"The Knowing" and The Knowing
“The Knowing”, a 2009 movie with Nicolas Cage, addresses two questions central to human existence: 1) are life on Earth and world events random or predetermined; and 2) what would you do if you knew how you were going to die or how or where others were going to die.
These questions are addressed in various ways throughout the movie: a daughter/mother who does not want to know how she will die because all people eventually die anyway; a son/father become astrophysicist who has turned away from the faith of his youth (his father is a pastor) to a form of agnosticism – “I just don’t believe we can know for certain [that there is a heaven]”; a grandmother who can see the future and a teacher who hides her knowledge of the awkwardness of it all with Vodka-laced tea; and a Cosmology coworker who tries to explain the prophecy in scientific terms.
Key to it all is Cage’s character. Cage is a once believing Christian turned agnostic, astrophysicist, who will sacrifice all to save his son from (alien – unbeknownst to him) outsiders who provide a secondary source of tension in the movie – the primary being the awkward behavior of the “prophet” – a girl “chosen” to predict the future of disasters over the second half of the 20th century and her awkward behavior (thereafter). In Cage’s character, the Screenwriter attempts to combine belief in human evolution, the biblical foundation for prophecy, the biblical foundation for the end of the world, and the afterlife, and to come up with a solution devoid of God and salvation from sins.
Cage’s struggle to determine whether life events are predetermined is molded by the unexpected death of his wife two or three years prior. At one point, Cage’s character explains that if he had known his wife was going to die, he would have done everything in his power to prevent her death. This comes urgently to life as Cage’s character flies from one place to another trying to prevent destruction based on the Prophecy and trying to save as many lives as he can. He does this just to find that no matter how many lives he saves (or in spite of his efforts to save lives), the total number of lives lost is still the same as the total number prophesied. All of which reinforces his growing belief that life’s events truly are predetermined and there is little he can do about it.
Cage’s ability to agree with his parents and sister (believing Pentecostal Christians) that “this is not the end” (i.e. we’ll see each other in heaven) – just before being destroyed by the prophesied end-of-the-world Catastrophe – is his knowledge (Knowing) that his son and the granddaughter of the Prophetess are being safely sequestered, by alien guardians intent on preserving the human race, to another Earth-like planet that can sustain life – as the next Adam and Eve, if you will. This is disturbing for two reasons: 1) the movie appears to make the assertion that Ezekiel’s vision in Scripture of the “whirling wheels” (described as having the appearance of wheels within wheels) that move with the cherubim when God’s glory departs from the Temple and that are located below the glory of God, was actually a vision of a space pod that descends and rises to a “mother ship”, the four aliens being the four cherubim - the children, in the final scene, are even dressed in linen – Ezekiel mentions fiery coals that are spread by a man dressed in linen (see Ezekiel 10 & 11 - http://mbible.com/nasb/ezekiel/10.htm); and 2) displaces the hope available in Christ for eternal life with hope in alien guardians intent on preserving the human race on another life-sustaining planet.
However, this should not have come as a surprise, given the initial interaction between father and son regarding probability of life-sustaining planets existing elsewhere in the universe.
As to the second question – what would you do if you knew how everything ended? – the movie touches on an urgency to do something about that knowledge out of love for those closest to you. This urgency becpmes enough to warn the FBI of a supposed terrorist attack (ultimately an equipment malfunction instead) and to risk his life to save the lives of others. This urgency is also enough to convince Cage to reconcile with his estranged father and warn him underground so he won’t be destroyed by the Catastrophe (or as the Prophetess put it, “Everyone Else”).
Toward the end of the movie, Cage asks a pertinent, third question, apparently addressing God: “why would You choose me to Know these things but give me nothing I could do about it?” Cage gets his answer, but it is not what he thought it would be. Cage discovers that he was predetermined to get his son to safekeeping for life on another planet.
After seeing his son and the girl to become the next “Eve” safely on their voyage to the next planet, Cage becomes reconciled to the fact that he will die that day, to the point where he calmly switches the radio from a news channel to playing a classical music CD; and while everyone else is running about panicking (except his Cosmology coworker – holding his wife, waiting for the end to come), Cage is calmly making his way to his parent’s house to reconcile with his father and die with those closest to him. What is implied is that Knowing the End and Knowledge that his son will live on gives him a peace to deal with the reality of the pending destruction. That becomes his hope of eternal life – that his son lives on, and that he and his wife will live on in the memories of his son.
