From The Heart Of God: CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – TOP FIVE STORIES UNTIL 2:30 pm March 25, 2014

CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY

A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries

News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder

TOP FIVE STORIES UNTIL 2:30 PM CT, March 25, 2014

THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT HEARS FIRST AMENDMENT ARGUMENT TODAY

1. Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

A large majority of Christians and social conservatives have been up in arms over Obamacare’s requirement that businesses provide employees no-cost contraceptives coverage, but the party’s business wing has been largely quiet on the issue as it heads to the Supreme Court today.

The U.S. Supreme Court will today tackle a pair of court cases that straddle some of the most charged topics in American politics. The cases could have ramifications for issues such as religious liberty, contraception, gay rights, employment discrimination, health-care reform and corporate personhood. In this smorgasbord of wedge issues, there’s something for every political faction to love or loathe — but some of the groups with the most at stake have been curiously silent.

The cases brought by Hobby Lobby, a national chain of craft stores based in Oklahoma City, and Conestoga Wood, a cabinet-maker from Pennsylvania, test the question of whether for-profit corporations can invoke the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom to avoid the so-called contraceptive mandate in Obamacare. Hobby Lobby is owned by dedicated Christians who signed a pledge to run their business by religious principles. It closes up on Sundays, carries no racy products, and in some stores pipes Christian music while customers shop. In a similar vein, Conestoga Wood is owned by a family of conservative Mennonites who operate their business in accordance with their religious beliefs.

The plaintiffs filed suit against the Obama administration, objecting to the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that companies provide employees no-cost insurance coverage for contraceptives. The companies contend that certain forms of contraception, such as the so-called “morning-after pill,” violate religious prohibitions against abortion. The Court’s decision is expected to come in June.

Since the issues are explosive, it’s no surprise the case has come with substantial fanfare. It generated more than 80 amicus briefs from concerned parties—among the highest tallies ever, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Women’s rights organizations, religious groups and atheist coalitions are all using Tuesday’s oral arguments to launch a lobbying blitz.

That’s why it’s so surprising that America’s leading business lobbies have remained silent on the matter. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a frequent player in Supreme Court litigation, opted not to join the legal debate over the two cases. Asked whether it had an opinion, Rachel Parker, director of legal communications for the Chamber’s litigation arm, declined to answer. “We didn’t file [a brief] in this case and generally don’t discuss the specifics for why we do [or] do not get involved in a particular case,” Parker says. The National Federation of Independent Business, another conservative association, did not respond to TIME’s inquiry about whether it took a position on the case.

These influential lobbying outfits may be opting to sit out a case with major implications for their members because many businesses see its electrified politics as a threat to future profits. Aaron Katz, a partner at Ropes & Gray LLP, represents a coalition of nearly two dozen corporate and criminal law professors who reject Hobby Lobby and Conestoga’s arguments that secular, for-profit corporations can invoke the religious protections afforded to their owners. The group argues that shareholders who choose to organize themselves as a corporation do so in order to get certain benefits, such as shielding themselves from personal liability. That decision establishes a separation between the corporation and its owners that the Court’s rulings in cases like Citizens United do not erase. “The shareholders cannot decide it suits them on one day to be a corporation,” Katz says, “then turn around on day two and say it benefits us for the corporation to take on our personal identities.”

But even executives who may sympathize with Hobby Lobby or object to the contraception mandate may be leery of jumping into a debate with the potential to alienate their customers, incense their workforce or embroil corporate boards in controversial disputes. “This is one of those situations where businesses realize they can’t isolate, ostracize or do things to offend their employees or customer base,” Katz says. “Hobby Lobby may win this case, but they could lose customers because of it. I’m not sure how many other businesses want to take that risk.”

The case also presents challenges for the Republican Party, whose base is studded with both influential religious groups and their business counterparts. Social conservatives have made the court cases a battle cry, and several dozen GOP lawmakers have sided with the plaintiffs on First Amendment grounds. That includes the nation’s top elected Republican, House Speaker John Boehner, who released a statement Monday afternoon urging the Court to “reverse this attack on religious liberty and reaffirm our founding principles.”

But much of the business-oriented Republican establishment, as well as the GOP’s political committees, have been relatively quiet about the case. The National Republican Congressional Committee, which has made Obamacare the centerpiece of its messaging campaign for the upcoming midterm elections, did not respond to a question from TIME about its position on the contraception mandate.

