The Business of Christianity

One of the most famous stories of the Bible is when Jesus chased the merchants away from God's Temple. I know if I were around at that time I would be shamed to see people turn the House of God into a money making scheme.  I'm sure the money changers and merchants had their reasons. After all, it is a place of worship. At that time period more people went  there than anywhere else. There were no malls, amusement parks, movies, or Starbucks. The Temple stood as the center  for civilization. God's law was the Law of land. Thus the temple was where city officials, entertainers, and most of the foot traffic could be found.

Now let's zoom forward 2012 years later. Is Christianity turning into a business? How many people from doctors, lawyers, or even filmmakers fall into the niche claiming that they specialize in the Christian field. Is it because of the 2.2 billion Christians world wide let along the 250 million in the USA that they could attract?

Now you have these mega churches making mega bucks to spread their books, DVDs, websites, and of course the collection basket. Is this a bad thing? I think not...so as long as the intention is good.

The merchants that Jesus chased out may have used the Temple to put money into their own pockets.
They may have rented out space and kept whatever they could sell. However, would Jesus have thrown out these merchants if they were raising funds for the Temple knowing that the funds are for a good purpose?

I just watched a special on Joel Osteen, who currently has the largest church in the US.
1. http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Pastor-Joel-Osteens-Full-Sermon
2. http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Pastor-Joel-Osteen-Discusses-Sin-and-the-Path-to-God

Joel's ministry reaches seven million broadcast media viewers weekly in over 100 nations around the world. His  Lakewood Church in Houston has a seating capacity of 16,800 which reaches maximum capacity every week without fail. Joel himself has been received by Barbara Walters as one of the Ten Most Fascinating People. After listening to Joel's interviews with Peirs Morgan and Oprah I've come to the conclusion that Joe's intention is good. He does not earn a salary, rather the mansion he lives in is owned by the very church he built from ground up. To me, that's okay.

We the Daniel Team also have our own ministry. Our intention is to not just promote Christianity or the save the souls of the unsaved (God does that) but rather to strengthen the faith of those already in the path and to prepare them for what is about to come. We love Jesus and believe he is who he said he was. We love that we are glorifyingthe Lord's name. Right now, we do not make salaries. All of us have worked around the clock, coming up with ideas on how to make this movie all on our own spare time while still finding ways to pay our bills. We do it for the love of God (Jesus and the Holy Ghost) and to nurture the spirit of like-minded people of our faith, not to take advantage of the large Christian audience.  Our work is spiritual more than economical.

Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD;

        I will sing praises to your name.  Psa. 18:49    

So when you make a gift to the movie project note that you are helping us to; praise His name among the nations, to encourage others in the faith, and ultimately, to prepare God's people for Himself.

As Joel said, "I believe all people are meant to experience the abundance that is God."
Amen!


Jim Hague
The Daniel Team

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New Year's Resolution

On behalf of The Daniel Team, we want to wish our supporters a very happy, safe, and prosperous 2012!

While reading through my Facebook account, I saw one of my friends declare his New Year's resolution.

My Agenda for 2012: help produce two TV comedies and two feature films in the first three months; publish two collections of short stories (one in January, and the second sometime in the first three months] and two of my novels (within first six months); get my own first feature film into production by August 1; sell my first collaborative script in the first three months as well; (re-) launch three of my business' (Faramir Arts, Total Environment Associates [architecture], as well as my film production company Illuminous Productions, Ltd.

Wow! That's a lot of work! I hope and pray that he makes all his dreams come true.

The Daniel Team has only one resolution, to see the documentary come to reality. That's it.
Of course any one who is working on this film can attest to the fact that it takes a great effort to create a movie; from pre-production, to the shooting, and eventually to release and distribution.

How many of us create resolutions trying to improve our short comings? For The Daniel Documentary to come to reality several things has to happen.

1. We need to raise funds
2. We need to have a powerful 3D animation team
3. We need to have a great script
4. We need to have great actors
5. We need to find scholars and a great host
6. We need to find distribution and ways of selling.

Jack Canfield, author of 'The Chicken Soup for the Soul' books once declared that 'all you need to do to get from California to New York at night is to have headlights flash only 200 feet ahead of you.

What he really means, is to try to focus on the smaller steps while maintaining a vision for the future.

To make resolutions for the entire year is too broad, for anything can happen during the year, good or bad.One step at a time please. Go for immediate goals over resolution.


Philippians 3:14 say, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus". This verse tells us that goals must have a meaning. Losing weight is just a declaration. People who have dire life threatening situation lose weight faster than those who simply want to fit in old jeans they once wore in college.


For The Daniel Team, our immediate goal is raising money. We'll worry about the other things as time comes. Instead of focusing the glitz and the glamor of making movies, be it winning critical acclaim, or interviews on talk shows, as well as riding on limos to awards shows, our focus is the immediate task at hand. No accolades exist without the work.

Instead of declaring to lose 20 pounds this year, focus on eating right the next day.
Eat right, take a long walk the 'next day.' Then when the day ends, make a goal for the following day.