The movie’s treatment of prophecy and the End of the World bears striking resemblance to accounts of biblical prophecy, including the statement to the effect that only a few people heeded the warning of the messenger (the Prophet). For example, no one believed Noah until it started raining. Noah set to building the ark for 100 years before the first drop of water. No one believed Jeremiah regarding the destruction of Jerusalem. What about other biblical prophecies? The life and death of Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies regarding the Messiah, but fewer Jews than might be expected believe(d) Jesus was the Messiah, including those who studied those prophecies as a profession (the religious zealots of the time). Truth is, that like the movie, all prophesies in the Bible have come true except prophesies regarding the End of the World and some of the events leading up to it, e.g. those regarding the invasion of Israel by an army led by Russia and Iran, the rapture, the tribulation, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and other related future events – all events that seem to be coming full force and quickly (though no one knows when).
Given the imminence of these things, where is the sense of urgency on the part of believers to express the Truth? Some have that urgency, to be sure – the impassioned preacher or the occasional lay-evangelist – but what about the rest of us?
Like the movie, the following needs to be considered: 1) if the Bible is true and all prophesies except remaining end-times prophesies have come true, people need to be warned – people need to be ready!; 2) if we, as Christians, know how the world will end, and see these things happening before our eyes, where is our urgency to do as much as possible to see people saved, even putting ourselves in danger of our lives in the process of saving others.
Let me be clear, the apostle Peter responded to a question posed by Jesus by saying “where else would we go? You have the words of life!” We who have the “words of life” live comfortably behind our church doors while the world outside unKnowingly awaits their destruction, one death at a time.
We have the words of life! The End is near and millions will die without being reconciled to God, but we have the solution! God’s solution. Jesus, being God, became a man, to walk among us, to die in our place, sinless, as a blood sacrifice (payment) for the sins of humankind (mine and yours), that whoever believes on Him for the forgiveness of sins and as Lord of their lives, should not perish but have everlasting life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus .” This made possible through Jesus’ conquering death by rising from the dead – something no one else can claim. That is the Good News! This is the true Knowing! That is the true Peace in the face of death! That is the true Hope for all struggling with the cruelty of life and the God-given need for redemption and restoration to God. That is life after death, not based on a man-made exclusion of God in the form of alien-promoted transcendence to another planet (what about the rest of us!?)! “He who believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.”
The Knowing makes one final compelling point. The children selected to carry humanity to the world beyond have that opportunity because they chose to answer the Calling; they were called and they chose to go. The rest of the world was warned by the Prophet, but did not choose to believe. Not even Cage’s character got to go – though he became reconciled with “this is not the end” after sending his son off .
The truth of the Gospel is that all have been warned. The Bible is available to most people, where it is not, God’s attributes are evident in His Creation so that people are without excuse. Is this a harsh reality? Yes. Is it God’s mercy in postponing the end so people can believe before they die or before His Return? Even more so.
There is a story in the New Testament about a rich man at ease with his life who continually ignored the pleas for food (scraps) from his table by a man named Lazarus. There came a time when both the rich man and Lazarus die. The rich man went to Hades (the Old Testament equivalent to Hell); the poor man (Lazarus) went to Abraham’s Bosom in Paradise (The Old Testament equivalent to Heaven). The story tells of the rich man in Hades being able to see Lazarus in Paradise and asking if Lazarus could bring him some food. God answers and says ‘No, because there is an uncrossable chasm between Heaven and Hell, that no one can cross.’ The rich man answers with, ‘well could you at least send Lazarus to my brothers so they have a chance to believe and escape this place of torment?’ God replies with ‘if they didn’t believe Moses and all the prophets [regarding Jesus], how much more so will they not believe if they see Lazarus risen from the dead?’ -- the point being this: we have all been warned – the biblical record is clear – will we repent and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life? That is a question posed to us all. We have a choice what to do about it.
In the mean time, we who “have the words of life” need to be urgently trying to save as many as we can – and even then, the choice whether or not to believe and accept Jesus Christ as Lord for the forgiveness of sins, will be for those who hear the message. And if they choose not to believe, Hell awaits them and that uncrossable chasm to prevent alleviation from their torment.
Is there futility in being called to declare this message if there is nothing we can do about a predetermined outcome? I.e. those who are doomed to die, will die anyway? (think Gladiator – “We who are about to die, salute you.”) Well, if people were not offered the choice of whether or not to believe, would God be just in condemning them to Hell? Yes – based on His holiness and mankind’s sinfulness. But God, in His mercy, extends us the choice; and in extending the choice, exalts His justice with a resounding ‘Yes! I am justified in condemning people to Hell!’ And in the final analysis, because of the choice extended to us, by not believing, we condemn ourselves! We are all doomed to die, or as the movie puts it, “Everyone Else” – the question is what we will do with the Salvation offered to us. Will we choose to believe?
