they
attempted. They were hoping to ruin Gibson rather than enrich him. They were
hoping to suppress Passion rather than promote it. Finally, they were hoping to help Jews rather than harm them.
However, instead of helping the Jewish community, they have inflicted lasting harm. By selectively unleashing their fury only on wholesome entertainment that depicts Christianity in a positive light, they have triggered anger, hurt, and resentment. Hosting the Toward Tradition Radio Show and speaking before many audiences nationwide, I enjoy extensive communication with Christian America, and what I hear is troubling. Fearful of attracting the ire of Jewish groups that are so quick to hurl the "anti-Semite" epithet, some Christians are reluctant to speak out. Although one can bludgeon resentful people into silence, behind closed doors emotions continue to simmer.
I consider it crucially important for Christians to know that not all Jews
are in agreement with their self-appointed spokesmen. Most American Jews,
experiencing warm and gracious interactions each day with their Christian
fellow-citizens, would feel awkward trying to explain why so many Jewish
organizations seem focused on an agenda hostile to Judeo-Christian values.
Many individual Jews have shared with me their embarrassment that groups,
ostensibly representing them, attack Passion but are silent about depraved
entertainment that encourages killing cops and brutalizing women. Citing
artistic freedom, Jewish groups helped protect sacrilegious exhibits such as
the anti-Christian feces extravaganza presented by the Brooklyn Museum four
years ago. One can hardly blame Christians for assuming that Jews feel
artistic freedom is important only when exercised by those hostile toward
Christianity. However, this is not how all Jews feel.
From audiences around America, I am encountering bitterness at Jewish
organizations insisting that belief in the New Testament is de facto
evidence of anti-Semitism. Christians heard Jewish leaders denouncing Gibson
for making a movie that follows Gospel accounts of the Crucifixion long
before any of them had even seen the movie. Furthermore, Christians are hurt
that Jewish groups are presuming to teach them what Christian Scripture
"really means." Listen to a rabbi whom I debated on the Fox television show
hosted by Bill O'Reilly last September. This is what he said, "We have a
responsibility as Jews, as thinking Jews, as people of theology, to respond
to our Christian brothers and to engage them, be it Protestants, be it
Catholics, and say, look, this is not your history, this is not your
theology, this does not represent what you believe in."
Many Christians who, with good reason, have considered themselves to be Jews' best (and perhaps, only) friends also feel bitter at Jews believing that Passion is revealing startling new information about the Crucifixion. They are incredulous at Jews thinking that exposure to the Gospels in visualform will instantly transform the most philo-Semitic gentiles of history into snarling, Jew-hating predators.
Christians are baffled by Jews who don't understand that President George
Washington, who knew and revered every word of the Gospels, was still able
to write that oft-quoted beautiful letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport,
offering friendship and full participation in America to the Jewish
community.
One of the directors of the AJC recently warned that Passion "could
undermine the sense of community between Christians and Jews that's going on
in this country. We're not allowing the film to do that." No sir, it isn't
the film that threatens the sense of community; it is the arrogant and
intemperate response of Jewish organizations that does so.
Jewish organizations, hoping to help but failing so spectacularly, refutes
all myths of Jewish intelligence. How could their plans have been so
misguided and the execution so inept?
Ancient Jewish wisdom teaches that nothing confuses one's thinking more than
being in the grip of the two powerful emotions, love and hate. The actions
of these Jewish organizations sadly suggest that they are in the grip of a
hatred for Christianity that is only harming Jews.
Today, peril threatens all Americans, both Jews and Christians. Many of the
men and women in the front lines find great support in their Christian
faith. It is strange that Jewish organizations, purporting to protect Jews,
think that insulting allies is the preferred way to carry out that mandate.
A ferocious Rottweiler dog in your suburban home will quickly estrange your
family from the neighborhood. For those of us in the Jewish community who
cherish friendship with our neighbors, some Jewish organizations have become
our Rottweilers. God help us.