CHRISTIAN MINISTERS PROTEST FILM BECAUSE OF HOMOSEXUAL ACTOR

My lovely, precious sister sent me an e-mail a couple of weeks ago encouraging me to tell everyone I knew to go see the Christian movie "The End of the Spear." It's the tale of Nate Saint and four other American missionaries who were slain by Ecuador's Waodoni tribe in January, 1956, and the remarkable subsequent conversion of many of that tribe to Christianity.

My sister is a very conservative Republican whose husband is a deacon in their local (very large) Southern Baptist church. I wonder what she would say about the fact that 150 Christian minister across the country have vowed not to support the film because avowed homosexual actor Chad Allen stars in the dual role of slain missionary Nate Saint and his adult son, Steve.

Mr. Allen said he respected Steve Saint, the 55-year-old real-life son of Nate Saint, so much that he offered to walk away from the movie "unconditionally" if Mr. Saint asked him not to do it.

"I could tell he was deeply concerned and scared about what was the right thing to do," Mr. Allen said.

Mr. Saint told The Blade this week that he "agonized" over whether to make that request.

"It was an excruciating process for me," he said. "It forced me to go to the Scriptures."

He cited a number of verses about Jesus and his disciples reaching out to nonbelievers and the verses in John, Chapter 8, about a woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus didn't tell the mob to obey the law and stone the woman, Mr. Saint said.
"He said, 'Yeah, you're right, she was caught in adultery, an offense against God, go ahead and stone her. But why don't we start with those of you who don't have sin in their own lives?'" he said, paraphrasing the verses.

Mr. Saint said he had an early morning dream that convinced him it was God's will for Mr. Allen to be in the movie.
"In this dream, I saw a mob of Christians chasing me. They had these signs, 'Why did you do this to our story?' And I turned around to them and I was trying to yell, 'I didn't want to do this, I'll ask him to step down,' and - boom! - I was standing in front of God. He said, 'You, of all people, should know that I love all my children. I went to great lengths to orchestrate an opportunity for Chad Allen to see what it was like to be a true God follower. Why did you mess up my plan?'"

Tags: The End of the Spear, homosexual actor, Chad Allen