The legal challenge to the contraception mandate “highlights just another problem with Obama’s one size fits all solution to healthcare,” says Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. “It infringes on the free exercise of religion guaranteed by our constitution.” But beyond that statement, the RNC has not done much to bring the case to the public’s attention.

The Republicans’ decision to downplay the challenge serves to underline the tension within the party’s base. While religious conservatives are determined to fight and refight issues like abortion and gay marriage, much of the GOP establishment is eager to move past divisive debates and focus on broadening the party’s appeal to an evolving electorate. Religious freedom is a cause for the former faction and a tricky topic for the latter.

2. WASHINGTON STATE DEVASTATED OVER KILLER LANDSLIDE

Peering across the devastated landscape, Cory Kuntz just shakes his head. “When you look at it, you just get in shock,” he told CNN affiliate KING. “You kind of go numb.” Kuntz lost his aunt and his home on Saturday when a rural Washington hillside north of Seattle gave way, crashing and oozing its way through the community of Oso.

Thanks to the efforts of friends and neighbors, his uncle’s life was spared, though he was nearly buried alive. “They heard him pounding on that roof. He had a little air pocket and a stick. He said he was poking up on it, banging on it,” Kuntz said. “My neighbors and my friends came and started digging him out and just couldn’t get to my aunt in time.”

As the search and rescue effort carried into a fourth day, the number of dead and missing grew as hope of finding any more survivors dwindled. With six bodies found Monday, the toll from Saturday’s disaster grew to 14 dead, Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington said Monday at a news conference. “I believe it’s fair to say that most of us in these communities believe that we will not find any individuals alive,” Pennington said. “I am a man of faith, and I believe in miracles,” but “we are moving towards a recovery operation.”

This grim assessment was echoed by the local fire chief. “I’m very disappointed to tell you that we didn’t find any sign of any survivors, and we found no survivors today,” Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots told reporters Monday evening. “The situation is very grim.”

Even as hopes dimmed, Lisa Bishop and her certified rescue dog Cody stood ready to help. “This is exactly what we’re trained for, to look for live individuals that might be buried under the mud,” she told affiliate KOMO. The search teams also deployed sonar equipment and aircraft to find trapped survivors.

The number of people unaccounted for ballooned from 18 on Sunday to 176 by the end of the day on Monday. He stressed that it’s a list of names, not a tally of definite fatalities. Pennington said he expects that number to drop “dramatically” because people will turn up and the process of gathering names is inexact, with some duplicated information. Seven people are reported injured.

The landslide covered about a square mile and was caused by groundwater saturation tied to heavy rain in the area over the past month. It affected Oso, with a population of about 180, and Darrington, a town of about 1,350.

The first reports of the landslide came in about 10:45 a.m. Saturday (1:45 p.m. ET), the sheriff’s office said.

Dave Norman, a Washington state geologist, said the landslide was about 4,400 feet wide with a wide debris field. In some places, the debris is 30 to 40 feet thick. “This is one of the biggest landslides I have ever seen,” Norman said.

The landslide cut off State Road 530 to Darrington. Part of the Stillaguamish River also was blocked, and residents were warned of possible flooding both upstream and downstream of the collapse.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee was struck by the sheer power of the landslide.

“Every single item has been destroyed,” he said. “There’s really not a stick standing anywhere in that square mile.”

Federal Emergency Management Agency assets began arriving late Monday, and more were expected Tuesday. California also sent expert help, deploying 18 urban search and rescue personnel to Washington, California Governor Jerry Brown said late Monday.

In the nation’s capital, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state told her colleagues the damage was hard to imagine. “There are dozens and dozens of families who do not know if their loved ones are still alive,” she said. “This weekend, I saw some of the worst devastation I have ever seen in my home state.”

CNN’s Matt Smith, Ralph Ellis, Ashley Fantz, Dana Ford and Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report.

3. NO CLOSURE FOR MALAYSIAN FLIGHT 370

Hundreds of friends and family members of passengers marched to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing Tuesday to express their anger and frustration. They claimed they weren’t being told the truth by the Malaysian government about what happened to the plane after it disappeared from radar on March 8. “If you find something: OK, we accept,” said one relative of a passenger. “But nothing — just from the data, just from analysis. I suppose I want to see something from the seas,” said Bimal Sharma, an Indian man whose sister Chandrika was on the plane. “I don’t know why I just want to see some debris off the aircraft and the black box to know what exactly happened because there are too many unanswered questions.” Sharma, who has worked for a long time in the Indian merchant navy, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto that he had “sailed those oceans several times myself.”