God, in His mercy, sent Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life! What a message! Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved!
These questions are addressed in various ways throughout the movie: a daughter/mother who does not want to know how she will die because all people eventually die anyway; a son/father become astrophysicist who has turned away from the faith of his youth (his father is a pastor) to a form of agnosticism – “I just don’t believe we can know for certain [that there is a heaven]”; a grandmother who can see the future and a teacher who hides her knowledge of the awkwardness of it all with Vodka-laced tea; and a Cosmology coworker who tries to explain the prophecy in scientific terms.
Key to it all is Cage’s character. Cage is a once believing Christian turned agnostic, astrophysicist, who will sacrifice all to save his son from (alien – unbeknownst to him) outsiders who provide a secondary source of tension in the movie – the primary being the awkward behavior of the “prophet” – a girl “chosen” to predict the future of disasters over the second half of the 20th century and her awkward behavior (thereafter). In Cage’s character, the Screenwriter attempts to combine belief in human evolution, the biblical foundation for prophecy, the biblical foundation for the end of the world, and the afterlife, and to come up with a solution devoid of God and salvation from sins.
Cage’s struggle to determine whether life events are predetermined is molded by the unexpected death of his wife two or three years prior. At one point, Cage’s character explains that if he had known his wife was going to die, he would have done everything in his power to prevent her death. This comes urgently to life as Cage’s character flies from one place to another trying to prevent destruction based on the Prophecy and trying to save as many lives as he can. He does this just to find that no matter how many lives he saves (or in spite of his efforts to save lives), the total number of lives lost is still the same as the total number prophesied. All of which reinforces his growing belief that life’s events truly are predetermined and there is little he can do about it.
Cage’s ability to agree with his parents and sister (believing Pentecostal Christians) that “this is not the end” (i.e. we’ll see each other in heaven) – just before being destroyed by the prophesied end-of-the-world Catastrophe – is his knowledge (Knowing) that his son and the granddaughter of the Prophetess are being safely sequestered, by alien guardians intent on preserving the human race, to another Earth-like planet that can sustain life – as the next Adam and Eve, if you will. This is disturbing for two reasons: 1) the movie appears to make the assertion that Ezekiel’s vision in Scripture of the “whirling wheels” (described as having the appearance of wheels within wheels) that move with the cherubim when God’s glory departs from the Temple and that are located below the glory of God, was actually a vision of a space pod that descends and rises to a “mother ship”, the four aliens being the four cherubim - the children, in the final scene, are even dressed in linen – Ezekiel mentions fiery coals that are spread by a man dressed in linen (see Ezekiel 10 & 11 - http://mbible.com/nasb/ezekiel/10.htm); and 2) displaces the hope available in Christ for eternal life with hope in alien guardians intent on preserving the human race on another life-sustaining planet.
However, this should not have come as a surprise, given the initial interaction between father and son regarding probability of life-sustaining planets existing elsewhere in the universe.
As to the second question – what would you do if you knew how everything ended? – the movie touches on an urgency to do something about that knowledge out of love for those closest to you. This urgency becpmes enough to warn the FBI of a supposed terrorist attack (ultimately an equipment malfunction instead) and to risk his life to save the lives of others. This urgency is also enough to convince Cage to reconcile with his estranged father and warn him underground so he won’t be destroyed by the Catastrophe (or as the Prophetess put it, “Everyone Else”).
Toward the end of the movie, Cage asks a pertinent, third question, apparently addressing God: “why would You choose me to Know these things but give me nothing I could do about it?” Cage gets his answer, but it is not what he thought it would be. Cage discovers that he was predetermined to get his son to safekeeping for life on another planet.
After seeing his son and the girl to become the next “Eve” safely on their voyage to the next planet, Cage becomes reconciled to the fact that he will die that day, to the point where he calmly switches the radio from a news channel to playing a classical music CD; and while everyone else is running about panicking (except his Cosmology coworker – holding his wife, waiting for the end to come), Cage is calmly making his way to his parent’s house to reconcile with his father and die with those closest to him. What is implied is that Knowing the End and Knowledge that his son will live on gives him a peace to deal with the reality of the pending destruction. That becomes his hope of eternal life – that his son lives on, and that he and his wife will live on in the memories of his son.
