Tag Archives: Boris Karloff

Devotional

Frontiers of Faith

Leave a comment

Read Acts 17:24-28

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers set up by previous generations” (Proverbs 22:28 NLT).

image created by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of AI developed by Microsoft.

In the classic 1932 horror film “The Mummy,” Boris Karloff’s portrayal of Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian priest brought back to life, captivated audiences with its eerie blend of the ancient and the modern. The film’s makeup artist, Jack Pierce, spent hours meticulously transforming Karloff into a decrepit, millennia-old creature, creating an iconic image that has endured for nearly a century.

This cinematic masterpiece, set against the backdrop of British archaeological expeditions in Egypt, unintentionally touches on a theme that resonates with our Scripture passages today: the complex interplay between ancient wisdom and modern ambition, between established boundaries and the desire to push beyond them.

In Acts 17, Paul addresses the Athenians, proclaiming a God who transcends human-made temples and boundaries. This God, Paul declares, is the source of all life and has determined the times and places for all nations. It’s a powerful reminder that while human empires may rise and fall, there is a divine order that underpins our existence.

Proverbs 22:28 warns against moving ancient boundary markers, echoing this theme of respecting established limits. In the context of “The Mummy,” we see how the archaeologists’ quest for knowledge and glory leads them to disturb an ancient tomb, unleashing forces beyond their control. This serves as a metaphor for the dangers of colonial mindsets that disregard indigenous wisdom and boundaries in pursuit of their own agendas.

The makeup process Karloff endured – hours of application followed by a painful removal – mirrors the often arduous journey of confronting and dismantling colonial attitudes. It’s a process that requires patience, discomfort, and a willingness to see beyond surface appearances to the deeper truths beneath.

As followers of Christ, we’re called to a delicate balance. We must respect the wisdom and boundaries established by those who came before us, recognizing that they often serve important purposes. At the same time, we’re called to push against boundaries that perpetuate injustice or limit the spread of God’s love. This tension represents the true frontiers of faith, where we must carefully navigate between cultural respect and the universal call of the Gospel.

The call to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ is fundamental to Christian faith, as seen in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). However, this divine mandate has often been tragically misinterpreted and misused throughout history to justify colonialism, oppression, and the exploitation of indigenous peoples.

True evangelism, as modeled by Jesus and the early apostles, involves humbly sharing God’s love and truth while respecting the dignity and agency of others. It does not involve coercion, cultural erasure, or political domination. As followers of Christ, we must critically examine our methods of sharing the Gospel to ensure they align with the loving, self-sacrificial example of Jesus rather than the oppressive patterns of colonialism.

In our efforts to fulfill the Great Commission, we must be mindful of historical injustices committed in the name of Christianity and strive to embody a faith that brings liberation, reconciliation, and respect for all cultures, as all are equally valuable in God’s eyes.

The God who “marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (Acts 17:26) is the same God who sent Christ to break down the dividing wall of hostility between peoples (Ephesians 2:14). Our challenge is to discern which boundaries to respect and which to transcend, always guided by love and the pursuit of justice. This discernment process represents the ongoing frontiers of faith, where we continually seek to understand and apply God’s love in an ever-changing world.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
God establishes boundaries for our flourishing, not our limitation. Wisdom lies in discerning which to honor and which to overcome in love.

PRAYER
Lord, grant us wisdom to respect Your boundaries and courage to cross those that divide us from our fellow humans. Amen.

Devotional, Previous Post

REVISITED: Fleeing the Mob

Leave a comment

Read Mark 15:1-20

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead.” (Acts 14:19 NLT)

Perhaps you have seen the old Universal film, “Frankenstein”, starring Boris Karloff. If so, you will certainly remember the scene of the townspeople forming a mob  and chasing after the monster accidentally killed the little girl while playing with her on the dock. The girl had stumbled upon the monster, well, the monster actually stumbled upon her. All the same, the girl was trying to teach the monster a game of throwing flowers into the water of a pond.

She threw one and it floated. The monster imitated and his floated too; however, when all of the flowers were floating in the water and there were none left to throw, the monster decided to try the same thing with the little girl. It was, in all honesty, an innocent mistake. Unfortunately, the little girl could not swim and ended up drowning. Add that to the fact that this creature, this “monster”, was pieced together with the body parts of dead corpses by a crazed and mad scientist, and the people in the girl’s village were riddled with fear and rage.

Of course, fear and rage make for a deadly combination and, so, an angry and vengeful mob was the result. For those who remember this film, you will remember that this mob chased after the monster and trapped him in a windmill. In their rage, they torched the windmill and the monster inevitably burned alive after the windmill caved in on him. Following the film’s conclusion, one is seriously left wondering who was truly the monster: the creature, or the neglectful mad scientist and the raging mob.

Another film comes to mind when I think of mob mentality. In the Walt Disney film “Beauty and the Beast”, Gaston riles a mob when Belle tries to save her father from being committed in a mental institution. In order to show that her father isn’t crazy in his ramblings about a “beast” living up in the castle, she shows Gaston and the crowd the beast through magic mirror the beast gave to her as a gift.