Australian authorities coordinating the search for the plane in a remote area of the Indian Ocean suspended efforts on Tuesday because of a hurricane. Sharma said he hoped the search would continue. “Just for the relatives to see that there was something — and it’s conclusive evidence,” he said.

Sarah Bajc, whose partner of two years, Philip Wood, was on the passenger jet, said in an e-mailed statement that, without confirmed wreckage, the announcement gave her “no real closure. “I still feel his presence.” so perhaps it Wood was one of three Americans aboard the plane.

understandable, said Heidi Snow, the founder of ACCESS, an organization that provides grief support to people affected by or involved in air disasters. “I think that what we have been hearing is that basically this isn’t enough evidence to change the grieving process,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett.”Some people are still holding on to hope and really need more than these words. They need to see actual parts of the plane and really learn that their loved ones were actually on board by getting some remains back,” said Snow, who lost her fiancé on TWA Flight 800, which

exploded and crashed in 1996. “I am so glad there is some new information coming to them,” she said of the Malaysian announcement. “But really, without anything tangible, they are still going back and forth.”

Malaysian Acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Tuesday he understood that relatives found it difficult to accept the news without hard evidence. “Until we can find the debris, and then we can confirm the debris is from MH370, it is very difficult for me to have closure for the families,” he said.

Aviation experts also expressed dissatisfaction and frustration with the information. “We’ve been waiting for the shoe to drop for more than two weeks now. And what we got was the most tantalizingly unsatisfying thread of a resolution,” Jeff Wise, a private pilot and aviation writer, told CNN.

CNN Aviation Analyst Miles O’Brien said he wanted to see more information about what was behind Malaysian authorities’ announcement. “There is a saying in science: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” he said. “Show me. Show me the evidence.”

The Chinese government, whose citizens made up about two thirds of the passengers on the plane, says it also wants to know more. “We called on the Malaysian side to provide further evidence and all the information,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said at a news briefing Tuesday.

An executive from Inmarsat, the British company that carried out the satellite analysis, said the route into the southern Indian Ocean was the “best fit” with the pings received from the plane. “The most likely route is the south, and the most likely ending in roughly the area where they’re looking now,” Chris McLaughlin, a senior vice president at the company, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “But, of course, nothing is final,” he said. “We’re not earth observation satellites, we’re data satellites. So it will require a lot of different skills, a lot of different people, not at least the naked eye, to finally confirm what happened to 370.”

McLaughlin said the mathematics-based process used by Inmarsat and Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch was “groundbreaking.” The new calculations underwent a peer review process with space agency experts and contributions by Boeing, he said.

Arthur Rosenberg, an aviation attorney, said he was troubled by the different language used by the satellite company and Malaysian officials. “On the one hand, you have the executive from Inmarsat saying ‘most likely’ and somehow that got booted up to ‘beyond reasonable doubt.’ I don’t agree with that,” Rosenberg said. “I am not convinced that they are certain where this airplane is,” he said. “I think they have fine-tuned it to a general area, but to say beyond a reasonable doubt this plane went down where they are saying is a stretch.”

Prime Minister Najib on Tuesday defended the decision to make the announcement, saying it was based on “the most conclusive information we have.” He told Parliament he didn’t want the government to be seen as hiding information on purpose from the families of the missing passengers — an accusation Malaysian authorities faced earlier in the investigation into the plane’s disappearance. He noted that more answers would only come to light with the discovery of the plane’s flight data recorder. “We cannot verify any theories until the black box is found,” he said. “They have told us all lives are lost,” said a relative of the Malaysia Airlines passenger. “But I don’t believe that for one second. The airlines is just trying to save face.”

CNN’s Steven Jiang and journalist Ivy Sam contributed to this report.

