I was so impressed with the Good News, Etc.! I picked it up at the Salvation Army in Oceanside. I was visiting the area and went to their Sunday church service.

I was very interested in the story about Frank Grubbs and his One By One CD, but I don’t have e-mail or a computer.

Your articles on “The Passion of the Christ” were awesome. Praise God for it and for the conflict and that humans are still alive.

I’m also interested in information to send the grandchildren regarding the “Power of One” concert. I’d like to get them involved.

God bless America.

         Joyce McNamara

         Prescott, Ariz.

Editor’s Note: If you would like to order Frank Grubb’s CD, One By One, send a $15 check to Frank Grubbs, 1923 Moreno St., Oceanside, CA 92054. For more information, call (760) 757-5565. Also, for information about “The Power of One” concert, call 1-800-329-FIRE.

I’m sitting here late at night writing this, trying to remember every little bit of the movie I just experienced. I think about the scene with Jesus in the Garden praying and crying intensely. I think about the Satan character trying to keep Jesus from fulfilling his destiny. I think about Jesus’ confidence and strength as the Roman soldiers take him away in chains.

It’s true; the movie “The Passion of the Christ” has impacted me not just for today, but for a long time to come. Just a few days ago I asked my 14-year-old son if he would consider going with me to see it. He said yes, but with a little trepidation. I had that same trepidation. How would the movie depict the death of Jesus? Would it be a gory and brutal as they say? Too much for my son?

A few days later, I received a call from a friend telling me he had two free tickets to a sneak preview of “The Passion of the Christ.” I snapped them up and made the final decision that I would take my son. I felt strongly that he and I both needed the spiritual message that the movie would bring.

As we sat in the theatre the next evening, I looked around and saw an entire church surrounding me. Not one seat was empty. At that moment, I realized that this was not just a movie; it was a vehicle for truth. As the movie unfolded, I found that I was right. “The Passion of the Christ” is what Christians have been praying for and screaming about for years. It’s a movie with a big budget, big stars (Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel), great production, spectacular acting, real-life special effects, and most importantly, it points directly to God in an uncompromising way.

It’s faithful to Scripture but still creative in its message. It is intense and yes brutal at times. The story is not brutal though for brutality’s sake. Jesus went through unfathomable brutality in real life. Mel Gibson was just not afraid to show it.

And what about all this talk of anti-Semitism? In “The Passion,” the Pharisees, who were Jews, were hateful, pious men. The Romans, who weren’t Jews, were evil, cruel men. Both groups took part on the death of Jesus. That’s not anti-Semitism or anti-Romanism, it’s history.

So, how did my 14-year-old son fare in this movie? Afterward he told me that right before the nails were driven into Jesus’ hands, he “rededicated his faith,” as he called it. On the drive home, we had a wonderfully open conversation about Jesus, faith, and what it all meant.

         Hamilton G. Richardson

         Lakeside

I have no idea if this will get into the proper hands, but I just hope it will. I read an article in USA Today that said a North County church had reserved a theater for people age 10 and older to see the movie “The Passion of the Christ.” Please get this message to the pastor!

I am begging you, please don’t do to kids what was done to me. I want more than anything in this world to have faith in God, but because of the violent images that were shown to me when I was a child — by people who were supposed to be Christian leaders — I cannot make myself believe.

Do you want people to turn to Christ because they are scared? If that is the reason people turn to Christ, I guarantee you they will question their faith later in life — just like me! After being shown pictures of people getting their heads chopped off by the guillotine because they wouldn’t get 666 stamped on their forehead, heck yeah, I accepted Christ! I didn’t want to be left behind! I was young. And I was scared.

Please, I am begging you, teach the children of the love of God. Don’t teach them the scary stuff yet. Even at 10, they are too young to fully comprehend and they may turn to God for the wrong reasons, which may forever ruin their chances at true faith. Don’t ruin their chances of truly believing by using the wrong tactics now. Trust me, you don’t want them to turn out like me! I am so confused. Don’t do this to others.

         Regina Moore

         (Via Internet)

Heaven is going to be populated by millions of Chinese Christians! According to a recent book on the church in China, Back to Jerusalem, 30,000 Chinese are turning to Jesus Christ as Lord every day. In 1991, Robert Fitz wrote a book called The Church in the House - A Return to Simplicity, in which he indicated in 1991 that 22,000 Chinese were converted every day. It is also reported that the Chinese church has 100,000 missionaries trained to invade the Muslim nations west of China - the “10-40 Window.” Having already paid a substantial price to follow Jesus in China, they are ready to lay down their lives to invade the Muslim nations with the gospel.

They remind me of a 19-year-old girl from Korea who was visiting our home about four years ago. When my wife and I asked her what her plans were for the future, she said, “I am training to be a martyr to the Muslims.” This lovely young lady sacrificed all plans of marriage or children. She was intent on dying for Christ to reach lost Muslims. I was staggered. This was not a wild-eyed deranged radical. She was a quiet, demure sweet young lady who embraced the crucified life for the lost.

Meanwhile, in our beloved land, the church of Jesus Christ is flat-lined on the growth chart. There are reports of 50,000 fewer churches in this country this year. George Barna reports that America has 10,000,000 church drop-outs. How many do you know that have dropped through the ecclesiastical cracks of your church, not to show up at another church, but to drop out all together.

Christian sociologists also tell us the divorce rate amongst the churched is not better than the unchurched. It seems that the average American churched have a moral code that is not much different than those outside.

If we will honestly look in the ecclesiastical mirror, we must admit that we are failing in the Lordship of Christ in our churches and outside the church and that America is a post-Christian nation. As much as we love our churches, regardless how dear and precious the way we are doing church is, we must honestly ask, “What are we doing wrong?” The church model that dominates America is not getting the Great Commission completed.

It has been said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. I wonder if the power of the Church in China is partially based on the fact that persecution drives Christians underground where they are forced to meet in houses ala the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Small enough where someone might comment, “See how they love one another.” Small enough where “every joint can supply.”

Carl Swartz in his book, Natural Church Development, scientifically documented that the smaller groups and churches  have greater growth per capita than mega churches. Is God trying to tell us something? Perhaps we need to rethink the wineskin.

         Doug Grills

            Escondido