A Knight's Blog

  I have seen the original Shogun series starring Richard Chamberlin, and found it rather captivating. I found the scene where Blackthorne makes Christian (Catholic) Samurai step on a crucifix and renounce Christ both jarring, dark, antichrist, and not edifying for a Christian to watch. There is a similar scene in the first episode of this Shogun (2024), where John Blackthorne throws down a crucifix and steps on it in rain to make a point he is not with the Jesuits, but when asked later by Lord Yoshii Tonaga, he agrees that as a Protestant Christian he believes in the same Lord Jesus as the Catholics. That is one of most stark differences between this 2024 adaptation of Shogun and the Chamberlin Classic, this version highlights with nuance, accuracy, and detail the religious wars between Protestants and Catholics, and rather than in Chamberlin’s version that depicts Catholicism and very little Protestantism, and gives a negative outlook of Christianity thanks to 1980’s sensibilitie...

  When the Patriarch Jacob spoke over his sons, the Twelve Tribes, he gave Judah the most lengthy and prophetic words:  8 “ Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; [“For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” -Acts 2:34-35] 9   You are a lion’s cub, Judah;     you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? [“Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:5] 10    The scepter will not depart from Judah [“But to the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice.” -Hebrews 1:8] until He to whom it belongs shall come -[Jesus, “This is the o...

  Jacob being tricked to marry Leah, the elder daughter of Laban instead of his desired wife Rachel is seen as Jacob reaping what He sows, that he was involved in scheme to deceive his Father Isaac into thinking he was Esau to receive the blessing. However, God actually favored Leah, she bears Jacob six sons! Poor Leah just wanted to be loved by Jacob, “Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now,” (Genesis 29:32), and God seeing her mistreatment, “When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren,” (Genesis 29:31) and favors her with the majority of the Twelve Tribes (Genesis 35:23) , but The Lord also favors her by the fact that one of her sons was Judah, “The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun,” (Genesis 35:23), and The Lord Jesus is from Judah, “For it is clear that our Lord [Jes...

  There have been some serious desecrations of churches. In Speyer, Germany at Memorial Church where German Princes defended the evangelical and protestant faith in 1529 against an imperial ban, a Muslim Imam was allowed to make the Muslim call to prayer in the church, with only one woman protesting ( https://www2.cbn.com/news/world/brave-german-woman-rebukes-islams-lie ). So when other churches begin to have any seemingly secular services, fears rise that Paul words are indeed happening, “They will consider nothing sacred” (2 Timothy 3:2 NLT). The latest was a rave in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral, which is seat of The Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop who coronates kings and queens of England. This was a silent rave, which means that the youths wore headphones listening to Disco music transmitted to headsets. The effect for anyone entering without headphones would be people dancing to nothing.   The Church is claiming that raves like this are meant to raise revenue to ...

  Every Easter there is a plethora of plush bunnies, flowers, and maybe a lamb. This year I was thrilled to see Hallmark has made My Best Friend Jesus which is an adult Christ plush with sandals, white robe, and blue sash. So often stores stick to the folklore, the easter bunny for instance or during Christmas Santa and elves. It was refreshing to see a plush of Jesus, that could be a comfort to a child, I wish I had one when I was a kid battling fears.  Hallmark has been in some controversy over the shake ups with Candace Cameron Burr leaving over the Hallmark Channel adding same sex romances and LBGTQ characters to stories. I am sure there are those boycotting Hallmark and urging saints to stop supporting it. While I understand that we as Christians must be counter-cultural and stand for our values, boycotting is tricky, because companies like Amazon allow quick access to Christian resources like Bibles, but at the same time they made a cartoon supporting a false retelling o...

  Does anyone else have memories of those neon multi-colored eggs that a teacher at Sunday School got out and popped opened each one that had little pieces of Holy Week, some palm branch, fake silver coins, a cross and nails? I was thinking of how much I loved those visual representstions as we were told the Gospel from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday.  Such a simple and ingenious way of helping kids understand the most important events in our faith and history. Nowadays there is probably an app with virtual eggs you tap on a touch screen that opens with images or maybe even video from movies or scenes of Holy Week made by the ministry that hosts the app. Honestly, that would be neat as an upgrade, but I think tangibleness of the eggs and elements of Jesus our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection represented in crosses, coins, and etc is useful. I think kids are already on screens so much, and could watch such content on their own, but to turn off the smartphones, smartglasses, ...

  I grew up on Zorro. I use to watch the Disney Black & White Series, collect the old films, and was major fan of The Mask of Zorro starring Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta Jones. Zorro was like Batman of the Nineteenth Century, the Fox has a cave like The Bat, a stead instead of Batmobile, and he is a wealthy noble like Bruce Wayne is a wealthy Gothamite. The parallels are intriguing, but the spirituality of Zorro was always a constant feature. Zorro being a Spaniard, European Nobleman, or Mexican was always Catholic, and the local Priest or Monk was much like the priest who helps Daredevil, protecting him and helping him. Like Friar Tuck to Robinhood, the Monk or Priest was Zorro’s biggest supporter. Well that all has changed for Amazon’s Zorro.  The show follows a Diego le Vega who has returned to Los Angeles California after his Father was murdered by a masked man and the last Zorro was present and died as well. Diego seeks to investigate who was ...

  We live in an age of unrealistic body image. Everything is touched up, air brushed, and edited to look perfect. One model for one of popular magazines showed her actual image compared to the cover    and the cover looked so different with the eyes, lips, and other edits it wasn’t her. What is damaging is that young women made in the Image of God (Genesis 1:27) compare themselves to these doctored photos of models and beautiful artists and it can create body dysmorphia, where they see themselves as deformed and ugly, even fat when their rib cages are showing! I will not say men do not suffer from this as well, that seeing Chris Hemmingsworth, Henry Cavill, and others with the photoshop polish and six pack can make you feel as if you are subpar. Adding to this is Deep Fake technologies, and the ability to make anyone look beyond beautiful and sexy, when it is all a digital lab.  We are drawn to beauty, but the photoshop world we live in is like fast food, where our e...