When looking too far ahead into the future or looking back in the past we lose sight of the present.

2012 should be a great year.  But before I can make that declaration, I will focus on January 1st.

Happy New Year,
Jim Hague,
The Daniel Team

The Writing on the Walls of Our Own Lives

King Belshazzar sat through his banquet, enjoying food and wine at the expense of sacred items stolen from a previous invasion of the Temple of Jerusalem. He also had worshiped the gods of materialism, lust, and gluttony. That night Belshazzar experienced the ‘writing on the wall’ was the night he witness the crumbling of his kingdom.

Daniel 5:5 it states “Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lamp stand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.”
Belshazzar was not only mortified but was killed that evening. What the king experienced that fateful night was merely the ‘physical’ writing on the wall. Oppressive leaders in the Bible share the commonality of ignoring multiple signs and warnings, only to harden their hearts to the point where they paid the ultimate price?

Belshazzar’s arrogance and naivety led to this downfall. There were fair warnings by insiders of the invasions happening around the Middle East. Rather than focusing on defending this kingdom, Belshazzar took advantage of his position for self-absorbance and abuse of power.

In today’s world, we witness the same. People ignore their own ‘writings on the wall’. Instead they drive forward, thinking the signs and warnings are someone else’s fate.

• Smokers continue to contaminate their lungs despite decades of research linking smoking to cancer
• People having recreational sex despite knowing the risk of sexually transmitted disease.
• Young ladies desiring men with a history of abuse or infidelity.
• We vote for those in office who are known con artists or sinful people.
• We fudge numbers and lie on job applications knowing it can lead to termination.

The ‘writings on the wall’ exist for us all. Ignorance only leads to a fall. Why do we ignore? The ego is strong. Desire is strong. These are agents of the devil. We worship the idols of food, alcohol, or validation from others. We fight for our belonging to earthly pleasures over spiritual enlightenment.

Belshazzar may have received many warnings during this reign, not just that that fateful evening. He may have flaunted being worthy to use sacred utensils from the Holy Temple of God.

Today, we may think we are worthy to abuse our own sacred utensils such as the earth, our families and friends, our bodies, our minds, and especially our spirit. Pop culture is riddled with reality TV shows, socialites, music, and political ideologies. It is to us as the banquet was to Belshazzar, making us feel more worthy than we are and distracting us from God.

Those who believe know that living a God-like existence reaps rewards not to be received in heaven, but rather, immediate gratification. Eat healthy, you live long. Avoid smoking, you live long. Do not identify yourself with celebrities or political parties; you will live with a peaceful mind. The writings are all on the wall. They are also in the Bible.

May you live long peaceful life. Shalom.
Jim Hague
Scriptwriter / Co-producer

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A Life In Ruins

“Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt he saw a huge statue standing before him…made of shining metal with a head of gold and fragile feet made of glazed china mixed with iron to represent a top-heavy figure, liable to fall to ruins.”

This is one of the dreams King Neb, as I like to call him, had that troubled him.  Having recently taken the throne after his father’s death, the usually very confident King Neb was a little off his game.   In an age of mysticism and a place people often looked to God or gods for wisdom, King Neb was beside himself with the need for understanding the dream. 

Out of everybody in the Babylonian Empire, Daniel was called upon to interpret the dream.  It was a big-time gig to say the least, more on that later.  This particular dream included a statue comprised of precious metals and meant that King Neb would have a prominent place in time, but that it would come to an end at the hands of a greater kingdom. 

C.G. Jung writes in Man and his Symbols, “People who have unrealistic ideas or too high an opinion of themselves, or who make grandiose plans out of proportion to their real capacities, have dreams of flying or falling.”

I can’t remember the last time I had a dream where I was flying or falling, but I know I have had plenty of them.  Whether Jung is accurate in his theory of “flying dreams,” it is worth noting.   Do you ever feel like your life is out of control, perhaps even in ruins? 

I found a similar story the other day that brought some perspective.  A man was talking to his friends about how to build a house with a good foundation.  Lay the bricks this way, pour the cement this thick, nail the studs with this angle instead of that.  He then told them if you listen to these instructions but don’t actually apply them, surely your home will fall to ruins.  But of course, I thought to myself.

The man, who was known to be a great carpenter, knew the importance of having a solid foundation.  You may build something nice and pretty above that foundation, but what about deep beneath the dirt?  What’s buried beneath the dirt in your life?  Is it a strong foundation that you can keep building on, or is it a shaky foundation because you didn’t listen to the directions given?

I’m going to start building upon my foundation again.  I may have tried to take some shortcuts.  Oh yeah, the carpenter’s name was Jesus. Some know him as Jesus the Christ.  May you be encouraged today as you build, and don’t forget to follow through with the instructions!

When the Rendering Gets Tough

Barrett and his team of wonder experts created this make-shift rendering node. For those of you who don't know what 'rendering' means; think of the hair, the skin, the metal, the surface of creatures objects, and things. They all need to look real for the audience. That's what rendering does. It is the process of generating an image from a model using computer programs.