Editor’s Note: What is obvious is that questions being asked by many veteran airline pilots amounts to more than conspiracy theories. They are sharing a great deal of evidence to show that they believe the need to find that plane is far from over. Gil Sanderson is a close friend of mine. He’s been a pilot for many many years. Another distinguished pilot friend of his sent the following email to him this morning. Gil begins it:

Given the intense interest in the disappearance of the Indonesian B-777 . . . and a recently received email from a friend . . . I thought that you all might like to read this short message. The author’s name is Pat. He is a good friend of mine from Federal Express. I was his First Officer (Co-Pilot) for two or three months prior to my upgrading to Captain in 1995. Pat and I then served together as Line Check Airman in the B-727 for a number of years. He is an ex-Air Force F-15 pilot and is now either a MD-11 or B-777 Captain at FedEx. He is a “straight shooter.” As a “courtesy” I have obliterated his last name and email address.

A retired 3-star USAF general said (on Fox News) on 18th of March that Boeing received its last ‘ping’ from the Malaysian 370, while on the ground in western Pakistan, in a Taliban-controlled area, near the Afghanistan border. While flying today between Paris and New Delhi (LFPG-VIDP), we were going to fly right over that area. When talking with Kabul Control, we were told to “OFFSET COURSE 10 NAUTICAL MILES TO THE NORTH TO AVOID MILITARY AREA”.

Having flown this part of the world for the last 3.5 yrs, I have NEVER been asked to offset that much in that area, EVEN WHILE THE WAR WAS GOING ON.

………i’m just sayin’…………………..

The ‘three star’ that Pat is referring to is General Tom McInerney. General McInerney has been a Fox News contributor for quite a while. He comes across to me as an intelligent, sober and a connected man. He is always quite measured in his responses and I have never seen him wander off “into the woods” by trying to make people think that he is knowledgeable about subject matter that he has little understanding of. On two occasions (that I have seen) this past week the General has stated unequivocally that the missing B-777 is ‘on the ground in western Pakistan in a Taliban controlled area’.

Two days ago General McInerney publicly stated on one of the Fox News programs that he had information from Boeing that the last “ping” from the aircraft had been when the aircraft was on the ground in Pakistan. The following day Boeing walked that statement back but . . . did not state that McInerney was incorrect. Last night I saw a teaser that the General was going to be on the Sean Hannity show. I normally do not watch Sean, but I did want to hear what the General had to say, given his position that is clearly contrary to the story being put out by everyone else. Once again General McInerney stated . . . without equivocation, that the aircraft was on the ground in western Pakistan. Sean inquired as to his sources and that General responded that he could not divulge his sources “at this time”.

Now . . . everyone on this mailing is either an accomplished pilot or crew member. I have little doubt that this mystery has caused you to ponder the question . . . “what happened”. I have been involved in several military aircraft accident investigations and the lesson that I have learned from those experiences is to avoid speculation and let the evidence guide you to a conclusion. Frequently things are not what they initially appear to be . . . or, as Will Rogers once mused; ‘If things were as obvious as they initially appear . . . then men would be riding horseback sidesaddle . . . and not women’.

One infuriating aspect to this story is the plethora of “experts” that are dredged up by the media whose knowledge of the B-777 and of typical airline (ICAO and Domestic) procedures is . . . in a word . . . lacking. As one example . . . virtually every guest has Googled the B-777-200ER and noted that its fuel capacity is just over 45,000 gallons . . . a little over 300,000 pounds. Unfortunately, transport aircraft are not like our automobiles that we fill up completely at every fueling. There are specific requirements for fuel that include taxi fuel, climb to initial altitude fuel, cruise fuel (all corrected for wind aloft), descent fuel, approach and landing fuel . . . fuel to the alternate and reserve fuel. The sum of these will be the amount of fuel on board at ‘block out’ and that amount will be reflected on the aircraft’s Weight & Balance paperwork. I flew the B-727 for over twenty years . . . that aircraft has a capacity of 54,000 pounds of fuel. I could count on one hand the number of times that I ever took off with 54,000 pounds in the aircraft. The issue is ‘fuel burn for the trip’. If you are carrying extra fuel (above the required fuel), you are burning extra fuel simply to carry extra fuel. So . . . THE question concerning the B-777 should be . . . how much fuel did the aircraft have at ‘block out’. If we knew that the block out fuel was (say) 220,000 pounds, then Boeing, given the profile that the aircraft flew . . . could tell you within a few miles what the maximum range of the aircraft was . . . but after almost two weeks I have not heard this issue raised by any of the “experts”.

