Rambo - A message to the church?

Rambo's back on the screen after a near 20 year absence. This time, Rambo's on a rescue mission to save a group of missionaries taken prisoner in hostile Burma.

I'm sure to a lot of church folk, Rambo's just another rated R bloodfest to be boycotted, but the story of this 4th Rambo movie is one the church needs to sit up and note. I caught an interview with Stallone on TV today where he discussed the origins of the film. He intentionally avoided the hot button locations of Iraq and Afghanistan, preferring to set his story in a part of the world that doesn't get much attention. He began to learn about the situation in Burma, where religious persecution is among the worst in the world, and he marveled that no one was talking about it. Bringing this story to the fore was a major part of making the film.

The missionaries in the movie have Rambo to come to their aid. In real life, however, there's no super soldier available to rescue the Christians being martyred in Burma and other places. Few Christians know such persecution exists in our modern world of cell phones and the Internet, and even fewer care enough to pray, talk, or do something about it.

How shameful it is that we leave our brothers and sisters to the wolves.

Don't dismiss this as just another commentary on a movie from a Christian POV. Go to www.persecution.com and learn more from the Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry dedicated to making the story of these forgotten believers heard.

Pray, talk, DO something.