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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