Now . . . I have come to the conclusion that General McInerney very well may have found the answer . . . if for no other reason in that it can be explained by virtually every aspect of this tragedy. If the aircraft is in Pakistan, then there will be no wreckage . . . and no debris field. While the subject of ‘pilot suicide’ has been discussed, flying 2,700 miles to flame out and crash into the Indian Ocean makes little sense to me. The Egypt Air First Officer in the B-767 didn’t make it fifty miles off of the US coast! This situation certainly appears to be a well thought out criminal act . . . by somebody.

Given the Captains political ‘extremism’ and the fact that his marriage was reportedly “failing” . . . that his wife and daughter moved out of their home the day before the aircraft went missing . . . this is where I’d put my chips. No one went to all of this planning and deliberation just to trash the airplane . . . you could do that with absolutely no planning whatsoever.

I am also intrigued at the Israeli response. The Jerusalem paper (on line) commented that Israeli officials ‘expected to see the aircraft again’. The Israelis have also publicly stated that Iran is involved and have issued NOTAMS indicating that initial contact with Israeli ATC will be moved further from her borders to permit adequate time to ‘de-louse’ (my words) any suspicious aircraft. Without question, the Israelis have the best HUMINT in that region . . . they don’t get caught sleeping often.

I am of the opinion that the ‘flaw’ in the planning is the fact that the perpetrator did not realize that the SatCom system would continue to “ping” even though the systems were ‘turned off’ in the cockpit. Like our cellphones, even when we turn them off, if the sim chip has any power, the phone is communicating with the nearest cell tower. The only way to “go dark” with a cell phone is to remove the battery or allow it to completely discharge.

In the case of the B-777, someone would have to find the appropriate circuit breaker(s) . . . either in the cockpit or the E&E compartment (below deck) and pull them to depower the equipment.

Interesting situation with terrifying potential. Pakistan reportedly has over 200 nuclear weapons . . . think about the possibilities . . .

4. CIVILIAN MURDERS SAILOR ABOARD SHIP DOCKED AT NORFOLK

A civilian breached security and boarded the U.S. Navy destroyer Mahan at Virginia’s Naval Station Norfolk Monday night, where he fatally shot a sailor before security personnel shot and killed him, a U.S. defense official said today.

The incident took place at Pier 1 around 11:20 p.m., according to the naval station’s Facebook page. No other injuries were reported, and the names of the people involved were not released.

The civilian had some type of proper identification to get onto the base, but he breached security to get onto the destroyer. It’s not known how he got access to the pier where the ship was docked. The pier has additional security to prevent unauthorized personnel from boarding ships.

The official said that once on board, the civilian grabbed the service pistol of a petty officer who was standing guard. Two other security sailors arrived and the civilian fatally shot one of them.

Both the sailor and the civilian were not further identified.

5. “SON OF GOD” STILL DOING WELL, BUT “GOD’S NOT DEAD” ISN’T

Editor’s Note: It’s a funny thing about Christians in America. They complain loudly about being ill–treated by our government. Then millions of them don’t vote. They complain about the trash in motion pictures these days, but when in a year like this when Hollywood releases some great Christian movies, they don’t support them at all. A prime example is a Christian motion picture masterpiece – “God’s Not Dead” – that in its first week in theaters this weekend didn’t even rank tenth in attendance. That’s shameful because nearly all Christians go to the movies. This week they chose to see other things. – Ray

Street racers couldn’t catch a time-traveling dog and his son at the multiplex this weekend. Though Disney’s “Need for Speed” was expected to take the No. 1 position at the box office, DreamWorks’ “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” took the lead, with the action film in third place.

The animated movie, about the adventures of a genius dog and the human son he adopted, earned $21.2 million, according to studio estimates released Sunday. Debuting last weekend at No. 2, the 3-D kiddie-jaunt features voices from “Modern Family” stars Ty Burrell and Ariel Winter.

“Our midweek numbers were very strong, indicating good and positive word of mouth,” said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Twentieth Century Fox. “If anything, this is exceeding (expectations). It’s a combination of likable characters and it’s a nostalgia play for those who are familiar with the show.”

Mr. Peabody and Sherman first appeared in the 1950s and early 1960s on “Peabody’s Improbable History,” a segment within the animated television series “Rocky and His Friends” and later “The Bullwinkle Show.” “The family marketplace is giving every other genre a run for its money,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. “But the St. Patrick’s Day effect could be at play here, where families had to exercise their options at the theater rather than the pub. That may have paid off for ‘Mr. Peabody.’”