The movie’s treatment of prophecy and the End of the World bears striking resemblance to accounts of biblical prophecy, including the statement to the effect that only a few people heeded the warning of the messenger (the Prophet). For example, no one believed Noah until it started raining. Noah set to building the ark for 100 years before the first drop of water. No one believed Jeremiah regarding the destruction of Jerusalem. What about other biblical prophecies? The life and death of Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies regarding the Messiah, but fewer Jews than might be expected believe(d) Jesus was the Messiah, including those who studied those prophecies as a profession (the religious zealots of the time). Truth is, that like the movie, all prophesies in the Bible have come true except prophesies regarding the End of the World and some of the events leading up to it, e.g. those regarding the invasion of Israel by an army led by Russia and Iran, the rapture, the tribulation, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and other related future events – all events that seem to be coming full force and quickly (though no one knows when).
Given the imminence of these things, where is the sense of urgency on the part of believers to express the Truth? Some have that urgency, to be sure – the impassioned preacher or the occasional lay-evangelist – but what about the rest of us?
Like the movie, the following needs to be considered: 1) if the Bible is true and all prophesies except remaining end-times prophesies have come true, people need to be warned – people need to be ready!; 2) if we, as Christians, know how the world will end, and see these things happening before our eyes, where is our urgency to do as much as possible to see people saved, even putting ourselves in danger of our lives in the process of saving others.
Let me be clear, the apostle Peter responded to a question posed by Jesus by saying “where else would we go? You have the words of life!” We who have the “words of life” live comfortably behind our church doors while the world outside unKnowingly awaits their destruction, one death at a time.
We have the words of life! The End is near and millions will die without being reconciled to God, but we have the solution! God’s solution. Jesus, being God, became a man, to walk among us, to die in our place, sinless, as a blood sacrifice (payment) for the sins of humankind (mine and yours), that whoever believes on Him for the forgiveness of sins and as Lord of their lives, should not perish but have everlasting life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus .” This made possible through Jesus’ conquering death by rising from the dead – something no one else can claim. That is the Good News! This is the true Knowing! That is the true Peace in the face of death! That is the true Hope for all struggling with the cruelty of life and the God-given need for redemption and restoration to God. That is life after death, not based on a man-made exclusion of God in the form of alien-promoted transcendence to another planet (what about the rest of us!?)! “He who believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.”
The Knowing makes one final compelling point. The children selected to carry humanity to the world beyond have that opportunity because they chose to answer the Calling; they were called and they chose to go. The rest of the world was warned by the Prophet, but did not choose to believe. Not even Cage’s character got to go – though he became reconciled with “this is not the end” after sending his son off .
The truth of the Gospel is that all have been warned. The Bible is available to most people, where it is not, God’s attributes are evident in His Creation so that people are without excuse. Is this a harsh reality? Yes. Is it God’s mercy in postponing the end so people can believe before they die or before His Return? Even more so.
There is a story in the New Testament about a rich man at ease with his life who continually ignored the pleas for food (scraps) from his table by a man named Lazarus. There came a time when both the rich man and Lazarus die. The rich man went to Hades (the Old Testament equivalent to Hell); the poor man (Lazarus) went to Abraham’s Bosom in Paradise (The Old Testament equivalent to Heaven). The story tells of the rich man in Hades being able to see Lazarus in Paradise and asking if Lazarus could bring him some food. God answers and says ‘No, because there is an uncrossable chasm between Heaven and Hell, that no one can cross.’ The rich man answers with, ‘well could you at least send Lazarus to my brothers so they have a chance to believe and escape this place of torment?’ God replies with ‘if they didn’t believe Moses and all the prophets [regarding Jesus], how much more so will they not believe if they see Lazarus risen from the dead?’ -- the point being this: we have all been warned – the biblical record is clear – will we repent and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life? That is a question posed to us all. We have a choice what to do about it.
In the mean time, we who “have the words of life” need to be urgently trying to save as many as we can – and even then, the choice whether or not to believe and accept Jesus Christ as Lord for the forgiveness of sins, will be for those who hear the message. And if they choose not to believe, Hell awaits them and that uncrossable chasm to prevent alleviation from their torment.
Is there futility in being called to declare this message if there is nothing we can do about a predetermined outcome? I.e. those who are doomed to die, will die anyway? (think Gladiator – “We who are about to die, salute you.”) Well, if people were not offered the choice of whether or not to believe, would God be just in condemning them to Hell? Yes – based on His holiness and mankind’s sinfulness. But God, in His mercy, extends us the choice; and in extending the choice, exalts His justice with a resounding ‘Yes! I am justified in condemning people to Hell!’ And in the final analysis, because of the choice extended to us, by not believing, we condemn ourselves! We are all doomed to die, or as the movie puts it, “Everyone Else” – the question is what we will do with the Salvation offered to us. Will we choose to believe?
God, in His mercy, sent Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life! What a message! Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved!
posted by The Lamplighter at 8:53 PM
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