Rendering demands a great deal of resources from computers. If the computers lack sufficient power then rendering is slow and often halts production. This challenged the Daniel CGI designers.

So when the going gets tough talented professionals like the ones on our team could figure it all out.

They used a series of old computers from wherever they could find to add power for rendering the characters you will see in the Daniel Movie. Pretty cool and smart!

The Script

By Jim Hague (Scriptwriter)

So far the script is good enough to present to potential hosts and talking heads. It took quite an effort for me to finalize for presentation. Barrett and Brian both gave some input and gave it their blessings.
Because this is a documentary, I wrote the script using the 2 column format. The left column serves as a guide to the director, and the right column guides the animators and the host.

In a regular narrative, I would have used the typical line-by-line format.

Here is a sample of the first page of the script.

ACT I – A Man Named Daniel FADE IN: EXT. CLOUDS - DAY Clouds in motion. Camera pans over clouds like an airplane EXT. CITY OF BABYLON - DAY Camera dips below the clouds and we see a bird's eye view of BABYLON. (1)TITLE: The ISHTAR GATES IMAGE: The ISHTAR GATES (2)TITLE: The HANGING GARDENS IMAGE: The HANGING GARDENS TITLE: The BABYLON CANAL IMAGE: The BABYLON CANAL (3)TITLE: Military in battle VIDEO: Military in battle

HOST (V.O) Mankind has an inherent need to believe that the future will be better than the present. The realities of war, poverty, and unequal distribution of wealth make our existence difficult... sometimes unbearable. It's human nature to look to our leaders, kings, and governors who offer hope. Hope is essential for the human race to persevere. The Book of Daniel was written to all people of all nations. It is a book about perseverance... It’s a book about hope. Host (V.O) CONT’D Babylon. One of history’s greatest and most mysterious empires. (1)Its architecture was pioneering and well ahead of its time. (2)Its structures would rival even those of today’s modern cities. (3)Its legendary military reigned as the most powerful on earth conquering nations at will.

This is only page 1 of 50 pages.

Other excerpts include:

(7)One was the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar, a brilliant military strategist, visionary city planner, but ruled with an iron fist to shape one of the greatest empires in history.

(8)The other was a simple man of God.

(9)Who rose from slavery and became second in command of Babylon.

(10)He was known for his visions of future events...

(11) and dream interpretations.

(12)Was he one of history’s great prophets, predicting the rise and fall of future emperors 100s of years in advance?

(13)Did he foresee the coming of the Messiah?

(14)Is the Book of Daniel nothing more than an encouraging fable? Did he actually predict the future course of mankind?

(15)What lesson does the story of this man teach us?

(16)This is a story of one of the most important yet least understood books of the Bible.

(17)This is the story of DANIEL!


Have questions? Email me a jimh@fellowshipstudios.com

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The Cycle of Empires

In the Book of Daniel the different sections of King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue symbolized some of the mightiest empires in world history such as Babylon, Greece, Rome, and Medo-Persia. These empires reached their peak with: (1) a powerful army (2) brilliant military strategists and (3) the ability to conquer nations.

The rise and fall of empires were not limited to the ones mentioned in the Book of Daniel. Many empires reined the world only to experience the harsh reality of their power and influence fading in time. As an empire crumbled, the world adjusted as another empire took its place, influencing world economies and foreign policies. The Cycle of Empires continues to this very day until the ‘hand of God’ crushes all empires and the one ‘final kingdom’ rules the earth forever and ever. This is symbolized by the demolition of King Neb’s statue by a rock not created by human hands. 

Until the final kingdom, empires come and go like the seasons. In modern times, the Cycle’s influence was inflicted upon the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan. Even within nations not considered world powers, their oppressive leaders such as Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot experienced the wrath of the Cycle.

The commonality empires (or super power nations) share is that while their military strength may have conquered other nations, the military never saved the empire when the infrastructure falters. Rome, in my opinion is history’s greatest empire. They were the true founders of democracy which may have attributed to their rule lasting five centuries. Carelessness, slothfulness, combined with greed, sin, and a self-serving ruling party resulted in its demise. Same story held true for  Babylon ruler Belshazzar, who choose to ignore warnings of invading nations, failing to see the ‘writing on the wall’, resulting in not only his demise but the end of Babylon.

The demise in infrastructure results in the erosion of the middle class. In addition to greed, lust, and lack of worshipping God are very evident in the past 20 years.

No nation is immune to the Cycle as prophesied in the Book of Daniel. In Daniel 2:34, ‘…a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.” It then goes on to say, “But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.” That rock is Jesus. His kingdom will rule the whole earth.

However, while nations falter and empires crumble, God still holds the individual responsible for their actions. Regardless if a nation thrives, the individual will falter if it lives in sin. If a nation falters, the individual can still thrive if allowing God into the heart.

Jim Hague (Co-producer, The Prophecies of Daniel)

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