Meanwhile, analysts predicted that “Need for Speed,” based on the popular EA Entertainment video game and starring “Breaking Bad” alum Aaron Paul, would come in at No. 1 this weekend. But with $17.8 million, it arrived at No. 3 in the U.S. But the movie raced to the top of the international box office, bringing in $45.6 million.

Warner Brothers warrior drama “300: Rise of an Empire,” the 3-D sequel to 2007′s “300,” dropped to second place, with $19.1 million, after debuting at No. 1 last weekend. Though its opening haul of $45.1 million pales in comparison to the original, which debuted with $70.9 million, “Rise of an Empire” has earned more than $78 million since its debut.

Tyler Perry’s “The Single Moms Club,” starring Nia Long and Amy Smart, opened with $8.3 million at No. 5. “This is one of Tyler Perry’s lowest debuts ever, but he’s cranked out hits every year for almost a decade,” Dergarabedian said. “He’s allowed a couple of missteps every once in a while.”

Leading the year’s early trend of films about religion, Fox’s “Son of God” grossed $5.4 million in its third weekend. After opening at No. 2 with $26.5 million, it dropped to No. 5 in its second week, earning $10 million. Its performance may indicate that religious stories aren’t holding up at the box office. Plus “Son of God,” starring Diogo Morgado, lacks star power.

However, other upcoming films with a biblical thread feature leading men who are more likely to get viewers to theaters. “Noah,” out March 28, stars Russell Crowe. And later this year, in the Ridley Scott-directed “Exodus,” we’ll see Christian Bale as Moses.

Playing in only 66 theaters, Wes Anderson’s “Grand Budapest Hotel” landed at No. 8 with $3.6 million. When it opened last weekend, the stylish comedy showed on just four screens in New York and Los Angeles. Still, it impressed with $200,000.

Rounding out the top 10 is the Kristen Bell-starring cult-TV-show-turned-feature “Veronica Mars.” Its $2 million debut was impressive considering the film’s funding came from a crowdsourcing campaign, the first high-profile project to do so.

Also opening this weekend was Jason Bateman’s directorial debut “Bad Words.” Showing in only New York and Los Angeles, the comedy earned $120,000, one of the biggest per theater averages of the weekend, with $20,000 per movie house.

Sci-fi action movie “Divergent,” based on the Veronica Roth’s young adult novel and starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet, stands to knock every other film a place or two down when it debuts next weekend.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak:

1. “Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” $21.2 million ($15.3 million international).

2. “300: Rise of an Empire,” $19.1 million ($41.3 million international).

3. “Need for Speed,” $17.8 million ($45.6 million international).

4. “Non-Stop,” $10.6 million ($12.5 million international).

5. “The Single Moms Club,” $8.3 million.

6. “The Lego Movie,” $7.7 million ($4.7 million international).

7. “Son of God,” $5.4 million.

8. “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” $3.6 million ($6.7 million international).

9. “Frozen,” $2.1 million ($10.4 million international).

10. “Veronica Mars,” $2 million.

Editor’s Note: The only positive thing that I can see in this list of 10 is that three of the non-Christian movies are family oriented and “Son of God” is still doing well.Georgia and I saw “God’s Not Dead” last night. It is a powerful film presenting Christianity at its best. We were surprised that the interaction between the professor and the student was only part, though an extremely important part, of the film. There are several other characters who interweave throughout the film and yet never confuse the audience with what is happening in their lives. The surprise ending is deeply moving and the film is never for a minute hokey.

Anything you are hearing negative about this film should be quickly disregarded. As expected, atheists who right now have the ear of the media far more than Christians do, are writing critiques panning the film. The truth is the storyline, the directing, the editing, the acting, and the fast action that holds the viewers, is all equal to any of your favorite movies.

Here is another truth about what I’m writing here: Georgia and I were unimpressed with the previews and went only to support this Christian film. The previews focused on the professor and the student, leaving the impression that what the film was about. What a magnificent surprise we got. Remembering that I have directed 20 plays and acted in more than 50, if Hollywood was fair and not negative toward Christian films, Kevin Arbo, who plays the professor, could easily be nominated for an Oscar.

How many movie theaters have you been in in the last many years where the audience burst into spontaneous applause as the film ended? That’s what happened last night. You’re missing it if you miss “Gods Not Dead.” However, with its poor showing this past weekend, unless you go while encouraging others to see it too, it won’t be available in theaters very long.