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Monday, June 4, 2007
Authors encourage prayer for
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
Cease Fire book cover.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (ANS) — According to Eric Bumpus and Tim Moranville, authors of CEASE FIRE: THE WAR IS OVER, there is a spiritual war that is taking place, and it will wage on until Christ’s return. But the fight Christians are involved in is not a battle with guns and tanks, but the ‘culture war’ rumbling through
Bumpus and Moranville, who will be offering 50 percent of their book’s royalties, earned from April through June of 2007, to the Hollywood Prayer Network (www.hollywoodprayernetwork.org), say: "Christians have lost because they have adopted the political techniques of those around them."
The authors contend that Christians have become just like the world they seek to "clean up."
"Many would rather fight other people, to the point of physical brute force, just to ‘bring the country back under a godly moral code’, at whatever cost. There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to ‘clean up
"As Ephesians 6:12 has clearly pointed out, our war is not against each other, but “…against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” That’s the war we should be focusing on, not the ‘culture war’. When we pray for others, God will handle the changing of hearts, not us," they say.
Eric Bumpus’ two main academic interests were united in 1998 while taking a Video Yearbook course and a Theological survey course at
Bumpus’ primary experience has been as a video editor through his production company: Meliora Productions. He is currently working on credit sequences for Starship II: Rendezvous with Ramses, and will be the editor for MagicHouse Production’s latest film: Plausible Deniability, tentatively planned for production late this summer.
His co-author, Timothy Moranville originally felt that he was called to be a youth pastor. After being chosen to participate in a television production class during his junior and senior years of high school, he re-evaluated his calling, and chose to major in Communications at
During his four years at IWU, Moranville looked for any opportunity he could find to get behind a camera. In his sophomore year, he served as the director of photography on the short film Charity, a fictional tale of a young Jewish girl and her German friend during World War II. For his senior project, Moranville teamed up with Joletta Sells to make the feature length Red Moon, a story about a sleepwalking doctor whose patients kept getting murdered. After graduation, Moranville worked on several freelance projects in the
Eric Bumpus was asked why he wrote the book?
"I had taken a course in Biblical Integration in High School where I was taught to look at all of life through the lens of God’s Word, and the lens of God’s World. In viewing much of the anger flying through culture, over religious morale, I’ve been striving to see a peace treaty between culture and many of modern day Christians. I felt many books had tackled the subject of what is wrong with culture, but very few that dealt with forming a positive theology of culture; to see culture how God intends it to be. There are great resources available, such as Brian Godawa’s ‘Hollywood Worldviews’ and ‘A Matrix of Meanings’ by Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor, but the majority of books on the film industry try to persuade Christians to shun culture and ‘hide their light under a bushel,’ so to speak. I had hoped to create an additional resource that serious Christians could use to make a change within their culture, as Paul did on Mars Hill in Acts 17."
Bumpus said he went to his friend Tim Moranville to help him write portions of this book because of his extensive knowledge of church history and of how the stance of many Christians towards art has affected our cultural relevancy.
What does Bumpus mean by saying "Cease Fire, the War is Over!" and that Christians have lost?
"I believe there is a spiritual war that will wage on until Christ’s return, but the war in which I refer to is that of the ‘culture war.’ Christians have lost because they have adopted the political techniques of those around them. We have become just like the world we seek to ‘clean up.’ Many would rather fight other people, to the point of physical brute force, just to bring the country back under a godly moral code, at whatever cost. There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to “clean up
He continued: "Granted, Christians have been the object of persecution in
Bumpus was asked to describe the battle he believes that Christians in
"The battles many Christians face in
Bumpus said he has two goals in mind for this book.
"The book is written much like a textbook, but without the textbook price. I would love to see this book brought into
He added: "This book was also written for use as a study aid for anyone with a mild or extensive interest in media. Just as it is important to have good producers of culture, we must also learn how to become smart consumers of culture."
What two or three main things Christians need to know and understand about
"The residents of
Bumpus explained that
"The best way to support a film is to go to the theatre, on opening weekend. Don’t wait for the DVD or TV broadcast. If you want to ‘send the message’ to
What are some of the strategies Bumpus says Christians should employ?
"Well, instead of militant political activism, we might try prayer. There is nothing like going to God. We need to quit relying on our own efforts, or our Government’s efforts, and start relying on the efforts of the Almighty Creator.
"Instead of boycotts, we might purchase more, and then write letters of how we are avid fans or customers of the company’s products or services. We might add that we would like to continue buying their products, but are concerned with issue X, Y or Z. We can be polite about our likes and dislikes instead of our shouting from behind our picket signs. If we send the message that we will never buy their product, we are really sending the message that we don’t matter since their income is not dependant upon us. Oh, and I might add the thought, when was the last time you ever heard of someone coming in to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ from being the recipient of a boycott?"
He was asked why should Christians take his approach?
"Christians should take this approach because, quite simply, this is what the Bible teaches. It is what we are called to do. [Leviticus 25:24, Psalms 24:1, Daniel 1, Matthew 5:14-16, John 3:16 (and 17), Acts 17-18 (Note the different methods employed based on each culture. ie: 17:16-34), and 1 Peter 3:15-16.]
He concluded: "One ministry that Tim and I deeply share a passion for is the Hollywood Prayer Network. From April through June 2007, we have offered to donate 50 percent of all royalties earned back to HPN.
The authors would welcome anyone interested in knowing more about HPN to check out www.HollywoodPrayerNetwork.org.
Eric Bumpus and Tim Moranville ask Christians across
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** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a
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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.