The Daniel Project Movie – a review
The
Daniel Project is a film about end-times Bible prophecy, produced in
Scotland. It is being hyped as 'the most important film of the
century?' and a 'film that some want to ban'. If that isn't enough to
persuade you to buy it, the trailer on the film's website talks about
a 'journey of a lifetime'....'life changing for all of us'...'only
the wise will understand and live'...'tumultous events'......(if you
listen long enough to get past the funny voices of presenter Jeremy
Hitchin). The subtitle of the film (which for some reason is written
in the Greek alphabet) is 'Only the Wise will Understand' and the
overall impression I got is that Armageddon is about to happen but if
you are wise, you will survive.
Really?
The
phrase 'only the wise will understand' comes from the book of Daniel,
chapter 12 verse 10. Unfortunately for the film makers, there is a
full stop after the word 'understand' in Daniel. How inconvenient!
However that doesn't seem to stop them using the phrase 'only the
wise will understand and live' – after all, it sounds a lot better
than the original and they are not claiming Daniel said it. Let's
face it – anyone with any sense wants to escape Armageddon and any
film which might offer information on how to do that is going to be
pretty attractive. Someone has done their marketing homework.
OK,
supposing you've fallen for it and bought the DVD. What exactly are
you getting? Well it's a very slick, professional production.
Thankfully Jeremy Hitchin leaves his funny voices at home and does a
very reasonable job of presenting, looking suitably worried when the
script requires it without going OTT. There's a long list of experts
to back up the claims of fulfilled prophecy in the movie, most of
whom I've never heard of before. (Interestingly, quite a few of them
are Jewish or from a Jewish background. Perhaps not surprising given
the nature of the prophecies.) The film has a lot of good material in
it but could be shorter if a lot of repetition at the end was cut out
– at 85 minutes it is definitely a bit on the long side for my
liking.
What you
will not get in this film, in my opinion, is a clear definition of
how the 'wise will ... live'. Jacob Prasch, Director of Moriel
Ministries and the film's main expert, says early on in the film that
'God gives the prophecy for our best interests so we will know what
kind of action to take in anticipation of these events' and 'you need
to know what it means for you'. It would be nice if the film then
went on to give us some guidance regarding the action we should take
but if it does, I missed it. Twice in the film Prasch says 'we are
also warned by Daniel there will be an escape'. Are we? I can't find
anything in the book of Daniel which says this. Near the end of the
film Prasch says 'The New Testament teaches that when these events
begin to unfold, at some point, there will be, for the righteous, a
way of escape.' Where in the New Testament does it teach this?
Chapter and verse would be helpful, as it would with the final
prophecy, Prophecy 20 - 'Only the wise will understand and escape',
because I can't find that phrase anywhere in my Bible.
Which
leads me on to another question – who exactly is this film aimed
at? I first heard of it via a round-robin email from a Christian
acquaintance. I've been told that the film makers are Christian and
at the moment it seems that Christians are the main ones interested
in the film, however the email mentions world-wide cinema and TV.
Regardless of whether the film is aimed at Christians or
non-Christians, the inclusion of references to escape is a problem to
me. I think that some Christians could well interpret the film as
saying that when persecution comes, there will be a way of escape for
them. I don't personally believe that that is true, much though I'd
like it to be! We need to be preparing ourselves for hard times, not
looking to be beamed up out of them! If the film is meant to be aimed
at non-Christians then, I'm sorry, but I just don't think the message
that the 'way of escape' is through faith in Christ, and Christ
alone, comes through clear enough.
It may
be that the film makers have avoided an explicit Christian message in
order to get into the secular TV market. If this is so, it is a great
pity because a) I suspect that their strategy will fail and the film
will still not get a broad showing and b) they have possibly lost an
opportunity to give a clear and unambiguous presentation of the way
of salvation, albeit to a smaller audience. And that, to me, is a
shame.