Using fear to persuade them, Gaston is able to easily persuade the  crowd into believing that this beast is ferocious and will come in the night to steal away their children and sink his sharp fangs into their flesh. Belle tries to counteract Gaston by telling the villagers that the beast is actually friendly and means them no harm; however, they’ve already mobbed together with pitchforks and guns and there was no way that reason was ever going to break through to them.

The mob ignored her completely, locked her up with her father, and ran off into the night to go kill the beast. In the end, they did so to their own detriment and at their own peril. Gaston, himself, ends dead as a result of his fear mongering. Thus, both “Frankenstein” and “Beauty and the Beast” can be seen, among other things, as a sharp and potent warning against mobs and the mob mentality.

We are so prone, as human beings, to run to the mill with what “could happen” that we often throw caution and reason to the wind in order to attack what we fear most. I see this happening right now in this country during this election cycle, and it is most certainly happening in our world as well. The more we are attacked by terrorists, and the more people’s perceptions of our stability and security become cynical and/or negative, the more people use that fear to drum up support for action that may or may not be reasonable, let alone practical or warranted.

The challenge for us is to flee the mob, to stay clear of it, to separate ourselves from the ferver, the fear mongering, the hype, the rhetoric, and the polarization that goes on in our communities and in our worlds. We need to put ourselves in an open space where we have room to take a deep breath, think, pray and allow God to guide us. It’s not that we shouldn’t heed warnings and/or look at all fear-inducing warnings as false or bad. They very well could be true; however, it is how we react to them that makes or breaks us. When we react like the common mob caught up in a rageful ferver, we fail to use our heads, our hearts, and our faith. God is calling us to flee the mob and seek God’s guidance and wisdom out in all that we do.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“The mob is the mother of tyrants.” – Diogones

PRAYER
Lord, help us to not to get caught up in the mob mentality and to seek only your ways and your guidance. Amen.

Devotional

Fleeing the Mob

1 Comment

Read Mark 15:1-20

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead.” (Acts 14:19 NLT)

Perhaps you have seen the old Universal film, “Frankenstein”, starring Boris Karloff. If so, you will certainly remember the scene of the townspeople forming a mob  and chasing after the monster accidentally killed the little girl while playing with her on the dock. The girl had stumbled upon the monster, well, the monster actually stumbled upon her. All the same, the girl was trying to teach the monster a game of throwing flowers into the water of a pond.

She threw one and it floated. The monster imitated and his floated too; however, when all of the flowers were floating in the water and there were none left to throw, the monster decided to try the same thing with the little girl. It was, in all honesty, an innocent mistake. Unfortunately, the little girl could not swim and ended up drowning. Add that to the fact that this creature, this “monster”, was pieced together with the body parts of dead corpses by a crazed and mad scientist, and the people in the girl’s village were riddled with fear and rage.

Of course, fear and rage make for a deadly combination and, so, an angry and vengeful mob was the result. For those who remember this film, you will remember that this mob chased after the monster and trapped him in a windmill. In their rage, they torched the windmill and the monster inevitably burned alive after the windmill caved in on him. Following the film’s conclusion, one is seriously left wondering who was truly the monster: the creature, or the neglectful mad scientist and the raging mob.

Another film comes to mind when I think of mob mentality. In the Walt Disney film “Beauty and the Beast”, Gaston riles a mob when Belle tries to save her father from being committed in a mental institution. In order to show that her father isn’t crazy in his ramblings about a “beast” living up in the castle, she shows Gaston and the crowd the beast through magic mirror the beast gave to her as a gift.

Using fear to persuade them, Gaston is able to easily persuade the  crowd into believing that this beast is ferocious and will come in the night to steal away their children and sink his sharp fangs into their flesh. Belle tries to counteract Gaston by telling the villagers that the beast is actually friendly and means them no harm; however, they’ve already mobbed together with pitchforks and guns and there was no way that reason was ever going to break through to them.

The mob ignored her completely, locked her up with her father, and ran off into the night to go kill the beast. In the end, they did so to their own detriment and at their own peril. Gaston, himself, ends dead as a result of his fear mongering. Thus, both “Frankenstein” and “Beauty and the Beast” can be seen, among other things, as a sharp and potent warning against mobs and the mob mentality.

We are so prone, as human beings, to run to the mill with what “could happen” that we often throw caution and reason to the wind in order to attack what we fear most. I see this happening right now in this country during this election cycle, and it is most certainly happening in our world as well. The more we are attacked by terrorists, and the more people’s perceptions of our stability and security become cynical and/or negative, the more people use that fear to drum up support for action that may or may not be reasonable, let alone practical or warranted.

The challenge for us is to flee the mob, to stay clear of it, to separate ourselves from the ferver, the fear mongering, the hype, the rhetoric, and the polarization that goes on in our communities and in our worlds. We need to put ourselves in an open space where we have room to take a deep breath, think, pray and allow God to guide us. It’s not that we shouldn’t heed warnings and/or look at all fear-inducing warnings as false or bad. They very well could be true; however, it is how we react to them that makes or breaks us. When we react like the common mob caught up in a rageful ferver, we fail to use our heads, our hearts, and our faith. God is calling us to flee the mob and seek God’s guidance and wisdom out in all that we do.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“The mob is the mother of tyrants.” – Diogones

PRAYER
Lord, help us to not to get caught up in the mob mentality and to seek only your ways and your guidance. Amen.